The discovery of the tomb of the Great Army General Iwrhya: A quasi 3D Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT), Saqqara, Giza, Egypt

Abstract

A quasi 3D electrical resistivity (ERT) survey was undertaken at a UNESCO World Heritage site, Saqqara, Giza, Egypt, during a joint archaeological-geophysical mission from Cairo University. The main objective is to detect the locations of the subsurface archaeological tombs/or crypts and to allocate any possible archaeological bodies/features buried underneath the study area. In this survey, SYSCAL Pro system with 24 electrodes and a multi-core cable is used for automatic data acquisition of profiling data. The dipole–dipole array was used to enhance resolution, 14 resistivity lines are conducted during this Survey. The processed data were analysed in order to produce resistivity tomography (ERT) for qualitative and quantitative interpretations. Inversion of the ERT data identified variation of resistivity values and the expected locations of the underground galleries and highlight the presence of regular shape structures probably due to features of archaeological interest. Excavations made accordingly in the study area led to an interesting discovery of a tomb of the Great Army General, Iwrhya. The tomb is approximately 2000 years old as it covers the reigns of both Kings Seth I and Ramesses II. Using the 3D resistivity tomography with such a multi-electrode technique proved its efficiency and applicability for non-invasive archaeo-geophysical prospecting.

Funerary Objects and an Intact Secondary Burial in the Early Ramesside Tomb of Iurokhy at Saqqara

“…58 Paser was the chief guardian of records of the army, Hri sAw n sSw-mSa in the time of Ramesses II, after year 30, and the royal envoy to all foreign countries, wpw.t nsw m xAs(w).t nb(.t). His tomb, numbered 022/USC, has been excavated by the mission of the Faculty of Archaeology, Cairo University in 2013(El-Aguizy 2020El Aguizy 2022: 46;Staring 2023: 188). 59 This graffito is unpublished and will be published separately by the author of this paper.…”

“… 16. K RI III, 191–195; Staring 2014/15: 74–76; El Aguizy 2018: 1; El Aguizy, et al 2020: 439; Staring 2023: 308–309 (004/USC). …”

Multi-Parametric Imaging of Etruscan Chamber Tombs: Grotte Di Castro Case Study (Italy)

“…Recently, multi-parametric geophysical surveys have become a standard approach as they provide a higher level of accuracy in data interpretation compared to a single technique. Regarding the archeological investigation, the joint use of geophysical methods based on detecting contrasts in the dielectric constant, such as ground-penetrating radar (GPR), in the resistivity distribution is similar to those measured by electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) or in the magnetic susceptibility through magnetic method (MM) are the most used to image buried remains [6][7][8][9][10][11][12].…”