Tomb of Non-royal Woman Found in Valley of Kings

We hear a lot about pharaohs and other royal personages dug out of the sands of time in Egypt, but now comes the story of the discovery of the tomb of a female singer in the Valley of the Kings. That should be music to someone's ears.

In the best archaeological tradition, a team from Switzerland were looking for something else when they found the tomb and a wooden plaque that, amazingly enough, had the woman's name: Nehmes Bastet, after the feline god Bastet. The team (and, by extension, all of the rest of us) know when she lived and performed as well: during the 22nd Dynasty (945-712 BC).

There is a bit of a royal connection, in that this woman was the daughter of the High Priest of Amon. So it's not as if she's just some singer being buried with the Tuts and the other high-and-mighty folks in the Valley of the Kings. After all, you don't see a whole lot of musical notes in those hieroglyphs of old, now do you?

But seriously, this is a very significant find because it is the first non-royal tomb found in this historic valley. For that honor alone, Nehmes Bastet deserves a song.