Ancient Door of Hatshepsut Vizier User Discovered at Karnak

An Egyptian excavation team has made a new discovery at Karnak during routine excavation works. A large red granite false door belonging to the tomb of Queen Hatshepsut’s vizier User and his wife Toy has been unearthed in front of the Karnak Temple.

Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, explained that the door is 175 cm tall, 100 cm wide and 50 cm thick. It is engraved with religious texts, as well as different titles of the vizier User, who took office at the time of the fifth year of Queen Hatshepsut’s reign, circa 1474 BC. The official's titles included mayor of the city, vizier, and prince. Hawass said that tomb number 61 on Luxor’s west bank belonged to User.

Mansour Boraik, the head of the Egyptian excavation mission, said that the newly discovered door was reused during the Roman period: it was removed from the tomb of User and used in the wall of a Roman structure previously found by the mission.

A chapel of User was also found at Gebel el-Silsila, a mountain quarry site at Aswan in use from the 18th Dynasty to Greco-Roman times. This attests to vizier User's importance during Pharaoh Hatshepsut’s reign, as well as to the importance of the post of vizier in ancient Egypt, especially during the 18th Dynasty. A vizier at that time was in charge of much of the day-to-day administration in Egypt, reporting only to the the King and the Chief Treasurer.

Mansour Boraik added that User is the uncle of the noble and official Rekhmire, who was King Tuthmosis III’s vizier and one of the most well-known functionaries of the 18th Dynasty. The false door of Rekhmire's tomb (TT100) can today be seen in the Louvre, and his tomb is featured in this 'The Lost Tombs of Thebes' video with Sandro Vannini.

Other notable officials that served this New Kingdom Dynasty were Rekhmire and Ramose from the reigns of kings Amenhotep III and Amenhotep IV as well as the military chief Horemheb (see photographs of his tomb, KV57), who later came to Egypt’s throne as the last king of the 18th Dynasty.

This announcement comes only weeks after the discovery of a colossal 18th Dynasty statue that depicts Thoth, the pharaonic deity of wisdom, as a baboon.

The statue was discovered in four pieces in Luxor, where workers were reducing the ground water beneath Luxor in a bid to preserve the city's famous temples.  Last month a 2.5m head of Amenhotep III - now assumed to be King Tut's grandfather - was unearthed in the Kom El-Hettan area of Luxor’s West Bank. Dr Hawass said, "It is a masterpiece of highly artistic quality and shows a portrait of the king with very fine youthful sculptured features," adding there were still traces of red paint on the head.

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Ann Wuyts (follow me: e-mail or )

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Unique Iron Age Hoard goes on display at Ipswich Museum | Royal Artefacts - Including King Tut's Golden Trumpet - Returned to Egyptian Museum Cairo | SCA releases full list of treasures missing from the Cairo Museum

Ann 'Vint' Wuyts is looking after the Heritage Key community and avatar health & entertainment. She is slightly fascinated by everything to do with 3D technology and what's commonly defined as 'Web 2.0'. When she grows up, Ann - eventually - wants to be a mummy. Favourite game: Buzzword Bingo /…