Roman-Era Pyramid Tomb Found in Egypt’s Dakhla Oasis

In Egypt’s Western Desert, a small mudbrick pyramid has turned up carrying three cultures at once: Egyptian gods on the doorway, a Greek poem inside, and a Roman emperor’s coin on the floor.

A Necropolis in the Desert

The tomb sits at Bir Al-Shaghala, one of the major archaeological areas of Egypt’s Dakhla Oasis, and belongs to the necropolis of the ancient city of Mut, known in antiquity as Mothis, the oasis capital during the Ptolemaic and Roman periods. Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities began excavations at the site in 2002, and successive seasons have uncovered numerous tombs with varied architecture, many featuring open courtyards, stairways, and altars believed to have hosted outdoor funerary rituals, while others include upper-level shrines topped by pyramids. Archaeologists think the scale of these tombs suggests the cemetery served members of the oasis elite, and the newest discovery, announced by Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities on September 24, 2026, adds an especially unusual example.

A Pyramid Built of Mudbrick

The new tomb is built of mudbrick and topped with a pyramidal superstructure. Researchers believe it was used to bury a man and his wife. A transverse hall with a vaulted ceiling sits just inside the entrance, with two mudbrick burial chambers to its right and the pyramid rising above them. Excavators also recovered a sandstone offering table positioned above a sandstone purification basin, along with pottery vessels and a bronze coin bearing the image of the Roman Emperor Constantine, which helps anchor the tomb in the late Roman period.

An Entrance Straight Out of Pharaonic Egypt

A 14-step staircase descends to the entrance, which is built of sandstone in a classic Egyptian architectural style and decorated with sunk-relief hieroglyphs containing funerary spells and protective recitations. Above it sits an Egyptian cornice decorated with a winged sun disk and two cobras, followed by a carved element resembling a bundle of reeds. The lintel bears a rare funerary scene showing the seventh hour of the Imy-Duat, one of the ancient Egyptian Books of the Netherworld, which describes the sun god’s nightly journey through the underworld. Researchers say this is the first time the scene has been identified among the tombs of the Bir Al-Shaghala necropolis. When archaeologists found the entrance, it was still sealed by a stone blocking slab showing an Osirian figure surrounded by protective spells.

A Greek Lament for Pisechtes

Among the most notable finds is a stone funerary stele bearing a 19-line lament written in Ancient Greek. It is dedicated to a man named Pisechtes, whom preliminary studies suggest may have served as a judge. Dating to the late third or early fourth century AD, the inscription offers evidence of the literary and cultural activity that flourished in the oasis under Roman rule, and its presence in a tomb whose entrance is otherwise thoroughly Egyptian illustrates just how tightly the different traditions were woven together by this point in the oasis’s history.

Reuse and Later Life

Archaeologists also found evidence suggesting the tomb was reused later. A mudbrick chapel was discovered above the main entrance, with a funerary shrine in front of it made up of four square mudbrick columns. Sherif Fathy, Egypt’s Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, said the discovery highlights the archaeological and cultural diversity of Egypt’s oases and the evidence they preserve of the civilizations that succeeded one another in Egypt. Hisham El-Leithy, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said the tomb’s architecture, inscriptions, and funerary texts provide important information about funerary practices and the religious and cultural life of the Dakhla Oasis during the Roman period.

Sources

This report draws on the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities’ announcement as reported by Ahram Online (Nevine El-Aref, September 24, 2026).