SAQQARA, Egypt - The arrest of tomb robbers led archaeologists
to the graves of three royal dentists, protected by a curse and
hidden in the desert sands for thousands of years in the shadow of
Egypt's most ancient pyramid, officials announced Sunday.
The thieves launched their own dig one summer night two months ago
but were apprehended, Zahi Hawass, chief of Egypt's Supreme Council
of Antiquities, told reporters.
That led archaeologists to the three tombs, one of which included
an inscription warning that anyone who violated the sanctity of the
grave would be eaten by a crocodile and a snake, Hawass said.
A towering, painted profile of the chief dentist stares down at
passers-by from the wall opposite the inscription.
The tombs date back more than 4,000 years to the 5th Dynasty and
were meant to honor a chief dentist and two others who treated the
pharaohs and their families, Hawass said.
Their location near the Step Pyramid of King Djoser believed to
be Egypt's oldest pyramid indicate the respect accorded dentists
by Egypt's ancient kings, who "cared about the treatment of their
teeth," Hawass said.
Although their services were in demand by the powerful, the
dentists likely did not share in their wealth.
The tombs, which did not contain their mummies, were built of
mud-brick and limestone, not the pure limestone preferred by
ancient Egypt's upper class.
"The whole point of a tomb was to last forever," said Carol
Redmount, associate professor of Egyptian archaeology at the
University of California at Berkeley. "So you wanted to make it out
of materials that would last forever. And mud-brick ... didn't last
forever."
During a visit to the site, Hawass pointed out two hieroglyphs an
eye over a tusk which appear frequently among the neat rows of
symbols decorating the tombs. He said those hieroglyphs identify
the men as dentists.
The pictorial letters also spell out the names of the chief dentist
Iy Mry and the other two Kem Msw and Sekhem Ka. Hawass said
the men were not related but must have been partners or colleagues
to have been buried together.
Figures covering the pillars in the doorway of the chief dentist's
tomb tell archaeologists much about his life and habits, Hawass
said.
They depict the chief dentist and his family immersed in daily
rituals playing games, slaughtering animals and presenting
offerings to the dead, including the standard 1,000 loaves of bread
and 1,000 vases of beer.
These would "magically provide food and sustenance for the spirit
of the dead person for all eternity," Redmount said.
Just around the corner of the doorway is a false door, its face
painstakingly inscribed with miniature hieroglyphics. A shallow
basin was placed below it.
"That was sort of the interface where the dead person in the tomb
would come up and interact with the living," Redmount said.
The tomb robbers were the first to discover the site two months
ago, and began their own dig one summer night, before they were
captured and jailed. "We have to thank the thieves," Hawass
said.
Although archaeologists have been exploring Egypt's ruins
intensively for more than 150 years, Hawass believes only 30
percent of what lies hidden beneath the sands has been uncovered.
Excavation continues at Saqqara, he said, and his team expects to
find more tombs in the area.
Saqqara, about 12 miles south of Cairo, is one of Egypt's most
popular tourist sites and hosts a collection of temples, tombs and
funerary complexes.
The Step Pyramid is the forerunner of the more familiar
straight-sided pyramids in Giza on the outskirts of Cairo, which
were believed to have been built about a century later.
From:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061023/ap_on_sc/egypt_new_tombs
