José Manuel Galán, research professor from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and leader of the Djehuty Project, has discovered a 4,000-year-old funerary garden – the first such garden ever to be found.
The garden consisted of a rectangular area elevated 50 cm off the ground and divided into 30 cm2 beds.
Two trees were planted next to the garden.
The discovery and analysis of the garden will provide valuable information about both the environmental conditions and the botany of ancient Luxor 4,000 years ago.
The funeral garden was discovered in an open courtyard at the entrance of a Middle Kingdom tomb cut from rock.
At the center of the garden, two beds that are raised higher than the others are probably contained small shrubs or trees.
The stelae are dated to the Thirteenth Dynasty, around the year 1800 BCE – later than the garden and the tomb. »