Priceless Ancient Egyptian Wall Painting Vanishes From Saqqara’s Khenti-Ka Tomb

Wall alleviation wrong the Khenti-Ka tomb astatine Saqqara, Egypt. Credit: John Kannenberg / Flickr / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

A priceless past Egyptian partition coating from the Khenti-Ka tomb successful Saqqara, southbound of Cairo, has been stolen, Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities confirmed. The artwork, dating backmost to the Late Dynastic play (664–332 BC), is considered 1 of the rarest examples of past Egyptian heritage.

According to the ministry, the disappearance was precocious discovered, though grounds suggests the theft apt occurred betwixt 2018 and 2019. The coating was recovered missing during a regular reappraisal of the site’s archaeological records.

Depicting past calendars and seasonal scenes

Officials described the coating arsenic a unsocial portion that erstwhile adorned the tomb walls of Khenti-Ka, a high-ranking authoritative during Egypt’s Old Kingdom. The artwork features inscriptions related to the past Egyptian calendar and the changing seasons — details that connection uncommon penetration into regular beingness and timekeeping practices successful past Egypt.

Saqqara, located astir 30 kilometers southbound of the Giza pyramids, is 1 of Egypt’s astir important archaeological sites. It contains a immense necropolis filled with tombs of kings, priests, and nobles, including the famed Step Pyramid of Djoser — the world’s oldest known chromatic pyramid. The tract has agelong served arsenic a model into the improvement of Egypt’s funerary creation and architectural innovation.

The Great Pyramid of Giza. Credit: Douwe C. van der Zee / CC BY-SA 4.0

Experts telephone the theft bold and unprecedented

Archaeological experts described the theft arsenic a shocking and unprecedented act. Investigations revealed that the thieves had chopped the coating straight from the tomb partition utilizing a saw. The transgression went unnoticed for years until workers discovered the lack of the artifact during an extended inventory of Saqqara’s holdings.

Ministry launches elaborate grounds review

Following the discovery, the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities began a thorough reappraisal of Saqqara’s humanities records and inventory books, immoderate dating backmost to the 1960s.

The goal, according to the ministry, is to place erstwhile the theft took spot and corroborate the painting’s details by matching aged photographs and descriptions with items officially registered successful the ministry’s archives.

Case referred to nationalist prosecution

Dr. Mohamed Ismail Khaled, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said each indispensable ineligible procedures person been completed and the lawsuit has been referred to the Public Prosecution Service for investigation.

Khaled explained that the Khenti-Ka tomb had been sealed and utilized arsenic an archaeological retention installation since its find successful the 1950s and had remained closed since 2019. He added that a peculiar archaeological committee, led by Dr. Amr Al-Tibi, supervisor of Saqqara Antiquities, has been formed to behaviour a afloat inventory of the tomb’s contents.

He noted that the ministry submitted the committee’s study to the Public Prosecution connected the aforesaid time it was received and that authorities are pursuing the probe intimately successful coordination with instrumentality enforcement.

Second large theft sparks wider concern

The lawsuit comes amid renewed scrutiny of Egypt’s practice information pursuing different theft past period astatine the Egyptian Museum successful Tahrir. A gold bracelet dating to the Third Transitional Period, astir 900 BC, was stolen from the museum’s restoration lab.

The missing 3,000-year-old golden bracelet, erstwhile owned by Pharaoh Amenemope, disappeared from the Egyptian Museum’s restoration lab. Credit: Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities

Investigations revealed that a restoration specializer had taken the bracelet, made of axenic golden and acceptable with a uncommon lapis lazuli stone, with the intent to merchantability it. The artifact was recovered aft prosecutors confirmed it had been removed from show successful mentation for an overseas exhibition.

Both incidents person alarmed Egypt’s archaeological assemblage and raised questions astir the extortion of the country’s past treasures — reminders of however fragile the guardianship of past tin be.