Egypt announces discovery of 4,400-year-old tomb

[Judi Lynn]

Updated 8:29 am CST, Saturday, December 15, 2018



SAQQARA, Egypt (AP) — Egypt on Saturday announced the discovery of a private tomb belonging to a senior official from the 5th dynasty of the pharaohs, which ruled roughly 4,400 years ago.

Antiquities Minister Khaled al-Anani announced the find at the site of the tomb in Saqqara, just west of Cairo, which is also home to the famed Step Pyramid.

He said drawings on the tomb's walls were "exceptionally well-preserved." The drawings depicted the official and his family, he added.

The tomb also contained a total of 45 statues carved in rock. Again, they depict the official and his family.

More:
https://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Egypt-announces-discovery-of-4-400-year-old-tomb-13468649.php

[Bayard]

1. Wonderful!

Love this stuff.

[luvMIdog]

2. one of the trips I made I haven't regretted

I loved my visit to Egypt. I am so fascinated by all of these types of things

[StopTheNeoCons]

3. Just another 1%er's grave, built by the poor people for the rich...eom

[Recursion]

4. Most Egyptian monuments of that period were built with union labor

There are records of the workers striking together.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

5. Thanks for the good OP. Here's more info...

4,400-Year-Old Tomb of 'Divine Inspector' with Hidden Shafts Discovered in Egypt
By Owen Jarus, Live Science Contributor
Link: https://www.livescience.com/64317-saqqara-tomb-hidden-shafts-discovered.html
(snips)

Wahtye was a high-ranking priest who carried the title of divine inspector, said Mostafa Waziri, the general secretary of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities who led the Egyptian team that discovered the tomb. Wahtye worked for a pharaoh named Neferirkare (reign ca. 2446–2438 B.C.), Waziri said.
--
The tomb contains two levels with 24 statues on the upper level and 31 statues on the lower level, Waziri said. Most, if not all, of the statues, show humans or deities, with some appearing life-size and others appearing to be less than about 3 feet (1 meter) tall.

and...

Egypt tomb: Saqqara 'one of a kind' discovery revealed
15 December 2018
(good photos here)
Link: https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-middle-east-46580264
(snip)

Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, described the find as "one of a kind in the last decades".

The tomb, found in the Saqqara pyramid complex near Cairo, is filled with colourful hieroglyphs and statues of pharaohs. Decorative scenes show the owner, a royal priest named Wahtye, with his mother, wife and other relatives.

Archaeologists will start excavating the tomb on 16 December, and expect more discoveries to follow - including the owner's sarcophagus.

.........

[Judi Lynn]

6. The photos are wonderful!Those journalists had to be so proud to have been the ones chosen to enter.

That would have been the thrill of a lifetime for them, no doubt! Wow.

Love seeing the familiar hieroglyphs some of us have stared at, and wondered about in other photographs of other places in Egypt. How amazing would it be to have any clue at all how to interpret them?

Thank you, so much!

[KY_EnviroGuy]

8. I never cease to be awe struck, Judi Lynn at...

not only how the craftsmen hand-carved out tunnels and chambers in bedrock, but also how they appear to have carved the sculptures out of those solid rock walls. And, did them artistically enough to have been on public display for all these centuries, yet they have been hidden in the dark all along.

Egypt never ceases to give to humanity's rich history.......

[Judi Lynn]

9. What a shame there is no credible explanation for all that incredible skill and knowledge and power

to create stunningly vivid forms in amazing proportion, balance in such remote times. There was absolutely no room for error. It should humble everyone who sees them.

What has always amazed me for decades is the amazing futuristic appearance of the buildings, too, so starkly different from convention forms. It's all a window into something so beyond our understanding at the moment it can haunt a person.

It's easy to imagine how working in that area could fuel a person's entire life, knowing there is so much that we need to be illuminated. To be present when someone uncovers something that could serve as a key to understanding would be worth an entire lifetime.

[Judi Lynn]

7. Guests enter a newly discovered tomb at the Saqqara necropolis south of Cairo on Saturday.

Guests enter a newly discovered tomb at the Saqqara necropolis south of Cairo on Saturday. | AFP-JIJI
Egypt unearths tomb of ancient high priest
AFP-JIJI

CAIRO - Egyptian archaeologists have discovered the tomb of a priest dating back more than 4,400 years in the pyramid complex of Saqqara south of Cairo, authorities said Saturday.

“Today we are announcing the last discovery of the year 2018 — it’s a new discovery, it’s a private tomb,” Antiquities Minister Khaled el-Enany told an audience of invited guests including reporters. “It is exceptionally well preserved, colored, with sculpture inside. It belongs to a high official priest … (and) is more than 4,400 years old.”

The tomb belongs to Wahtye, a high priest who served during the fifth dynasty reign of King Neferirkare, the ministry said.

His tomb is decorated with scenes showing the royal priest alongside his mother, wife and other members of his family, the ministry said in a statement.

More:
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/12/16/world/science-health-world/egypt-unearths-tomb-ancient-high-priest/#.XBXtfWhKjIU