An Egyptian-led mission at the Saqqara Necropolis has unearthed a subterranean chamber containing what is being described as a 2nd-Dynasty 'Royal Tax Archive.' The find consists of hundreds of inscribed clay jars and the earliest known fragments of administrative papyrus, detailing the collection of grain and livestock taxes during the reign of Pharaoh Nynetjer (c. 2700 BCE).
The documents provide an unprecedented look at the highly organized state bureaucracy of early Egypt, long before the construction of the Great Pyramids. Dr. Mostafa Waziri, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, noted that the archive lists specific districts, governors, and the precise quantities of goods delivered to the royal treasury, revealing a level of economic centralization previously thought to have developed much later.