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(ANSA) – SAQQARA, 03 OCT – A team of archaeologists in Egypt announced today that in recent weeks they have found 59 well-preserved and sealed wooden sarcophagi, buried more than 2,500 years ago. Opening one, the team revealed mummified remains wrapped in a shroud, with hieroglyphic inscriptions in bright colors.
The discovery took place south of Cairo, in Saqqara, the necropolis of the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis, a Unesco world heritage site.
Since the discovery of the first 13 coffins was announced almost three weeks ago, more have been discovered in other wells, at depths of up to 12 meters. And an unknown number of sarcophagi may still be buried there, Tourism and Antiquities Minister Khaled al-Anani said at the site, near the 4,700-year-old Pyramid of Djoser. “So this is not the end of the discovery, I consider it rather the beginning of the great discovery,” he said. The sarcophagi, sealed more than 2,500 years ago, date from the late period of ancient Egypt, around the 6th or 7th century BC, the minister added.
In recent years, excavations at Saqqara have unearthed artifacts, mummified snakes, birds, beetles, and other animals.
Preliminary studies have indicated that the sarcophagi likely belonged to priests, high-ranking statesmen and prominent figures of ancient Egyptian society from the 26th Dynasty, Anani said.
All the coffins will be taken to the Great Egyptian Museum which will soon open on the Giza plateau, Anani finally said.
The opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum, which has been delayed several times, is scheduled for 2021. The museum will house thousands of artifacts, spanning multiple eras in Egypt’s history, from the Predynastic period to the Greco-Roman period. (HANDLE).
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