Muhammed Zakaria Goneim (زكريا غنيم) (alt. spelling: Muhammad Zakarīya Ghunaim, 1905–1959) was an Egyptian archaeologist, known for his discoveries in and around

Saqqara Saqqara ( ar, سقارة, ), also spelled Sakkara or Saccara in English , is an Egyptian village in Giza Governorate, that contains ancient burial grounds of Egyptian royalty, serving as the necropolis for the ancient Egyptian capital, Memphi ...

. He is best known for discovering the Step Pyramid of Sekhemkhet. Before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Goneim worked at Saqqara on the mortuary temple of Unas. He spent the war in

Luxor Luxor ( ar, الأقصر, al-ʾuqṣur, lit=the palaces) is a modern city in Upper (southern) Egypt which includes the site of the Ancient Egyptian city of ''Thebes''. Luxor has frequently been characterized as the "world's greatest open-ai ...

and then returned to Saqqara to work on the Step Pyramid of Sekhemkhet in close association with Lauer who was working on the Step Pyramid of

Djoser Djoser (also read as Djeser and Zoser) was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the 3rd Dynasty during the Old Kingdom, and was the founder of that epoch. He is also known by his Hellenized names Tosorthros (from Manetho) and Sesorthos (from Euseb ...

. He thought he had found an intact burial, as the seals of the

alabaster Alabaster is a mineral or rock that is soft, often used for carving, and is processed for plaster powder. Archaeologists and the stone processing industry use the word differently from geologists. The former use it in a wider sense that includes ...

sarcophagus A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Gre ...

were undamaged, and funerary wreaths lay atop the sarcophagus. There was tremendous media attention, and he invited high state officials, journalists, reporters and film teams to the opening. But on opening the sarcophagus, it proved to be empty. "They dig for three years and find nothing," one newspaper reported. There was consequent popular disappointment, although the discovery was still an important one for Egyptology. The Egyptian President

Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, . (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced Egyptian ...

visited the site, and commended Goneim for his work. After this he went on a lecture tour of the US. He also wrote a book, ''The buried pyramid'', with the aid of Leonard Cottrell, in order to publicise the work further. The book was a success, and was translated into several languages. But he was already in trouble at home, where official harassment had begun. He was eventually falsely accused of smuggling a large, valuable vessel that Quibell and Lauer had found two years earlier near in the Djoser complex out of the country. There was no hard evidence, only accusations and slander. But it devastated Goneim, who was Egyptian himself. He was repeatedly interrogated by the police. His friend Jean-Philippe Lauer attempted to help him by searching for the missing item. In 1959, he tracked the missing vessel to a corner of the Egyptian Museum's depository. But it was too late. The perpetual harassment was too much, and he was either murdered or drowned himself in the

Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin language, Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered ...

on 12 January 1959. Zakaria Goneim was the cousin of the Egyptian Heiress Nofert Sourial Sa'id. Zakaria Goneim's father's family became Muslim in the late 19th century. They were of Coptic descent.

Publications

* ''The buried pyramid''. Longmans, Green; London, New York; 1956 * ''The lost pyramid''. Rinehart; New York; 1956 * ''Excavations at Saqqara: Horus Sekhem-khet, the unfinished step pyramid at Saqqara''; Impr. de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale; Le Caire, 1957

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goneim, Muhammed Zakaria 1905 births 1959 deaths Egyptian Egyptologists Egyptian archaeologists Egyptian people of Coptic descent 20th-century archaeologists 1959 suicides Suicides by drowning Suicides in Egypt