As of recently a Swiss-French archeology team has discovered and studied the 4,100 year old tomb of a wizard doctor.

Like many others, the tomb was raided long before archaeologists could find it. Despite the raided items, the team has studied the paintings and inscriptions of the walls of the tomb. The burial site belonged to a doctor by the name of Tetinebefou or Teti Neb Fou. Along with being a doctor he was also described as “conjurer of the goddess Serqet”. She is the goddess of scorpions and provided protection against scorpion stings. He also had titles such as Chief Dentist, Director of Medicinal Plants, Chief Palace Physician, and Magician. 

Adorned with vibrant paint, surviving thousands of years,  the tomb is still as beautiful as ever. Painted with a false door with engravings of its own, the ceiling of the tomb was painted red and was made to look like granite which added to its magnificence.

Teti Neb Fu was buried in a mastaba, this being the kind of burial chamber that was set aside for the upper class only. It was built with sloping walls and a flat roof. It was made of limestone and mud bricks, used to make a warmer “cave-like” tomb for the deceased inside.

The tomb was found in the famous “City of the Dead”, Saqqara. Saqqara is where the first Egyptian pyramid was found. This city, this necropolis, is one of the most important cities in ancient Egyptian history. Kings from a period known as the “Old Kingdom” were found in Saqqara along with noble man tombs.

History in itself is a truly fascinating topic. Thousands of years ago people like us were living drastically different lives. But like most of history we have no real basis of their lives because we weren’t there. But with clues such as tombs, we can take what we see and translate that into what living back in B.C. was like.