An important Egyptian tomb from the Fifth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom has been discovered in the Saqqara necropolis by a Spanish-Egyptian archaeological mission.

Josep Cervelló, an Egyptology professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, led the work, which was coordinated with the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities to investigate the unique tomb in the Saqqara region southwest of Cairo.

The tomb did not belong to a Pharaoh, but was commissioned by a high-ranking official named Yunmen, who served during the reign of Djedkare Isesi. Strangely, the structure features two funerary chapels: one of which is dedicated to the Iti, Yunmen’s father, who held a lower rank than his son.

The discovery may offer a new context for the intersection of spirituality and social mobility in ancient Egypt.

Egyptian Tombs

We now see the Saqqara necropolis primarily as the remains of a dead culture, filled with long-forgotten tombs. While often portrayed as settings for horror stories, the Spanish-Egyptian archeological team viewed them differently, seeing them as places used by a vibrant community, where the living constantly came to leave offerings and work on funerary monuments.

The recent work is part of the continuing exploration of Egyptian sites discovered by archaeologists in the 19th century. To this day, archaeologists continue to seize on hints in the works of their forebears over a century ago to explore ancient Egypt’s impressive remains. Auguste Mariette, a French archaeologist, first discovered the site, identified as containing a large tomb complex, but no detailed exploration or documentation had been done.

Life In the Necropolis 

Egyptian mastabas were a unique style of tomb, and in some ways were like modern cemeteries: they were frequently visited places where the lost were mourned and remembered. For this reason, the team was also very interested in the tomb complex’s topography, rather than just its beautiful decoration. They studied the tomb as an urban location, investigating how ancient people moved through it and whether they worshipped outdoors or inside.

Exploring the bustle of urban life in the necropolis netted the team their first indication of Yunmen’s tomb, alongside hints at two more located nearby. In follow-up excavations, the archaeologists are planning to explore the remaining pair.

Moving in Ancient Egyptian Society

The tomb’s physical structure intrigues archaeologists, as it is a rare example of a building with two funerary chapels. Fortunately, the 4,400-year-old tomb is remarkably well preserved, with vibrant color and fine details observable in the wall reliefs. Archaeologists can still clearly make out tiny donkeys and other animals in the wall art. Elsewhere, some elements of the texts adorning the walls follow common formulas—yet even these are customized to the official role and personality of the owners.

Archaeologists interpreting the mastaba believe it reflects social advancement. Yunmen achieved a higher social status than his father, Iti. Yet on the journey to the afterlife, Iti was not forgotten; Yunmen ensured his father received a tomb of similar opulence, so the son’s prestige would apply retroactively to the father in death.

“We still need to fully examine it, but one possibility is that the official originally came from that outlying province, arrived at the court, and settled in Memphis—Egypt’s capital at the time—while his son became an official in the central state administration and was the one who built the tomb,” Cervelló said in a press release.

It remains to be seen what the other two mastabas identified by the team will reveal, whether they will provide more evidence for our traditional understanding of Egyptian culture or add more nuance to our view of these ancient people.

Ryan Whalen covers science and technology for The Debrief. He holds an MA in History and a Master of Library and Information Science with a certificate in Data Science. He can be contacted at ryan@thedebrief.org, and follow him on Twitter @mdntwvlf.

Spanish archaeologists excavating an ancient Egyptian tomb in the Theban Necropolis opposite Luxor have discovered an unexpected order to how the 16 mummified human remains were placed within it over several centuries.

The team studying chamber three of tomb TT 209 also found the completely unexpected remains of a mummified dog placed carefully among the ancient burials, suggesting a deep connection between humans and animals or a previously unidentified ritualistic practice.

Researchers Document Ancient Egyptian Tomb in Detail

The Theban Necropolis contains over 400 tombs. Previous studies have determined that the burial space was used and reused from its construction during Egypt’s Twenty-fifth Dynasty (754-656 BCE) until its abandonment during the Ptolemaic period (305-30 BCE).

However, archaeologists are still searching for new clues to the people who built them and those buried inside. Dr Miguel Ángel Molinero Polo, a professor of Egyptology at the University of La Laguna and the senior author of the study detailing the team’s discoveries, said researchers have “few details” about how people who entered the tombs behaved. Dr. Polo also noted a lack of knowledge about these people’s motivation “in each historical period” the site was in use, and how they “conceptually reconfigured the pre-existing space” as time passed.

