Beer jugs found in Egyptian necropolis

The excavation of a 3,000 year-old Egyptian necropolis on the banks of the Nile has uncovered beer jugs among the funerary items.

A scarab amulet found at the site

The beer jugs were found alongside votive vessels, storage jars, beads, amulets and even a signet ring bearing the cartouche of the famous 18th dynasty Pharaoh Thuthmosis III.

The 40 tombs so far uncovered by the Swedish team from the University of Lund are at least 3,400 years-old and situated in a quarry site near Aswan, the stone from which was used to build some of the most famous temples of the New Kingdom (which lasted from the 16th to 11th centuries BC).

The tombs are not richly decorated like most Ancient Egyptian burial sites although they have also been badly damaged by the annual Nile flood.

Painted plaster remains suggest they would once have been decorated and the richness of the finds and carefully prepared state of the tombs suggest they were for quite high status individuals.