The teenager from the time of the pharaohs who dodged treasure hunters and wore her jewels 3,600 years

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The treasure hunters who plundered the bowels of the hollow did not notice his presence and thus, free from prying eyes and lovers of the alien, he survived in peace for 3,600 years. A Spanish team has found on an arid hill in Luxor the intact coffin of a teenager of about 15 or 16 years old with a complete collection of jewels: two earrings, two rings and four necklaces that shed new light on the funerary art of the Egypt of the pharaohs

"The most striking thing is that we found the coffin on the ground in a context of looting. For some unknown reason, they left it there and did not even open it," says José Manuel Galán, researcher at the CSIC and coordinator of the Djehuty Project. , one of the most traditional expeditions in Spanish Egyptology, which for the last 19 years has been traced by Dra Abu el Naga, on the western shore of present-day Luxor, some 600 kilometers south of Cairo.

The sarcophagus was manufactured from a single tree trunk, probably sycamore, and in its 1.75 high and 0.33 wide frame it kept the remains of a woman about 15 or 16 years old and 1.59 meters tall . The very damaged mummy rested on the right side. "The coffin had been left on a ceramic mound and the remains of other sarcophagi that the looters tore to pieces," says Galán.

"The looters, who were searching for metals and semi-precious stones, curiously left behind what they were chasing. In this case, a coffin with a mummy wearing two gold earrings, two rings and four necklaces. It is a little difficult to explain but it is so "says the Egyptologist. A jewel display that the mission discovered by subjecting the body to an x-ray.

Technology then revealed that the deceased paraded into the afterlife by wearing two earrings on her left ear; wearing two rings, one in each hand, made of bone and another blue glass with a setting and a cord around the finger. They placed four necklaces between 61 and 70 centimeters long on his chest, creating a small heap.

Two of the chains were made of faience (ceramic with a glassy finish) in different shades of blue. The third mixed faience beads with glass greens. The fourth, on the other hand, turned out to be the most delicate, made up of 74 pieces of different shapes. "It is made up of amethyst, carnelian, amber, quartz and blue glass beads. Curiously, there is a discussion among Egyptologists about when blue glass began to be used in Egypt and whether it is imported or not. Our finding would bring forward the date of import. about 100 years, "he slides.

A falcon of amber, representing the god Horus, stands out as the centerpiece of the necklace, flanked by two beetles. A profusion of rich details that provides some clues to the enigmatic young woman who embarked with them on eternal rest. "The coffin did not have any type of inscription and the linens that wrap the body do not seem to have it either. It must have been of high social status. Anyone who can afford and be buried with these beads can be considered upper middle class, although not too much because their coffin is very simple. It is well carved but has no decoration and was only painted white. "

His discovery has opened other questions about the hill that the Spanish mission excavates. "In our site the percentage of women and children is very high. Normally in a necropolis like ours, the percentage of male burials tends to prevail," emphasizes the mission director, who opts for caution. "What we know is that the pyramids of the kings of the seventeenth dynasty were just above and below the cemetery of the royal family and courtiers was located. In our area there are many people called literally sons of the king. It seems that there was a certain predilection for burying children and women , but until a wider section of the hill is excavated, no conclusions can be drawn either. "

Not far from the coffin of the unknown teenager - rescued a few meters from the entrance patio to the tomb-chapel of Djehuty, in an adobe chapel from 1600 BC -, the team found a small coffin sculpted in clay, 22 centimeters long by 15 wide, which still contained a shabti (wooden human figurine) wrapped in four linen bandages tied around the neck and ankles. "It is a very peculiar coffin because it was still tied with the twine in a context of looting. These types of pieces are in museums but have very rarely been found as an archaeological context," emphasizes Galán.

Fruitful campaign

One of the recovered fabrics mentions the owner's name, 'El Osiris, Djehuty'. "He lived at least fifty years before our Djehuty. It was a common name in Thebes, " says the researcher. The last and fruitful campaign, carried out at the beginning of the year by thirty scientists and a hundred workers, has also brought other surprises.

In a nearby area, housed in a funeral pit, a pair of embossed stained leather sandals have emerged, including a pair of cats, Ibex goats, a rosette, the hippo goddess Toeris / Taweret and the figure of the god Bes . Due to their size and the presence of divinities linked to pregnancy and childbirth, flip flops could belong to a woman. Along with them, a pair of leather balls filled with barley shells have also appeared, intertwined by a string.

Little jewels that, like two metal objects found in the body of two dismembered mummies or a necklace of eight gold-plated silver inserts, avoided the fury of treasure hunters and the gaze of the first explorers . "The site was looted in ancient times and then excavators from the 19th and 20th centuries arrived. We found newspaper clippings from 1895 and next to it, suddenly, we found an intact coffin," says Galán, still fascinated by chance. of archeology.

On the verge of completing two decades, its mission - financed by government agencies, Técnicas Reunidas, the Palarq Foundation and almost 300 patrons - hopes to celebrate the anniversary on the pit, with no expiration date close. "The site offers us the possibility of understanding a bit the evolution and development of the funeral landscape. There are still many things and data to find and collect. The key to how long is the financing. Paradoxically, the more spectacular findings we have and the more relevant they are The project returns, the more difficult it is for us to find financing, "he concludes.

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