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 Czech archaeologists have unearthed the tomb of a previously unknown queen believed to have been the wife of Pharaoh Neferefre who ruled 4,500 years ago, officials in Egypt said Sunday. 
 
 The tomb was discovered in Abu Sir, an Old Kingdom necropolis southwest of Cairo where there are several pyramids dedicated to pharaohs of the Fifth Dynasty, including Neferefre. 
 
 The name of his wife had not been known before the find, Antiquities Minister Mamdouh al-Damaty said in a statement. 
 
 He identified her as Khentakawess, saying that for the “first time we have discovered the name of this queen who had been unknown before the discovery of her tomb”. 
 
 That would make her Khentakawess III, as two previous queens with the same name have already been identified. 
 
 Her name and rank had been inscribed on the inner walls of the tomb, probably by the builders, Damaty said. 
 
 “This discovery will help us shed light on certain unknown aspects of the Fifth Dynasty, which along with the Fourth Dynasty, witnessed the construction of the first pyramids,” he added. 
 
 Miroslav Barta, who heads the Czech Institute of Egyptology mission who made the discovery, said the tomb was found in Neferefre’s funeral complex. 
 
 “This makes us believe that the queen was his wife,” Barta said, according to the statement. 
 
 An official at the antiquities ministry said the tomb dated from the middle of the Fifth Dynasty (2994-2345 BC). 
 
 Archaeologists also found around 30 utensils, 24 made of limestone and four of copper, the statement added. ||||| The Egyptian Antiquities Ministry announced Sunday the discovery near Cairo of the tomb of a heretofore unknown queen from the 5th Dynasty, which ruled Egypt from 2994-2345 BC. 
 
 The new royal figure was named "Khentakawess III" and in reliefs on the inner walls of the tomb she is identified as both "the wife of the king" and "the mother of the king." 
 
 Antiquities Minister Mamdouh al-Damaty said in a communique that in the tomb were found statuettes and 24 limestone utensils, along with four copper utensils, which were part of the funerary objects. 
 
 The tomb was found by a Czech archaeological mission, in collaboration with the Egyptian ministry, in the Abusir area southwest of Cairo. 
 
 The head of the Czech mission, Miroslav Barta, said that the discovery of the tomb had revealed aspects of a relatively unknown period of the 5th Dynasty, and he confirmed the importance of Khentakawess III, who could have been the wife of Pharoah Neferefre and the mother of Pharoah Menkahur, in the court. 
 
 On March 24, 2014, the Czech archaeologists also discovered at Abusir the sarcophagus and mummy of an important 5th Dynasty priest named Nefer. 
 
 Abusir, which is near the famous pyramids at Giza, was part of the huge necropolis of the ancient Egyptian city of Memphis. EFE 
 
 mf/bp ||||| 1. Introduction 
 
 On 18 October 2009, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA) opened an exhibition called The Secrets of Tomb 10A: Egypt 2000 BC . One of the most intriguing items in the collection was a mummified human head discovered over a century ago in the necropolis of Deir el-Bersha (also known as Dayr al-Barshā). The site is located on the east bank of the Nile River in close proximity to the city of Mallawi, approximately 250 km south of Cairo. Deir el-Bersha is known for tombs cut into cliffs of limestone that date back to the Old Kingdom (2686–2181 BC), the First Intermediate Period (about 2100–2040 BC) and the Middle Kingdom (MK; 2040–approx. 1640 BC). During the MK 11th and 12th Dynasties (2040–1783 BC), it served as the chief cemetery for the governors or regional lords (a.k.a. nomarchs) of the 15th Upper Egyptian Nome (a.k.a. the Hare Nome). 
 
 2, In 1915, Deir el-Bersha was excavated by a joint MFA-Harvard University team directed by George A. Reisner with the assistance of Hanford L. Story and Said Ahmed Said [ 1 ]. On 23 April, Reisner’s men began clearing the burial shaft from tomb number 10A. Six days later, at the bottom of a 30-foot pit, they discovered the burial chamber of an early MK governor named Djehutynakht. It is not yet clear whether he is Djehutynakht IV, son of Ahanakht I, or Djehutynakht V, son of Nehri I [ 1 3 ]. Both were nomarchs of the Hare Nome, and while they shared the same name (which means Thoth [the main local deity] is Strong), there is no evidence they were related. Tomb 10A contained a second occupant: the governor’s wife, who was also called Djehutynakht. Although the tomb had been plundered in antiquity and most of the valuable jewels stolen, many objects were left behind. In fact, the recovered contents of Tomb 10A are considered one of the largest burial assemblages of the MK ever discovered. The funerary equipment includes pottery, canopic jars, models showing men and women in different daily life activities, nearly 60 model boats, and a famous, exquisitely carved and painted processional group composed of a priest and four offering bearers, known as the “Bersha procession” [ 4 ]. Befitting their high status, the governor and his wife were both buried in finely decorated rectangular wooden coffins placed within larger coffins, all made of thick cedar of Lebanon boards. Upon discovery, the coffins of the governor were nearly intact with the exception of the head end that had been removed by tomb robbers. The intricate carvings and paintings on the governor’s outer coffin make it an unparalleled masterpiece of MK art (see pictures in [ 5 ]). 
 
