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A 4,000 Years Old Mud Tomb, Near the Egyptian Stepe PyramidThe tomb of the Ka-Hay king |
By Stefan Anitei, Science Editor
20th of February 2007, 10:59 GMT
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Saqqara is a vast burial ground, 7 km by 1.5 km, of the ancient Egypt, where the world's oldest standing step pyramid is found.
The complex is located about 12 miles (20 km) south of Cairo and today it's one of the most popular tourist sites with its assemble of temple, tombs and funerary complexes. While the capital of the Ancient Egypt was Memphis, Saqqara was used as its necropolis. Later, its importance faded, being advanced as a royal burial ground by Giza and the Valley of the Kings, when Egypt's
capital was at Thebes.
Still, it maintained an important role for minor burials and cult ceremonies for more than 3,000 years, till the Ptolemaic (Greek) and Roman periods of the ancient Egypt.
Recently, a mixed Egyptian-Australian research team has found in the ancient Saqqara necropolis a mud brick tomb dated back more than 4,000 years, as the country's top antiquities official announced on Monday. "The tomb, which was found by an Egyptian-Australian mission, belonged to Ka-Hay, who kept divine records, and his wife," said Zahi Hawass, Egypt's antiquities chief.
The diggers discovered five wooden statues representing the tomb's owner and his wife in a blockout at the tomb's forefront. "Among the wooden figures was a unique double statue of a seated Ka-Hay and his wife," said Hawass.
The researchers also discovered two offering tables and a wooden false door.
The tomb was located close to the renowned Step Pyramid of King Djoser (2667-2648 BC) (photo), thought to be Egypt's oldest pyramid, inside the necropolis of King Teti, a graveyard harboring a lot of burial chambers and false doors, which in the religion of the ancient Egypt were the places through which the souls of the dead would leave this world. "The necropolis where the mud brick tomb was found is built alongside the collapsed pyramid of Teti, who ruled during ancient Egypt's 6th dynasty, more than 4,300 years ago. The Ka-Hay tomb dates back to the late 5th or early 6th dynasty," Hawass said.
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