A team of Egyptian-American archaeologists has uncovered the tomb of an unknown king who reigned over the region of Abydos in southern Egypt 3,600 years ago.

The Abydos Dynasty remains one of the least understood dynasties on account of the conflict and political fragmentation that gripped Egypt for nearly a century. The dynasty existed during the Second Intermediate Period, broadly 1630 B.C.E. to 1539 B.C.E., during which northern Egypt was controlled by the Hyksos, a dynasty that originated in the Levant, and southern Egypt was ruled over by many Egyptian kings.

The discovery of the 3,600-year-old tomb of an unknown Egyptian king has been announced. Image: courtesy the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

For a time, some archaeologists even doubted the dynasty’s existence, a view that was comprehensively undermined a decade ago by the discovery of the tomb of King Senebkay, an Abydos ruler who came after this most recent discovery. Both tombs were uncovered in the royal necropolis at Abydos, a site located at the sacred mountain of Anubis that had been particularly important for Egyptian rulers during the First and Second Dynasties, roughly 3,000 B.C.E. to 2,675 B.C.E.

In fact, it was the same mission led by the University of Pennsylvania’s Joseph Wegner that made both discoveries. Unlike in 2014, however, archaeologists found no remains in this tomb.

The inside of the royal tomb. Photo: courtesy the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

The tomb was located more than 20 feet below ground level and includes a limestone burial chamber with vaulted arches formed of mud bricks. Inscriptions on both sides of the entrance to the tomb name the Egyptian goddesses Isis and Nephthys. The two were sisters and were often paired together as Isis represented birth and Nephthys death.

Archaeologists believe the king’s name would have once appeared among the painted scenes that lined the entrance to the burial chamber, but have been damaged by both tomb robbers and erosion.

“The royal tomb in Abydos provides new scientific evidence on the development of royal tombs in the Anubis Mountain necropolis,” Mohamed Ismail Khaled, the secretary-general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, said in a statement. “This discovery also adds new information about the kings of this dynasty and a deeper understanding of the complex political history of the Second Intermediate Period in Egypt.”

More than 30 clay shards, known as an ostraca, were found at village north of the necropolis. Photo: courtesy the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

Aside from the unnamed Abydos Dynasty tomb, archaeologists also announced the discovery of a pottery and glass workshop in a village north of Abydos. Dated to the period when Rome controlled Egypt, 30 B.C.E to 642 C.E., the numerous kilns and large storage areas evidence one of the region’s largest manufacturing centers. They found more than 30 inscriptions in Greek and Demotic on shards of pottery, known as ostraca, that detailed taxes and commercial exchanges. From the 7th century C.E. to the 14th century C.E., the site was reused as a cemetery.

With excavations from Wegner’s team set to continue, it’s quite possible more tombs from the Second Intermediate Period may be found, a prospect that could help reveal the identity of this unnamed king.