From: C-reuters@clarinet.com (Reuter / Jonathan Wright)
Subject: Archeologists find tombs of prominent Egyptians
Date: Thu, 20 Oct 94 9:30:17 PDT

         CAIRO, Egypt (Reuter) - Archeologists have found the tombs
of two Egyptians who died about 2300 BC, director of excavations
Ali Hassan said  Thursday.
         Both tombs, in the Saqqara necropolis about 12 miles south
of Cairo, are in good condition, with paint still visible on the
hieroglyphic inscriptions and on a mural showing people bearing
offerings, he said.
         ``They're the first for at least 10 years at Saqqara to
contain such an amount of objects, and some of them could be
museum pieces,'' he told Reuters.
         Saqqara was the burial ground for the pharaohs who ruled at
nearby Memphis, by legend the first capital of united Egypt. It
has the first pyramid, the Step Pyramid of Zozer.
         The tombs, including the debris which covered them from
later centuries, contained wooden statues, several sarcophagi,
well-preserved baskets with alabaster cosmetic jars and parts of
what is probably a palanquin from about 1400 BC.
         One of them belonged to Ka Aper, who described himself as
``the one well-known to the Pharaoh, the hereditary prince, the
head of the archives of the Pharaoh and the head of all works in
the vicinity of the Pharaoh Teti's pyramid.''
         ``He was a sixth dynasty priest but his name is completely
new to us. We didn't know he existed. We've added a new very
distinguished person to the history books,'' Hassan said.
         The other tomb belonged to a priestess and is a very rare
example of an Old Kingdom tomb built solely for a woman. At that
time dead women were usually depicted only on the walls of their
husbands' tombs, he added.
         ``Her name was Najad Pet, the gift of the gods, and she was
the priestess of the goddess Hathor, of the goddess Neith of the
Delta and of the god Wepwawet, the jackal who opens the way for
the dead,'' he said.
         ``We found chambers of mud brick covered with plaster and
painted with very fine scenes of offering bearers with beautiful
garlands. The color is still there,'' he added.
         Hassan said the tombs had been robbed in ancient times but
there was still a chance they would find the sarcophagus of Ka
Aper intact at a lower level.