Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb

The riddle of the priest Wahtye and his family and modern Egypt's life

TV-Shows Documentary Netflix
113 min     7.3     2020     Egypt

Overview

Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb is one of the documentaries worth paying attention to.

Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb is dedicated to the archaeological expedition to the necropolis of Saqqara. It is the necropolis of the Ancient Kingdom's capital, Memphis, located 30 km south of Cairo, and here the first pyramids began to be built. In addition to the pyramids, Saqqara's sands buried ancient temples, tombs of nobles, and ordinary people's graves. Now they are gradually being returned to the world, and new discoveries in Saqqara occur every year. The film tells about the exploration of the tomb of Wahtye, a high-ranking priest of one of the temples of the Fifth Dynasty Pharaoh Neferirkare Kakai, discovered in December 2018. The age of the tomb is estimated to be approximately 4400 years.

Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb series are interesting primarily with its emphasis on people's daily work and life associated with excavation. All of them are Egyptians; it is one of the first entirely Egyptian expeditions to explore Saqqara. Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb is about archaeologists working directly on the site.

Although all the events shown in Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb take place over six weeks and are dedicated to solving the riddle of the priest Wahtye and his family, the filmmakers also showed modern Egypt's life. This modest but proud country respects its past.

Reviews

Peter McGinn wrote:
Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb is a fairly interesting documentary if you are interested in ancient history and/or archaeology. It takes place at an archaeological site in Egypt, not near the Sphinx and the Giza pyramids, but 15 miles away near the Step pyramid. They are finding a lot of historical treasures, though not the more glamorous jewels or financial finds that make headlines. The movie tries to build up a sense of suspense by letting us know that unless they have major finds, their state-sponsored funding would expire when the Ramadan holiday arrives, so we are given several text reminders of how many weeks remain before that deadline. As a side note, one thing I liked was that this is an Egyptian archaeological dig and, as such, all of the workers, supervisors, consulting experts and even the dogs and cats, are local. We don’t have the typical European or American team trying to deal with the Egyptian officials. These people are excited about their work and take pride in it, right down to the ones who just. Sometimes it feels a little overstated how excited they get and how they feel that the bones are real people to them, but who am I to rain on the parade of people who truly love their work? This is a quiet film as you’d expect, with plenty of information about ancient Egyptian life. Having said that, I should also say that I watched it in two sittings, as I began to feel tired and this isn’t a movie designed to keep you alert if you aren’t inclined that way. But it is well worth watching if the subject interests you.

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