The Ancient Egyptians based themselves along the lower reaches of the River Nile more than 4,500 years ago. Remains of this great empire, including the Great Pyramid of Giza, can still be seen at the city of El Giza, which sits three miles southwest of Cairo. Unas was a pharaoh and the ninth and last ruler of the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt during the Old Kingdom.
He had a pyramid built in the city of Saqqara, which is the smallest of the royal buildings that still stands today.
Inside, the ancient ruler had several rectangular burial tombs – known as mastabas – built for himself and his family.
However, historians made an interesting discovery when they took a closer look at one of them.
Filmmaker and Egyptologist Curtis Ryan Woodside revealed during his Amazon Prime show “Egypt Through the Ages” what they noticed.
Historians made the find in Egypt
The green [paint] – because that’s very special – it’s unique to find that colour
He said in 2018: “This is King Unas’ causeway and it leads to his pyramid, which is the first pyramid with text inside and all of the mastabas for his children.
“In the fifth dynasty when Pharaoh Unas was ruling Egypt there was a famine and this was recorded in his causeway and actually didn’t last that long, because Unas came along and built canals.
“This is actually recorded inside the son of Unas, in his mastaba, for Unas Ankh.
“But inside his daughter’s tomb, we actually have images showing how prosperous Egypt was.”
The documentary went on to reveal how the team uncovered a “unique find” that showed just how beneficial Unas’ work was to Egypt.
Mr Woodside added: “[The inscriptions show] vast amounts of cattle, fishing in the Nile and Unas really turned Egypt around at that stage and brought the country to what would continue as a very prosperous country.
“A special time of the year.
“They’re capturing all of these fish and crocodiles and look at all of these cows.
“The green [paint] – because that’s very special – it’s unique to find that colour.”
In ancient Egypt, green – known as “wadj” means “to flourish” or “to be healthy”.
The colour green represented vegetation, new life and fertility.
In an interesting parallel with modern terminology, actions which preserved the fertility of the land or promoted life were described as “green”.
However, the ancient Egyptians recognised the cycle of growth and decay and so green was also associated with death and the power of resurrection.
It comes after “the real brains” behind the Great Pyramid was also revealed thanks to the Pyramid of Djoser.
Crafted in 2620BC, during the Third Dynasty, this structure, which is also known as the Step Pyramid, is the brainchild of Imhotep.
He is credited as being the first to conceive the notion of stacking mastabas on top of each other, creating the “steps” of a pyramid.
This later became popular among Pharaohs, such as Khufu, inspiring his flamboyant burial chamber.
Mr Woodside said during the same series: “He was a physician, an architect and an advisor to Pharaoh Djoser in the third dynasty when Djoser decided he wanted to change from the traditional mastabas tombs to have something a bit grander.
“He was an amazing man and invented so many healing methods that we still use today.
“This man was still celebrated up until the Ptolemaic times for being the inventor of architecture.
“He is actually one of the most important people in Egyptian history because if it wasn’t for him we wouldn’t have these pyramids we see today.”