Cairo – Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities has revealed details of the latest important discoveries that emerged at the Saqqara necropolis, south of Cairo. The vast cemetery is in what was once Memphis, the capital of ancient Egypt. The UNESCO World Heritage Site is home to more than a dozen pyramids, including the oldest in Egypt, the Pyramid of Djoser.
The site has yielded thousands of artifacts over decades of excavations, but among the greatest rewards for Egyptologists in this latest round of discoveries was the identity of a queen who died some 4,200 years ago.
His tomb was discovered at a site adjacent to the pyramid of King Teti, the first pharaoh of the Sixth Dynasty of the Ancient Empire of Egypt, the era between about 2680 and 2180 BC known as the Age of the Pyramids.
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“The excavation started in 2010, when we discovered a queen’s pyramid next to King Teti’s pyramid, but we couldn’t find a name inside the pyramid that tells us who the pyramid belonged to,” said Egyptologist and former antiquities minister Dr. Zahi Hawass told CBS News.
About a month ago, they discovered a funerary temple and now researchers finally have a name for the former monarch: Queen Neit, wife of King Teti. His name was finally found, carved on a temple wall and also written on an obelisk that fell at the entrance to his tomb.
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“I had never heard of this queen before. So we added an important piece to Egyptian history, about this queen,” said Hawass, who heads the archaeological mission. He said the recent discoveries would help “rewrite” the history of ancient Egypt.
His team also discovered 52 funerary ditches, each about 30 to 40 feet deep, within which they found more than 50 wooden coffins dating from the New Kingdom, some 3,000 years ago.
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“In fact, this morning we found another well,” Hawass told CBS News on Monday. “Inside the well we find a large limestone sarcophagus. This is the first time that we have discovered a limestone sarcophagus inside the wells. We found another one that we are going to open in a week.”
The team also found a papyrus about 4 meters long and 1 meter wide, in which Chapter 17 of the Book of the Dead it is written in hieroglyphics, with the name of its owner registered on it. The Book of the Dead is an ancient manuscript that explains how to navigate the afterlife to reach the Aaru camp – paradise for the ancient Egyptians.
Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities
Hawass said it was the first time that such a large papyrus was discovered inside a grave pit.
Other finds at the site include several wooden funeral masks, a shrine dedicated to the god Anubis (Guardian of the Cemetery), statues of Anubis and games that were buried with the dead, to keep them occupied in the afterlife. One was a game called “Twenty”, found with its owner’s name still visibly written on it.
Another game, called “Senet” (cross), was found on the axes. It is similar to chess, but if the deceased player wins, he will safely go to the afterlife.