Egypt has announced the discovery of a new treasure trove of treasures in the Saqqara necropolis south of Cairo, including an ancient burial seal.
The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said the “greatest discoveries” made by a team of archaeologists led by Egyptologist Zahi Hawass also contained more than 50 sarcophagi.
The wooden sarcophagi, dating from the New Kingdom period – between the 16th and 11th centuries BC – have been found in 52 tombs at a depth of 10 to 12 meters (40 feet).
Hawass said the funeral temple of Queen Naert, the wife of King Teti, as well as three warehouses of bricks were also found at the site.
Saqqara, home to more than a dozen pyramids, ancient monasteries and cemeteries for animals, was a sprawling necropolis of the ancient Egyptian capital Memphis that became a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
In November, Egypt announced the discovery of more than 100 intact sarcophagi, in the largest such find of the year.
The sealed wooden coffins, unveiled along with statues of ancient gods, date back more than 2,500 years and belong to top officials of the Late period and the Ptolemaic period of ancient Egypt. At the time, the Minister of Antiquities and Tourism, Khaled al-Anani, predicted that “Saqqara would not yet reveal all its contents”.
Hawass said the latest discoveries could shed new history on Saqqara during the New Kingdom. The find was found near the pyramid where King Teti, the first pharaoh of the sixth dynasty of the Old Kingdom, was buried.
Egypt hopes that archaeological discoveries will spur tourism, a sector that has experienced several shocks, from the uprising in 2011 to the ongoing pandemic in the coronavirus.
Later this year, and after several delays, authorities hope to set up a new museum – the Grand Egyptian Museum – on the Giza Plateau.
There have been a spate of excavations in the last few years in Saqqara, home to the stair pyramid of Djoser, one of the earliest buildings in ancient Egypt.