Archaeologists working in the ancient Egyptian city of Tanis have revealed a funerary mystery: hundreds of figurines with the name of an unexpected pharaoh.

A French archaeological mission headed by Sorbonne University’s Frédéric Payraudeau found 225 funerary statuettes of King Shoshenq III, but not in his tomb—in King Osorkon II’s. The finding confirms that the pharaoh expected quite the pampered afterlife and hints at a potential musical-chairs situation of ancient Egyptian tombs in Tanis, near the modern-day city of San el-Hagar .

Afterlife helpers

Funerary statuettes, known as ushabti , were meant to work at the behest of the gods in place of the deceased individual. The team found Shoshenq III’s ushabti and new inscriptions on the walls of the northern chamber of Osorkon II’s

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