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Nevine al-Aref – Ahram Online
Five tombs belonging to senior officials from the Old Kingdom and First Intermediate eras were recently uncovered in excavations in the North-Eastern side of King Merenre Pyramid in Saqqara necropolis.
On Thursday, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Khaled al-Enany and the Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Mostafa Waziri toured the unearthed tombs. Minister Enany entered one of the tombs, where he inspected the excavation progress and thanked excavators for their efforts in revealing the secrets of Saqqara.
The first tomb belongs to an official with the rank of Iry, consists of a deep burial shaft leading to a chamber decorated with funerary scenes. The drawings depicted offering tables, the seven sacred oils and a façade of the palace. A limestone sarcophagus was found inside the tomb.
The second tomb was for a woman, who could be the wife of a man named Yaret and features a rectangular burial shaft. The third tomb belongs to Pepi Nefhany, who held the positions of supervisor of the great house, priest, and purifier of the house. It has a six-metre-deep burial shaft.
The fourth contained a six-metre-deep burial shaft, and a tomb of a woman named Petty, who was a priest of Hathor and was responsible for the king’s beautification. A man named Henu, was buried in the fifth tomb which was found through a seven-metre burial shaft. Henu was the overseer and supervisor of the royal house.
