Latest Saqqara Stories

Lawrence LeBlond for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Google Earth has been the go-to program for all your satellite imagery adventures since its inception in 2001. And a recent survey using the popular world-mapping tool has potentially uncovered two lost treasures from ancient Egypt. The possible hand-structured peaks were discovered by Angela Micol, a satellite archaeology researcher with Google Earth Anomalies, who believes they could be previously undiscovered pyramids hiding in...

Egyptian archaeologists unveiled a newly-unearthed double tomb on Thursday, which contained vivid wall paintings in the ancient necropolis of Saqqara. They are hoping the find will be the start of uncovering a huge cemetery in the area. The double tomb includes two false doors with colorful paintings showing the two people entombed there, a father and a son who served as heads of the royal scribes, said Abdel-Hakim Karar, a top archaeologist at Saqqara. Karar told The Associated Press (AP)...

Archaeologists have discovered an intact sarcophagus of an Egyptian queen inside a 4,000-year-old burial chamber in Saqqara, chief archaeologist Zahi Hawass announced Wednesday. Queen Behenu's chamber, located inside her pyramid, was badly damaged except for two inner walls covered with spells meant to help her travel to the afterlife, Hawass said in a statement. Ancient Egyptians believed that carving religious spells on their royal burial chambers helped them get to heaven by granting...

Archaeologists hope to learn more about Egypt's middle class from two 2,500 year old tombs dug up near Cairo, according to Reuters.The tombs were found near the entrance to the archaeological site at the Saqqara burial ground.Dating from the 26th dynasty, one tomb consists of a complex of rooms and corridors linked to a large hall hewn into the rock. It's the largest discovered to date in Saqqara.Zahi Hawass told Reuters, "These tombs belonged to middle class Egyptian families, not...

SWANSEA, Wales, Oct. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- David Gill, archaeologist, reflects on the recent action by Egyptian authorities who are seeking the return of tomb reliefs from the Louvre, Paris. The Musee National du Louvre in Paris acquired four ancient Egyptian funerary reliefs in 2000 and 2003. It appears they were derived from the Tomb of Tetaki at Thebes. In 2008 Egyptian archaeologists reinvestigated the tomb and questions were raised about the source of the Louvre's acquisitions. It has been...

Vividly painted wooden coffins housing an anthology of pharaonic-era mummies were uncovered near the Lahun pyramid in Egypt, the director of the excavation said on Sunday.  The mud-brick Lahun pyramid is believed to be constructed by the pharaoh Senusret II in the 12th dynasty, who reigned 4,000 years ago.  According to Reuters, the mummies are the first to be discovered beneath the sand surrounding the pyramid in the depths of the desert rock, but the excavation team anticipates more...

The Egyptian government announced on Thursday that Japanese archaeologists working in Egypt have found four wooden sarcophaguses and associated grave goods that could date back 3,300 years, Reuters reported.The Supreme Council for Antiquities said in a statement that the researchers from Waseda University in Tokyo discovered the anthropomorphic sarcophaguses in a tomb in the Sakkara (or Saqqara) necropolis, about 15 miles south of Cairo.Archaeologists believe there are still plenty of remains...

The Egyptian government released a statement on Monday saying archaeologists there have found about 30 mummies and at least one unopened sarcophagus in a burial chamber about 4,300 years old.The chamber was uncovered in the desert on the western side of the Step Pyramid of Saqqara, one of the earliest large stone structures in the world, dating from about 2,650 BC.Egypt's top archaeologist, Zahi Hawass, said the tomb was located at the bottom of a 36-foot deep shaft where twenty-two mummies...

Archaeologists reported on Monday the discovery of two ancient tombs at Saqqara belonging to ancient Egyptian court officials.The pair of 4,300-year-old tombs were built for two high officials "“ one who was in charge of music and entertainment for pharaohs, and another for the quarries used to build the nearby pyramids."The discovery of the two tombs are the beginning of a big, large cemetery," said Zahi Hawass, Egypt's antiquities chief, on Monday. One of the tombs belonged to...

Egypt's antiquities chief announced Tuesday the discovery of a pyramid buried in the desert and thought to belong to the mother of a pharaoh who ruled more than 4,000 years ago.Zahi Hawass said the pyramid, found about two months ago in the sand south of Cairo, probably housed the remains of Queen Sesheshet, the mother of King Teti, who ruled from 2323 to 2291 BC and founded Egypt's Sixth Dynasty."The only queen whose pyramid is missing is Sesheshet, which is why I am sure it belonged to...