Owner of Ancient Egyptian tomb finally identified 50 years after archaeologists' discovery

The owner of an Ancient Egyptian tomb has finally been identified, ending a 50-year mystery which is set to change our understanding of how the upper classes lived in Ancient Egypt.

The thousand years long era of Ancient Egypt is widely considered to have ended over 2000 years ago in 30 BC, but despite this fact, it has not stopped archaeologists from continuing to make discoveries, which fundamentally change our understanding of the fascinating ancient civilisation.

Whether it be a fresh scientific discovery leading to a link being formed between Ancient Egypt and the Milky Way or a 4,000 year old tomb being found with a sacrificial table inside, it can be fascinating.

The latest comes, however, due to a joint archaeological mission bridging Canada and Egypt, with Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities working with the University of Ontario.

The tomb was found in the 1970s (Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities)

The mission looked to identify the owner of tomb ‘Kampp 23’, a tomb that was found in the Asaif area on the west bank of Luxor in the 1970s.

This joint Egyptian-Canadian venture was a ‘milestone’ according to the Egyptian Ministry for Tourism and Antiquities in joint missions between Egypt and foreign countries.

This was reiterated in a statement released on the ministry’s Facebook in which Mr. Sherif Fathy, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, expressed his ‘deep and fruitful scientific cooperation with international academic institutions.’

(Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities)

Fathy went on to add that the discovery was a huge step forward in figuring out how senior members of ancient Egypt lived their lives.

He stated as well that this reinforced the Egyptian government’s support for archaeological research and discoveries.

The find discovered that the tomb belonged to a man named Amun-Mes.

This was confirmed by Professor Mohamed Abdel-Badie, the head of Egypt’s Antiquities Sector at the Supreme Council of Antiquities.

Abdel-Badie said that several artefacts were found with his name on it, confirming the number of additional titles that a man named Amun-Nes held.

Some of the objects found in the tomb (Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities)

These were: “King's Advisor, Divine Father of Amun, Tax Collector, and Head of Quarry Services for King Ramses IV’s expedition to Wadi Hammamat.”

What has yet to be confirmed, however, is which Amun-Nes was the owner of the tomb, with a high ranking official who served as the mayor of Thebes also sharing the same name.

Amun-Nes was mayor of Thebes sometime in the Ramesside period, placing him between 1292 BC and 1189 BC.

Dr Casey Kirkpatrick, head of the Canadian team working on this mission, has confirmed that further work is planned in order to try and more accurately figure out Amun-Mes’ identity, and what his role was.

Per Abdel-Ghaffar Wagdy, the head of the mission on the Egyptian side, it is believed that at some point the tomb was reused.

This is due to them finding signs of coloured plaster covering inscriptions and certain artefacts.