A team of Polish archaeologists has unearthed hundreds of artifacts that were once offerings to an ancient Egyptian fertility goddess in 3,500-year-old rubble. They made the discovery while rebuilding a tomb below the Hathor Chapel at the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri.

The collection of artifacts includes blue-painted figurines along with cups, plates, bowls and other ceramic vessels with modeled breasts.

Patryk Chudzik, from the Polish Center for Mediterranean Archeology at the University of Warsaw, is head of excavations at the Temple of Hatshepsut. He stated to Arkeonews, “We were afraid that the work we were doing might cause the tomb roof to collapse, so we wanted to protect it. However, once inside, it turned out that the wreckage was never examined and cleaned as it was located above a cemetery, about half a meter high.”

He added, “Apart from the remains of the tomb furnishings of the original owner of the tomb, a large deposit of objects dedicated to the goddess Hathor was discovered in the rubble. These included mainly small faience figurines depicting naked women with long braids falling on their shoulders, amulets depicting a woman with cow ears, clay figurines of cows, and numerous ceramic vessels with modeled breasts. The ensemble of offerings also included numerous fragments of sculptures dedicated to the goddess Hathor.”