Tombs From Egypt's Golden Age Found

Archaeologists have unearthed six 3,500-year-old tombs they believe reveal important details about the structure of government in a period considered Egypt's golden age, the nation's top archaeologist said Thursday.

Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt's Supreme Council of the Antiquities, also discussed an exhibit of Egyptian treasures to tour the United States beginning June 30 at Washington's National Gallery of Art. The exhibit is bigger than the blockbuster King Tut show of the
1970s.

Earlier this week, archaeologists working on a dig supervised by Hawass just outside Cairo, found the six tombs at the foot of the famous third dynasty Step Pyramid, believed to be Egypt's first.

The tombs belonged to government officials who worked in northern Egypt at the end of the 18th dynasty and early 19th dynasty (1567-1200 BC), when the seat of power was in southern Egypt, not the northern area near Cairo.

One of the tombs was capped with a 15-inch block of limestone carved in the shape of a pyramid, a characteristic of New Kingdom burials that is unusual in northern Egypt. A figure representing the man buried was carved into one side of the pyramidian, and his name was etched into another.

Hawass said the discovery is further proof of government decentralization during the New Kingdom.

"Those buried here were in charge of the Delta," he said.

The six buried in the tombs included at least one royal scribe and a temple scribe. Archaeologists were still trying to determine the roles of all those buried played, but believed they were administrators.

The tombs were designed with an entrance that led to a small court area, a burial chamber and a sanctuary or chapel area.

The archeologists also uncovered part of the statue of a lion and other stone ornaments, as well a parts of an ancient wooden coffin.