 When the tomb was looted, the mummies of the governor and his wife were damaged by thieves in search of fine jewelry. A torso, originally attributed to Lady Djehutynakht, was found in the far corner of the burial chamber, but was recently argued to belong to the governor after re-excavation of Tomb 10A [ 6 ]. A mummified head, which could neither be attributed to the governor nor to his wife, was found atop the governor’s coffin ( Figure 1 ). 
 
 In an effort to learn more, the head was analyzed with computerized tomography (CT) in 2005. The CT scanning of the head revealed extensive bilateral post-mortem alterations of the facial bones [ 7 ]. The absence of these bones, together with the lack of comparative data on ancient Egyptian skulls, preclude definitive morphological sex determination; however, the presence of large mastoid processes, robust occipital and temporal regions, and pronounced gonial flaring of the mandible, suggest that the skull more likely belonged to a man [ 8 ], ( Figure S1 ). In order to unequivocally determine the biological sex of the individual, the MFA collaborated with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Laboratory to perform DNA analysis. 
 
 At the time the FBI was contacted, the ancient DNA community had largely given up on the testing of ancient Egyptian human remains. Though DNA extraction and amplification from ancient Egyptian samples had been attempted in the early days of paleogenetics, these initial attempts either resulted in failure (4500-year-old human femurs [ 9 ]) or yielded data that turned out to be the product of modern DNA contamination (2400-year-old mummy [ 10 ] and 1600-year-old sacred monkey bones from the Saqqara Baboon Galleries [ 11 ]), both contaminated with modern human DNA). These early failures prompted studies on DNA survival [ 9 12 ]. Together with older research showing that DNA degradation (depurination in particular) is primarily influenced by temperature, pH, oxygen, and water [ 13 ], these analyses suggested that Egyptian environmental conditions likely cause DNA to degrade to fragments smaller than 100 base pairs (bp) in just a few hundred years [ 14 15 ]. 
 
 Currently, forensic DNA testing at the FBI, as well as in nearly all global operational laboratories, is based on targeted PCR amplification of fragments ranging from 90–1200 bp in size, followed by size-based capillary electrophoresis for short tandem repeats (STRs) or Sanger sequencing for mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). These approaches have served the forensic community well over the past twenty years. They present limitations, however, to both the quality and quantity of genetic data that can be recovered from the most challenging specimens. Recently, a number of commercial high throughput sequencing (HTS) assays, designed specifically for forensic applications, have become available [ 16 17 ]. While these assays overcome many of the limitations of traditional capillary electrophoresis-based forensic DNA analyses, they are still based on targeted amplification of defined genomic regions. As a result, their utility is limited to samples harboring DNA fragments large enough for PCR amplification. 
 
 One of the primary advantages of HTS is that DNA fragments of very short size can be recovered and sequenced, thus obviating the need for targeted PCR. Here, we exploit this feature and describe the use of shotgun sequencing to determine the biological sex of a 4000-year-old Egyptian mummy. ||||| Video 
 
 Image Sinkhole reveals lost Egyptian temple 0:46 An urban sinkhole in the Egyptian city of Abydos has revealed a lost memorial chapel to Pharaoh Mentuhotep II. Courtesy Luxor Times 
 
 Jamie Seidel, AFP News Corp Australia Network 
 
 HE was the king of kings, the god of gods. Now archaeologists believe they have found the tomb of the Egyptian supreme deity, Osiris. 
 
 Egyptian media is reporting two new tombs were announced at the weekend, one of which belonged to a previously unknown queen. 
 
 But it is the ominous blackened ‘tomb’ of Osiris — the god of the afterlife and reincarnation — which has attracted the most attention. 
 
 News_Image_File: Here lies Osiris ... Inside a chamber of the ‘tomb of Osiris’. Picture: Matjaz Kacicnik, Min Project / Egyptian Antiquities Dept 
 
 It is not actually a tomb: Instead, it is a symbolic burial site used in rituals to link the god’s immortal powers to those of the ruling Pharaohs. 
 
 Antiquities Minister Mamdouh al-DamAcaty said the 25th Dynasty structure (from about 700BC) at the Al-Gorna necropolis on Luxor’s west bank was modelled on a real royal tomb, with multiple shafts and chambers. 
 
