DISCOVERY: Ancient Egyptian Temple, Sarcophagi & Precious Items at Saqqara

Hello everybody and welcome to Ancient Architects. Please subscribe now to get the latest ancient history news and independent research from around the world. You may have seen this news story breaking over the weekend as an Old Kingdom temple and dozens of New Kingdom Egyptian coffins and mummies were discovered at Saqqara, as well as many other important finds. The discovery has been widely reported, but often misreported in places. So in this video, I'll try to explain exactly what's been discovered at the ancient necropolis of Saqqara. The Egyptian archaeological mission were working next to the Pyramid of King Teti, the first king of the 6th Dynasty who ruled Egypt in the Old Kingdom approximately between 2345 and 2333 BC. Once smooth sided, today Teti's pyramid now resembles a small hill. The first major find by archaeologists was the lost funerary temple of Queen Neet or near it, wife of Teti, part of which had already been uncovered a few years before. This time, the full layout of the temple was traced, and inside there were three mudbrick warehouses attached to the temple on the southeastern side, thought to have been built for offerings, provisions and tools of some kind. Because it isn't really the temple that's grabbing the headlines, but the later finds that were discovered nearby. The Egyptian archaeological mission, in cooperation with the Ministry of Antiquities and the Zahi Hawass Centre at Bibliotheca Alexandrina have announced a number of other treasures, most of which date back to the New Kingdom. So where do we start? Well, in total, 52 burial shafts were discovered, all of which were between 10 and 12 metres deep in the ground. Inside there were more than 50 wooden coffins, many of which were unopened and dating back to the New Kingdom, specifically the 19th Dynasty. This is the first time that coffins dating back to this period have been found in the Saqqara region, which previously only displayed Old Kingdom and then Late Period burials. The coffins are anthropoid and are decorated with many ancient Egyptian scenes depicting gods and also excerpts from the Book of the Dead. So this discovery confirms that Saqqara was not just reused for burials in the Late Period, but was also used in the New Kingdom as well. There was also a luxurious mud brick shrine uncovered, also dating back to the New Kingdom, located 24 metres below ground level. An associated burial shaft has been located, but the burial chamber has not yet been reached as work continues. The open court of this shrine around the burial shaft is paved with well polished and shiny limestone slabs, and work is still in progress to reach the bottom. Zahi Hawass believes that thieves have not looted this burial and says that any finds will be fully disclosed. The finds in the 52 newly discovered burial shafts are considered to be some of the most important finds in the Saqqara region. But as well as the shafts, experts also found the New Kingdom workshops that produced the coffins, as well as a mummification workshop. Inside the shafts themselves, there really is a treasure trove of finds. There are a number of statues representing gods such as Osiris and Ptah Soqar Osiris. There was also a shrine dedicated to Anubis and beautiful statues of this guardian deity. There were also games for the deceased to play in the afterlife, such as Senet, a game that I made a video about last year. There was also a magnificent bronze axe, indicating there is a burial of one of the 19th Dynasty army leaders at the locality. There were also wooden boats, toys and wooden funerary masks as well. One of the most remarkable finds was a 4m long papyrus that included text from the Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, chapter 17 to be specific, which contained spells aimed at directing the dead through the underworld of Ancient Egypt. There is also a wonderful, well-preserved limestone stele belonging to a man named Karp Ptah, well decorated and showing the man his wife, his sons and daughters, as well as the god Osiris. Interestingly, one of the daughters is called Nefertari, maybe named after the famous wife of Ramesses the Great. One of his sons is also called Khemwazet, also the name of a son of Ramesses. Karp Ptah was overseer of the king's military chariots, which was likely to be a prestigious title in the 19th Dynasty. There were also carefully carved and painted Ushabti figurines, as well as an impressive quantity of pottery, all of which dates back to the New Kingdom. The pottery gives us an indication of the trade links that the Egyptians had at this time, because there is pottery from Crete, Palestine and Syria. Some initial studies have taken place on the mummies, thanks to the work of Dr. Sahar Selim, a professor of radiology, who found out that one woman likely died of a chronic disease known as Mediterranean Fever or Swine Fever, a disease that comes directly from contact with animals and leads to an abscess in the liver. Zahi Hawass, who revealed the treasures over the weekend, said, All these discoveries will rewrite the history of Saqqara in the New Kingdom. He also says it is the most important archaeological discovery so far this year, which, granted, is only 18 days old, but still, it does look like an important one. As well as rewriting the history of Saqqara in the New Kingdom, the location of the discoveries shows the importance of the 6th Dynasty King Teti in the New Kingdom. The finds indicate that Teti was worshipped and honoured in later history, in the same way that Kings Khufu and Khafre were also worshipped for many hundreds of years after their death, with the cult of Khufu lingering up to the late period and maybe even into the Roman era. Only last year there was an incredible discovery of dozens of coffins and mummies, and together with these new finds, it's clear that there is still so much more to find under the sands of Saqqara. And now I'll hand over to Dr Hawass, who can tell you more about the discovery. of the King Teti, and this will add a small part about the history of the Old Kingdom. The major important discovery also found 22 shafts. Inside the shafts were coffins and mummies. In one shaft, 54 coffins. Inside the shafts, unique artefacts. We found a papyri, about 5 metres long. We found major statuettes. We found games that the Egyptians played. We found also many unique artefacts such as an axe belonging to a soldier. All this discovery will rewrite the history of Saqqara in the New Kingdom. Thank you very much for watching this news update from Ancient Architects. If you enjoyed the video, please subscribe to the channel, please like the video and please leave a comment below. Thank you very much.