PHILADELPHIA - Archaeologists have found something amazing. It is the tomb of a previously unknown Egyptian pharaoh, or king. A tomb is an underground room in which someone is buried.

Archaeologists study people who lived a long time ago. They do this by looking at their bones and the tools they used. They believe the pharaoh ruled more than 3,600 years ago.

They expect to find more than 12 other tombs. They believe the people in them all belonged to a forgotten dynasty. A dynasty is a line of rulers belonging to the same family.

The tomb was found last week. Unfortunately, it had been robbed. But writing on its walls shows whose tomb it is. It belonged to a ruler named Woseribre Senebkay.

The archaeologists are now looking for other tombs nearby. They believe all belong to the same lost dynasty. They are digging where the ancient city of Abydos once stood.

"City Of The Dead"

"It looks like there's a whole royal necropolis," said archaeologist Josef Wegner. Necropolis is the word for a large group of tombs. It means "city of the dead."

Archaeologists weren't completely surprised. They already knew there were pharaohs that had been forgotten. An ancient list told them this. The list is known as the Turin King List. It contains names of Egyptian rulers. Some of the names on it are not well known.

The name Senebkay is on the list. It was one of the unfamiliar family names.

"They basically were forgotten to history," Wegner said. The names are not on later lists of kings, he said.

Robbed By Tomb Raiders

The tomb is from 1650 B.C. It was raided by tomb robbers in ancient times.

Woseribre Senebkay was probably around 5 feet 10 inches tall. He died in his forties.

The tomb contained parts of several things. It held a mask, a coffin and a wooden chest. The chest was used to store the king's organs: his heart, his liver and so on. The ancient Egyptians often removed a person's organs before burying them.

Senebkay's tomb is painted with pictures of several goddesses: Nut, Nephthys, Selket and Isis.

Senebkay ruled during the Second Intermediate Period. Several dynasties were fighting against each other back then.]]>