A French archaeological team working at the ancient royal necropolis of Tanis in Sharqiya has announced a significant new discovery: 225 ushabti statues linked to King Shoshenq III of Egypt’s Twenty-Second Dynasty. The mission, led by Dr. Frédéric Payraud of Sorbonne University, uncovered the cache during conservation work in the northern chamber of the tomb of King Osorkon II, one of Tanis’s major rulers.
The figurines were found in their original placement, preserved beneath compacted layers of silt near an uninscribed granite sarcophagus long considered one of the site’s unsolved puzzles. According to Dr. Mohamad Ismail Khaled, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, the new evidence strongly suggests that the granite sarcophagus may belong to Shoshenq III — potentially resolving a mystery that has endured since the treasures of Tanis were first uncovered in 1939.
Officials describe the find as the most important discovery in the royal necropolis since the mid-20th century, opening a new window onto Third Intermediate Period burial customs and the movements of royal funerary goods. Egyptian experts also confirmed the presence of newly identified inscriptions inside the chamber, offering fresh clues about tomb reuse and royal mortuary practices.
The French mission, which has worked at Tanis since 1929 in partnership with Egyptian authorities, is continuing conservation and documentation efforts as part of a broader project to protect the tombs from environmental damage. Dr. Payraud noted that upcoming research will focus on studying the inscriptions and determining whether Shoshenq III was originally interred in Osorkon II’s tomb or whether his funerary objects were moved there later to safeguard them from looting.
Tanis, once the political heart of the Delta during the Third Intermediate Period, continues to reveal new layers of its royal history — and archaeologists believe many more discoveries lie ahead.
