Former Egyptian antiquities minister and well-known archaeologist Zahi Hawass has revealed details of an ancient funerary temple in a vast necropolis south of Cairo
CAIRO – Egypt’s former antiquities minister and well-known archaeologist Zahi Hawass revealed details of an ancient funerary temple in a vast necropolis south of Cairo on Sunday.
Hawass told reporters at the Saqqara necropolis that archaeologists unearthed the temple of Queen Neit, wife of King Teti, the first king of the sixth dynasty to rule Egypt from 2323 BC to 2150 BC.
Archaeologists also found a 4-meter (13-foot)-long papyrus that includes texts from the Book of the Dead, which is a collection of spells intended to direct the dead to the underworld of ancient Egypt, he said. .
Hawass said archaeologists also unearthed funerary wells, coffins and mummies dating back to the New Kingdom that ruled Egypt between about 1570 BC and 1069 BC.
They revealed at least 22 funerary axes up to 12 meters deep, with more than 50 wooden coffins dating back to the New Kingdom, said Hawass, who is Egypt’s best-known archaeologist.
Hawass, known for his Indiana Jones hat and television specials in ancient Egyptian sites, said he has been working at the site near the Teti pyramid for more than a decade.
The discovery was the result of cooperation between the Ministry of Antiquities and the Zahi Hawass Center of the Alexandrina Library.
The site of Saqqara is part of the necropolis of the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis, which includes the famous pyramids of Giza, as well as the smaller pyramids of Abu Sir, Dahshur and Abu Ruwaysh. The ruins of Memphis were designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in the 1970s.
In recent years, Egypt has largely promoted new archaeological finds to international media and diplomats in hopes of attracting more tourists to the country.
The vital tourism sector suffered years of political turmoil and violence that followed a 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak.