In an announcement on Facebook, Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities said the tomb belonged to a woman called “Hetpet”, an elite member of the royal palace during the end of the Fifth Dynasty (2,494 BCE - 2,345 BCE) who served as a high priestess to the goddess of fertility and motherhood Hathor. [...]
The unique feature of her tomb is the paintings that cover the walls. Luckily for the project's archaeologists, the murals remain in remarkably good condition considering their age.
Along with depicting Hetpet herself in different hunting and fishing scenes, other parts of the mural show scenes of forging metals, picking fruit, and the building of papyrus boats. The walls also depict two monkey scenes, one showing a monkey dancing in front of an orchestra. Monkeys were commonly kept as pets at the time so it’s not uncommon to see them in paintings, however, this style of depiction is particularly unusual.
"Such scenes are rare... and have only been found previously in the (Old Kingdom) tomb of 'Ka-Iber' where a painting shows a monkey dancing in front of a guitarist not an orchestra," Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, told AFP.
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