The Saqqara site in Egypt, November 14, 2020. -
Nariman El-Mofty / AP / SIPA
For the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, these are no less than “major discoveries”.
New archaeological treasures, including a mortuary temple dating back more than 2,500 years, have been unearthed in the Saqqara necropolis, located south of Cairo, Egyptian authorities said on Saturday.
Objects from the New Kingdom (16th-11th century BC)
Discoveries made by a team of archaeologists led by the famous Egyptologist Zahi Hawass also include more than fifty wooden sarcophagi dating from the New Kingdom (16th-11th century BC).
They were found in 52 funeral pits ten to twelve meters deep, the ministry said.
"The funeral temple of Queen Naert, wife of King Teti", the first pharaoh of the Sixth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom, as well as three brick warehouses were discovered, also indicated Zahi Hawass.
The site of Saqqara, where there are ten pyramids, ancient monasteries or animal burial sites, is a vast necropolis of the ancient Egyptian capital Memphis, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Numerous excavations have been carried out there in recent years, also the site of the Step Pyramid of Djoser, one of the first constructions of ancient Egypt.
Archaeologists hope in particular to find there an old workshop for making wooden sarcophagi for mummies.
Cairo hopes these archaeological finds will boost tourism, a sector that has seen many difficulties from the 2011 revolution to the coronavirus pandemic.
The authorities hope to inaugurate in 2021 the “Great Egyptian Museum” on the Giza plateau, where the famous great pyramids and the Sphinx are located.
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