Rare Tomb Opened After 4,500 Years
A Czech team has opened an intact burial chamber from the fifth dynasty in Abusir. The tomb was discovered in 2006 but the burial chamber was not explored at the time and has remained sealed for nearly 4,500 years.
“The most important conclusion to be connected with this discovery-which is, in principle, a major discovery-is that everything we saw was found intact, which means nobody has seen or touched this burial since the Old Kingdom,” said Miroslav Barta, the Czech archaeologist who led the excavation.
It is rare to unearth intact burials of upper-middle class officials such as Neferinpu-a tier below extravagant royal burials but more elaborate than those of the lower classes-he added.
“[There was] no gold and no silver, but the wealth of information makes this chamber quite unique within the context,” said Barta, who added that last year his team found four much poorer burials in Abusir, which contained little more than the bones of the deceased.
“In ancient Egyptian archaeology today, it’s not about discoveries, it’s not about beautiful things, but it’s about information.”
The team found Neferinpu’s burial chamber behind a mud-brick wall to the east of an ancient burial shaft.
“It became clear within several hours that we had an unrobbed burial chamber in front of us,” said Barta, who added that the thrill of opening the burial chamber was tempered by his attention to detail.
“You are excited; you feel like Indiana Jones for a couple of seconds,” he said.
Read the rest of the story at National Geographic
Tags: Abusir
