Ancient landfill reveals thousands of year old Goddess artifacts – The First News
Polish archaeologists working at the Luxor site in Egypt came across the 3,500-year-old landfill while they were working on the reconstruction of the Chapel of Goddess Hathor, which is part of the larger Hatshepsut temple complex.
Mr. Jawornicki / Patryk Chudzik
Hundreds of objects dating back thousands of years have been found buried under an ancient landfill in Egypt.
Polish archaeologists working at the Luxor site in the south of the country discovered the 3,500-year-old landfill while they were working on the reconstruction of the Chapel of Goddess Hathor, part of the larger temple complex of Hatshepsut.
The artifacts, given as an offering to Hathor, included plates and bowls painted with plant motifs, symbolizing the rebirth of the Land of the Dead.
Ceramic flasks with chest designs and cow figurines were also found in the rubble.
The artifacts, given as an offering to Hathor, included small figurines depicting the goddess.
In total, several dozen female figurines were discovered in the tomb, hidden by the landfill which had remained intact since Antiquity.
Dr Patryk Chudzik, member of the research team of the Polish Center for Mediterranean Archeology at the University of Warsaw, said: “After entering it, it turned out that it had never been examined and cleaned, because the debris lay to a height of about half a meter.
A wooden sculpture of a man believed to be the owner of the grave was also found.
“The votive offerings were left by local residents asking Hathor for his support.”
One of the most revered goddesses of ancient Egypt, Hathor is well known from the reliefs of the Temple of Hatshepsut and Egyptian mythology where she is often depicted as a cow or a woman with ears From a cow.
Fragment of a casket from the subsequent burial of a woman.
As a sky deity, she was the mother or wife of the sky god Horus and the sun god Ra, both of whom were related to kingship, and thus she was the symbolic mother of their earthly representatives, the pharaohs. .
Researchers have found small stone statues of women known to be votive gifts intended to attract favor from the goddess Hathor.
In total, several dozen female figurines were discovered in the tomb, hidden by the landfill which had remained intact since Antiquity.
Dr Chudzik believes these items were placed by local Egyptians thousands of years ago in Hathor’s Chapel, but there were so many that temple officials had to clean them up, creating a heap of ‘garbage.
Who exactly the tomb belonged to remains a mystery, but Dr Chudzik said: “In antiquity, the tomb was preyed upon by thieves.
“He must have been of value, for he belonged to a person closely associated with Pharaoh Mentuhotep II, probably his son or wife.”
Several hundred objects were discovered in the mound. Some of them date from the late 18th Dynasty, which has left researchers confused as to how they got there so long after the tomb was built.
Dr Patryk Chudzik from the Polish Center for Mediterranean Archeology, University of Warsaw, said: “The votive offerings were left by local residents asking Hathor for his support.”
Polish archaeologists concluded that these were offerings made by worshipers and priests to the shrine of Hathor above, which belongs to the temple of Hatshepsut.
The Temple of Hatshepsut has been the work site of Polish archaeologists for almost 60 years.
As a sky deity, Hathor was the mother or wife of the sky god Horus and the sun god Ra, both related to kingship, and thus was the symbolic mother of their earthly representatives, the Pharaohs.
Work began in 1961, when the father of Polish archeology, Professor Kazimierz Michałowski, led a mission to document and preserve the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut.
The temple is a funerary temple built during the reign of Pharaoh Hatshepsut, who lived between 1507 and 1458 BC.
The Temple of Hatshepsut has been the work site of Polish archaeologists for almost 60 years.
Located opposite the city of Luxor, it is considered a masterpiece of ancient architecture.