5,000-year-old necropolis under Cairo

June 16, 2004

Monday, June 14, 2004 Posted: 10:27 AM EDT (1427 GMT)

A relief featuring a woman in front of an offering table was found by

Australian archaeologists unearthing a 5,000-year-old necropolis near

Cairo.

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Archaeologists have unearthed a 5,000-year-old

necropolis with 20 well-preserved tombs in a poor neighborhood just

outside Cairo, Egyptian authorities announced Sunday.

The site in the suburb of Helwan is a mixture of small, plain tombs

with larger ones meant for the middle and upper classes, with

containing alabaster, limestone, clay and copper pots and pans, the

statement said.

The necropolis also contains a limestone relief with early uses of

hieroglyphic texts, according to Christian Kohler, head of the

Australian team of archaeologists.

"It is a duty to protect this magnificent archaeological site from the

urban expansion which represent a major threat to (Helwan's)

monuments," she said, quoted in a statement from Egypt's Supreme

Council of Antiquities.

Two large limestone tombs found at the site date to the Old Kingdom,

2575-2134 B.C. and contain a collection of small chapels and niches.

Helwan, some 15 miles south of Cairo, is a heavily populated

industrial area located across the Nile river from the pyramids of

Saqqara, also a cemetery site.

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