Egypt’s former minister of antiquities and noted archaeologist Zahi Hawass has revealed details of an ancient funerary temple in a huge necropolis south of Cairo
CAIRO – Former Egyptian Minister of Antiquities and noted archaeologist Zahi Hawass on Sunday unveiled details of an ancient funerary temple in a massive necropolis south of Cairo.
Hawass told reporters in the Saqqara necropolis that archaeologists excavated the temple of Queen Neit, the wife of King Teti, the first king of the Sixth Dynasty to rule Egypt from 2323 BC to 2150 BC.
Archaeologists also found a four-meter-long papyrus with texts from the Book of the Dead, a collection of spells aimed at guiding the dead through the underworld in ancient Egypt, he said.
Hawass said archaeologists have also excavated burial pits, coffins, and mummies dating back to the New Kingdom that ruled Egypt between about 1570 BC and 1069 BC.
They revealed at least 22 burial shafts up to 12 meters deep, containing 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 TV specials on Egypt’s ancient sites, said work has been done on the site close to the Pyramid of Teti for over a decade.
The discovery was the result of a collaboration between the Ministry of Antiquities and the Zahi Hawass Center at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.
The Saqqara site is part of the necropolis in Egypt’s ancient capital, Memphis, with the famous pyramids at Giza and smaller pyramids at Abu Sir, Dahshur and Abu Ruwaysh. The ruins of Memphis were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the 1970s.
In recent years, Egypt has strongly promoted new archaeological discoveries to international media and diplomats in hopes of attracting more tourists to the country.
The vibrant tourism industry suffered from years of political unrest and violence that followed a 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak.