A vast desert site on the southern outskirts of Cairo, Egypt’s Saqqara necropolis is one of the richest Pharaonic sites in the country, boasting spectacular monuments such as the earliest known pyramid in Egyptian history as well as the tombs of kings, high officials and sacred animals.
After a spate of discoveries this year, Egyptologists say the 5,000-year old site has not yielded all its treasures and much remains to be discovered.
Large caches of sealed ancient coffins — painted with brightly coloured scenes, still intact and containing well-preserved mummies — were discovered in October, untouched since burial millennia ago.
“What we see above ground is no more than 40 per cent of what exists below ground,” said Mostafa Waziri, head of the Supreme Council for Antiquities who led the Egyptian teams that made the latest discoveries.
“Saqqara is very rich, and there is still more to find. I think we can work on it for another hundred…