5,000-year-old wine for Egyptian queen

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Fig. 1: The tomb complex of Queen Meret-Neith in Abydos during excavation. The Q
Fig. 1: The tomb complex of Queen Meret-Neith in Abydos during excavation. The Queen’s burial chamber lies in the centre of the complex and is surrounded by the secondary tombs of the courtiers and servants C: EC Köhler
New archaeological discoveries at the tomb of Meret-Neith in Abydos

A German-Austrian team led by archaeologist Christiana Köhler from the University of Vienna is investigating the tomb of Queen Meret-Neith in Abydos, Egypt. She was the most powerful woman in the period around 3,000 BC. Recent excavations prove her special historical significance: the researchers found 5,000-year-old wine and other grave goods. This fuels speculation that Meret-Neith was the first pharaoh of ancient Egypt and predecessor of the later Queen Hatshepsut.


The team recently began archaeological excavations in the tomb of Queen Meret-Neith of the 1st Dynasty (c. 3,000 BCE) in Abydos and discovered significant new information about this important historical woman. Queen Meret-Neith was the only woman to have her own monumental tomb in Egypt’s first royal cemetery at Abydos. She was probably the most powerful woman of her time and today’s researchers speculate that Meret-Neith may have been the first female pharaoh in ancient Egypt and thus the predecessor of the later Queen Hatshepsut from the 18th dynasty. Her true identity remains a mystery. The new excavations bring to light exciting new The team is working in an interdisciplinary and international collaboration between the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, the German Archaeological Institute in Cairo, the University of Vienna and the Vienna University of Technology in Austria and Lund University in Sweden.