Largest Saqqara Tomb Discovered [ 26th Dynasty ]

An Egyptian team led by Dr. Zahi Hawass, chief of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, has unearthed the largest tomb yet discovered in the ancient necropolis of Saqqara, also known as the "City of the Dead."

Filled with skeletons, coffins and eagle mummies, the tomb was found just near the entrance point of the archaeological site.

Simply cut into limestone, the burial, which dates to the 26th Dynasty (664 -525 B.C.), extends from a large rock-hewn hall into a number of corridors and small rooms. Inside, the archaeologists found several coffins, skeletons and pots.

At the tomb's northern end, the team unearthed a room filled with shards of ancient pottery, coffins and mummified eagles.

According to Dr. Hawass, the 2,500-year-old tomb had been opened several times during its history. Most likely, it was robbed at the end of the Roman period.

The team also uncovered a second large tomb which featured a sealed limestone room. Scattered inside, there were many clay pots and several ancient coffins.

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/07/14/egypt-fortress-city.html

[snip] The discovery shouldn’t come as a surprise; Tell Dafna was long known to be a strategic outpost against Egypt’s enemies. King Ramesses II of the 19th Dynasty (1279-1212 B.C.) chose the site to erect a fortress. King Psammetichus I, the first ruler of the 26th Dynasty (664-625 B.C.), later established a garrison of foreign mercenaries to defend the eastern borders of Egypt from invaders. Dating to the 7th century B.C., the foundations unearthed by the archaeologists most likely belonged to Psammetichus I’s fortified garrison town. [unsnip]

[ http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2292755/posts ]

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/enlarge/paintings-garrett_pod_image.html

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGS/Shared/StaticFiles/Photography/Images/POD/p/paintings-garrett-688656-ga.jpg

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGS/Shared/StaticFiles/Photography/Images/POD/p/paintings-garrett-688656-sw.jpg

Tomb Paintings, Bahariya Oasis, Egypt, 2001

Paintings adorn the walls of the mortuary complex of Zed-Khons-uef-ankh, who ruled Bahariya during Egypt’s 26th dynasty (664-525 B.C.), a time when the isolated oases of the Western Desert were strategically important buffers against Libyan invaders. Archaeologists had been looking for his tomb since finding those of his relatives in 1938.

(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, “Egypt’s Hidden Tombs Revealed,” September 2001, National Geographic magazine)

Photograph by Kenneth Garrett

dead link, but easily found with The Wayback Machine:

Did Joshua Destroy Canaanite Hatzor?
by Clarence H. Wagner, Jr.
However, when Ben-Tor began his excavations in 1990 he came upon a palace near Yadin's which he dated, by means of its ceramics, to a few hundred years later - that is, to the last half of the second millennium or Late Bronze (LB) period... "We had taken it for granted that there were two palaces," he says. "I now think Yadin erred and that the palace whose corner he excavated may perhaps be part of the same Late Bronze palace we've been excavating, not an earlier palace from the Middle Bronze period. It will take another two weeks of digging next season to prove it, one way or the other."
The First Book of Samuel
by Thomas Nelson
In fact, the second half of the book and first half of Second Samuel amount to an apology for David's rise to the throne. The similarities of this section to the Apology of Hattusilis, a thirteenth-century B.C. writing, are remarkable. In this ancient document, a Hittite king outlined the reasons for the legitimacy of his rule. Such an apology was particularly important in the case of a king-like David-who founded a new dynasty.

This is an interesting if strained comparison; regardless, David lived centuries before Hattusilis. didn't check this link, may be kaput.

