(11 Feb 2009) SHOTLIST
1. Wide of Saqqara, south of Cairo, site where the tomb was found
2. Workmen operating lift system for lowering people into shaft where tomb was located
3. Archaeologist Zahi Hawass being lowered into shaft
4. Pan from Hawass to sarcophagus
5. Close of inscription
6. Workman lifting lid off sarcophagus
7. Mummy on floor of the tomb, zoom in
8. Hawass with mummy
9. Remains of mummy
10. Various of sand being cleared
11. Pan of sarcophagus
12. Close of head of sarcophagus
13. Various of mummies in tomb
14. Various of Hawass and helpers opening sarcophagus
15. Hawass brushing sand from sarcophagus
16. Hawass talking to media
17. SOUNDBITE: (English) Zahi Hawass, Archaeologist:
"This discovery is very important because the Egyptian expedition under me just found a completely new cemetery. Two Old Kingdom's tomb were found, one for the chief of the singer and one for the overseer of the mission of the pyramid Unas that we did announce last month. But this new third tomb that was found, I blogged someone whose name is (inaudible) and it was and he was a lecturer priest. Next door to this tomb found a big burial chamber contained 30 mummies. What's unique about her? Four mummies in a niche, in front of them a mummy of a dog. And also another mummy of a child. Two coffins made of wood were opened, one beautifully inscribed, anthropoid face was found inside remains of a mummy dated to 2,600 years ago."
18. Man being lifted up through shaft
STORYLINE
Egyptian labourers on Wednesday used crowbars and picks to lift the lid off a 2,600-year-old limestone sarcophagus, exposing - for the first time since it was sealed in antiquity - a perfectly preserved mummy.
The mummy, wrapped in dark-stained canvas, was part of Egypt's latest archaeological discovery of a burial chamber 36 feet (11 metres) below ground at the ancient necropolis of Saqqara.
The find, made three weeks ago, was publicly announced on Monday and shown to reporters for the first time on Wednesday.
Egypt's archaeology chief Zahi Hawass on Wednesday led a group of international media into the burial chamber, supervising as one person at a time was lowered into the shaft, holding on to a rope-pulled winch turned by workers above ground.
Hawass dubbed the discovery a "storeroom for mummies", because it houses eight wooden and limestone sarcophagi as well as at least two dozen mummies.
The find dates back to 640 BC, or the 26th Dynasty - Egypt's last independent kingdom before a succession of foreign conquerors.
Hawass said the discovery was important because it showed much of the sprawling site at Saqqara, about 12 miles (20 kilometres) south of Cairo, had yet to be unearthed.
Rulers of ancient Memphis, the capital of Egypt's Old Kingdom, were buried at Saqqara.
Inside the chamber, 22 mummies were found covered only by sand in four niches dug into the chamber's walls.
Most were badly decomposed, showing only skulls and parts of skeletons, with decayed mummy wrappings.
The sarcophagi were placed throughout the room.
A dog's mummy - possibly of a pet - was also found along with mummies of children, prompting speculation the chamber holds the remains of a large family, with the richer, more prominent members, buried in the sarcophagi.
Hawass said he believed the mummy in the limestone sarcophagus belonged to a nobleman, but so far the mummies' identities remain a
mystery.
The find reflected the fact that the area was used for burials in both the Old Kingdom and 2,000 years later when these mummies were buried.
The first sarcophagi was opened on Monday.

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