A cache of coffins, mummies and artifacts have been found just a stone's throw from King Tut's tomb.
Archaeologists have been working at Saqqara for the past two years. Some of King Tut's closest generals and advisors may have been buried in a trove of coffins and mummies.
The first king of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt was named Teti.
"Teti was worshiped as a god in the New Kingdom period, and so people wanted to be buried near him," Zahi Hawass, an Egyptologist who is working on the dig, said. Most burials in Saqqara were from the Old Kingdom or the Late Period. We have found 22 connected shafts, all with New Kingdom burials. The New Kingdom period began in the 6th century B.C. and ended in the 11th century B.C.
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Archaeologists found a huge limestone sarcophagus and hundreds of beautiful coffins from the New Kingdom period.
Hawass said that burials from the New Kingdom were not common in the area before. The coffins are decorated with scenes from the Book of the Dead and each one has a different face. The Four Sons of Horus, who protected the organs of the deceased, are depicted in the coffins.
Even after all these centuries, the researchers were surprised to find the mummies in good condition after lifting the coffins' lid.
Hawass said that this shows that mummification peaked in the New Kingdom. The most amazing coffin so far has a mask of a woman made completely of solid gold, and it has only one lid.
A metal axe found in the hand of an army soldier is one of the artifacts inside the coffins and tomb shafts.
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She had never before been known from the historical record. Adding a new queen to our records is incredible.
A selection of the coffins and antiquities found at the excavation site will be on display at the Grand Egyptian Museum.
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