Deir el-Bersha

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Deir el-Bersha is a Coptic village in Middle Egypt. It is located on the east bank of the Nile in the al-Minya governorate, to the south of Antinopolis and almost opposite the city of Mallawi.

During the Middle Kingdom it was the chief cemetery of the governors ("nomarchs") of the 15th Upper Egyptian Nome, dating back to the Eleventh and Twelfth Dynasties. The most spectacular of the tombs is that of the Great Overlord of the Hare (15th) Nome' called Djehutihotep. He lived during the reigns of Amenemhat II, Senusret II and Senusret III.

Deir al-Barsha necropolis is near the Nile valley town of Minya, 225 km south of Cairo.

In 2007 the tomb of an Egyptian courtier was found. The tomb belonged to Henu, an estate manager and high-ranking official during the First Intermediate Period, which lasted from 2181 to 2050 BC and was a time of political chaos in ancient Egypt. The archaeologists found Henu's mummy wrapped in linen in a large wooden coffin and a sarcophagus decorated with hieroglyphic texts addressed to the gods Anubis and Osiris. The tomb contained well-preserved painted wooden statuettes of workers making bricks, women making beer and pounding cereal, and a model of a boat with rowers, Egyptian media said. (from a 2007-05-21 news article at www.chinaview.cn )