I recently came across an article which detailed the excavation of the tomb of an ancient Egyptian physician. The article provides lots of detail regarding the discovery and excavation of the tomb of the physician. Moreover, the discovery of the tomb was made in 2011 by archeologists from the Czech Republic.
Both the discovery and excavation of Shepseskaf-Ankh's tomb took place at Abusir, which is a part of a cemetery for Egypt's royal and elite that is located between the cities of Giza and Saqqara. The discovery and subsequent excavation of the tomb were preceded by the start of the 2011 revolution that occurred in Egypt. The new information that resulted from this event was astounding, especially as it relates to the structure of the society, the social hierarchy within it, and how that was represented symbolically. Through this information, we are able to gather that the nature of the social hierarchy and social structure of ancient Egypt is established through concrete, tangible means, such as certain items in one's tomb, or particular illustrations on the walls of one's tomb, which reveal their social status.
Furthermore, the aspects of the humanistic tradition that this event relates to is architecture as well as history. It relates to architecture in that it discusses the dimensions of the tomb and how those large dimensions reflect the importance of Shepseskaf-Ankh within ancient Egyptian society. It also relates to history in that it reveals not only the significance of tombs but also the personal history of Sheseskaf-Ankh. Additionally, the discovery and excavation of this tomb are particularly significant because they provide crucial information pertaining to ancient Egyptian society and its social hierarchy as well as how that hierarchy was represented. The event also is significant because it allows us to realize that amidst all of the chaos and destruction that was brought on by the 2011 revolution in Egypt, a few parts of Egypt managed to stay uninterrupted and function as normal.
In terms of what we can learn from this event/discovery, we can learn about the significance of tombs. In addition, we can learn about the fact that ancient Egypt was medically advanced in that they had access to physicians, and thus about the significance held by physicians within ancient Egypt. Further, some future predictions/speculations about its significance may be that it uncovers the early history of medicine in the Middle East in that the event/excavation provides some general information about the early history of the medical profession.
To conclude, the discovery of the tomb of Shepseskaf-Ankh leads us to better understand the importance of tombs in ancient Egyptian society, the social structure, and hierarchy of the society and that ancient Egypt was medically advanced for its time, alluding to the idea that it may have been more modern than was once thought!
The mysterious aspect of the excavation is the coolest in my opinion. I think it is so neat how with the simple click of a mouse, you can uncover information about the past.
