A 2,500-YEAR-OLD Egyptian tomb containing reams of ancient spells has been unearthed in the Abusir necropolis, according to archaeologists.
The tomb belonged to a Djehutyemnakht, a royal scribe and high official at the time.
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The recent discovery was carried out by experts from the Czech Institute of Egyptology of the Faculty of Arts, at Charles University.
Evidence of 25-year-old Djehutyemnakht’s tomb was first discovered in May, Mostafa Waziri, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities told Ahram Online.
It was found inside a wider cemetery for high-ranking officials and military commanders from the 26th and 27th Dynasties.
“These shaft tombs represent a type of tomb specific to this era, and were created by the ancient Egyptian elites in imitation of the tomb of King Djoser, the founder of the famous Old Kingdom of the pyramid-building era of the 3rd millennium BC,” said Waziri.
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The tomb should have protruded out of the sand, but that structure has been destroyed with time.
The burial chamber itself remains intact, 14 metres below ground.
It is decorated with long sequences of spells and rich hieroglyphic scenes, according to archaeologists.
The ancient spells were inscribed to protect Djehutyemnakht against snake bites while on his journey into the afterlife.
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“Interestingly, the snakes mentioned in them were on the one hand considered dangerous, but on the other hand, they acted as powerful protectors of the deceased and his mummy,” director of the archaeological project, Marcel Bárta, explained.
The southern and western walls are covered with ritual offerings and an extensive list of offerings.
But beyond this, the tomb was practically empty, having been robbed possibly as early as the 5th Century AD.
The sun’s journey across the sky has been drawn on the ceiling, alongside hymns and a setting sun.
The outer walls of the sarcophagus have the ancient funerary texts, the Coffin Texts and the Pyramid Texts, painted on.
These texts partially repeat the serpent spells that appear earlier in the tomb.
At the bottom of the inner wall of the coffin, Imentet, the goddess of the West is depicted.
The inner sides of the coffin contain the so-called canopic spells, recited by this goddess and the Earth god Geb.
All of these spells and religious-magical texts were intended to bless Djehutyemnakht and help him on his way to an eternal afterlife.
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