{"id":6478,"date":"2018-12-16T11:03:24","date_gmt":"2018-12-16T07:03:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/?p=6478"},"modified":"2018-12-16T11:03:24","modified_gmt":"2018-12-16T07:03:24","slug":"egypt-tomb-saqqara-one-of-a-kind-discovery-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/2018\/12\/16\/egypt-tomb-saqqara-one-of-a-kind-discovery-revealed\/","title":{"rendered":"Egypt tomb: Saqqara ‘one of a kind’ discovery revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Archaeologists in Egypt have made an exciting tomb discovery – the final resting place of a high priest, untouched for 4,400 years.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, described the find as “one of a kind in the last decades”.<\/p>\n

The tomb, found in the Saqqara pyramid complex near Cairo, is filled with colourful hieroglyphs and statues of pharaohs. Decorative scenes show the owner, a royal priest named Wahtye, with his mother, wife and other relatives.<\/p>\n

Archaeologists will start excavating the tomb on 16 December, and expect more discoveries to follow – including the owner’s sarcophagus.<\/p>\n

Here’s what they’ve found already…<\/p>\n

\"Coloured<\/span>
The private tomb is part of a vast, ancient necropolis in Saqqara – where the earliest known Egyptian pyramids are located<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A<\/span>
The tomb was found in a buried ridge, which may help explain why it escaped looters<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A<\/span>
The walls of the tomb are covered in hieroglyphs, the writing system of ancient Egypt<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Four<\/span>
The ancient Egyptians often carved sculptures into the walls of tombs and temples<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Mustafa<\/span>
Mustafa Abdo is the project’s chief of excavation. The tomb is 10m (33 ft) long, 3m (9.8ft) wide, and a little under 3m high<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Coloured<\/span>
Priests were important people in ancient Egyptian society, as pleasing the gods was a top priority<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A<\/span>
The tomb’s colours have survived unusually well for almost 4,400 years, experts said<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A<\/span>
The artefacts date from the Fifth Dynasty, which ruled Egypt from around 2,500 BC to 2,350<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A<\/span>
The coloured wall scenes depict the owner, a high priest, with his family<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"An<\/span>
Archaeologists plan to explore the tomb further, and should find the priest’s coffin soon<\/p>\n

–
\nBBC<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Archaeologists in Egypt have made an exciting tomb discovery – the final resting place of a high priest, untouched for 4,400 years. Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, described the find as “one of a kind in the last decades”. The tomb, found in the Saqqara pyramid complex near Cairo, is filled …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6479,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6478"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6486,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6478\/revisions\/6486"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}