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Saqqara, the necropolis of the city of Memphis, one of the ancient capitals of Egypt, 30 kilometers south of the center of Cairo, the current one, is usually the scene of new discoveries, which is not surprising given the many Egyptian teams and internationals who have conducted archaeological excavations there for decades, often with the famous stepped pyramid built during the reign of Pharaoh Djoser on the horizon.
This Sunday, the Ministry of Antiquities announced the discovery of 14 sarcophagi more than 2,500 years old, in exactly the same place where, a week ago, another 13 had been located.
According to the government statement issued by the site The British television BBC or the Agency France Presse, the sarcophagi were found in an underground chamber 11 meters deep which is accessed through a very narrow shaft and, judging by the images released by official channels and by agencies news agencies like the EPA, remain well preserved. Some still retain the vivid colors of the paints used to decorate them, in a palette in which brown and blue stand out.
“Initial studies have shown that these sarcophagi were completely closed,” Antiquities Minister Khaled al-Anani said, according to the statement quoted by the BBC. They will have remained intact since they were buried, which is unusual as many of the tombs at Saqqara and other necropolises have been looted for thousands of years.
The enthusiasm of the Egyptian authorities and the scientific community is understandable: a sarcophagus that has been open for more than 2500 years, intact, is in itself potentially a very rich source of information, imagine 27.
Khaled al-Anani has promised to reveal “more secrets” at a press conference to be held in the coming days.
Around the sarcophagi, which will naturally have mummies, several objects were found, including small sculptures representing different deities.
Saqqara, the BBC recalls, was a huge cemetery for more than two thousand years and today it is one of the Egyptian sites inscribed on the world heritage list.
Announcements like this Sunday have been frequent in recent years, as the Cairo government has opted for archeology as a way to attract more tourists. Since the revolution of 2011, which deposed President Hosni Mubarak, the scenario of political instability has been affecting the number of foreigners visiting the country.
A tomb more than four thousand years old, 50 mummies from the Ptolemaic dynasty and many others of animals, such as cats, crocodiles and beetles, are some of the discoveries that made the news in the last two years.
