"Ayman Mohamed Damarany is one of the Ministry of State for Antiquities’ field archaeologists who discovered, in some unusual circumstances, a mahat [a ‘cenotaph’ or ‘memorial’] chapel of Nebhepetra Mentuhotep II, as he explains. ... ... The width of the chapel is about 2.6 metres; the length is not known yet but we expect it to be more than 6 metres, possibly much longer. Inside we found the pedestal of a statue made of alabaster (although very poor quality alabaster) and also a limestonesarcophagus, with a very nice ramhead end. Because the sarcophagus is so wet from the sewage tank’s water, we will have to wait for it to dry out before opening it to check on any burial inside. It has been difficult working under these circumstances due to the collapsed buildings and damaged water tank, and there is a great deal of work to do restoring and protecting the walls and inscriptions and trying to uncover the rest of the chapel which runs under several other houses, but we are hopeful that things will get better ..." |