CAIRO: An Egyptian-Spanish archaeological mission has uncovered a 4,300-year-old tomb near Cairo belonging to an ancient judge who heard the grievances of ordinary people, local authorities said. The tomb was found at Saqqara, a sprawling necropolis south of the capital, and dates back to the reign of Pharaoh Djedkare Isesi, one of the most influential rulers of Egypt's Fifth Dynasty who oversaw a period of administrative reform in the 24th century BC, the Egyptian tourism and antiquities ministry said.

It was built for Yunmen, a high-ranking official whose duties included listening to the appeals of the kingdom's subjects and weighing their complaints before the state. Amr al-Tayeb, director of the Saqqara archaeological site, told The find was discovered during this summer's excavation season in the Mariette Cemetery area of northern Saqqara, as part of a long-running joint project by the Autonomous University of Barcelona and Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities.

The newly discovered mastaba, a flat-roofed tomb typically built for elite officials, contains two funerary chapels: one for Yunmen and another for his father, Ity, a senior scribe responsible for overseeing agricultural lands and offerings. Yunmen's chapel is adorned with finely carved reliefs depicting farmers at work, servants carrying offerings and scenes associated with funerary rites.