The tablet dated for more than 4,000 years has mysteriously disappeared from Saqqara Necropolis, the Egyptian authorities said that a few weeks after the flight to the Cairo Museum of a millennial gold bracelet.
In its statement, the Ministry of Egyptian Antiquities declared “the disappearance of the old stele of the tomb of Henta in in the archaeological place of Sakkara”, not far from Cairo, and the opening of the investigation.
According to the ministry, the limestone tablet was in the tomb of the sixth dynasty (2345-2181 BC), discovered in the 1950s and closed in 2019.
This disappearance occurred after the arrest in mid-September, including four people, including the restaurateur of the Cairo Museum, for flights on the site of a 3,000-year-old bracelet, sold for 3400 euros and melted in the Cairo workshop.
This gold bracelet, decorated with spherical pearls in az-lasuli dating from the amenumope rule, pharaoh of the 21st dynasty (1070–945 BC) disappeared from its safe torso in the restoration laboratory of the Egyptian museum.
The investigation showed that the bracelet was stolen from the museum, sold to various intermediaries and “melted among other jewelry”, according to the Ministry of the Interior.
The Egyptian law provides up to seven years in prison and a fine of two million pounds (about 35,000 euros) for the destruction of antiquities. The theft of antiques for smuggling is punishable by imprisonment.
These two cases, in the Saqqara Necropolis and in the Cairo Museum, intervene almost a month before the official inauguration of the new Great Egyptian Museum (GEM) on November 1 near the Guzukh pyramids in Cairo, after several delays.
The museum, which cost a billion dollars, is to place more than 100,000 items, more than half of which will be exhibited by the public. The flagship attraction will become an extensive collection of King Tutankhamun, with more than 5,000 items.
