Cairo – The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities has revealed details of the latest important discoveries that have emerged from the Saqqara necropolis, south of Cairo. The vast cemetery is located in what was once Memphis, the capital of ancient Egypt. The UNESCO World Heritage Site is home to more than a dozen pyramids, including ancient Egypt. Djoser’s pyramid.
The site has produced 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 about 4,200 years ago.
Her tomb was discovered in a place adjacent to the pyramid of King Tethys, the first pharaoh of the sixth dynasty of the ancient kingdom of Egypt, the period between 2680 and 2180 BC, known as the Age of the Pyramids.
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“The excavation began in 2010, when we discovered a pyramid of a queen near the pyramid of King Teti, but we did not find a name inside the pyramid that would tell us to whom the pyramid belonged,” said Egypt’s chief Egyptologist and former minister of antiquities Dr. Zahi Hawass stated for CBS News.
About a month ago, they discovered a funerary temple, and now researchers finally have a name for the old female monarch: Queen Neit, the wife of King Teti. Her name was eventually found, carved on a temple wall and also written on a fallen obelisk at the entrance to her tomb.
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“I had never heard of this queen before. Therefore, we are adding an important piece in Egyptian history about this queen,” said Hawass, who leads the archeological mission. He said recent discoveries would help “rewrite” the history of ancient Egypt.
His team also discovered 52 burial wells, each about 30 to 40 feet deep, inside which they found more than 50 wooden coffins dating back to the New Kingdom. about 3,000 years.
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“Actually, this morning we found another well,” Hawass told CBS News on Monday. “Inside the tree we found a large limestone sarcophagus. This is the first time we have discovered a limestone sarcophagus inside the trees. We have found another that we will open in a week from now.”
The team also found a papyrus about 13 feet long and three feet wide, which was in Chapter 17 of The Book of the Dead it is written in hieroglyphs, 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 field of Aaru – paradise, to the ancient Egyptians.
Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities
Hawass said it was the first time such a large papyrus had been discovered inside a funeral well.
Other discoveries on the site include numerous wooden funerary masks, an altar dedicated to the god Anubis (the Guardian of the Cemetery), statues of Anubis and games that were buried with the dead to keep them busy in the afterlife. One of them was a game called “Twenty”, found with the owner’s name still visibly written on it.
Another game, called “Senet” (cross), was found in the trees. It is similar to chess, but if the deceased player wins, he enters safely into the afterlife.