A sarcophagus found in 2009 Eventually identified as Ramesses II

he discovery was made thanks to the study of a fragment of this sarcophagus by Frédéric Payraudeau, associate professor of Egyptology at Sorbonne University and researcher at the Sorbonne Egyptological Research Center (Sorbonne University) and at the Orient and Mediterranean research laboratory (Sorbonne University /CNRS/Collège de France/University Panthéon-Sorbonne/EPHE-PSL).

Frédéric Payraudeau, associate professor at Sorbonne University, made the discovery while studying a large fragment of a granite sarcophagus found in 2009 in the floor of a Coptic convent in Abydos, and previously presented by Egyptian and American archaeologists Ayman Damrani and Kevin Cahail. The decoration and texts of this sarcophagus showed that it had been used twice, the second time by a high priest of the 21^st dynasty, Menkheperrê (around 1000 BC). Its first owner, however, remained a mystery, even if the quality of the object showed that it was a very important figure of the Egyptian New Kingdom. By examining the reengraving of the hieroglyphic texts, Frédéric Payraudeau was able to determine that they contained the cartouche of Ramses II himself.

Until now, it was known that the tomb of this pharaoh in the Valley of the Kings (Luxor) had been completely looted and his mummy transferred to a wooden coffin on 21^st dynasty (c. 1069-943 BC). It is now certain that the great king was buried in a golden coffin, now lost, placed in a first alabaster sarcophagus, found destroyed in his tomb, all placed in this large granite sarcophagus, now identified. After the plundering of the tomb, on the 21st^st The high priest of the dynasty collected the sarcophagus for his own use and had it transported to Abydos.

This discovery is further evidence that at this time the Valley of the Kings was not only subject to plunder but also to the reuse of funerary objects by later rulers. Pharaoh Psusannes I, for example, collected for himself one of the sarcophagi of Ramesses II's successor, Merenptah.