KANAZAWA, JAPAN—Ahram Online reports that a catacomb containing human remains has been discovered at the Saqqara necropolis by a team of archaeologists led by Nozomu Kawai of Kanazawa University. Kawai said the catacomb, which is located in a previously uninvestigated rock escarpment on the North Saqqara plateau, dates to the first or second century A.D. and features a combination of artifacts in Egyptian and Greco-Roman styles. A staircase leads to the entrance of the vaulted mudbrick structure and its limestone chamber. A niche containing a stela depicting the deities Sokar, Thoth, and Anubis was also found. An inscription in Greek on the stela, which Kawai thinks had been reused, may have been a later addition. Terracotta vessels, small figurines of Isis-Aphrodite, and a pair of limestone lion statues standing about 13 inches tall were also found in the catacomb. Outside the structure, the team found burials dating from the Roman to the Coptic periods and a mudbrick mastaba tomb that could be 5,000 years old. To read about the recent discovery of over 30 mummies at the necropolis, go to "Saqqara's Working Stiffs."
