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Ancient Egyptian Tomb of ‘Morning Secret Keeper’ Uncovered in Aswan

Tourists pose for a photo at Saqqara area near Egypt's Saqqara necropolis. (Reuters)
Tourists pose for a photo at Saqqara area near Egypt's Saqqara necropolis. (Reuters)
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Ancient Egyptian Tomb of ‘Morning Secret Keeper’ Uncovered in Aswan

Tourists pose for a photo at Saqqara area near Egypt's Saqqara necropolis. (Reuters)
Tourists pose for a photo at Saqqara area near Egypt's Saqqara necropolis. (Reuters)

The tomb of a prominent statesman who lived in the era of the Fifth Pharaonic Dynasty has finally been opened, revealing the belongings of its owner, who worked as a royal supervisor.

A Czech archaeological mission operating in Abusir, north of the Saqqara region in Giza announced that it has uncovered a huge limestone and brick tomb for a man identified as Kaer S, dating back to the eras of King Nyuserre Ini and King Neferirkare Kakai.

Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Mostafa al-Waziry said that the tomb's engravings showed that Kaer S had several titles, including the "Supervisor of the King’s affairs", "Morning Secret Keeper" and the "his master's beloved."

Adel Okasha, director of the Central Department of Antiquities of Cairo and Giza, said that the mission found a rose granite statue in the main well of the tomb, broken into two parts.

The statue represents Kaer S sitting on a small backless chair, while wearing a short beret and a wig.

The seat also featured the name and titles of its owner.

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Scientists Unearth 74-million-year-old Mouse-Sized Mammal Fossil in Chile

This illustration by Mauricio Alvarez depicts 'Yeutherium pressor,' a tiny mammal that lived in the time of the dinosaurs in what is now southern Chile. Universidad de Chile via AFP
This illustration by Mauricio Alvarez depicts 'Yeutherium pressor,' a tiny mammal that lived in the time of the dinosaurs in what is now southern Chile. Universidad de Chile via AFP
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Scientists Unearth 74-million-year-old Mouse-Sized Mammal Fossil in Chile

This illustration by Mauricio Alvarez depicts 'Yeutherium pressor,' a tiny mammal that lived in the time of the dinosaurs in what is now southern Chile. Universidad de Chile via AFP
This illustration by Mauricio Alvarez depicts 'Yeutherium pressor,' a tiny mammal that lived in the time of the dinosaurs in what is now southern Chile. Universidad de Chile via AFP

Scientists have discovered the fossil of a tiny mouse-sized mammal that lived in the time of the dinosaurs in Chilean Patagonia.

The discovery was published last week in the British scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

“Yeutherium pressor” weighed between 30 and 40 grams (about one ounce) and lived in the Upper Cretaceous period, about 74 million years ago.

It is the smallest mammal ever found in this region of South America.

The fossil consists of “a small piece of jaw with a molar and the crown and roots of two other molars,” Hans Puschel, who led the team of scientists from the University of Chile and Chile's Millennium Nucleus research center on early mammals, told AFP.

Researchers found the fossil in the Rio de Las Chinas Valley in Chile's Magallanes region, about 3,000 kilometers south of Santiago.

Despite its similarity to a small rodent, "Yeutherium pressor" was a mammal that must have laid eggs, like the platypus, or carried its young in a pouch like kangaroos or opossums.

The shape of its teeth suggests that it probably had a diet of relatively hard vegetables.
Just like the dinosaurs with whom it co-existed, the tiny mammal abruptly went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous period, about 66 million years ago.