A new excavation in Egypt has come out with dozens of new discoveries, announced the African country on Thursday.
The excavation took over a year, and was headed by Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s most renowned archaeologist. He was personally on site when one of the discoveries, an undisturbed tomb of a fifth dynasty priest, was opened.
The tomb, one of two the projects found near the Saqqara pyramids, was from between 2500 and 2100 A.D.E. It contained a sarcophagus and its occupant, and all of the goods buried with him.
“I put my head inside to see what was inside the sarcophagus: A beautiful mummy of a man completely covered in layers of gold,’′ Hawass said.
That gold-covered mummy’s name was Khnumdjedef. The other newly-discovered tomb belonged to a palace official named Meri. Writing in the tomb says that Meri’s title was ‘the keeper of the secrets,’ which should provide plenty of fodder to research and fiction writers alike.
The Saqqara site, which also contains the Giza Pyramids and many smaller structures, is immense. This new excavation was happening under an ancient stone enclosure near the pyramids. It was also only one of a flurry of new ancient discoveries announced over the past week.
Near Luxor, farther South along the Nile, authorities announced the discovery of dozens of burial sites from between 1800 and 1600 B.C., near the ruins of an ancient and previously unknown Roman city. In a separate announcements, Cairo University revealed that hey had partially identified the remains of a teenage boy who was mummified around 300 B.C.. Amulets left within his remains and wrappings confirmed that he was of high social status and had been buried according to royal protocols.
Egypt has a history of publicly announcing major archaeological discoveries to boost tourism, which is a significant source of income for the country. Travel to Egypt has been hit hard by the war in Ukraine, as tourists from both Ukraine and Russia have always been a large presence.
Photo: Shutterstock
