Mummies found hidden in Saqqara

Al-Ahram Weekly ^ | 19 - 25 February 2009 | Nevine El-Aref

[SunkenCiv]

Two weeks ago, during a routine excavation work at the mastaba of the Sixth-Dynasty lector-priest Sennedjem, archaeologists from the SCA stumbled upon what is believed to be a cache of mummies of the 26th Dynasty... inside an 11- metre deep burial shaft excavated inside the Sennedjem mastaba. Although the mastaba dates from a much earlier period, the shaft is intrusive... One of the newly-discovered, 2,600- year-old wooden coffins was still sealed... From the finely carved inscription on the coffin, Hawass was able to determine that the mummy belonged to a man named Padi-Heri, the son of Djehuty-Sesh-Nub and the grandson of Iru-Ru... The mummy of a dog was also found opposite to mummies of children, prompting speculation that the burial shaft held the remains of a large family, including the family pet, with the richer and more prominent members buried in the sarcophagi... Hawass opened another sarcophagus in the storeroom, a wooden coffin with an inscription in hieroglyphics on the lid that exposed another mummy, but stopped short of opening a fourth, also a wooden coffin, because of its poor condition. All eight sarcophagi in the storeroom are believed to hold mummies, said Karar, but so far only three were opened. Last November, a 4,300-year-old pyramid in Saqqara -- the 118th in Egypt, and the 12th to be found at this site -- was uncovered, and in December, two new tombs were discovered near the current mummies' discovery.

[SunkenCiv]

Clockwise from top: the anthropoid limestone sarcophagus; Hawass entering the burial shaft; workers cleaning the shaft; an Egyptologist brushing the sand off one of the newly discovered skeletons; Hawass and Karar removing the lid of the wooden sarcophagus

[SunkenCiv]

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[GSP.FAN]

What is important to me is that I have the great good fortune to spend my days doing something I love, and being given the opportunity to make a difference in the world.

— Zahi Hawass
http://drhawass.com/blog/new-tombs-saqqara

[ApplegateRanch]

archaeologists from the SCA

I wasn't aware that the Society For Creative Anachronism was fielding archeological teams.

Last November, a 4,300-year-old pyramid in Saqqara -- the 118th in Egypt, and the 12th to be found at this site -- was uncovered, and in December, two new tombs were discovered near the current mummies' discovery.

As much as Saqqara has been studied, excavated, raided, tomb robbed, picked over, curried, combed, and groomed, it is simply amazing that they are still making important large finds there.

[ApplegateRanch]

Larger photos from the article

[SunkenCiv]

The last of the 4th dynasty kings (if memory serves) built his mastaba there, after his immediate predecessors had left the Giza monuments to wow the world (also, Abu Roash, but the Djedjefre pyramid there wasn't finished, perhaps barely begun). I've often thought that the dynastic squabbles continued, and the Khufu descendants lost control of the area, then the 5th dynasty would have been in business such that the two dynasties overlapped a bit. Anyway, the first (and probably most effective) plunderers of the monuments of ancient Egypt were the ancient Egyptians themselves, so most of what is left is kinda ho-hum by comparison with Yuya and Tuya, Tut, and just a few other big caches discovered or rediscovered in modern times.

[mewzilla]

Everlasting Love

:)

[ApplegateRanch]

Thanks for that link.

[SunkenCiv]

;’)

[SunkenCiv]

My pleasure.