In the dunes of the Western Desert in Egypt, Auguste Mariette discovered a mastaba, or substantial tomb, belonging to an ancient official nearly 160 years ago.

Archaeologists unearthed a massive ancient tomb near Cairo in Egypt. Screengrab from Facebook

When Mariette first started digging, he was able to effectively uncover a fake door with ornate decoration and a supporting beam, but the mastaba was covered in sand before he could continue. Since that time, the objects have been preserved at The British Museum, and experts have discovered that Ptahshepses, who is thought to be the first non-royal in Egyptian history to marry a royal, was the owner of the tomb.

After years of looking, Czech archaeologists have now uncovered Ptahshepses' tomb, according to a Facebook post from the Czech Institute of Egyptology at Charles University in Prague on September 25.

"The tomb of a man who changed the course of Egyptian history has thus been rediscovered, representing one of the expedition's greatest recent discoveries," Miroslav Barta, head of research, wrote in the post. Further findings to shed new light on his family and era are likely to be made while the research is still ongoing.

The tomb, which is thought to date to the end of the 25th century B.C., is estimated to be around 138 feet long, 72 feet wide, and 13 feet tall. They found a chapel that had been kept, painted decorations, two rooms for statues, and a lengthy hallway within.

Researchers have discovered a burial room inside the mastaba. Even though the room was looted in antiquity, it still held pottery, fragments of offerings, and mummified fish from the initial burial.

Ptahshepses' sarcophagus, which still contained his full mummy laying on his back, was also found by experts. The official lived to be 65 years old, significantly longer than was typical for people in that era, according to the mummy's analysis.

South of Cairo, between the pyramid fields of Abusir and Saqqara, the mastaba was found.