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5h ago

Egypt Confirms 4,000-Year-Old Saqqara Tomb Painting Missing as Prosecutors Open Probe

The case has triggered a formal investigation that heightens concern over antiquities security after last month’s bracelet theft.

FILE - Egyptian antiquities workers dig at the site of the Step Pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara, 24 kms. (15 miles) southwest of Cairo, Jan. 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil, File)
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Overview

  • Supreme Council official Mohamed Ismail confirmed the disappearance, and a committee led by Saqqara site director Amr Al Tibi is auditing the tomb’s contents.
  • Images of the missing relief have been distributed to airports, seaports and land border crossings as part of a nationwide alert.
  • The limestone piece from the tomb of Khentika dates to the Old Kingdom’s Sixth Dynasty and is reported to depict the three Nile-based seasons.
  • Officials say the tomb has been closed since 2019 and used for storage, with Egyptian media reporting a British mission discovered it was missing in May.
  • The disappearance follows the September theft of a 3,000-year-old Amenemope bracelet from the Egyptian Museum that was sold and melted, a case that led to several arrests.