Egypt: a 4,400-year-old tomb belonging to a high-ranking priest

Archaeologists have discovered an exceptionally well-preserved tomb in Egypt dating back 4,400 years. It belonged to a high-ranking priest of Wahtye. Numerous statues and five hidden shafts were found in the catacombs, four of which are still sealed.

The tomb is located in Sakkara – of an ancient necropolis located about 30 kilometersóin the south of Cairo, and once belonged to the first capital of Egypt – Memphis. It has not been looted and is in very good condition, which is rare. The carvings and paintings on the walls of the 4,400-year-old tomb are intact, someóre have even preserved the color.

According to Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, która directs the work of archaeologistów responsible for the discovery, the tomb belongs to a high-ranking priest named Wahtye, whoóry bore the title „divine inspector”.

Wahtye was a subject of a pharaoh named Neferirkare from the 5th dynasty, whoóry reigned around 2446-2438 r. p.n.e. The pyramid of Neferirkare is also located in the Sakkara area.

The tomb is about 10 metersóin length and three each in width and height and has at least two levels of. W górca found 24 statues in the upper part, and another 31 in the lower part, making a total of 55 statuesów. Someóre are life-size, others, the lowest ones are about a meter high. They represent people and bóstva.

The walls of the catacombs are covered with hieroglyphs and paintings, którich colors have been preserved despite the passage of millennia. Images show Egyptians involved in rósible activities, including cooking, drinking and construction work, making pottery and wine, sacrificing, hunting or sailing a boat. Also found in the tomb were five hidden quicków, with któone may contain the sarcophagus of a priest and many valuable artifactsów.

Hieroglyphs discovered in the tomb often mention the mother of a priest named Merit Meen, which means „dedicated to the god Min”. Min to bófertility status in Egyptian mythology. Hieroglyphs also mention Wahtye’s wife named Nin Winit Ptah, which in turn means „the largest of the god Ptah". Ptah was a bóg creatórca at the head of the so-called. The Great Trójki Bogów.