A 3200-year-old tomb in Saqqara: the discovery of the archaeologists of the Egyptian Museum of Turin

New archaeological find in Egypt in the necropolis of Saqqara, 30 km south of the capital Cairo. Archaeologists from the Egyptian Museum, the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities and the National Museum of Antiquities of Leiden in the Netherlands, under the direction of the director of the Egyptian, Christian Greco and the curator of the Egyptian and Nubian Collection of the Leiden Museum, Lara Weiss, have found the remains of the tomb of Panehsy, which dates back to the early Ramesside period (1250 BC). Panehsy was in charge of the temple dedicated to the god Amun. The archaeological expedition has also brought to light some funerary chapels.

The discovery sheds new light on the development of the Saqqara necropolis in the Ramesside period. Saqqara is the necropolis of the ancient Egyptian capital Memphis, which according to Egyptian tradition was founded in 3000 BC by King Menes, the first pharaoh of united Egypt.

Panehsy’s tomb is in the form of a temple, with a monumental entrance and a courtyard with a colonnaded portico in the center of which there is a well which gives access to the underground burial chambers. On the west side, the courtyard is enclosed by three chapels. The rectangular funerary complex, measuring 13.4 meters by 8.2 metres, borders to the south with the famous tomb of Maya, a high official responsible for the treasure of Pharaoh Tutankhamun.

The adobe walls of the upper structure of the Paneshy tomb are still standing and reach a height of one and a half meters and are decorated with orthostats, limestone facing slabs, which show colored reliefs in which the owner of the tomb stands out. tomb Panehsy and his wife Baia, singer of Amun, and several priests and offering bearers.