Archaeologists working at Saqqara, the ancient necropolis near Egypt's former capital of Memphis, have uncovered a 4,000-year-old tomb belonging to a high-ranking official, according to Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, which announced the find last week.
The tomb includes a false door, an offering table and a purification basin, the ministry said. Hieroglyphic inscriptions identify the tomb's owner as a man named Sekhentiu-Ptah, who the ministry said held several senior positions, including royal chamberlain, supervisor of the king's works, supervisor of royal documents, priest of the goddess Maat, and supervisor of scribes.
Excavations at the site also revealed a network of burial shafts containing human remains and funerary objects, including more than 100 faience ushabti figurines. Such figurines were commonly placed with the dead in ancient Egypt to serve as attendants for them in the afterlife.
The discovery is part of an ongoing archaeological mission west of Saqqara's Bubasteion necropolis, an area named for the goddess Bastet. Saqqara, located about 20 miles south of Cairo, served as a burial ground for royalty and elite figures during Egypt's Old Kingdom period, roughly 2700 to 2200 B.C.E., and remained in use as a significant burial site through the Roman era.
According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, ancient Egyptians believed false doors allowed the deceased to move freely in and out of their tombs. Saqqara has been studied closely since the 19th century, offering researchers insight into the beliefs and burial customs of Old Kingdom Egypt.
Magdy Shaker, an archaeologist with the ministry, has said that beyond its royal monuments, Saqqara is dense with tombs belonging to officials from nearly every era of ancient Egyptian history, many bearing inscriptions and scenes of notable quality.