Cairo: The  Egyptian Supreme Council for Antiquities said on Monday that a mission of the council has discovered two Pharaonic tombs that date back to the 26th Pharaonic Dynasty (500 BC) in the Saqarra area. The council revealed that one of the tombs is the largest pharaonic tomb ever found in the archaeological sites located just south of Cairo. The Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Dr. Zahi Hawass, who heads the Egyptian mission working at the site, said  that the two graves were carved in the rock and were found at the site of Ras Al Jesr in Saqqara, an entrance to the archaeological area. Hawass called the first tomb, “the largest of its kind to be discovered in the Saqqara area and consists of large number of corridors, rooms and halls.” He explained that it, “is a huge hall carved into the rock from which many branches of others rooms branching from it and from the outside. There are two outer walls, one of limestone and the second of brick.” Hawass added that they, “discovered skeletons and many pottery items inside the hall of the tombs, and outside of the hall there is an entrance that leads to another room that has a small well that is seven meters deep.” Dr. Hawass pointed out that, “a room was discovered in the northern part of the tomb in which several pots and shards of pottery as well as some of the old burial material were found.”  The team also discovered well-made pottery and mummies of hawks. Hawass said that tomb, which was built 2500 years ago, was re-used several times and has been opened and looted in the late Roman period. A small room was found in the second tomb built with limestone containing many pieces of pottery and burials materials dating from the era of Al-Sawi and later ages. Hawass believes that, “the new discovery has affirmed that the Saqqara area still harbors undisclosed secrets, unknown until now,” and that he is pleased that the new discovery was carried out by a team of young Egyptian archaeologists led by Abdul Hakim Carrara. **reporting by Mohamed Abdel Salam BM
