Hailed as 'dream discovery'
(THE BLAZE) – Archaeologists excavating an ancient cemetery near Cairo have unearthed a 3,200-year-old sarcophagus belonging to a high-ranking official under Ramses II, reports Smithsonian Magazine.
Archaeologists describe the sarcophagus as a “dream discovery,” since finding a complete sarcophagus in its original tomb is incredibly rare, reports The Guardian.
Ola El Aguizy, emeritus professor of the faculty of archaeology at Cairo University, discovered the sarcophagus in the Saqqara necropolis. The Guardian reports that the sarcophagus is covered in inscriptions dedicated Ptah-em-wia, who headed the treasury of King Ramses II, one of Egypt’s most powerful pharaohs.
It took a week just to remove all the sand leading to the burial chamber. El Aguizy’s team used a bucket attached to a hand-operated rope winch. El Aguizy “then squeezed herself into that bucket and made a dangerous, slow descent down the shaft,” the Guardian details.
Ptah-M-Wia’s mummy was not in the sarcophagus. The coffin’s lid was broken; Smithsonian Magazine explains that this suggests grave robbers removed the remains, likely in antiquity. Traces of resin in the sarcophagus indicate that it contained a mummified body at some point, writes Live Science.