He added that this discovery was made as part of a Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) project to develop the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square, Cairo.

 

Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the SCA, said that the cachette includes nine artifacts, among them an offering table, the upper part of a limestone stela, stones bearing hieroglyphs, and an engraved Ramesside limestone column base, with a cobra found next to it.

 

Dr. Hawass stated that two cachettes had previously been found in the museum’s garden; before 1952, archaeologists used to bury artifacts of questionable authenticity there, but only after they had been recorded in the museum’s register books and scientifically published. Nothing, however, had yet been found concerning this latest cachette.

 

Dr. Hawass said that the museum development project will create a new route for people visiting the museum. The museum entrance will remain the main gate, but the exit will be at the museum’s western side, where visitors will find a large bookstore, a cafeteria and facilities. He added that the development project will also organize the museum’s basement in order to accommodate lecture halls, a temporary exhibition hall and study halls.