Egypt discusses strengthening agricultural ties, investment opportunities with Indian delegation    Egypt targets 7.7% AI contribution to GDP by 2030: Communications Minister    Irrigation Minister highlights Egypt's water challenges, innovation efforts at DAAD centenary celebration    Al-Sisi welcomes Spain's monarch in historic first visit, with Gaza, regional peace in focus    Cairo governor briefs PM on Khan el-Khalili, Rameses Square development    El Gouna Film Festival's 8th edition to coincide with UN's 80th anniversary    Egypt's gold prices fall on Wednesday    Egypt expands medical, humanitarian support for Gaza patients    Egypt condemns Israeli offensive in Gaza City, warns of grave regional consequences    Cairo University, Roche Diagnostics inaugurate automated lab at Qasr El-Ainy    Egypt investigates disappearance of ancient bracelet from Egyptian Museum in Tahrir    Egypt launches international architecture academy with UNESCO, European partners    Egypt's President, Pakistan's PM condemn Israeli attack on Qatar    Egypt signs MoUs with 3 European universities to advance architecture, urban studies    Egypt's Sisi, Qatar's Emir condemn Israeli strikes, call for Gaza ceasefire    Egypt condemns terrorist attack in northwest Pakistan    Egyptian pound ends week lower against US dollar – CBE    Egypt hosts G20 meeting for 1st time outside member states    Egypt to tighten waste rules, cut rice straw fees to curb pollution    Egypt seeks Indian expertise to boost pharmaceutical industry    Egypt prepares unified stance ahead of COP30 in Brazil    Egypt harvests 315,000 cubic metres of rainwater in Sinai as part of flash flood protection measures    Al-Sisi says any party thinking Egypt will neglect water rights is 'completely mistaken'    Egyptian, Ugandan Presidents open business forum to boost trade    Egypt's Sisi, Uganda's Museveni discuss boosting ties    Egypt's Sisi warns against unilateral Nile measures, reaffirms Egypt's water security stance    Greco-Roman rock-cut tombs unearthed in Egypt's Aswan    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



New discoveries at Saqqara
Published in Ahram Online on 20 - 01 - 2021

The remains of a royal funerary temple, painted coffins, mummies, masks, statues, stelae, toys, and a chapter from the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead were all among the spectacular new discoveries unveiled at the Saqqara Necropolis near Cairo this week.
Beside king Teti's pyramid, the founder of the Sixth Dynasty, archaeologists have been busy excavating the sands of the Saqqara Necropolis to reveal more of its secrets. Renowned Egyptologist and former minister of antiquities Zahi Hawass, who has been leading the work, stood before a beautifully painted coffin examining the mummy inside during the announcement of the discoveries.
“This discovery is re-writing the history of Saqqara and in particular the saga of the 18th and 19th dynasties of the New Kingdom when king Teti was worshipped and the citizens of the time were buried around his pyramid,” Hawass told Al-Ahram Weekly.
He explained that the discovery confirmed the importance of the worship of king Teti during the 19th Dynasty, as archaeologists had unearthed a collection of New Kingdom workshops for mummification and the fabrication of coffins. This showed that the necropolis has not only been reused as a burial place during the Late Period but during the New Kingdom as well.
A painted coffin
Hawass said that the remains of the funerary temple of queen Nearit, the wife of Teti, was also uncovered along with three mudbrick warehouses at the temple's southern end to store the provisions, offerings, and tools used to revive the queen's cult.
A large collection of burial shafts 10 to 12 metres deep had been found filled with more than 50 painted anthropoid coffins containing mummies, along with hundreds of statues of the deities Osiris and Ptah-Sokar-Osiris, stelae, toys, wooden boats and funerary masks, and a four-metre papyrus of Chapter 17 of the Book of the Dead.
This helped the deceased pass through the trials faced on the journey to the other world. The copy of the text that was found was once owned by a member of the ancient Egyptian elite.
A luxurious mudbrick shrine paved with polished limestone slabs and dating back to the New Kingdom was also found. It has a 24m shaft that Hawass expects to end in a tomb.
The Egyptian archaeological mission working at the site found pottery from Crete, Syria, and Palestine, showing the long-distance trade and multicultural nature of Saqqara in ancient times.
Many carefully carved and painted wooden ushabti figurines and funerary masks were unearthed beside a shrine dedicated to the god Anubis. A well-preserved limestone stelae was discovered that had belonged to a man named Kha-Ptah, overseer of the king's military chariot during the 19th Dynasty, and his wife Mwt-em-wia.
The upper part of the stelae depicts the deceased and his wife in an adoration gesture in front of the god Osiris, while the lower part shows the deceased sitting with his wife behind him seated on a chair. Below the chair, one of their daughters sits and smells a lotus flower. Above her head is an ointment flask.
A boat
In front of the man and his wife, there are six of his daughters and sons depicted in two registers, the upper one for seated daughters smelling lotus flowers and the lower one for standing sons.
Hawass said that one of the daughters bears the name Nefertari, named after the wife of king Ramses II who built her a tomb in the Valley of the Queens at Luxor as well as a temple at Abu Simbel in Upper Egypt.
One of the sons is named Kha-em-waset, he said, after one of the sons of Ramses II. He was considered a wise man, almost the first Egyptologist, who used to restore the antiquities of his ancestors.
The owner of the stelae was the overseer of the king's military chariot, indicating his prestigious position.
Other objects found include human skulls and bones along with a game known as senet. “Those who win at senet will go to the other world, or to the fields of Aaru, which was the paradise of ancient Egypt,” Hawass said.
Coffins inside a burial chamber
Radiologist Sahar Selim has conducted studies on the mummies found using X-rays and has determined the causes of death, the age of the deceased at their death, and the characteristics of a mummy of a young child.
One mummy of a woman was found to be suffering from a chronic disease known as Mediterranean fever or “swine fever”, a disease that comes from direct contact with animals.
“The discoveries are very important and will make Saqqara an even more important tourist destination,” Hawass said, adding that more secrets would be revealed soon.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 21 January, 2021 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.


Clic here to read the story from its source.