Archaeologists excavating a 5,000-year-old burial ground on the Nile's eastern bank have uncovered two tombs with architectural features that appear to foreshadow those later used in Egypt's pyramids.
The tombs were found at Jabal al-Tayr in Egypt's Minya Governorate, a site used for burials over thousands of years.
The structures had walls that were thicker at the bottom and gradually narrowed toward the top, a design that provided greater stability. Similar engineering principles would later be used on a much larger scale in Egypt's step pyramids and the great pyramids of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure.
Researchers also found evidence of ancient stone-cutting methods and large wooden supports built into the tombs, with some supports extending along the full length of the walls.
The tombs' resemblance to royal tombs at Abydos, where Egypt's earliest kings were buried, suggests advanced building knowledge was already spreading across the country during the civilization's formative centuries.
Dr Hisham El-Leithy, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said early analysis revealed similarities between the newly discovered structures and the tomb of King Den, one of the most powerful rulers of Egypt's First Dynasty. The First Dynasty began around 3100 BC after Upper and Lower Egypt were united, marking the start of ancient Egypt as an organized state with a central government, royal burial traditions and advances in writing, engineering and architecture.
El-Leithy described the first tomb as an exceptional discovery with a unique design, and said the second tomb has a similar layout and remains remarkably well preserved.
Sherif Fathy, Egypt's minister of tourism and antiquities, said the structures could help researchers trace how burial architecture evolved throughout ancient Egyptian history.
Signs of ancient stonework
Archaeologists also found oxidation marks on the stone that may have been left as workers cut and prepared the blocks, along with wooden supports used to reinforce the walls.
A second tomb found to the south was far better preserved than the first, giving researchers a clearer view of its original design. The team said the tombs offer a rare glimpse into the architectural experiments that came before Egypt's great stone pyramids, as builders began turning burial structures into monuments meant to last for thousands of years.
Older burials at the same site
Researchers also uncovered part of a cemetery dating to before Egypt became a unified kingdom. Several people had been buried in curled positions and wrapped in woven plant mats, alongside black topped pottery from the Naqada II and Naqada III periods, prehistoric stages of Egyptian civilization before the country was united under its first pharaohs.
Individual and mass burials from Egypt's Late Period were also unearthed, with some people placed inside wooden coffins, fragments of which survived despite extensive decay. The discoveries suggest the site remained an important burial ground throughout several periods of ancient Egyptian history.
