Discovering a lost valley of kings with Penn archaeologist Josef Wegner

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Guest: Dr. Josef Wegner

A few weeks ago, a team of University of Pennsylvania archaeologists discovered a lost pharaoh, part of a forgotten Egyptian dynasty, in the Nile Valley. Our guest, DR. JOSEF WEGNER, has been working at the southern Egyptian site of the ancient city of Abydos, about 300 miles south of Cairo, for over twenty years. Only until this recent excavation were archaeologists able to prove a theory of a lost dynasty that existed at Abydos between 1650 and 1600 BC. The tomb, unveiled by the Penn team, includes the skeletal remains of the previously unknown pharaoh, Senebkay, wall paintings viewed for the first time in thousands of years, and evidence of a possible final resting place of at least 19 pharaohs. Wegner fills us in on how this discovery tells us new aspects of the larger, human story.

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