Mostafa Waziri, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, announced last night during Archaeologists’ day the finding of a papyrus scroll that might change our understanding of ancient Egyptians and their beliefs.

Archaeologists confirmed that a 16-meter papyrus scroll discovered at the Saqqara necropolis site near Cairo last year contains texts from the Egyptian Book of the Dead. 

The discovery of a papyrus containing Book of the Dead spells could shed new light on ancient Egyptian beliefs about the transition to another realm. 

These books were collections of funerary texts and spells believed to help the deceased on their journey through the underworld.

The papyrus, which will be presented at the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum, is currently being translated from Hierarchical to Hieroglyphics to Arabic and is named the “Waziri Papyrus.”