An illustration from the Papyrus of Ani, which dates to the 19th Dynasty of the New Kingdom, circa 1250 BCE
Archaeologists in Egypt have found a 16-metre-long papyrus containing sections from the Book of the Dead. The more than 2,000-year-old document was found within a coffin in a tomb south of the Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara. There are many texts from the Book of the Dead, and analysis of the new finding may shed light on ancient Egyptian funerary traditions. Conservation work is already complete, and the papyrus is being translated into Arabic. This is the first full papyrus to be uncovered at Saqqara in over 100 years. The Step Pyramid of Djoser was constructed during the reign of the pharaoh Djoser and was the first the Egyptians built. The area around the step pyramid was used for burials for millennia. Indeed, the coffin that housed the newfound papyrus dates to the Late Period.