Ramses II's long-lost sarcophagus has finally been identified

Ramses II, a pharaoh who reigned in the 13th century BCE, is one of the best-known rulers of ancient Egypt. The 19th Dynasty king expanded Egyptian territory into what is now Syria, fathered a hundred children, and boasted one of the most ornate coffins in civilization. But the carved granite sarcophagus built to house this coffin has never been identified until now.

Frédéric Payraudeau, an Egyptologist at the University of Sorbonne, France, recently re-examined a sarcophagus fragment found in the ancient necropolis of Abydos in 2009. At the time, experts posited that the engraved stone box contained the remains of two different people at different times, according to a press release from the French National Center for Scientific Research. The second occupant was Menkheperre, a high priest who lived around 1000 BCE. But the first proved more difficult to pin down: archaeologists only knew that he was a very high-ranking figure from the Egyptian New Kingdom, reports Live ScienceThis is Jennifer Nalewicki.

When Payraudeau studied the inscriptions on the sarcophagus fragment, including a previously obstructed and misidentified cartouche (an oval that usually surrounds a royal name), he realized that the hieroglyphs bore the name Ramesses. The researcher published his findings in the journal Egyptology Review.

Ramesses' reign lasted approximately 67 years, making it one of the longest in ancient civilization. Nicknamed the “builder pharaoh”, Ramses had numerous temples built throughout the region. As Payraudeau says in the release, finding an ancient Egyptian site that doesn't bear Ramesses' name is rare. The king even added his name to monuments built before his reign.

Ramesses' death in 1213 BCE left a physical mark on many levels, thanks to the multifaceted Egyptian entombment techniques and the extensive plundering of the Valley of the Kings, which housed his royal tomb and many others. The pharaoh was buried in a gilded wooden coffin nestled inside an alabaster sarcophagus and a larger granite sarcophagus. Later, the coffin was stolen, the alabaster sarcophagus was broken by looters and the granite sarcophagus, from which the fragment in question came, was reused by Menkheperre.

As Payraudeau explains, the Valley of the Kings was plundered numerous times during ancient Egypt's 19th dynasty, a time of economic and social crises that led to scarcity, forcing even family members royal to reuse funerary objects created for their predecessors.

In 1881, Ramesses' mummy and coffin were discovered in a hiding place in the Deir el-Bahari temple complex, which housed the remains of 50 other members of the nobility, including the pharaoh's father, Seti I, according to the Museum Egyptian. Since then, Ramesses' golden coffin and mummy have been displayed in museums around the world. It remains to be seen whether the sarcophagus fragment, currently kept in Abydos, will also one day be exhibited.