3,000 year older tomb of female singer found in Egypt
Swiss archaeologists came across the resting place of Names Basted by accident, Antiquities Minister Mohammed Abraham told reporters Sunday in Cairo
An inscription found on a wooden plaque on the tomb said that she was the daughter of the High Priest of Amon and sang for the supreme deity Amon Ra during the 22nd Dynasty, which reigned between 945 and 712 BC.
Luxor s Valley of the Kings is where the gold funeral mask of Tutankhamun was unearthed in 1922, and until now, the only tombs found there were linked to the royal families of ancient Egypt.
The discovery is important because "it shows that the Valley of the Kings was also used for the burial of ordinary individuals and priests of the 22nd Dynasty," the minister added.
The name "Bastet" refers to a feline goddess of ancient Egyptian religion and indicates that the singer was thought to be protected by that deity.
