Egypt announces the discovery of more than 100 sarcophagi of more than 2500 years; PHOTOS | World

The sarcophagi and statues were buried more than 2,500 years ago. They were found in three pits, 12 meters deep from the extensive necropolis.

Archaeologists showed a well-preserved mummy wrapped in cloth inside one of the coffins.

The coffins were sealed, finely painted and well preserved and of superior quality to previous finds, said the secretary general of the supreme council of antiquities, Mostafa Waziri, suggesting that they belonged to families of higher rank.

Tourism and Antiquities Minister Khaled el-Anany told a press conference that the items discovered date back to the Ptolemaic dynasty, which ruled Egypt around 320 BC. Until approximately 30 a. C. and the late period (664-332 a. C.).

“Saqqara has not yet revealed all its treasure. Excavations are still underway. Whenever we empty the shaft of one sarcophagus cemetery, we find an entrance to another,” el-Anany said.

The site of Saqqara is a vast necropolis, a kind of ancient cemetery, which houses the famous pyramid of Djoser, the first from the Pharaonic era and one of the oldest works in the world.

The discovery came just over a month after archaeologists in the area found 59 well-preserved and sealed wooden coffins, also dated more than 2,500 years ago.

Since September, authorities have revealed at least 140 sealed sarcophagi, with mummies inside most of them, in the same area of ​​Saqqara, about 25 km from the pyramids of Giza.

Khaled said the finds will be taken to museums in Cairo, including the Great Egyptian Museum that Egypt is building near the Giza pyramids.

Saqqara is part of the necropolis of Egypt’s ancient capital, Memphis, which includes the famous pyramids at Giza, as well as smaller pyramids at Abu Sir, Dahshur, and Abu Ruwaysh.

The Memphis Ruins were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the 1970s.