Trois nouvelles harpes découvertes à Thèbes ouest : quel apport pour l'égyptologie ?

International audienceMusical instruments discovered in Egypt are particularly numerous due to exceptional climatic conditions which allowed their preservation.The majority of them have entered museum collections after being purchased on the art market. Their provenance is generally unknown and itis not always easy to distinguish the ancient traces of restorations from the modern ones; this is why it is particularly valuable to study musicalinstruments at the time of their discovery. Others musical instruments have been found during excavations in the Theban necropolis in thefirst half of the 20th century, but they have not been sufficiently documented according to the actual standards of archaeology. Recently, thediscovery of three wooden harps on the west bank of Luxor allows us to consider again the study of Egyptian cordophones on the basis of solidarchaeological data. Their remains were found in three shaft-tombs during the DAI’s excavations of the years 2002–2005 in the necropolis of Dra’Abu el-Naga. This paper presents this exceptional discovery. One of the instruments seems to be the missing link between the shovel-shapedharp and the ladle-shaped harp, according to the typology of Hans Hickmann. The two other objects are well-known naviform harps. One ofthem is extremely well preserved and can be compared with similar objects preserved in museums in order to highlight common features anddiscrepancies in the craftsmanship. This study raises the issue of a serial production of naviform harps at Thebes at the end of the Second IntermediatePeriod and beginning of the New Kingdom. Indeed, most instruments of this kind were buried in tombs in the Theban necropolis. Thislast feature draws our attention to the fact that during this period the deposit of musicals instruments seems to have been more frequent. Is thisbecause of religious purposes, or are we dealing here with tombs of musicians