Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Remains of a pyramid discovered in Saqqara

La Vanguardia

I was really hoping to have a translation-free day today (I'm sure that something in English will emerge whilst I'm away!). Here is the summary. A team of Egyptian experts have discovered the remains of a pyramid which has been covered with sand since the nineteenth century in the necropolis of Saqqara, 20km southeast of Cairo. The announcement was made by Zahi Hawass, the Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Anqituities in a communication in which he said that the pyramid is located by the side of the Pharaoh Teti, the first monarch of the Sixth Dynasty. The remains of the pyramid were first mentioned by Karl Richard Lepsius. Recent excavations have revealed the entrance, walls, funerary chamber and a piece of a granite sarcophagus. It is not known to whom the burial belonged but Hawass is speculating that it belonged to Menkauhor Kaiyu, who reigned during the Fifth Dynasty.

Un equipo de expertos egipcios ha vuelto a descubrir los vestigios de una pirámide que permaneció cubierta por la arena desde el siglo XIX, en la necrópolis faraónica de Saqara, a unos 20 kilómetros al suroeste de El Cairo. El anuncio lo hizo el egiptólogo Zahi Hawass, secretario general del Consejo Supremo de Antigüedades, en un comunicado en el que precisa que la pirámide esta ubicada al lado de la pirámide del faraón Titi, el primer monarca de la dinastía VI (2354-2374 a.C.). Los vestigios de la pirámide fueron señalados por primera vez por Karl Richard Lepsius (1810-1884), el fundador de la ciencia de la egiptología, recordó Hawass.

Las ruinas, que fueron descubiertas en excavaciones realizadas últimamente, incluyen la entrada, los muros y la cámara funeraria, en la que se encontró un pedazo de un sarcófago de granito, explica el responsable egipcio.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Andie

I think it is just a typo, but should it not be nineteenth century, not 19th Dynasty, if Lepsius originally found it. I think that Lehner mentions this pyramid as a possible candidate for that of Menkauhor, if it is that of this king it will be very exciting and I can't wait for more information on it.

Tass

Andie said...

Thanks Tass. I'll be updating the blog today and hopefully there will be some more info.