The Stratigraphy of the 19th Dynasty in Asia Minor
by Alan Montgomery
Petrie found a temple of Rameses II at Tahpanhes, a 26th Dynasty site. Psammetichus (663 - 610 GAD) of the 26th Dynasty had granted Tahpanhes to his Greek and Carian mercenaries. It existed during the 26th Dynasty until the time of Amasis (569 -525). He found no artefacts of dynasties 20 to 25... Excavators at Lachish found a temple with 19th Dynasty artefacts also contained Israelite material of the 7th century. The stratum of the time Nebuchadnezzar, circa 590, contained the scarabs of Ramses II circa 1290... At Byblos... Ahiram... was buried in a coffin made by his son. His son's inscription was in Phoenician script of the 8th or 7th century as was the imported Cypriote pottery but the broken Egyptian vases and the coffin in the tomb were from the time of Ramses II... Rowe, the excavator of Beth Shan, designated the upper Strata IX to V to the 18th, 19th and the early 20th Dynasty. Levels IX, VIII, and VII are ascribed to the 18th Dynasty. Levels VI and V are ascribed to the 19th and early 20th Dynasties. The succeeding Stratum IV was ascribed to the period of the Late 20th Dynasty, Judges and Philistines, Israelite kings, Assyrians, Psammetichus and the Scythians as well as the Neo-Babylonians and the early years of the Persians. Whereas 5 strata are assigned to just over 300 years, the one and only Israelite stratum was assigned over 700 years. Furthermore, the thickness of Stratum IV is eight times thinner than the combined Strata V and VI, circa 150 years... Indeed, Mazar reports that Level VII belongs to the 19th Dynasty and Level VI to the 20th Dynasty. This leaves two levels V and IV for the Israelite levels. Though he cites Rowe as a reference, he gives no explanation of the discrepancy. Although it is suggested that the Philistines followed the 20th Dynasty, Rowe reports no Philistine pottery at this level. Furthermore, no artefacts identified as Israelite, Assyrian or Neo-Babylonian is reported either. Only a statue of Ramses III is found here together with Scythian artefacts. If Seti I and Ramses II (1300 - 1200) directly overlie the Scythians in Neo-Babylonian and Persian times (600 - 300), there remains a 600-year gap, just like the Syrian sites... It is hopeless to carry on special pleading any longer to avoid the obvious. There is no 600-year gap. The 19th Dynasty existed in the 7th not the 13th century. The 19th and 26th Dynasties are the same as Velikovsky has claimed.

totally irrelevant sidebars (from the hard drive); one of the Akkadian dynasty of Assyrian kings refers in his annals to tribute from Egypt, Menes, the very King Narmer generally identified as the Egyptian Menes listed as first pharaoh:

Egyptian Tomb In Israel
by Andrew Kasdan
January/February 1997
The discovery of an Egyptian-style tomb at Tel Halif in the Negev Desert suggests an Egyptian colonial presence in southern Israel ca. 3000 B.C... A 30-foot-long passageway descends to the burial chamber, which is about 26 feet long, 16 feet wide, and nine and one-half feet high. Within the dome-shaped chamber is a plastered stone platform on which the skeleton of a woman was found. About 25 years old when she died, she was found in a fetal position facing east, characteristic of Egyptian burials... Egyptian ceramics, seal impressions, and bread molds found at Tel Halif support an Egyptian occupation. Among these artifacts is a potsherd engraved with the serekh, or sign, of King Narmer, who is believed to have united Upper and Lower Egypt between 3050 and 3000 B.C.
2003 ASOR Annual Meeting
Paper Abstracts
by Eli Yannai
Eli Yannai, Israel Antiquities Authority The Excavations at Tel Lod and their Contribution to Understanding Egyptian Presence in the Land of Israel at the End of Early Bronze IB

Tel Lod is located in the middle of the coastal plain ca. 8 kilometers east of Tel Jaffa. Excavations revealed a large settlement dating to Early Bronze I-III. Finds included hundreds of imported Egyptian vessels, as well as imitations made in Lod and the south of the country. Six sherds from imported vessels had incised serakhs of Narmer, while another bore the serakh of Ka. These discoveries indicate that during the reign of Narmer (parallel to Naqada III B-C in Egypt) the community at Lod displayed Egyptian cultural characteristics and may have included a colony of Egyptian immigrants. The finds also indicate that Egyptian presence, well known from the south of the country, extended northwards to the Yarkon Basin. Although no Egyptian settlements have been found to date north of the Yarkon Basin, several tombs at excavated sites have revealed sporadic Egyptian finds. Thus, the colony at Lod was probably not part of a network of Egyptian settlements along the "Via Maris," but as testified to by the discovery of an Egyptian jar off 'Atlit and the establishment of several settlements along the coast, it was probably part of an Egyptian command complex whose purpose was to provide support for Egyptian maritime trade to the Syrian-Lebanese coast, especially Byblos. Lod may have also been an agricultural and commercial support for the (Egyptian?) port at Jaffa, while Egyptian settlements in the south of the country provided agricultural and commercial support to the (Egyptian?) ports at Gaza, Ashkelon, etc.

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