Czech Archaeologists excavating at Abusir have discovered a 4,000 year old tomb of what is believed to be a high status doctor to the Pharaohs.
Abusir is an extensive necropolis from the old Kingdom close to the vicinity of modern Cairo. Found several kilometers north of Saqqara, it severed as one of the main elite cemeteries for the ancient capital city of Memphis.
As part of the extensive pyramid field that extends from north Giza to Saqqara, the locality of Abusir is placed to accommodate the already “filled up” neighboring Giza where the 5th Dynasty pharaohs from 2,500 BC sought alternative sites for their funerary monuments.
The tomb is part of a 21 x 14 metre plot surrounded by 4 metre high walls that is believed to be a family plot.
“This discovery is important because this is the tomb of one of the greatest doctors from the time of the pyramid builders, one of the doctors closely tied to the king,” Antiquities Minister Ibrahim Ali said in a statement.
The site of Abusir, along with Saqqara and Dahshur suffered damage by looters during the 2011 Egyptian protests. Part of the false door from the tomb of the priest Rahotep was stolen, and store rooms were broken into.
The Czech Institute of Egyptology of the Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague has been conducting excavations at Abusir since 1976.
Header Image : Abusir pyramid complex of Sahura, Nuiserre and Neferirkare (left to right) Wiki Commons
