Hawass Discovers Two Old Kingdom Tombs at Saqqara
By STAN PARCHIN
July 8, 2010
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| Step Pyramid of Pharaoh Djoser. Photograph courtesy of Jon Bodsworth. |
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| False Door of the Tomb of Shendwa. Photograph by Sandro Vannini. |
Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities and Deputy Minister of Culture, announced today his team's discovery of a father and son's intact tombs while excavating at the necropolis (cemetery) of Saqqara. Both burials, dating to the Old Kingdom's 6th Dynasty (ca. 2374-2191 B.C.), are located west of the famous Step Pyramid of Pharaoh Djoser (r. 2630-2611 B.C.).
Shendwa and Khonsu
Archaeologists first uncovered the well-preserved painted false door of Shendwa's tomb, its standard imagery featuring the deceased seated in profile before an offering table. Hieroglyphic inscriptions revealed that the court official supervised royal scribes and held numerous honorific titles.
Humidity and erosion contributed to the disintegration of Shendwa's wooden coffin, located 20 meters beneath the site. Five duck-shaped vessels containing the fowls' bones, a small obelisk signifying devotion to the sun god Re and assorted jars, all made of limestone, were found alongside the remnants of Shendwa's sarcophagus.
Khonsu, Shendwa's son and apparent heir of his titles, was interred in a similarly decorated tomb next to that of his father. Discovered opposite his burial's false door were an offering table and an engraved lintel (architectural beam) with a painted relief depicting Khonsu in various poses.
Sources
Dorothea, Arnold, et al. Egyptian Art in the Age of the Pyramids (exh. cat.). New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1999, 12-19, 433-493.
Shaw, Ian (ed.), et al. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000, 113-117.
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