EGYPT: Make that 118 pyramids

Desert winds blow, sands shift, archaeologists dig, and one day you find a pyramid.

Egyptian authorities announced today they discovered what’s left of the base of a pyramid estimated to be 4,300 years old near Saqqara.

The site has been under excavation for 20 years and is believed to have belonged to Queen Sesheshet, the mother of King Teti, who ruled the Sixth Dynasty around 2291. (View photos of the excavation.)

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

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

The newest find brings to 118 the number 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.

-- Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo

Photos: A general view shows the site of the pyramid which was newly discovered in Saqqara area, Cairo, Egypt, 11 November 2008.According to Hawass, the pyramid is five metres high with a square base of 22 metres on each side.  Bottom photo: The step pyramid is seen in the background behind the excavation site of the newly discovered pyramid. Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, is shown.  Credit: Khaled El-Fiqi / EPA.

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