WORLD’S BIGGEST COFFIN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 115, 18 May 1931, Page 11

WORLD’S BIGGEST COFFIN

EGYPTIAN PRINCE’S TOME. NEARLY 5000 YEARS OLD. The largest sarcophagus in the world, weighing about 1118 tons, has been discovered by the Pennsylvania University expedition excavating near the medium pyramid, not t tr fr >m Cairo. This gigantic sarcophagus is made of red granite, and dates from ihc Fourth (Dynasty, about 2500 B.C. It was found in an enormous sepulchral chamber of massive construction, which was partially uncovered by Sir Flinders Petrie some time ago.

The tomb is the seventeenth of the so-called mastabas, where the courtiers and officials of Snofru, the Pharaoh who built the medium pyrimid, are buried. These are among the most ancient monuments of their kind iu ths world.

Many other objects of great import anee from the archaeological standpoint have been discovered by the Pennsylvania expedition, one a prince’s tomb to the north of the pyramid. It is a pit nearly 150 ft. deep, at the hot tom of which is a sepulchre. Nothing, however, was found in it except a necklace, as the tomb had been visited by thieves many centuries ago. The robbers must have expected to find a rich booty, for to reach the tomb, they had to drive a tunnel slantwise over 100 yards long through solid rock. Many hieroglyphic inscriptions we-'e found in the sepulchre, showing that the inmate was Prince Niheb—tne name meaning “Belonging to Apis.” It is hazarded that Prince Niheb may be the son of the Pharaoh Snofru. The discovery is especially welcome as it adds a name to the royal family reigning in the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty.