By Gina Gomez
Cairo, Mar 4, (THAINDIAN NEWS) The sarcophagus of an Egyptian queen, who presumably hailed from ancient Egypt’s Old Kingdom has been unearthed by French archaeologists. The burial chamber which has been discovered in Saqqara in Giza, is around 4,200 years old and is said to be of a little known ancient queen named Behenu.

It has been revealed that parts of the burial chamber that has been unearthed is in a dilapidated condition apart from two inner walls which consist of engraved Pyramid Texts or hieroglyphics. The inscriptions which are engraved in the tomb, which was discovered in the pyramid’s funeral chamber, supposedly also take into account prayers, the main purpose of which is to help the queen make her transition in the next life. Meanwhile, in a statement that has been released by antiquities head Zahi Hawass, it has been confirmed that the tomb belongs to Queen Behenu, a Sixth Dynasty queen who ruled Egypt from 2374 BC to 2192 BC. However, archaeologist expert have stated that it is not quite clear whether Queen Behenu was married to Sixth Dynasty ruler Pepi 1, who was the king from 2354-2310 BC or Pepi 2, who ruled from 2300-2206 BC.

Meanwhile, Phillippe Collombert, the head of the French team which carried out the mission has stated that most probably the queen was the wife of Pepi 2. Moreover, the head of the team also added that this was the second pyramid unearthed by the team which consists of religious texts on its walls. The French team has supposedly worked in the area since the year 1988 and has discovered seven pyramids of queens and kings belonging to the period.