The necropolis of Saqqara outside Cairo, famed for its massive step pyramid, has yielded a string of discoveries as 10 different teams excavate a previously untouched area.

French mission head Philippe Collombert said the mummy of Queen Behenu was destroyed, but the religious texts were well preserved.

The text is primarily concerned with protecting the queen's remains and her transition to afterlife. Collombert called the queen "mysterious," and said it was not clear whether she was the wife of King Pepi I or II of the Sixth Dynasty. The Saqqara burial grounds contain tombs from Egypt's earliest history up through Roman times.