The research team ultimately determined that the best way to explain the methodology for placing the human remains and individual dog remains found in the ancient Egyptian tomb was to excavate the chamber and photograph the mummies. They also decided to create sketches and descriptions of the mummy’s position, orientation, and any possible relationship with the overall structure. 

Archaeologists Unearth 16 Mummified Bodies and Related Funerary Items

As the team began cataloging their findings, they realized the chamber contained nine funerary deposits, which they described as “individual and multiple burials.” The site also contained several “associated funerary objects.”

“We found a total of 16 mummified human individuals, a mummified dog, and a disturbed deposit containing the remains of at least four individuals,” explained Dr. Jared Carballo-Pérez, a researcher at the University of La Laguna and the study’s first author.

After further examination, a pattern began to emerge. For example, the earliest burials were relatively separated. These earliest bodies were also placed in coffins, with funerary nets and amulets. These burials also contained what Dr. Molinero Polo termed “an assemblage containing costly items, such as the contents held in Phoenician amphorae,” placed with or near them. The research said these discoveries suggest that these individuals were likely “of high social standing.”

When the researchers examined the second layer, they noted that bodies were less carefully placed and instead “inserted into any space available.” Critically, this shift occurred towards the end of the 25th dynasty and into the Persian period (around 680-404 BCE).

Examples of the new interment method include limb positioning. In one case, an arm was found folded in, and in others, two arms were folded.

This positioning differed from earlier burials, where the arms were stretched out. The team also cataloged a change in body position in the ancient Egyptian tomb, with later mummies deposited vertically. The team said the resulting “superposition of bodies” was found in two-thirds of the burial chamber.

Still, Dr. Molinero Polo explained, although the vertically positioned bodies were not placed in coffins, the remains were “carefully mummified.” The researcher said the later internments “can be associated with upright jars that point to a specific ritual not found in the earlier phases of the tomb’s use.”

Mummified Dog Buried with Humans Suggests Intimate Relationship

Perhaps the most unexpected find inside the ancient Egyptian tomb was the remains of a mummified dog. Even more unexpected, the animal’s remains were buried with human remains “one on top of another.”

“One detail I find quite beautiful is the presence of a mummified dog placed directly on top of the mummies of a man and a woman,” said Carballo-Pérez.

The researcher said this preferred, intimate placement could suggest a close relationship between the animal and its humans, “an idea that I think is quite easy to empathize with.” Carballo-Pérez said the unexpected placement could also reflect a change in funerary or ritualistic practices, “with an animal taking on the role of a psychopomp, a symbolic helper in the journey to the afterlife.”

Although an initial examination gave the team the impression the site’s internment became less organized over the centuries, they said that impression was likely false. For example, the team notes that bodies buried in the Osirian position, meaning both arms folded, suggest that the ancient Egyptian tomb “did not become disordered or without structure, or that cultural rites were lost.”

“The detailed study of the bodies indicates neither chaotic accumulation nor a loss of the original ritual over time,” Dr. Carballo-Pérez explained. “Rather, there was a spatial logic in which each new deposition was adapted to the presence of previous bodies – a kind of funerary memory in the processes of reuse.”

The team conceded that it was sometimes difficult to identify the sequence of some of the funerary deposits, including what they described as the “disturbed” remains of four individuals. They also suggest that the chamber was likely flooded several times over the centuries, experienced periodic fires, and human re-entry, which “transported debris within the tomb.”

Still, Carballo-Pérez concluded that their findings suggest deposits previously considered ‘disordered’ can now be reinterpreted.

“This helps us develop a better understanding of the social behaviors behind funerary practices,” the researcher explained.

The study “From individualized mummies to collective accumulations: an archaeothanatological analysis of funerary reuse in Theban Tomb 209 (Twenty-Fifth Dynasty–Ptolemaic Egypt)” was published in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology.

Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org

Egyptian princesses may have trained extensively with weapons, according to a new archaeological assessment that suggests the weapons buried with their mummies were more than mere symbols.

The researchers examined five mummies of Egyptian Middle Kingdom royal women for a new paper published in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology, finding that their musculature indicates they led physically active lives.

Their work offers new insight into a long-standing question: whether the weapons buried with these royal women served a practical purpose or were simply symbolic grave goods.

