‘Dream find’ made by archaeologists in Egypt: untouched ancient tomb

Archaeologists rejoice at ‘dream discovery’ after ancient Egyptian sarcophagus discovered near Cairo Scientists have not made such discoveries for a long time.

The tomb of an ancient Egyptian noble named Ptahemwia was found in his underground burial chamber at Saqqara and featured in a television documentary.

The ancient tomb lay in the burial chamber in an untouched state for thousands of years. Now a remarkable Egyptian sarcophagus has emerged from the deep sands near Cairo, to the excitement of archaeologists who are calling it an extremely important “dream find.”

The giant granite sarcophagus is covered with inscriptions dedicated to the treasurer Ptahemvia, who headed the treasury of King Ramses II, the most powerful pharaoh of Egypt.

Ola El-Agizi, professor emeritus in the Department of Archeology at Cairo University, has discovered a unique sarcophagus in Saqqara, an ancient necropolis about 20 miles south of Cairo. Archaeologists have found an underground burial chamber with a sarcophagus that could tell more about those who ruled Egypt after Tutankhamun.

In the center of the inner courtyard of the tomb, El-Agizi’s team noticed the top of a vertical shaft, which suggested a passage to the burial chamber. But this shaft was so deep – eight meters – that it took a week just to remove all the sand with a bucket attached to a hand rope winch. Then El-Agizi squeezed into this bucket and made a dangerous slow descent down the mine. At the bottom, she was surprised to find a sarcophagus.

National Geographic cameras captured everything during the filming of the last season of the excavation for the eight-episode documentary series Egypt’s Lost Treasures.

Finding a complete sarcophagus in his original tomb is an incredibly rare event for archaeologists. El-Agizi told the Observer: “The discovery of this sarcophagus in its original place in the burial shaft was very exciting because it is the sarcophagus of the owner of the tomb, which is not always the case. Sometimes the sarcophagus is for a different person from a later period when the tomb was used in later periods. But this time it’s not.”

The scholar said that the titles of Ptahemvia, listed in hieroglyphs, emphasize his closeness to the king, proving that the nobleman played a “very important role in the administration of that time.”

The archaeologist added that emblems of deities are inscribed on the sarcophagus, including the sky goddess Nut on the lid, covering the chest with open wings to protect the deceased.

Now, her team will examine the tomb to uncover the full life story of Ptahemiah.

Peter Der Manuelian, Professor of Egyptology at Harvard University, says: “Saqqara has served as one of the most important cemeteries for both royalty and non-royals throughout the millennia of Egyptian history. This Egyptian team has added another important chapter to the history of this place.”

Oxford University Press is about to publish Walking Among the Pharaohs: George Reisner and the Dawn of Modern Egyptology by Manuelian, a biography of America’s greatest archaeologist who led many excavations and recognized the importance of the Saqqara necropolis.

Manuelian says of El Agizi: “It always delights me to see Egyptian archaeologists making such discoveries. Western archaeologists have a long history of doing this work. So it’s nice to see their own discoveries – and even more welcome is the fact that she’s a female archaeologist, an Egyptian archaeologist.”

Tom Cook, producer of the documentary series, paid tribute to El-Agizi and her “fabulous discovery”: “She’s a grandmother, she’s in her 70s and she’s still doing this really pretty dangerous job.” Noting that part of the lid had been broken off, indicating that ancient tomb robbers had stolen funerary treasures, he said: “These tombs were so frequently raided by robbers that there was no guarantee that there would be anything of interest. So it wasn’t until they reached the last room that they realized there was actually something impressive in there.”