Restoration work resumes next week on Djoser Step Pyramid

Following a nine month pause, the restoration of the Djoser Step Pyramid at Saqqara necropolis will be resumed next week.

The Supreme Council of Antiquities has provided an amount of LE3 million to resume the restoration work. Mohamed Abdel Fatah, secretary-general of the Council, told Ahram Online that this fund was provided from the council's revenue from tickets purchases at archaeological sites and museums. 

The restoration plan includes consolidating the pyramid's underground tunnels, monitoring the cracks, restoring the wall decorations and inspecting the natural ventilation inside the pyramid and the southern tomb. 

Hawass calls on military defend antiquities against 'encroachment by locals'

Following a visit to Abusir and Saqqara necropolises, Zahi Hawass, former Egyptian Minister of Antiquities, has called on Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, head of the Supreme Council of Army, to stop all encroachment on Egypt’s archaeological sites, which reached 500 encroachments during the past two months.

Hawass told Ahram Online that what shocked him the most during his visit to both necropolises was the damage inflicted on the archaeological sites by neighbouring inhabitants since Egypt’s January revolution.

At Saqqara, villagers are reported to have moved onto 15 acres next to the Pharaohs’ Tomb (Mastaba el Pharaoun) and the pyramids of Pepi I and II. “I am sure that this area contains archaeological remains dating to the Old Kingdom, over 4,000 years ago,” asserted Hawass. There, he said, people constructed a large cemetery with about 500 huge tombs, about 4m high and 6x5m wide.

Ancient Egyptian father and son tombs discovered at Saqqara

Archaeologists have discovered two ancient Egyptian tombs, belonging to a father and his son, at the Saqqara necropolis in Egypt. The rock-hewn painted tombs were unearthed last week, and with at least one tomb never looted, are considered an important find. Dr Zahi Hawass, Egypt's antiquities chief, says the tombs belong to 6th Dynasty government official 'Shendwa' and his son, 'Khonsu'.
Source: Heritage Key
Egyptian Archaeologists Discover Rock-Hewn Tombs at Saqqara

Source: Bloomberg Business Week
Archaeologists unearth ancient Egyptian tomb of father and son
Source: Daily Mail