Archaeologists in Egypt Uncover Tomb of Ancient High-Ranking Military Commander

An Egyptian archaeological team from the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) has unearthed the tomb of a high-ranking military commander dating back to the reign of King Ramesses III (ca. 1184 BCE–1153 BCE).

The tomb was found at Tell Roud Iskander, a site in the Maskhouta area of Ismailia Governorate, Archaeology Magazine reports. The discovery highlights the region’s strategic military importance during Egypt’s New Kingdom, where fortresses and strongholds were built to defend the eastern borders.

“The site was crucial in securing Egypt’s eastern borders, with fortresses and strongholds built for defense,” Mohamed Ismail Khaled, Secretary-General of the SCA, told Heritage Daily.

The mudbrick tomb consists of a main burial chamber and three adjoining rooms, with walls coated in white plaster. Among the artifacts found were bronze arrowheads, a ceremonial scepter indicating the commander’s prestigious rank, painted alabaster vessels (two of which bear the cartouche of King Horemheb), a collection of beads, a small ivory box, and a gold ring engraved with King Ramses III’s cartouche.

Archaeologists also found a human skeleton covered in cartonnage, a material similar to papier mâché that was often used to make funerary masks, suggesting that the tomb was reused later on. Additionally, the excavation revealed mass and individual graves from the Greek, Roman, and Late Periods. Some graves contained amulets depicting the deities Taweret, Bes, and the Eye of Udjat while skeletal remains in the mass graves further illustrate the site’s long history of burials.