New Pyramid Found In Egypt

National Geographic has a story up today reporting that a new pyramid has been discovered in Egypt, near the site of the pyramid to the tomb of Teti, in Saqqara, a settlement not far from Cairo.

This new pyramid is believed to be the tomb of Queen Sesheshet, mother of Teti. That would make this structure more than 4500 years old, dating back to the 6th Dynasty. It's the third pyramid discovered in the Teti complex, but the first in over 14 years. Archaeologists were surprised to find the structure, as they thought that the area had been throughly excavated.

Sesheshet's tomb once stood five stories in height, but has been buried under 23 feet of sand for years. When other structures in the dig site were being excavated in the past, the sand from those digs as dumped on top of this one. The other two pyramids discovered here belonged to Teti's two wives, which is why it is believed that this one most likely belonged to his mother.

Those expecting to see amazing treasures like the ones pulled out of Tut's tomb will be disappointed however. Archeologists say that they have already seen an access tunnel, dug by grave robbers, who raided the site centuries ago. Instead, they are likely to find historical treasures, such as hieroglyphs on the walls and quite possibly Sesheshet's mummy.

More than likely we will never see a treasure like Tut's ever again. He was a rather unimportant pharaoh who didn't rule for very long, and his grave site was dug rather hastily, due to his untimely death, in the Valley of the Kings. That tomb was actually directly under the tomb of another pharaoh, so when tomb raiders robbed the one above his, Tut's tomb went unnoticed and untouched.

I remain in awe of the treasures found in Tut's tomb. His iconic golden mask is a sight to behold, and is 35 pounds of gold. His sarcophagus was over 200 pounds of gold. But when you think about how insignificant he was in the history of Egypt, you can't help but wonder how impressive the treasures of Rameses II were before his tomb was robbed.