 News_Image_File: ‘Tomb’ of Osiris ... a drawing by Raffaella Carrera, of the Min Project. Source: Egyptian Antiquities Dept 
 
 Its main feature is a large hall propped up by five pillars. A staircase leads down to a funerary chamber which contains a carving of the dead god. An adjoining room contains reliefs of demons holding knives — which the archaeologist in charge of the Spanish-Italian excavators describes as being guardians. 
 
 A 9m deep shaft then leads to a central chamber, beneath which another 6m shaft leads to two more as-yet unexplored, debris-filled rooms. 
 
 News_Image_File: To the underworld ... The entrance to one of the ‘tomb’s’ shafts. Source: Paolo Bondielli, Min Project 
 
 The ‘tomb’ is believed to be modelled on the more ancient Osirion tomb/temple complex in Abydos, Sohag. 
 
 It is not the first time the tomb has been discovered. 
 
 The Egyptian Department of Antiquities says that part of the structure was uncovered in the 1880s by archaeologist Philippe Virey. Despite some attempts to map it, the significance and nature of the site remained unknown until now. 
 
 News_Image_File: God of death ... A relief showing Pharoh Ramses, left, worshipping the dead god Osiris. Source: ThinkStock 
 
 Legend has it the god Osiris was killed by his rival Set, who wanted his title as king of the gods. Osiris was tricked into laying in a sarcophagus made to his size, and he was cast into the river Nile. Later, Set found Osiris’ coffin and cut the body of the god into 14 parts which he then had scattered across Egypt. 
 
 The winged goddess Isis tracked down and found 13 of the 14 pieces (she had his penis replaced by a gold representation), and sang a life-giving song to have the god restored. 
 
 News_Image_File: Fit for a queen ... An engraving near the entrance to the tomb of Khentakawess III. Source: Egyptian Antiquities Dept 
 
 Ancient Queen uncovered 
 
 Archaeologists have also unearthed the tomb of a previously unknown queen believed to have been the wife of Pharaoh Neferefre who ruled 4500 years ago, officials in Egypt said last night. 
 
 The tomb was discovered in Abu Sir, an Old Kingdom necropolis southwest of Cairo where there are several pyramids dedicated to pharaohs of the Fifth Dynasty, including Neferefre. 
 
 The name of his wife had not been known before the find, the Antiquities Minister said in a statement. 
 
 He identified her as Khentakawess, saying that for the “first time we have discovered the name of this queen who had been unknown before the discovery of her tomb”. 
 
 That would make her Khentakawess III, as two previous queens with the same name have already been identified. 
 
 News_Image_File: Mausoleum ... the site of the tomb of Khentakawess III. Egyptian Antiquities Dept 
 
 Her name and rank had been inscribed on the inner walls of the tomb, probably by the builders, Damaty said. 
 
 “This discovery will help us shed light on certain unknown aspects of the Fifth Dynasty, which along with the Fourth Dynasty, witnessed the construction of the first pyramids,” he added. 
 
 Miroslav Barta, who heads the Czech Institute of Egyptology mission who made the discovery, said the tomb was found in Neferefre’s funeral complex. 
 
 “This makes us believe that the queen was his wife,” Barta said, according to the statement. 
 
 An official at the antiquities ministry said the tomb dated from the middle of the Fifth Dynasty (2994-2345 BC). 
 
 Archaeologists also found around 30 utensils, 24 made of limestone and four of copper, the statement added.
– Two ancient burial sites have been uncovered in Egypt—one belonging to a previously unknown pharaonic queen and the other to a god of the dead. The first, in a necropolis southwest of Cairo, has the name of a queen presumed to be Pharaoh Neferefre's wife written on the wall, AFP reports via Raw Story; her name was previously not known. Identified as Khentakawess (or really Khentakawess III, since there were two before her), on the tomb walls she's also called "the wife of the king" and "the mother of the king," perhaps because she was believed to have been married to Pharaoh Neferefre and mother to Pharaoh Menkahur, an archaeologist tells Fox News Latino. The discovery, dating back some 4,500 years, sheds light on "the Fifth Dynasty, which, along with the Fourth Dynasty, witnessed the construction of the first pyramids," an Egyptian official says. The other find is a symbolic burial site for Osiris, once Egypt's supreme deity of the afterlife and the underworld, reports Australia's News Network (which has photos and diagrams). The 25th Dynasty burial site, dating to about 700BC, was likely used for rituals that linked the ruling Pharaohs to Osiris' powers. Located on Luxor’s west bank at the Al-Gorna necropolis, it was modeled on an actual royal tomb with several chambers; it includes a funerary complex with a carving of Osiris and an adjacent room with a relief of knife-wielding demons, perhaps there for protection. The site was discovered by archaeologist Philippe Virey back in the 1880s, Al Arabiya reports, but only now are its main rooms excavated. (Along similar lines, read about a jeweled mummy found under a collapsed roof.)