A Giant Trove of Ancient Coffins and Mummies Unearthed in Egypt
A century after the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb made headlines around the world, in the sweltering desert heat just outside Cairo, a small team is still making new finds in ancient Egypt.
Digging layer by layer at the Saqqara site in Giza, moving earth one bucket at a time, archaeologists have found a giant trove of ancient coffins and mummies, along with ceramic amulets believed to have been used in burial rituals, and thick papyrus documents.
Egyptologist Zahi Hawass, Egypt's former state minister for antiquities, said Wednesday that the site contained countless other artifacts relating to another pharaoh, King Teti, and his followers who worshipped him as a god for 1,000 years after his death.
The remains of King Tutankhamun's closest generals and advisers were also at the site, which sits about 20 miles south of the North African nation's capital, he said.
“I really believe that this year and next year, this site is going to be the most important site in Egypt,” said Hawass, referring to a network of underground rooms hidden 65 feet beneath the oldest pyramids in Egypt.
“I always say that we found until now only 30% of our monuments are still there, 70% are buried underneath the ground,” he said.
The discovery of so many new coffins in the region could be because “Teti was worshipped as a god in the New Kingdom, and everyone wanted to be buried alongside him,” Hawass said, adding that his team had found close to 300 coffins in the vicinity of his pyramid this year, most of them in good condition.
Believed to have ruled for approximately 12 years between 2300 and 2181 B.C., Teti was the first king of the Sixth Dynasty of ancient Egypt.
Although Teti’s sarcophagus is 4,300 years old, people continued to be buried near him for more than 1,000 years later, because they wanted his protection, Hawass said
By Kelly Cobiella, Laura Saravia and Leila Sackur.