Discovering Egypt’s Mummies

“Members of the royal family, especially the women, were active participants in skilled, physically demanding activities such as archery and hunting,” said lead author Dr Zeinab Hashesh. “This conclusion is supported by the way their bones developed to sustain heavy muscle use, which corresponds directly to the weapons discovered in their tombs.”

On a western plateau overlooking the Nile Valley lies the Memphis Necropolis, a 19-mile-long series of funerary complexes. One of these, a collection of pyramids and shaft tombs known as Dahshur, includes the pyramid of Amenemhat III, where two of the mummies were recovered during excavations begun in 1894 by Jacques de Morgan. These first discoveries were King Hor and Princess Noub-Hotep.

Later in 1894, de Morgan began excavating Amenemhat II’s pyramid complex at Dahshur. There, in early 1895, he discovered what would later be identified as four daughters of the pharaoh: Princesses Ita and Khenmet, buried together in one chamber, and Princesses Itaweret and Sathathormeryt in another.

Only the remains of King Hor and Princess Noub-Hotep underwent scientific examination at the time of their discovery. Eventually, all six sets of remains were transferred to the Egyptian Museum in 1915, where they remained lost until their rediscovery in 2020.

Weapons of the Egyptian Dead

The complex was unusual because these women were buried with objects typically associated with men, including bows and arrows, and a dagger placed inside Princess Ita’s coffin.

The mummification techniques used on the remains were relatively crude compared with those employed in later Theban burials. As a result, the remains are poorly preserved, with soft tissues reduced to powder, some bones entirely missing, and the princesses’ skulls lost during the early 1900s. Fortunately, enough skeletal material survived to allow researchers to estimate their height, sex, age at death, illnesses, and injuries.

“Princess Ita was a young woman aged between 28 and 34 with strong upper-body muscle attachments, suggesting she habitually used weapons like maces or daggers,” said Hashesh. “Princess Khenmet was a woman in her late 30s or 40s who showed signs of thinning bones, but had very robust ligament attachments. Princess Itaweret was a young woman aged between 20 and 34 who survived broken ribs and foot fractures; her skeleton shows she was a skilled archer.” 

All four sisters’ bones showed signs of physically active lifestyles consistent with weapons training.

“We found pronounced development in the upper limbs of these individuals, which correlates to repetitive, high-intensity actions like pulling a bowstring or stabilizing a weapon, proving these activities were habitual throughout their lives,” explained Hashesh. “This directly explains the presence of bows, arrows, and maces in the women’s tombs; these were not just symbolic gifts but tools they actively used.”

A Hard Life, Even for Royalty

The researchers suspect that either a blow or a fall caused Princess Itaweret’s broken ribs, and noted that such injuries were common across all the sets of remains. They also discovered evidence of inbreeding, as the sisters’ spinal abnormalities suggest their parents were closely related.

“These injuries were most likely caused by accidents, falls, hard blows, or other impacts linked to an active lifestyle, whether through hunting, military training, or other demanding activities,” said Hashesh. “What is remarkable is that the injuries healed well, which suggests they had access to advanced medical care for their time.”

Work on these mummies remains incomplete, however, hampered by the loss of the skulls. Moving forward, the researchers would like to conduct a stable isotope analysis to better understand the nutritional deficiencies detected in the bones. 

“Our dream would be to go far beyond simply identifying the Dahshur royals,” said Hashesh. “We would try to tell their full life stories, their families, health, and even their political roles, with as much detail as possible. Beyond the science, we would preserve the remains, create 3D prints for teaching and virtual exhibitions, and display them alongside their jewelry, weapons, and funerary objects. All of this would be done with respect, ensuring the remains are presented ethically, just as they were originally buried.”

“Their objects and jewelry are truly fascinating, breathtaking in their craftsmanship. Yet, while archaeologists have long focused on preserving these treasures, the people themselves were often forgotten. Our study seeks to change that.”

The paper, “Bioarcheological Reassessment of Dahshur Royal Skeletal Remains from the Late Middle Kingdom (c. 1850 to 1700 BCE),” appeared in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology on July 17, 2026.

Ryan Whalen covers science and technology for The Debrief. He holds an MA in History and a Master of Library and Information Science with a certificate in Data Science. He can be contacted at ryan@thedebrief.org, and follow him on Twitter @mdntwvlf.