A large red granite false door from the tomb of an ancient queen's influential aid vizier has been unearthed in Upper Egypt, Culture Minister said Monday. The carved stone door, which ancient Egyptians believed was the threshold to the afterlife, was unearthed near the Karnak Temple in Luxor and belongs to the tomb of User, a powerful adviser to the 18th dynasty Queen Hatshepsut, Farouq Hosni added in a statement. The door, 1.75 metres (5.7 feet) high and 50 cm (19 inches) thick, is engraved with religious texts and various titles used by User, including mayor of the city, vizier and prince, Egypt's top archaeologist Zahi Hawass said. “The newly discovered door was reused during the Roman period. It was removed from the tomb of User and used in the wall of a Roman structure,” said Mansour Boreiq, who headed the excavation mission. Hatshepsut, who ruled Egypt between 1479 BC and 1458 BC, was the longest reigning female pharaoh. Though during his life User was an important adviser to Queen Hatshepsut, the door was taken from his tomb and used as part of a wall in front of the famous Karnak Temple during the Roman period, more than 1,000 years after his death, Mansour Boreiq, the head of the Egyptian excavation team said in a statement. Historians generally regard Hatshepsut as among the most successful of ancient Egypt's pharaohs. Egypt was at peace for most of her 22-year reign, allowing her to build trade networks that fed government coffers and funded the construction of monuments and buildings that tourists still flock to see.
