Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram quoted Mr. Mostafa Waziri – Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities – as saying that two workshops and two ancient tombs were discovered in Saqqara – a large pharaoh cemetery in the south. Cairo.

“We announce the discovery of the two largest embalming workshops for humans and animals at the Saqqara Necropolis. This workshop is a place used for humans, including beds where bodies are washed,” Mr. Waziri told the press.

Embalming workshops date back to the 30th Dynasty (380-343 BC) and the Ptolemaic Dynasty (305-30 BC).

The first workshop was a rectangular building with many rooms with stone beds 2 meters long and 50 cm wide used to embalm the deceased.

Archaeologists have unearthed tools used by ancient Egyptians to dissect bodies and remove organs in addition to jars used to preserve organs.

Archaeologists also found clay pots and animal burials in the second workshop. This workshop has “five stone beds, different from those discovered in the human mummification workshop”.

“According to initial research, it is believed that this special workshop was used to embalm sacred animals,” Mr. Waziri said.

Besides the two workshops, archaeologists also encountered “one of the most beautiful ancient tombs ” in the cemetery. The tomb named after the top official, Ne Hesut Ba, is 4,400 years old and dates to the Fifth Dynasty.

Ne Hesut Ba served as high priest to the Goddess Maat and oversaw the digging of canals for irrigation. Mr. Waziri praised this as an important tomb.

The second tomb is 3,400 years old and belongs to a Qadish priest named Men Kheber Ra.

In January 2021, archaeologists discovered many ancient treasures in Saqqara, including ancient coffins, burial grounds and a funerary temple.

Egyptian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Ahmed Issa emphasized the key role of this site in the Egyptian government’s plan to boost the economy through tourism.

Accordingly, Saqqara is being developed into a tourism hub, as part of a broader plan to increase visitor numbers to Egypt by 25% to 30% by 2023.

Minister Issa expressed admiration for the hard work of the Egyptian archaeologists who revealed this new discovery.

“I assure you that Egypt, especially the Saqqara archaeological site, has not yet revealed all its secrets and there are many more to come,” the minister added.