Egypt's tourism minister tours newly excavated tomb of Old Kingdom official Weni at Saqqara

Egypt's tourism minister, Sherif Fathy, toured the newly excavated tomb of Weni at Saqqara, the Supreme Council of Antiquities said. The mission found two wooden statues in a vaulted room above the burial chamber, bronze instruments that may have served medical purposes, and a false door belonging to a priestess of Hathor.

The tomb and its titles

The Egyptian mission from the Supreme Council of Antiquities excavated a mudbrick mastaba with several burial shafts northwest of the pyramid of King Merenre in south Saqqara. Merenre was a Sixth Dynasty ruler, and Saqqara was one of ancient Egypt's most important cemeteries, particularly for officials and elite families linked to Memphis. One shaft leads to Weni's burial chamber, which dates to the Old Kingdom. The inscriptions survived in fairly good condition and gave his name and a long list of titles. The titles included "Mayor," "Sem Priest," "Treasurer of the King of Lower Egypt," "Sole Companion" and "Lord of the City of El-Kab." Hisham El-Leithy, secretary-general of the council, said the well-preserved inscriptions revealed an extensive array of administrative and religious titles.

The mission also found a false door belonging to a woman named Sekhet-Nebty, whose titles included "priestess of Hathor." The council said the find offers evidence of women's religious roles during the Old Kingdom. Archaeologists have not established whether she had a personal or family connection with Weni.

Fathy descended into the burial shaft during the tour and received a briefing from Amr El-Tayeb, the mission head, on the tomb's architecture and inscriptions. Fathy said the discovery was a significant addition to the sequence of finds at Saqqara and that the ministry would keep backing Egyptian missions with the tools they need for modern scientific methods.

The objects above the grave

Directly above the burial chamber, the team found a vaulted room filled with objects, including two small wooden statues posed in a rare worshipping stance. Mohamed Abdel Badie, head of the Egyptian Antiquities Sector, said the figures add to what scholars know about burial goods and how builders used rooms inside Egyptian mastabas. Inside Weni's shaft, the team recovered bronze instruments that may have served medical purposes. Such tools rarely turn up in tombs. The wall texts do not give Weni the title of physician, so the link between the man and the instruments remains unclear. Researchers plan further study to establish what the tools did and why someone placed them in his burial.

What the bones show

Early study by the team shows Weni died after age 50. His teeth and the tissue around them were badly diseased, and his skeleton carries marks consistent with repeated heavy physical strain, a surprise for a man of such high rank.

Amr El-Tayeb, who heads the mission and directs the Saqqara antiquities area, said the findings give a clearer picture of health and daily life in the Old Kingdom.

What happens next

The team continues architectural, linguistic, artistic and archaeological studies of the site and its artefacts. It is also analysing burial contexts and related objects to learn the purpose of each part of the mastaba and how that purpose changed across its building phases.