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Huge Tomb in Egypt May Hold Pharaoh’s Firstborn
Archaeologists have discovered a tomb they believe was the burial place of Ramesses II’s sons, in the Valley of the Kings, the necropolis at Karnak some 300 miles south of Cairo. The huge tomb complex, dubbed Tomb 5, is many times larger than any other tomb so far discovered and the only one known to have been used for many members of a family. Kent R. Weeks, professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo and director of the project to map the ancient Egyptian capital, announced the discovery, immediately hailed as one of the most significant in Egyptology of this century.
Ramesses II, who ruled from 1279 B.C. to 1212 B.C., is the pharaoh traditionally associated with the Hebrew Exodus. Amon-her-Khepeshef, the eldest of his 52 sons (Ramesses II claimed to have fathered more than 100 children) is said by the Bible to have been killed during the tenth plague, the death of the firstborn (Exodus 12:29). The names of Amon-her-Khepeshef and three of his brothers are inscribed on the walls of Tomb 5.
Tomb 5 occupies a prominent place in the necropolis, 100 feet from the tomb of Ramesses II and near the tomb of King Tutankhamun. Archaeologists have uncovered a central hall with 16 pillars, a passageway to a statue of the god Osiris and corridors leading to many separate chambers, 67 so far. They found wall decorations and alabaster fragments, sarcophagus pieces, mummy fragments and statuary—but no gold so far. According to an ancient papyrus, now in a museum in Turin, Italy, looters entered the tomb as early as 1150 B.C., smashed the stone coffins in search of valuable amulets and jewels, and carried off any treasures they could find. Weeks estimates it will take many years to fully investigate the huge mausoleum. Many of the rooms are still clogged with rubble.
Tomb 5 was first discovered in 1820 by an English traveler who explored the three outermost chambers, which were unprepossessing and badly damaged from floodwaters. The excavator Howard Carter reopened Tomb 5 early in this century but found nothing noteworthy. Weeks and his colleagues found the hidden entrance by studying diaries of 19th-century travelers.
Jordan Antiquities Department Gets New Director
Ghazi Bisheh has for the second time been appointed Director General of the Jordan Department of Antiquities. Named to the post in December 1994, Bisheh succeeds Safwan al-Tell, who had headed the department since 1991. Bisheh’s first term ran from 1988 to 1991.
Bisheh, 50, will shape the future of a department that oversees about 45 major archaeological excavations, divided roughly in half between those directed by foreign teams and those run by Jordanians. In the past, the department conducted its own excavations. But now, according to Bisheh, other tasks—monitoring digs, enforcing conservation measures, licensing—have spread its resources thin, so that it is mainly an administrative agency.
In recent years, Bisheh told BAR, Jordan has seen a great expansion in archaeological research, creating both exciting prospects and a new batch of problems. “One of the most important things is international exposure,” he said. “We want people to come—tourists, archaeologists, scholars. We want to project the image of a friendly, welcoming host.” At the same time, he fears that fragile archaeological sites may be damaged by visitors, and that the department’s strained resources may be unable to cope with a greater expansion of field work. Unless the department is enlarged, additional constraints may have to be imposed on the development of new sites.
Bisheh does not expect that the Jordan-Israel peace treaty will produce an immediate sea change; rather, it will lead to evolving relationships among Israeli and Jordanian archaeologists and institutions. “As King Hussein said, we are not just signing a sheet of paper,” Bisheh observed. Already, he noted, in February, a group of Israeli scholars from Tel Aviv University and Hebrew University—organized by archaeologist Israel Finkelstein—traveled to Amman. Then in March, about 200 members of the Israel Exploration Society also met in Amman, touring Jordan’s archaeological sites and attending lectures by Jordanian and Israeli specialists. Although there were no official contacts, archaeologists from both countries mingled at informal gatherings.
In the past, some archaeologists felt it was unwise to draw Biblical connections while digging in Jordan. There have been allegations that archaeologists would not continue to be welcome if they made such connections, or that if they worked in Israel they would not be permitted to dig in Jordan.
“I deny that categorically,” Bisheh said. “Jordanian authorities do not forbid archaeologists from making Biblical connections; they never have. There have been many projects at Biblical sites, at Heshbon, for example.” Heshbon, 20 miles east of the Jordan River opposite Jericho, contains pottery from as early as the period of the Judges (12th to 11th centuries B.C.E.) through the Islamic period. It may be the city mentioned in Numbers 21:21–32, where the Israelites defeated the Amorite king Sihon; also, the pools at Heshbon may be mentioned in Song of Solomon 7:4.
“I don’t know of anyone who has been turned down for doing Biblical archaeology in Jordan,” agreed James Sauer, former head of the American Center for Oriental Research in Amman. “I can only think of one or two proposals that were rejected—and that’s out of hundreds. If a project is well funded, with a proficient staff, it will be licensed.” Sauer said Americans digging in Israel have not had problems getting licensed to dig in Jordan. Like Bisheh, he said numerous Biblical sites in Jordan have been excavated.
Bisheh insisted, however, that Jordanian archaeology has produced its most significant results in pre-historic periods and in the period from the Roman occupation through the Islamic transition. Research in these areas is most important, he says—in effect, ruling out the Biblical period as a priority of Jordanian archaeology.
In response to Bisheh’s comments, Sauer said there is nothing diabolical afoot. “When I arrived in Jordan, many people were working on Bronze and Iron Age materials. I urged them to extend the areas of concern to prehistory and to the Islamic period,” he said.
The Jordan Department of Antiquities also sponsors international conferences on Jordanian archaeology, held every three years. These symposia were the inspiration of Crown Prince Hassan, who helped organize the first one, in 1979, at Oxford University. Others have since been held in Amman, at the University of Tübingen in Germany, and at Irbid in Jordan. The June 1995 conference in Turin, Italy, will focus on satellite imagery used for archaeological purposes and on land use and human occupation as revealed in Jordan’s archaeological record.