ミイラ工房や神官の墓発見　エジプト・サッカラ遺跡

【サッカラＡＦＰ＝時事】エジプト政府は２７日、首都カイロの南にあるサッカラ遺跡で、ミイラ工房２か所と墓２基が発見されたと発表した。（写真は石製の作業台近くに置かれていた陶器や儀式に用いる容器。エジプトの首都カイロの南にあるサッカラ遺跡で）
　エジプト考古最高評議会のムスタファ・ワジリ事務局長はミイラ工房について、約２４００年前の「第３０王朝の頃のものだ」と説明した。
　観光・考古省によると、ミイラ製作のため遺体を置いていた石製の作業台が備え付けられた部屋が複数見つかった。台の端には作業用の溝があり、そばには臓器などを保管する陶器のつぼや儀式用の容器が置かれていた。
　別の研究によれば、こうした工房は「神聖な動物のミイラ製作」にも使われたとみられる。
　このほか、紀元前２４世紀と紀元前１４世紀の神官の墓も発見された。
　うち一つは第５王朝の書記官で、天空の神ホルスと正義の女神マアトに仕えた神官Ｎｅ Ｈｅｓｕｔ Ｂａのもの。サッカラ遺跡のディレクター、ムハンマド・ユセフ氏によると、墓の壁には「日常生活や農業、狩りの様子」が描かれていた。
　もう一つの墓は紀元前１４世紀の神官、Ｍｅｎ Ｋｈｅｂｅｒのもので、岩を掘って造られていた。高さ１メートルほどの雪花石こう製の神官の肖像もあった。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/05/29-17:17）

Archaeologists in Egypt have unearthed two human and animal embalming workshops, as well as two tombs, discovered in the Saqqara necropolis south of Cairo, the government said on Saturday.
The vast burial site, at the ancient Egyptian capital Memphis, is a UNESCO World Heritage site and home to more than a dozen pyramids, animal graves and old Coptic Christian monasteries.
Mostafa Waziri, head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, told reporters the embalming workshops, where humans and animals were mummified, date back to the 30th dynasty which reigned around 2,400 years ago.
Researchers found several rooms equipped with stony beds where the deceased lay down for mummification, Egypt's tourism and antiquities ministry said.
Each bed ended in gutters to facilitate the mummification process, with a collection of clay pots nearby to hold entrails and organs, as well as a collection of instruments and ritual vessels.
Early studies of the other workshop suggest it was used for the mummification of sacred animals.
The discovery also includes the tombs of two priests dating back to the 24th and 14th centuries BC, respectively.
The first belonged to Ne Hesut Ba, who served the fifth dynasty as the head of scribes and priest of the gods Horus and Maat.
The tomb walls are decorated with depictions of daily life, agriculture and hunting scenes, said Mohamed Youssef, director of the Saqqara archaeological site.
The second tomb, that of a priest named Men Kheber, was carved in rock and features depictions of the deceased himself on the tomb walls, as well as in a one-metre-long (three foot) alabaster statue, Youssef told reporters.
Egypt has unveiled a string of major archaeological discoveries in recent years.
Critics say the flurry of excavations has prioritised finds shown to grab media attention over hard academic research.
The discoveries have been a key component of Egypt's attempts to revive its vital tourism industry amid a severe economic crisis.
The government recently launched a strategy aiming for a rapid increase in inbound tourism at a rate of 25-30 percent a year, Tourism and Antiquities Minister Ahmed Issa said at the site on Saturday.
Egypt aims to draw in 30 million tourists a year by 2028, up from 13 million before the Covid pandemic.
The crowning jewel of the government's strategy is the long-delayed inauguration of the Grand Egyptian Museum at the foot of the pyramids in Giza.