CAIRO, EGYPT—Egypt Independent reports that tombs have been discovered carved into the rocky edge of a mountain in Lisht, where royals and elites of the Middle Kingdom were buried. According to Adel Okasha, director of the Central Department of Antiquities of Cairo and Giza, the first section of the cemetery, found some 1,000 feet northeast of the pyramid of King Senusret I (r. ca. 1961–1917 B.C.), features an open yard leading to a vaulted corridor lined with hieroglyphic inscriptions. A hall crosses the corridor, and there is a small chamber, also decorated with inscriptions, to one side. The yard also contains a crypt equipped with a passage that leads to the first burial chamber, and an entrance to additional chambers. To read in-depth about excavations at the capital of the Hyksos, foreigners who ruled Egypt for a century, go to “The Rulers of Foreign Lands.”
