Season 2023
The 2023 season took place during the first half of June and was mainly technical in nature. We worked on the new concession granted to us by the Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt in Saqqara, northwest of the Step Pyramid. This is a sector of the so-called ‘Mariette Cemetery’, named after the pioneering Egyptologist who excavated it in the mid-19th century, where all the high priests of the gods Ptah and Sokar of Memphis during the Old Kingdom, when this city was the capital of the country, were buried. Scientifically, these individuals are of interest to us because they are the predecessors of Imephor Impy Nikauptah of Kom el-Khamaseen.
The concession area includes the mastabas of the high priests Ranefer (5th Dynasty) and Sabu Tjety (6th Dynasty) and the adjacent sector. We conducted an exhaustive study of the area from a spatial, topographical, and geological point of view. We studied the composition of the terrain to understand the geological context in which the tombs of this cemetery were built and their shafts and burial chambers were excavated, as well as the deposits of gravel and sand that now cover them. We produced the first topographical maps. But above all, we carried out an extensive archaeological, geomagnetic, and geo-radar survey of the area granted. This has helped us to plan the archaeological activity to be carried out in subsequent campaigns.
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