Saqqara, the sprawling funerary complex south of Cairo, is a UNESCO World Heritage site covered in thousands of years of Egyptian history. It has no more than a dozen pyramids, but it has many other tombs, courtyards and halls, and archaeologists are finding more and more.
In May 2023, the government announced the discovery of two new tombs and two services that were once used for embalming.
The new embalming services date back about 2,400 years and include stone beds where embalmers placed deceased Egyptians for mummification. At the ends of the beds, scientists discovered gutters, as well as earthenware vessels for storing organs and viscera, and other instruments, and added natron leaves and salt. During the mummification process, all moisture was removed from the frame to prevent decay.
Read more: No, Egyptian artifacts have never been in the Grand Canyon
It appears that a workshop was used to embalm animals, a procedure for which Saqqara is well known. The underground passages of the site involve thousands of ibis mummies dating back to around 300 BC. In other places, archaeologists have discovered mummified cats, which the Egyptians brought good fortune to their owners. They also built a tomb at Saqqara for sacred bulls, a position now called The Serapeum.
The year-long excavations also exposed two new tombs older than the embalming workshops and dating back 4400 and 3400 years, respectively, to the fifth and eighteenth pharaonic dynasties. They belonged to two priests named Ne Hesut Ba and Men Kheber, who joined the countless other famous kings and Egyptians buried at the site.
Ne Hesut Ba scribed and priest of the gods Horus and Maat, and the walls of his tomb were covered with scenes of daily life, agriculture and hunting.
Men Kheber, also a priest, and his tomb contained representations of himself in the form of rock carvings and a 3-foot-tall alabaster statue.
Archaeologists have been mission after mission in Saqqara in recent years, finding 59 new mummies, seven new tombs and thousands of figurines.
The wonders of Saqqara cover much of the history of ancient Egypt, whose proximity to the ancient city of Memphis ensured many new tombs and pyramids. The first, the Step Pyramid built by Djoser, which was part of the Third Dynasty, is the oldest. Stone construction in the world. The site comprises more than a dozen others, many of which are collapsing.
The oldest tombs are in the northern component of the site, in the ancient dynastic cemetery, where giant mud-brick tombs called mastabas date back about 4900 years. a recent decline due to COVID-19.
Read more: The fiercest female rulers of Ancient Egypt
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