CAIRO —
Egypt unveiled Monday a sarcophagus of a senior royal official from over
3,200-years ago at the Saqqara archaeological site south of Cairo, the latest
in a series of spectacular discoveries in the area.
اضافة اعلان
A team of Egyptian
archaeologists from
Cairo University found the red granite sarcophagus of
Ptah-em-uya, “a high-ranking official” under Rameses II, who ruled Egypt in the
13th century BC, the antiquities ministry said.
The noble was
“royal secretary, chief overseer of cattle, head of the treasury of the
Ramasseum,” Rameses’ funerary temple in the Theban necropolis at Luxor, said
Mostafa Waziri, head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities.
The official was
also “responsible for the divine offerings to all the gods of Upper and Lower
Egypt”, Waziri added.
The tomb of
Ptah-em-uya was found last year.
Saqqara is a vast
necropolis of the ancient Egyptian capital Memphis, a
UNESCO world heritage
site home to more than a dozen pyramids, animal burial sites and ancient Coptic
Christian monasteries.
The current
excavation season revealed the granite sarcophagus, “covered in texts” to
“safeguard the deceased” and “scenes representing the sons of the god Horus,”
according to the antiquities ministry.
Saqqara has been
the site of a flurry of excavations in recent years.
Most recently,
Egypt unveiled a cache of 150 bronze statuettes in May, five ancient tombs in
March, and more than 50 wooden sarcophagi last year dating back to the New
Kingdom, which ended in the 11th century BC.
Critics say the
excavations have prioritized finds shown to grab media attention over hard
academic research.
But the finds have
been a key component of Egypt’s attempts to revive its vital tourism industry,
the crowning jewel of which is the long-delayed inauguration of the
Grand Egyptian Museum at the foot of the pyramids.
Dubbed “the
largest archaeological museum in the world” by officials, it is expected to
open this year.
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