1st Intermediate Period tombs, el-Mo'alla, Egypt

Tomb of Ankhtifi, a 9th Dynasty Egyptian governer, el-Mo'alla, Egypt

Visited February 2013

This is a very little-visited Egyptian tomb of the 9th Dynasty (1st Intermediate Period, c.2181–2055 BCE) which lies about half way between Esna and Luxor. The tomb is quite poorly preserved, although a roof has been put on it. What remains is a rock-cut funerary chapel with painted and carved decoration on the walls and columns, including scenes of farming, fishing etc. The most important thing, for Egyptologists (and the reason I visited), is an autobiographical text in hieroglyphs which describes a famine. Nearby is the smaller, even less well preserved tomb of Sobekhotep.