"Albubastien" .. Egypt reveals the first and largest cache of bronze statues in Saqqara

Today, Monday, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced the success of the Egyptian archaeological mission working in the cemetery of the sacred animals "Al-Bobastien" in the Saqqara antiquities area in discovering the first and largest cache at the site dating back to the late period, during the work of the mission's fourth excavation season.

Mustafa Waziri, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities and head of the mission, said in a statement that Sputnik obtained a copy of it, that the discovered cache includes 150 bronze statues of various sizes for a number of ancient Egyptian deities, including Anubis, Amun Min, Osiris, Isis, Nefertum, Bastet. , and Hathor.

The cache also includes a group of bronze vessels related to the rituals of the goddess Isis, such as Al-Salasel, as well as a bronze statue of the engineer Imhotep without a head, very precise and beautiful.

Waziri added that the mission was also able to discover a new set of burial wells, in which a group of 250 colored wooden coffins from the Late Period, about 500 BC, were found, closed and containing mummies in good condition of preservation, in addition to a group of amulets and wooden statues, some of which are gilded. Flip and colored wooden boxes.

The Egyptian official pointed out that the excavations inside one of the discovered burial wells resulted in the discovery of a sarcophagus in a good state of preservation that may contain chapters from the Book of the Dead, and that it was transferred to the restoration laboratories of the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir for sterilization, hydration, study and knowledge of the texts it contains.

Within the same discovery, two colorful wooden statues with a gilded face, in a good state of preservation, of the two goddesses Isis and Nephthys in the position of mourners, in addition to a burial from the New Kingdom around 1500 BC, containing many adornment tools such as a bronze mirror and a set of bracelets, Necklaces, earrings, and anklets have their own staples and copper utensils for everyday life.

It is noteworthy that the Egyptian archaeological mission had started its work on the site since 2018, as it succeeded in discovering the unique tomb of the priest of the Fifth Dynasty "Wahi", in addition to 7 rock tombs, including three tombs from the New Kingdom, four tombs from the Old Kingdom, and the facade of a tomb from the Old Kingdom. In addition, more than a thousand faience amulets, dozens of wooden cat figurines, cat mummies, wooden figurines and animal mummies have been revealed.

In addition to the mission’s achievements, in 2020 it succeeded in discovering more than 100 closed wooden coffins in their first condition from the Late Period, 40 statues of the god of the Saqqara cemetery Ptah Sukar with gilded parts, and 20 wooden boxes of the god Horus.

Archaeology magazine ranked this discovery as one of the ten most important archaeological discoveries for the year 2020 and the most eye-catching.

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