Egyptian archaeologists uncover three ancient tombs spanning Roman and Late periods

An Egyptian archaeological team working in the Bahariya Oasis has brought three previously unknown tombs to light at the Sheikh Soby site, each one a window into a different chapter of ancient Egyptian burial practice. The discovery, announced this month by the Egyptian Tourism and Antiquities Ministry, spans nearly a thousand years of history—from the Late Period through the Roman era—and carries with it the physical evidence of how the dead were honored and laid to rest across those centuries.

The oldest of the three tombs dates to Egypt's Late Period, roughly 664 to 332 BCE. Carved directly into sandstone, it was built to hold a single family: five individuals whose names and individual stories have been lost to time, but whose remains were carefully preserved. The tomb's structure is straightforward—a square shaft sunk about three meters into the ground, opening into two burial chambers positioned on the western and northern sides. In the smaller western chamber, archaeologists found a limestone sarcophagus resting in a recessed space on the floor, containing a mummy still wrapped in linen. The northern chamber, larger than its counterpart, held four more limestone sarcophagi, each also containing a linen-wrapped mummy. Mohamed Abdel Badi, head of the Egyptian Antiquities Sector at the Supreme Council of Antiquities, noted that this arrangement—the placement and type of sarcophagi—follows the standard burial method used at the site during the Late Period.

The second tomb, dating to the Roman period, takes a different architectural form. It is a staircase tomb, unadorned and relatively simple: a small tunnel opens onto three stone steps that descend into a burial chamber below. Yet despite its construction, current evidence suggests it was never actually used for burial—the tomb stands as a completed structure that apparently never received its intended occupant. The third Roman-period tomb is more elaborate. Built as a shaft tomb, it features a tunnel leading to a small roofless hall that served as a receiving room where the deceased would have been prepared before being moved to one of two side chambers for final interment. This practice of a transitional space reflects Roman-era burial customs. In the southern chamber, archaeologists recovered fragments of a ceramic coffin. The eastern chamber held a limestone sarcophagus with its lid partially intact. Four separate entrances pierce the tomb's entry tunnel on its eastern, northern, and western sides—an unusual feature that allowed access to different parts of the structure. At the eastern entrance, excavators found a side burial, where the body was positioned laterally, accompanied by an oval ceramic coffin broken into pieces. The coffin's lid bore a raised human face carved with distinct features.

Beyond the tombs themselves, the site yielded a collection of objects that illuminate daily religious practice and burial ritual. Pottery vessels of various shapes and sizes turned up alongside small bottles and plates. Limestone and sandstone offering tables—surfaces on which gifts for the dead would have been placed—were recovered. Most evocative were small terracotta statues, religious offerings known as votives, depicting motherly figures and stylized animal forms. These objects, taken together, provide a material record of how the living honored their dead and what they believed the dead might need or desire in the afterlife.

The Sheikh Soby site itself sits within a larger Late Period cemetery that once held the tombs of Bahariya Oasis rulers and priests. The Temple of El-Bawiti, built during the 26th Dynasty by a local ruler in honor of Pharaoh Ahmose II (who reigned from 570 to 526 BCE), stands as another monument to the oasis's historical importance. Dr. Sabri Farag, who directs the archaeological mission at Sheikh Soby and serves as the Bahariya Oasis's director general of antiquities, has confirmed that excavations will continue in future seasons. The goal is to uncover additional tombs that might reveal patterns of settlement and habitation across the centuries, gradually assembling a fuller picture of who lived in this desert oasis and how they organized their lives and deaths across the span of ancient Egyptian civilization.