The tomb of an Egyptian official responsible for working with secret documents in the office of the first pharaohs of the Sixth Dynasty (c. 2300 BC), was found in the Saqqara expedition of the Polish Center for Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw, the center's press release reported.

The excavations were conducted to the west of the site of a previous important discovery by the same expedition, the tomb of the right hand of Pharaoh, who held the second position in Ancient Egypt.

During the fall season of 2021, the facade of another tomb structure was excavated in the Dry Ditch surrounding the complex of the stepped pyramids of Djoser. It is decorated with reliefs depicting the owner of the tomb.

"The dignitary bore the name Mehtjetju and was, among other things, an official with access to royal sealed — that is secret — documents," according to the hieroglyphs on the tomb, Kamil Kuraszkiewicz, a professor at the University of Warsaw's faculty of Oriental Studies, said in a statement.  Mehtjetju's tomb was found next to the Step Pyramid of Djoser, which was constructed about 4,700 years ago in Saqqara.

According to the discoverers, Mehtjetju's high social status allowed him to hire skilled craftsmen to build the tomb, as the reliefs on the facade betray the exceptional skill of their creators, and the elegance of the lines and the delicacy of molding rival the best reliefs of other high-ranking dignitaries. But the rock on which it was carved is very fragile and subject to erosion, so the immediate intervention of restorers was required. In addition, the relief decoration was not completed everywhere, as the client himself died and was buried before the work was completed. The sketches depict the conduct of sacrificial animals - cows, chamois and mountain goats.