Czech archaeologists have discovered a recycled burial chamber with unusual decorations, just south of Cairo. The find occurred near the three weathered pyramids of Abu Sir - remnants of an original seven -located 22 miles south of the Capital.

According to Miroslav Verner of the Czech Institute of Egyptology in Prague, the monuments were part of a complex built about 4,500 years ago during the 5th dynasty’s brief reign, from 2498 to 2345 BC. The necropolis then served the nobles of Memphis, Egypt’s ancient capital.

Now, new archaeological evidence unearthed by Ladislav Bare of the Czech National Centre of Egyptology, also in Prague, has offered evidence that nobles of Egypt’s 26th century (664 to 525 BC) gentrified the 2000-year-old necropolis or vast burial grounds, of their 5th-dynasty predecessors.

The necropolis had fallen into disrepair in the intervening millennia.

The team located the burial chamber of a royal scribe named Menekhibnekau about 65 feet (20 meters) underground on a small hill southwest of the Abu Sir pyramid of Neferre.

Bare said he believed Menekhibnekau wanted to be buried near the temples of Saqqara.

“We believe it is the proximity to the complex of sacred installations in north Saqqara - just half a mile (one kilometre) away - that led to the building of new tombs at Abu Sir,” said Verner, who has been researching the region for decades.

“It is a very important find. This type of shaft tomb was probably inspired by the substructure of the pyramid of Djozer - a so-called step pyramid nearby at Saqqara,” he said.

Inside the chamber, the team uncovered a vaulted ceiling decorated with stars.

“The decoration on the sides of the burial chamber differs from other burial chambers unearthed at Abu Sir,” said Zahi Hawass, director general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities.

“The southern side is decorated with a chapter of the Book of the Dead accompanied by images of guardsmen,” he said. The book is a collection of mortuary texts consisting of spells and magic formulas used by ancient Egyptians.

On the eastern and western sides, figures representing time accompanied sacred texts and an image of a solar bark, a ship meant to ferry the dead into the afterlife, he said.

The team led by Bare also found two large sarcophagi in the tomb:

A massive exterior coffin made of limestone, and a human-shaped interior made of greywacke, a type of dark green sandstone. Both were densely covered with religious texts.

But the tomb had been looted and plundered by robbers in the late Roman period, Verner told National Geographic.

“The remains were completely destroyed. The bones of the royal scribe, Menekhibnekau, were scattered on the floor. Among the objects found among his bones was a small rectangular ceramic seal depicting a jackal and nine bound captives,” he said.

Hawass said the discovery of the shaft leading to Menekhibnekau’s burial chamber was accidental and how needed to learned about the necropolis at Abu Sir.

Verner said the tomb will have be repaired and reconstructed, and will eventually open to the public.

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