Located just 25 kilometers from Cairo, the Saqqara necropolis holds countless secrets that researchers continue to uncover. During recent excavations, Japanese and Egyptian archaeologists stumbled upon a series of tombs dating back 1,800 to 4,800 years. The team also discovered a wealth of intriguing artifacts, including colorful mummy masks and a small statue of the god of silence.
According to Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, some of the deceased’s masks likely date back to the Roman period: from 29 B.C. to A.D. 641.
What Archaeologists Learned
Nozomu Kawai, director of the Institute for the Study of Ancient Civilizations and Cultural Resources at Kanazawa University in Japan, who led the excavations, shared that the team also found a stone stele with an inscription. It commemorated a person named Heroides.
Mr. Kawai noted that the researchers were particularly intrigued by a statuette of Harpocrates, the ancient Greek god of silence and secrets. The artist depicted him as a child riding a goose. The goose symbolizes “the evil spirit over which the divine child triumphs,” commented the team leader on the find.
However, the first discovery of the excavation was not this statuette, but the grave of “a worthy woman named Demetria,” who was depicted on the tombstone alongside her ward. The scientists encountered her grave at the beginning of their work in 2019. However, the coronavirus pandemic forced the team to pause their excavations, as reported by Live Science.
When the archaeologists returned, they unearthed many previously unknown tombs and artifacts from various periods of ancient Egyptian history. The oldest tombs discovered, according to Nozomu Kawai, are around 4,800 years old and belong to the Second Dynasty. The team also found tombs from the Eighteenth Dynasty (1550–1295 B.C.) and later periods (712–332 B.C.). Among the ancient burials were those that date back to the time of the Ptolemies (Hellenistic Egypt) and Ancient Rome.
In one of the oldest tombs, the team uncovered an Egyptian alabaster slab from the Second Dynasty. Additionally, they found a burial “inside a wooden coffin that had been damaged by termites,” Mr. Kawai confirmed. In the tomb from the Eighteenth Dynasty, archaeologists discovered a mummy, according to a statement from Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
The Saqqara necropolis, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is famous for its grand pyramids and smaller burial sites. Thus, the new excavations have added a series of tombs linked to various periods in the history of Ancient Egypt to the already known treasures of the necropolis.
According to the project leader, excavations and analysis of the tombs are currently ongoing.