Seven Centuries of Successive Burials

A tomb in the Theban necropolisNecropolisA large organised burial ground, a "city of the dead", often spanning several periods.→, originally created for a dignitary named Nisemro, was continuously reused for nearly seven centuries, according to a study published in August 2026 by researchers from the University of Basel and the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities.1 Anthropological and archaeological analysis of the remains found in the burialBurialThe intentional deposition of a body, sometimes with offerings; a marker of symbolic behaviour.→ reveals at least twelve distinct phases of interment, spanning from the New Kingdom (c. 1550-1070 BCE) to the Third Intermediate Period (c. 1069-664 BCE). This exceptional longevity makes Nisemro's tomb one of the best-documented examples of funerary reuse in ancient Egypt.

Aerial view of the Theban necropolis
Aerial view of the Theban necropolis, west bank of Luxor. Hundreds of tombs from all periods are superimposed in the limestone. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)

The practice of tomb reuse in ancient Egypt was far more widespread than previously thought. Reasons were multiple: economic (cutting a tomb in Theban limestone was a costly undertaking), practical (well-positioned tombs, near temples or easy access points, were scarce), and symbolic (being buried in an ancient tomb sometimes conferred enhanced prestige, through association with respected ancestors). Nisemro's tomb illustrates this phenomenon with exceptional documentary precision.

A Remarkable Funerary StratigraphyStratigraphyThe study of the superimposed layers (strata) of an archaeological site; each layer corresponds to a phase of occupation and yields a relative chronology.→

Nisemro himself is identified through the inscriptions in the funerary chapel and the cartouches identifying his titles: he was a royal scribe and administrator under the reign of Thutmose III (c. 1479-1425 BCE). His tomb, located in the Sheikh Abd el-Qurna sector on the west bank of modern Luxor, comprises a T-shaped chapel decorated with wall paintings depicting offering scenes, funerary banquets, and marsh hunting -- typical of the 18th dynasty artistic style.2

Egyptian mummy wrapped in bandages
New Kingdom Egyptian mummyMummyA body preserved from decay, naturally (cold, aridity, peat) or artificially; the frozen Pazyryk kurgans yielded natural mummies with tattooed skin.→. Anthropological analyses of remains found in Nisemro's tomb identified at least 12 distinct individuals. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Excavations conducted since 2019 have revealed an accumulation of funerary deposits belonging to at least twelve distinct individuals, identified through DNADNAThe molecule carrying genetic information, used to reconstruct kinship between species.→ analysis, bone anthropology, and radiocarbon dating. The earliest corresponds to Nisemro himself and his immediate family (18th dynasty). Subsequent ones, dated by ceramic sequences and isotopic analyses, span the 19th, 20th, 21st, and 22nd dynasties, revealing seven centuries of uninterrupted burials in the same rock-cut cavity.

Particularly interesting is the 21st dynasty phase (c. 1069-945 BCE), a period during which the High Priests of Amun exercised de facto power at Thebes. During this troubled period, many royal mummies from the Valley of the Kings were collectively reburied in caches to protect them from tomb robbers. Nisemro's tomb appears to have been used in a similar fashion for members of the local priestly class.

Implications for Egyptian Funerary Archaeology

This discovery forces a reassessment of methods for analysing Egyptian necropolises. Historically, 19th and early 20th-century excavators often dug quickly through secondary tombs, considering that "intrusive" burials -- those later than the original use -- disturbed and contaminated archaeological data. Nisemro's tomb shows on the contrary that these successive layers are stratigraphic archives of exceptional richness for understanding social and religious transformations over several centuries.

Painted Egyptian wooden sarcophagus
Painted Egyptian sarcophagus typical of the New Kingdom. Several sarcophagi from different periods were found stacked in Nisemro's tomb. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)

DNA analyses also revealed genealogical surprises: two individuals buried three centuries apart show close kinship, suggesting either a family tradition of tomb reuse (which some Egyptian texts mention), or a coincidence that only genetic analyses can detect. This genealogical dimension opens new perspectives on the commemorative and memorial strategies of non-royal Egyptian elites, whose tombs and family connections are far less well documented than those of the pharaohs.

Sources

1. Bickel S. et al., "Seven centuries of funerary reuse: the tomb of Nisemro at Sheikh Abd el-Qurna", Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, August 2026.

2. Porter B., Moss R. L. B., Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs, and Paintings, vol. I (2), Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1960.

3. Reeves N., Wilkinson R. H., The Complete Valley of the Kings, Thames and Hudson, London, 1996.

4. Dodson A., Ikram S., The Tomb in Ancient Egypt, Thames and Hudson, London, 2008.