Archaeologists Found the Lost ‘Book of the Dead’ Buried in an Egyptian Cemetery

They couldn’t get it on Amazon.

• Archaeologists uncovered an elaborate New Kingdom cemetery in central Egypt’s Al-Ghuraifa area in 2023, featuring rock-cut tombs, mummies, and a reportedly well-preserved papyrus containing spells from the Book of the Dead tradition.
• A lengthy papyrus scroll measuring approximately 43 to 59 feet was discovered in burial context at the Al-Ghuraifa cemetery, making it a rare find that could provide valuable insights into ancient Egyptian religious beliefs and afterlife concepts.
• The Al-Ghuraifa cemetery contained thousands of artifacts including over 25,000 ushabti figures, canopic jars, amulets, and ornate coffins belonging to New Kingdom individuals, with the papyrus expected for display at Egypt’s Grand Egyptian Museum.

Ancient Egyptians built burials for the next world with the same seriousness they brought to this one: canopic jars for preserved organs, amulets for protection, ushabti figures for labor in the afterlife, and, for some people, funerary papyri carrying spells from what modern scholars call the Book of the Dead.

In central Egypt’s Al-Ghuraifa area, archaeologists uncovered one of those elaborate burial landscapes: a New Kingdom cemetery, publicly announced in 2023, with rock-cut tombs, mummies, amulets, statues, canopic jars, and a long papyrus containing chapters or spells from the Book of the Dead tradition.

Egyptian officials described the scroll as the first complete papyrus found in the Al-Ghuraifa area and said it was in good condition. Mustafa Waziri, then secretary general of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, said as much in the ministry’s original announcement.

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