CAIRO, April 18 (Xinhua) -- An Egyptian archaeological mission has discovered a tomb dating back more than 4,000 years at the Saqqara necropolis south of Cairo, the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said in a statement on Friday.
The tomb is believed to belong to Prince Waserif-Re, son of King Userkaf, the founder of Egypt's Fifth Dynasty, which dates back more than 4,400 years. Little was previously known about the prince.
The discovery was made by a joint team from Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities and the Zahi Hawass Center of Egyptology.
The mission also found statues depicting King Djoser, builder of the nearby Step Pyramid, alongside figures of his wife and ten daughters. Djoser, a famous pharaoh of the Third Dynasty, commissioned the Step Pyramid, Egypt's earliest large-scale stone structure, over 4,600 years ago.
Preliminary research suggests the statues may have originally been inside the Step Pyramid complex before being moved to the newly found tomb, according to Zahi Hawass, an Egyptologist and former antiquities minister involved in the dig. Hawass said further studies would investigate why the statues were moved.
A large pink granite false door, measuring 4.5 meters high and 1.15 meters wide, was also found within the tomb. Hieroglyphic inscriptions on the door detail the names and titles of Prince Waserif-Re, said Mohamed Ismail Khaled, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities.
