Inside, the little-known 21st-Dynasty pharaoh Psusennes I had been buried in an exquisitely detailed coffin made of solid silver, wearing a spectacular gold burial mask.
At the outset of World War II, the French Egyptologist Pierre Montet was excavating near the New Kingdom capital of Tanis when he stumbled on a treasure-filled tomb rivaling that of King Tut. Inside, the little-known 21st-Dynasty pharaoh Psusennes I had been buried in an exquisitely detailed coffin made of solid silver, wearing a spectacular gold burial mask. The splendor of the Silver Pharaoh’s tomb raised new questions for historians, as it indicated a level of wealth and power historians had assumed pharaohs did not possess by the time Psusennes ruled Egypt, around 3,000 years ago.