Tomb Of Noblewoman Lady Sattjeni Unearthed 3,800 Years After Her Death

MessageToEagle.com – Lady Sattjeni was an ancient Egyptian noblewoman who lived about 3,800 years ago. She was a daughter of a prince and the mother of two of the most powerful governors in the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. Now, the The mummified body of Lady Sattjeni has been found in the necropolis of Qubbet el-Hawa in southeastern Egypt.

The body was found in extremely good condition, wrapped in linen and deposited inside two wooden coffins.

The 3,800 year old mummy was found in the necropolis of Qubbet el-Hawa in southeastern Egypt
The 3,800 year old mummy was found in the necropolis of Qubbet el-Hawa in southeastern Egypt.

“The discovery is of a historic importance because Sattjeni is one of the most important figures in the Middle Kingdom, being the mother of Heqaib III and Amaeny-Senb – two of the highest authorities of Elephantine under the reign of Amenemhat III,” Mahmoud Afify, head of the Ancient Egyptian Archaeology Sector at Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities said.

Sattjeni’s family ruled Elephantine sometime around 1800 BC, and ranked just below the family of the ruling pharaoh.

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Archeologists also discovered remains of the delicate cartonnage funerary mask made from layers of linen or papyrus covered in plaster – were also found covering the face of the mummy.

Dr Alejandro Jiménez-Serrano, a researcher at Jaén University in Spain who helped conduct the excavation, said: “Lady Sattjeni was a key figure of the local dynasty.

Ancient tomb of Lady Sattjeni. Despite being 3,800 years old, the body was found in extremely good condition.
Ancient tomb of Lady Sattjeni. Despite being 3,800 years old, the body was found in extremely good condition.

‘She was the daughter of the nomarch Sarenput II and, after the death of all the male members of her family, she was the unique holder of the dynastic rights in the government of Elephantine.”

The team of Spanish archaeologists behind the discovery will now analyse her remains to figure out what she looked like, when she died, and what the most likely cause of death was.

lady sattjeni
Remains of the ‘cartonnage mask’ – the type of material used to make Egyptian funerary masks – were also found in the tomb.

“The body of Sattjeni was laying in her original position with some remains of the original covering of wrappings. The body is in excellent condition, which will permit our team of anthropologists to know more about her living conditions, age of death, pathologies, ethnic features,” the Ministry of Antiquities told the press.

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