An Egyptian archaeological mission working in the Bubasteion necropolis, on the eastern escarpment of the Saqqara plateau, has announced the discovery of three rock-cut tombs dating to the New Kingdom period.
The entrance to one of the newly discovered tombs. Credit: Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
The find has yielded hieroglyphic inscriptions and material remains that illuminate previously poorly documented corners of the ancient Memphite necropolis, offering fresh insight into the social and administrative world of Egypt’s high officials during the eighteenth dynasty.
Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Sherif Fathy made the official announcement, stressing that the discovery is further proof that Saqqara, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, continues to hold archaeological treasures that have yet to be fully explored, and pointed to the site’s ongoing succession of major finds as evidence of its exceptional cultural significance.
Relief decoration carved into the wall of one of the newly discovered tombs. Credit: Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
Part of an active, ongoing project
Mohamed Abdel Badei, head of the Egyptian Antiquities Sector at the Supreme Council of Antiquities, explained that this excavation belongs to a dedicated research project focused specifically on the Bubasteion necropolis, one of the richest sectors of the entire Saqqara funerary complex in terms of material evidence recovered. Abdel Badei noted that excavation remains active in the tombs’ burial shafts and in other unexplored areas of the site, work he expects will yield further information about the tombs’ owners and about the history of the cemetery itself in future excavation seasons.
Archaeologists at work inside one of the newly discovered tombs. Credit: Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
A prince and mayor with military ties
Amr El-Tayeb, director general of Saqqara antiquities, provided the specific details distinguishing each of the three tombs. The first belonged to a man named Mentuhotep, whose titles included hereditary prince, mayor, and royal attendant, a combination reflecting a career that fused senior administrative rank with military service. The tomb’s northern walls carry scenes of offering bearers and hunting, along with a depiction of Mentuhotep seated beside his mother, Iah-hetep. The tomb’s burial shaft remains unexcavated, with that work scheduled to resume during the coming archaeological season.
The merchant of the House of Ptah
The second tomb belonged to a man named Samut, who held the title of great, or chief, merchant of the House of Ptah, a position tying him to the powerful cult of Memphis’s patron deity. Inscriptions within the tomb preserve the names of his wife, Tui, his mother, Atbeu, and their four children, offering researchers a rare, intimate glimpse into family life and social structure during the New Kingdom, well beyond the bare facts of Samut’s official career.
An overseer, and a clue from northern Syria
The third tomb, though considerably more poorly preserved than the other two, belonged to a man named Nehesy. Surviving inscriptions identify him by the title overseer of the house, along with the name of his wife, Neferuptah, who herself held the title lady of the house.
The most striking element recovered from this tomb is a fragment of a column bearing a hieroglyphic inscription referring to the return of one of the state’s military commanders from the region of Nahrin, in northern Syria. The passage carries real significance on two fronts. It offers direct chronological evidence anchoring the tomb firmly within the New Kingdom, and it provides tangible testimony to the military expeditions and diplomatic missions Egypt maintained with the lands of the Near East during this period, a line of evidence specialists regard as essential to understanding the wider foreign reach of the pharaonic state well beyond Egypt’s own borders.
A necropolis with a long pedigree
The Bubasteion necropolis, named for its association with the goddess Bastet, already ranks among Saqqara’s most significant New Kingdom burial sectors, having previously yielded the tomb of Aperel, vizier under Amenhotep III and Akhenaten, discovered in 1987, along with the tombs of Maya, wet nurse to Tutankhamun, and Hatiay, a scribe connected to the Aton temple at Memphis. Memphis’s standing as a major military center from the reigns of Thutmose III and Amenhotep III onward drew many senior officials and generals to be buried at Saqqara, a pattern that continued through the Ramesside period, and one these three newly identified tombs now extend further still.
Sources. Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (July 19 to 20, 2026)