By: Sarah Pruitt

3,000-Year-Old Egyptian Mummy Unveiled in Near-Perfect Condition

The ancient tombs contained a well-preserved woman and the priest responsible for embalming the pharaohs.

Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images

Published: November 26, 2018

Last Updated: March 02, 2025

Egyptian officials have cracked open a sarcophagus discovered inside an ancient tomb in Luxor to reveal a well-preserved female mummy they believe is more than 3,000 years old.

The woman’s remains inhabited one of two separate coffins found inside the same tomb in the El-Asasef necropolis, located on the West Bank of the Nile in southern Egypt. Though Egyptian authorities have announced numerous discoveries this year, this is the first time they’ve opened an ancient sarcophagus for the first time in front of international media.

Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images

Located between the royal tombs at the Valley of the Queens and the Valley of the Kings, the El-Asasef necropolis is the burial site of nobles and senior officials close to the pharaohs. Inside they revealed a well-preserved female mummy they believe is more than 3,000 years old dating back to the 18th dynasty. Her remains inhabited one of two separate coffins.

Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images

The woman inside the sarcophagus may be named Thuya, though a spokeswoman said they were still working to definitively identify the mummy. The tomb itself dates to Egypt’s middle kingdom, nearly 4,000 years ago.

Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images

Many other discoveries were made this day at the El-Asasef necropolis, including this group of mummies stacked together.

Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images

A carved black wooden sarcophagus inlaid with gilded sheets, dating to Egypt’s Late period (7th-4th century BC), was found lying in a burial chamber decorated with colored scenes depicting the owner with members of his family,

Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images

An Egyptian archeologist brushes the mummy discovered inside.

Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images

Many small artifacts, including personal belongings, gifts and high-valued art, were also found in the tombs.

Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images

These carved statues and funerary figurines, made of wood, faience and clay, called “Ushabtis” were also found in the burial chambers.

Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images

Ministry officials think the woman inside the sarcophagus may be named Thuya, though a spokeswoman said they were still working to definitively identify the mummy_._ The tomb dates to Egypt’s middle kingdom, nearly 4,000 years ago.

The archaeologists identified the mummy inside the other sarcophagus as Thaw-Irkhet-if, a priest who is known to have supervised the embalming of several pharaohs at the Temple of Mut in Karnak.

“One sarcophagus was rishi-style, which dates back to the 17th dynasty, while the other sarcophagus was from the 18th dynasty," Minister of Antiquities Khaled Al Anani said. Ancient Egypt’s 18th dynasty dates to the 13th century B.C., and included well-known pharaohs like Tutankhamun, Hatshepsut, Akhenaten and his queen, Nefertiti.

Located between the royal tombs in the Valley of the Queens and the Valley of the Kings, the El-Asasef necropolis was used to bury noblemen and women close to the pharaohs. After working for five months to clear 300 meters of rubble, a French-led team of archaeologists uncovered this particular tomb earlier this month.

Vividly colored paintings on the ceiling depicted the tomb’s owner and his family members. In addition to the two sarcophagi, the tomb contained other mummies, skeletons and skulls, as well as around 1,000 statues made of wood and clay. Known as Ushabti, these figurines of servants were meant to accompany the dead and serve them in the afterlife.

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About the author

Sarah Pruitt is a writer and editor based in seacoast New Hampshire. She has been a frequent contributor to History.com since 2005, and is the author of Breaking History: Vanished! (Lyons Press, 2017), which chronicles some of history's most famous disappearances.

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Citation Information

Article title
3,000-Year-Old Egyptian Mummy Unveiled in Near-Perfect Condition
Website Name
History
Date Accessed
March 21, 2025
Publisher
A&E Television Networks
Last Updated
March 02, 2025
Original Published Date
November 26, 2018

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