PHILADELPHIA - Archaeologists from the University of Pennsylvania say they have found the tomb of a previously unknown Egyptian pharaoh who ruled more than 3,600 years ago. They also say that there could be more than a dozen other tombs. All, they believe, are the final resting places of members of a forgotten dynasty - that is, a forgotten family line of rulers.

The tomb, found last week, was heavily looted. However, hieroglyphs - an ancient Egyptian form of writing - were found on the chamber walls and clearly identify whose tomb it is. It belonged, the Penn team announced on Wednesday, to a ruler named Woseribre Senebkay.

The researchers already have begun excavating several nearby sites that appear to be from the same dynasty. These are located at the site of the ancient city of Abydos, more than 300 miles south of Cairo.

Graveyard For A Lost City

"It looks like there's a whole royal necropolis of this lost dynasty," said egyptologist Josef Wegner, who led the expedition. Necropolis is the term for an ancient cemetery. It literally means "city of the dead."

Archaeologists had already suspected the existence of the unknown pharaohs. This was because of an ancient list of rulers called the Turin King List. Years ago, a Danish researcher named Kim Ryholt analyzed parts of the list. He proposed then that 16 of the unknown kings on the list belonged to the Abydos dynasty.

The name Senebkay matches one of the names on the list, said Wegner.

"They basically were forgotten to history," Wegner said. "In the later king lists, they don't appear. They just kind of vanish."

The tomb has been dated to 1650 B.C. It appears to have been raided by tomb robbers in ancient times, Wegner said. Even the king's bodily remains were ripped apart.

Work conducted on the skeleton suggests that Senebkay stood about 5 feet 10 inches tall. He appears to have died in his mid- to late 40s.

A Mask, A Coffin And A Cedar Chest

The tomb contained remains of a funeral mask, a coffin and a cedar chest. The chest would have been used to house the king's organs, including his heart and liver. Among the ancient Egyptians, a person's organs were customarily removed before burial.

The chest apparently had been reused. It appears to have been taken from the nearby tomb of an earlier king. That king, named Sobekhotep, was already known.

The string of discoveries began last year, when Wegner and others found a 60-ton stone sarcophagus chamber. A sarcophagus is a carved stone box that Egyptian coffins were placed in. This one appeared to have been moved from its original site. Its original owner was identified as Sobekhotep. Wegner and the others are still trying to identify the king for whom it was reused.

The discovery of Woseribre Senebkay's tomb occurred during digs of ruins near the 60-ton chamber. The tombs of other members of the dynasty are thought to lie nearby.

Senebkay's tomb is painted with images of the goddesses Nut, Nephthys, Selket and Isis. Senebkay ruled during what is known as the Second Intermediate Period. At the time, several rival dynasties were competing for power, Wegner said.