Egyptian mastaba had its own afterlife

In Egypt, apparently even pyramids can be recycled.

Archaeologists from the country's Supreme Council of Antiquities said this week that they had discovered a cache of 30 mummies dating from the country's 26th Dynasty in a tomb constructed during the 6th Dynasty nearly 2,000 years earlier.

The 26th Dynasty was the last period of rule by Egyptian pharaohs before the country was conquered by the Persians and other foreigners, a time when it was becoming more difficult for rulers to muster the manpower necessary for more grandiose burial sites.

The 6th Dynasty pyramid is actually a mastaba tomb -- a simpler precursor to a pyramid -- of a man named Sennedjem. It is located in Saqqara, about 12 miles south of Cairo, the final resting place of most of the Egyptian rulers who lived in the Old Kingdom capital of Memphis.

The new cache was discovered at the end of a 36-foot shaft drilled into the side of the tomb during the 26th Dynasty. Zahi Hawass, head of the council and director of the expedition, said the team had found 24 mummies in niches along the walls of the chamber and on shelves along one wall. Some of the mummies were of children and one was of a dog. All were badly decomposed, indicating that they had not been adequately prepared for burial.

About a year ago, my team conducted a survey and began excavations in an area known as the Gisr El-Mudir at Saqqara. “Gisr El-Mudir” means “bridge of the director” – the name refers to the fact that, many years ago, an expedition director used to pitch his tent nearby.

There is a large, Early Dynastic stone enclosure under the desert in this area, and it is very exciting to learn that there has also been an undiscovered Old Kingdom cemetery lying below the sand all these years, waiting to be discovered. A few months ago, we announced the discovery of two new tombs. One belonged to a man named Iya-maat, who directed missions sent to retrieve materials for the construction of the pyramid of Unas (ca. 2353-2323 BC). The other belonged to a 5th Dynasty woman named Thinh, whose title was “chief of all the singers.” We also recently discovered the 6th Dynasty mud-brick mastaba tomb of a man named Sennedjem. Behind the chapel of this tomb, which contains an inscribed false door, a shaft about 11 meters deep and 2.75 meters square was dug into the rock of the plateau. This shaft ends in a sizeable burial chamber. To the east, inside the chapel itself, another shaft was dug into the same burial chamber during the 26th, or Saite, Dynasty (ca. 2353-2323 BC).

To reach the burial chamber, you have to either climb down a narrow ladder, or ride a simple rope lift. Either way, it is dangerous, and quite thrilling!