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A team of archaeologists in Egypt today announced the discovery at Saqqara of 250 2,500-year-old sarcophagi, 150 statues of ancient Egyptian deities, and a papyrus believed to contain passages from the Book of the Dead.
Most of the sarcophagi, according to the Washington Post, were exposed with the well-preserved mummies still inside. The exhibition took place at the same site where excavations have been taking place since 2018: the Saqqara necropolis, on the outskirts of Cairo.
“In one of the wooden sarcophagi we find, for the first time, a complete sealed papyrus“, explained Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt. The papyrus was sent to a lab at the Egyptian Museum for analysis, reports CBS News. The statues, of different sizes, represented the gods Anubis, Osiris, Nefertem, Isis and Hathor..
In total, more than 450 sarcophagi were discovered at the site, all around 2,500 years old. The archaeological site of Saqqara is nicknamed “Sacred Animals Cemetery“. Initially, it was called “Bubasteion”, in honor of the Egyptian goddess Bastet, a goddess in the form of a cat. This is because many of the statues found at the site originally represented this goddess.
It was only in 2019 that the Saqqara ruins became known as the “Cemetery of the Sacred Animals” after they were discovered. various mummified animals and statues depicting other Egyptian deitiesexplained Mohamed Al Saidi, director of the excavation. In the same sarcophagus where the papyrus was discovered, two statues of the deities Isis and Nephthys were found, which would have the function of protecting the coffin.
They were sitting, one of them next to the ‘head’ of the coffin and the other next to the ‘feet’, in a position of ‘mourning’ for the deceased”, explained Mohamed Al Saidi.
According to ABC News, at the archaeological site they still found bronze vasesan ancient Egyptian musical instrument known as sistrum and various jewels and amulets, such as bracelets and earrings.
The archaeological finds will be transported to the Grand Egyptian Museum, currently under construction and due to open later this year, next to the Giza pyramids.
To see in photo gallery above some of the images of various sarcophagi and statues discovered at Saqqara.
Source: Observadora
