A group of archeologists from the Czech Institute of Egyptology discovered on Sunday a tomb believed to had been dedicated to an Egyptian queen in an area in the southwest of Abusir.
The region was found to be an ancient cemetery used by the inhabitants of the old Egyptian capital of Memphis. The institute conducted the expedition in cooperation with Charles University in Prague.
Miroslav Barta, the head of the group, disclosed that the tomb may have belonged to the wife or the mother of Pharaoh Neferefre, who ruled the region some 4,500 years ago. The assumption that the tomb was dedicated to the wife of the ruler was strengthened by the fact that the discovery was made in an Old Kingdom necropolis found in the southwest of Cairo.
"The unearthed tomb is a part of a small cemetery to the south east of the pyramid complex of King Neferefre (Raneferef) which led the team to think that Queen Khentkaus could be the wife of Neferefre hence she was buried close to his funerary complex," Barta was quoted as saying in Luxor Times, an English blog site created to cater to tourists and expats staying in Egypt.
The tomb was said to date back to 2994-2345 B.C. or roughly to the mid-5th Dynasty. The archeologists described that it bore an inscription interpreted to indicate that the person laid to rest in the discovered tomb was the "king's wife".
"This discovery will help us shed light on certain unknown aspects of the Fifth Dynasty, which along with the Fourth Dynasty, witnessed the construction of the first pyramids," explained the Egyptian Antiquities Minister Mamdouh el-Damaty.
In addition, Barta shared that this important discovery along with the others made in the recent years have consistently reaffirmed their conviction that the area in Abusir could serve as a rich and major source of information to be used "for the reconstruction of major epochs of ancient Egyptian history."
"If we can assume that the Queen was buried during the time of King Nyuserre (2445 B.C-2421 B.C) based on a seal bears his name was found on the tomb so we could say that Khentkaus III is the mother of King Menkauhore who was the successor of Nyuserre. This could also reveal more information on this King especially that we have a very few information on him," explained Dr. Jaromir Krejci,a team member of the group from the Czech Institute of Egyptology.
