CAIRO, EGYPT—Ahram Online reports that a team of Egyptian and Japanese archaeologists from Kanazawa University has uncovered two rock-cut tombs, mastabas, and burials at Saqqara, expanding the boundary of the necropolis to the north. Mastabas are flat-roofed, rectangular mudbrick tombs with sloped walls. These four mastabas have been dated to the late 2nd Dynasty and early 3rd Dynasty, while the 10 burials have been dated to the 18th Dynasty. One of the rock-cut tombs consists of a limestone shaft leading to a burial chamber. “This new evidence suggests that Saqqara was not only a major burial site during the Old Kingdom but also became significant during the New Kingdom when Memphis was reinstated as Egypt’s capital following the expulsion of the [foreign dynasty known as the] Hyksos,” said Mohamed Ismail Khaled of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. To read about 100 painted coffins dating to the 26th Dynasty that were unearthed in Saqqara, go to "Mummy Cache," one of ARCHAEOLOGY's Top 10 Discoveries of 2020.
