Former Egyptian antiquities minister and famous archaeologist Zahi Hawass revealed details of an ancient funerary temple in a vast necropolis south of Cairo
CAIRO – Former Egyptian antiquities minister and famous archaeologist Zahi Hawass on Sunday revealed details of an ancient funerary temple in a vast necropolis south of Cairo.
Hawass told reporters at the Saqqara necropolis that archaeologists unearthed the temple of Queen Neit, wife of King Teti, the first king of the Sixth Dynasty who ruled Egypt from 2323 BC until 2150 BC
Archaeologists have also found a 4-meter-long papyrus that includes texts from the Book of the Dead, which is a collection of spells aimed at directing the dead through the underworld of ancient Egypt, he said.
Hawass said archaeologists also dug up tombs, coffins and mummies dating from the New Kingdom, which ruled Egypt between about 1570 BC and 1069 BC
They have revealed at least 22 funerary pits up to 12 meters (40 feet) deep, with more than 50 wooden coffins dating from the New Kingdom, said Hawass, who is Egypt’s best-known archeologist.
Hawass, known for his Indiana Jones hat and TV specials at ancient sites in Egypt, said the work had been done at the site near the Teti Pyramid for more than a decade.
The discovery resulted from cooperation between the Ministry of Antiquities and the Zahi Hawass Center of Bibliotheca Alexandrina.
The Saqqara site is part of the necropolis of the ancient capital of Egypt, Memphis, which includes the famous pyramids of Giza, as well as the smaller pyramids at Abu Sir, Dahshur and Abu Ruwaysh. The Memphis ruins were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the 1970s.
In recent years, Egypt has heavily promoted new archaeological discoveries for the international media and diplomats in the hope of attracting more tourists to the country.
The vital tourism sector suffered from years of political turmoil and violence that followed the 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak.