Evidence for late third millenium weather events from Six Dynasty tomb at Saqqara

During excavations in 1996 on a tomb in the Teti Cemetery at Saqqara by the Australian Centre for Egyptology (Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia), evidence of ancient weather events was revealed. The tomb belonged to the high official Inumin, who late in his career served as vizier of King Pepy I of the Sixth Dynasty. Over a metre of eolian sand sealed by extensive laminated silt deposits in the subterranean burial chamber was the result of a sustained diy windy period, followed by a short period of intense rainfall. These events are dated on stratigraphic grounds to the Late Old Kingdom - early First Intermediate Period. Evidence of the same weather event was recorded near the enclosure of Netjerykhet Djoser at Saqqara, which was dated by the excavators to the 23rd century BC.