This Art Has Been Hidden for 4.3K Years

A long-buried judge who heard complaints on behalf of the king has resurfaced in the sands outside Cairo. Egyptian and Spanish archaeologists say they've uncovered a 4,300-year-old tomb at Saqqara belonging to Yunmen, a senior official who heard everyday citizens' complaints during the reign of Pharaoh Djedkare Isesi, per AFP. The flat-roofed mastaba in the Mariette necropolis is both "striking and beautiful," per Euronews. It includes two funerary chapels: one for Yunmen and another for his father, Ity, a top scribe who managed agricultural lands and offerings.

Yunmen's chapel features sharply preserved reliefs of farmers, servants, animals including donkeys, and funerary rituals, with much of the original color still visible. Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities describes "exceptionally well-preserved scenes." An inscribed facade and a symbolic "false door" in Ity's chapel round out the find, which officials say reflects the ancient ideal of justice under the goddess Maat—and "provides new and valuable data on the architecture, art, and administrative life of ancient Egypt at the end of the Fifth Dynasty." (Another newly-discovered tomb at Saqqara belonged to a priest and contained a complete set of ritual tools.)