July 15th 2022
The discovery of a Cemetry which has no identical counterpart in ancient Egypt.

The Cemetry of the foreign soldiers chief leader, the proof of the first real globalization in the ancient world.

During the excavations which have been held in the monumental area of Abusir south of Giza, the monumental expedition there has found a tomb of someone called ( Wah-Ib-Ra-Meri-Nit ) which dates back to late of 26th Dynasty and the beginning of 27th Dynasty around 570 to 525 BC.

This tomb is near to the mummification cache and was for the chief of the foreigner soldiers.

Dr. Mustafa Waziri, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, stated that the main well of the Wah-ib-Ra Meri-Nit tomb was six meters deep, and its dimensions were approximately 14 x 14 meters. The well is divided into several parts separated by bridges carved in the natural rock of the area. In the middle of the main well, another smaller, but deeper well was dug, which was used as a main well for the burial of the tomb owner. The burial well took an east-west direction, and its orifice measures about 6.5 x 3.3 meters.

Dr. Waziri added, “The design of this well tomb has no identical counterpart in ancient Egypt, but despite that, its architectural design is partly similar to the cemetery of Wadja Hor Rasant carved in the rock, which is located near the newly discovered cemetery, as well as the so-called Campbell cemetery in Giza.

Dr. Marslav Barta, head of the Czech institute explained that in the lower part of the main burial well, at a depth of about 16 meters, a double sarcophagus was found, somewhat damaged and completely covered with sand. The outer sarcophagus of Wah-ip-re Merinet was made of two huge blocks of white limestone, and inside its cavity contained an Adamite-shaped basalt sarcophagus, with texts from chapter 72 of the Book of the Dead engraved on its upper part, describing the resurrection of the deceased and his journey in the afterlife. The basalt sarcophagus was 2.30 meters long and 1.98 meters wide.

Dr. Barta added that the interior space of the basalt sarcophagus was found completely empty. Only an unengraved and highly sculpted scarab heart, as well as an amulet were found inside the empty sarcophagus. The simple funerary belongings of the tomb owner were originally located on the western and eastern sides of the sarcophagus. Where the expedition found in the eastern side many intact archaeological finds that were part of that funerary belongings and in their original location, which included 402 ushabti statues made of faience (and the ushabti are small statues that are supposed to represent the owner of the cemetery and perform services on his behalf in the afterlife Two Canopic vase made of alabaster were also found,
Ten symbolic cups and an ostraka made of limestone engraved with hieratic religious texts written in black ink.

Dr. Barta pointed out that “due to the small size of the ostraka, the author of the text decided to cover it with brief excerpts from the spells of the Book of the Dead, which also formed parts of the ritual transformation, thus ensuring the existence of another life for the owner of the tomb in the other world.”
He added that the preliminary studies conducted on the well cemetery revealed that it was stolen in late antiquity, probably around the fourth and fifth centuries AD, as we confirmed this information as a result of finding two pottery vessels that were left in the main well. The ancient thieves also made a hole in the western part of the outer sarcophagus of Wah-ip-re Merrinet and smashed the upper (western) part of the basalt lid of the sarcophagus representing the face of the deceased, into many fragments, which were found around the sarcophagus by the expedition.