Update on the Father & Son Tomb Discovery
In the last 24 hours a bit more information on the discovery of what has become known as the ‘Father & Son’ tombs located west of the pyramid of Unas at Saqqara has been released as well as more photos and a video.
An obvious point I missed is the cartouche of Pepi II and the reference to his pyramid written on the right side of the false door inside the tomb: Nefer-ka-Re men ankh, which means ‘Pepi is Established and Living’. Other text on the false doors identified Shendwa and his son Khonsu as royal scribes and “supervisors of the mission,” indicating that they were in charge of delegations overseeing the supply of materials used in the construction of Pepi II’s pyramid.
The video shows the arrangement of the tombs and I was intrigued by the set of ritual instruments that included a pesesh-kef tool used in the ‘Opening of the Mouth’ ceremony, as well as a jar and cup. The stone plate in which these were placed has some pieces missing and it can be observed that the remaining ‘jar’ is solid and doesn’t have a hollow inside, making it practically non-functional as a jar.
Egyptologist Ann Macy Roth explains:
”In archaelogical and textual evidence alike, the psš-kf knife consistently occurs as part of the same collection of objects. In the Pyramid Texts, these objects are presented in a sequence that is the earliest attested form of the ‘opening of the mouth’ ceremony. The speeches accompanying the presentations suggest that the psš-kf and the objects associated with it were the equipment for a ritual mimicking birth and childhood, and that the role of the psš-kf in this process was to cut the umblical cord of a newborm baby.” - from “The PSŠ-KF and the ‘Opening of the Mouth’ Ceremony: a Ritual of Birth and Rebirth”
“The psš-kf does not normally occur in isolation. In the Old Kingdom, it was consistently grouped with a set of other objects.”, “the same assemblage of objects: the forked psš-kf knife, two hrts-bottles (one of black and one of white stone), and four or five straight-sided hnt-cups…”, sometimes including “ntrwj-blades”, which were finger shaped.” – from “Fingers, Stars, and the ‘Opening of the Mouth’: the Nature and Function of the Ntrwj-blades”, also by Ann Macy Roth
It would seem from the image taken from the video that the black stone components of this set are missing, possibly smashed as part of the funerary ritual.
Further reading:
Miniature ‘Opening of the Mouth’ ritual set
Egypt Unveils Discovery Of 4,300-Year-Old Tombs (contains a slide show with many more photos)
Archaeologists unearth ancient Egyptian tomb of father and son (with close up shots of the artifacts discovered).
Press Release – Two new tombs discovered at Saqqara from the website of Dr Zahi Hawass.
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Are these tombs open to the public?
No, these are not open to the public. I’d say there is probably a lot of restoration work to be done first. You can see what tombs are open to the public and entry times and prices via the ‘Pyramids’ links and the ‘Pyramid Fields’ links at the top right of the page.
Here is the Saqqara page for example.