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World & Nation

Egypt reveals a new ancient treasure

By Jeffrey Fleishman
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Fleishman is a Times staff writer.
CAIRO — 

Desert winds blow, sands shift, archaeologists dig, and one day you find a pyramid. Egyptian authorities announced Tuesday that they had discovered what’s left of the base of a pyramid estimated to be 4,300 years old.

The site near Saqqara has been under excavation for 20 years, and its pyramid is believed to have belonged to Queen Sesheshet, the mother of King Teti, who ruled the Sixth Dynasty about 2291 BC.

“It’s common for us to find a tomb or a statue, but to find a pyramid, that is rare,” Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, told reporters. “There are probably many more discoveries to be made around this site.”

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Archaeologists have yet to enter the pyramid’s tomb. Saqqara, about 12 miles south of Cairo, was a necropolis for rulers of ancient Egypt.

The newest find brings to 118 the number of Egypt’s discovered pyramids. It lies near the oldest existing step pyramid, which, when the light is right and a camel lumbers in silhouette, seems to defy time, looters and all the elements.

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jeffrey.fleishman@latimes.com

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World & Nation
Jeffrey Fleishman

Jeffrey Fleishman is a senior writer at the Los Angeles Times. Previously, he was the foreign and national editor. A 2002 Nieman fellow at Harvard University, Fleishman was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in feature writing. A longtime foreign correspondent, he served as bureau chief for The Times in Cairo and Berlin, and was previously based in Rome for the Philadelphia Inquirer. He also was a writer on film, art and culture. Fleishman has been a finalist for the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting and a finalist for the Center for Public Integrity’s Award for Outstanding International Investigative Reporting. He is the author of five novels, including “Good Night, Forever” and “Last Dance.”

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