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This delicate stone vessel was discovered in 1936 in the tomb of Sabu, an ancient Egyptian official buried in the Saqqara necropolis during the first dynasty period. When it was found, the disk was in pieces. It has since been reconstructed and is in the collection of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.Sabu's mastaba, a rectangular tomb with sloping walls and a flat roof, was excavated by British Egyptologist Walter Emery. In his publication describing the Saqqara tombs, Emery wrote that the burial chamber had been looted for its jewelry and precious metals. But Sabu's skeleton was intact inside a wooden...

A stone disk recovered from a 5,000-year-old tomb has puzzled archaeologists for generations. Its shape looks surprisingly modern, and the debate over what it was actually made for is far from over. © Credit: Alain Guilleux ==================================================================== Found in an ancient Egyptian tomb almost a century ago, the Sabu Disk remains one of archaeology’s most unusual discoveries. Its distinctive shape has sparked countless theories over the years, even though researchers still favor a much simpler explanation. The stone object was discovered in 1936 in the tomb of Sabu, an official buried at the Saqqara necropolis during Egypt’s First Dynasty. Dating...

Cairo Fragment CF1 of the Annals Stone states Horus Djer's (name) of gold, probably a reference to the king's name of birth, to have been Iti, which corresponds with the 3rd name listed in the Abydos King-List, after Menes and Teti. Djer is also the 3rd king mentioned on the two Umm el-Qa'ab royal seals that list the kings buried at that site...According to Manetho, Djer ruled for 57 year[s]. The Turin King-List has a lacuna at the spot where Djer would be listed.The Palermo Stone lists the first 10 years of Djer's reign, while Cairo Fragment CF1 lists 9...

A German-Austrian team led by archaeologist Christiana Köhler from the University of Vienna is investigating the tomb of Queen Meret-Neith in Abydos, Egypt. She was the most powerful woman in the period around 3,000 BC. Recent excavations prove her special historical significance: the researchers found 5,000-year-old wine and other grave goods. This fuels speculation that Meret-Neith was the first pharaoh of ancient Egypt and predecessor of the later Queen Hatshepsut....Her true identity remains a mystery...The archaeological team found evidence of a huge amount of grave goods, including hundreds of large wine jars. Some of them were very well preserved and...