A recycled burial chamber with unusual decorations has been discovered just south of Cairo, archaeologists announced today.

The chamber may offer further proof of how the nobles of Egypt's 26th dynasty (664 to 525 B.C.) "gentrified" the 2,000-year-old necropolis, or vast burial grounds, of their 5th-dynasty predecessors. The necropolis had fallen into disrepair in the intervening millennia.

The find occurred near the three weathered pyramids of Abu Sir [Abusir] — remnants of an original seven — located 22 miles (35 kilometres) south of Cairo...

"We believe it is the proximity to the complex of sacred installations in north Saqqara" — just half a mile (one kilometre) away — that led to the building of new tombs at Abu Sir, said , who has been researching the region for decades.

Egypt's Supreme Council for Antiquities announced that a team led by Ladislav Bareš, also of the Czech Institute [of Egyptology], had located the burial chamber of a royal scribe named Menekhibnekau...

Czech archaeologists have been excavating Menekhibnekau's tomb since 2006, but only in April did they find the burial chamber.

Inside the chamber, the team uncovered a vaulted ceiling decorated with stars.

Also in the tomb were two large sarcophagi: A massive exterior coffin made of limestone, and a human-shaped interior made of greywacke, a type of dark green sandstone. Both were densely covered with religious texts...

So is it Abu Sir, Abu-Sir, or Abusir. A search on Google favours the latter. Also note the other sites Abu Ghurob, Abu Rowash and Abu Mina don't tend to get their names contracted...

cf. "Gentrified" Egyptian Burial Chamber Discovered, Dan Morrison, National Geographic News, USA, August 02, 2007.

cf. Egypt discovers 2,500-year-old grave of royal guard, Xinhau, China, August 03, 2007.

Previously:

Pharaonic tomb discovered, August 03, 2007.