Egypt

All images courtesy of Mission Archéologique Franco-Suisse de Saqqâra, shared with permission

In Saqqara, Archaeologists Uncover the Sumptuous 4,100-Year-Old Tomb of a Royal Physician

January 15, 2025

ArtHistoryScience

Kate Mothes

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For ancient Egyptians, the afterlife—also called Duat, among other names—was a mystical realm overseen by the god Osiris, who personified rebirth and life after death. But entry to Duat was anything but guaranteed; when a person died, their spirit traveled across vast, challenging terrain and deposited them at the Hall of Final Judgment, where their heart was weighed against a feather from Ma’at, the goddess of justice and truth.

In preparation for the afterlife, royals, dignitaries, and the wealthy elite constructed great tombs. The most elaborate among them were painted with ornamental murals that shared one’s accomplishments, packed with artwork and riches to demonstrate each individual’s status and accompany them to Duat.

Expansive ancient necropolises complemented large cities, where society’s upper crust commissioned tombs, temples, and pyramids. For the capital of Memphis, the final resting place was typically Saqqara, which contains some of Egypt’s oldest monuments, some of which date back to the First Dynasty around 5,000 years ago.

Scholars continue to unfurl millennia-old mysteries as archaeological excavations carry on in Saqqara. And sometimes, as researchers from the Mission Archéologique Franco-Suisse de Saqqâra (MAFS) recently found out, marvelous and unexpected discoveries still emerge from the sand.

During the 2024 season, as the team excavated near a mastaba—a large-scale, rectangular, flat-roofed tomb—they discovered a number of smaller burials, including a “kiln” tomb. Also known as “oven” tombs, these burials are “made of raw bricks that are characterized by their vaulted ceiling,” says a statement from MAFS. “They are built several meters below the ground, and the only way to access them is through the burial shaft, always placed to the north of the entrance.”

Typically, kiln tombs are “fairly simple mud brick monuments, sometimes with limestone walls, and even less often decorations,” MAFS says. Today, they are also often empty as a result of looting throughout the centuries. But instead of a basic, unadorned room, the team found vibrant wall paintings commemorating a doctor who died around 4,000 years ago.

Archaeologists uncovered a stone tablet bearing the doctor’s name, Tetinebefou, near the entrance. A stele is a stone slab featuring text, imagery, or both, and in ancient Egypt, a false door stele represented a portal for the deceased’s spirit pass through into the afterlife. As researchers explored farther, the physician’s name was represented in other locations, confirming it to be his tomb.

As reported in Live Science, Tetinebefou was known as a “dean of the palace physicians,” with inscriptions referring to him also as “conjurer of the goddess Serqet,” who was associated with protection from scorpion stings. He was also prescribed the titles of “director of medicinal plants” and “chief dentist,” both of which are unusual designations in ancient Egypt. It’s unclear which pharaoh he may have served, but MAFS’s lead Egyptologist Philippe Collombert suggests Tetinebefou may have worked under Pepi II, who reigned between approximately 2246 and 2152 B.C.E.

Inside the tomb, relief carvings of urns, furniture, hieroglyphs, and garments are complemented by colorful patterns and richly textured ceiling. At some point in the past, the doctor’s tomb had indeed been looted, and only tiny fragments of objects remained. The decorations, however, mark an exceptional discovery.

A documentary slated for 2026, directed by Frédéric Wilner, will take a deeper dive into the details of this excavation. In the meantime, explore more on the MAFS website.

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