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Egyptian antiquities officials have announced the discovery of at least 100 ancient coffins, some with mummies inside, and some 40 gilded statues in a vast pharaonic necropolis south of Cairo.
Sealed sarcophagi and statues that were buried more than 2,500 years ago were displayed in a makeshift display at the foot of the famous Step Pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara.
The archaeologists opened a coffin inside which was a well-preserved mummy wrapped in cloth. They also made X-rays visualizing the structures of the ancient mummy, showing how the body had been preserved.
The Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Khaled el-Anany, told a press conference that the articles date back to the Ptolemaic dynasty that ruled Egypt for some 300 years, from about 320 BC. Until approximately 30 a. C., and the Late Period (664-332 a. C.).
He said they would move the artifacts to at least three museums in Cairo, including the Grand Egyptian Museum that Egypt is building near the famous Giza pyramids.
He said they would announce another discovery at the Saqqara necropolis later this year. The find at the famous necropolis is the latest in a series of archaeological discoveries in Egypt. Since September, antiquities authorities have revealed at least 140 sealed sarcophagi, most with mummies inside, in the same area of Saqqara.
Egyptian archaeologists found other “wells full of coffins, well gilded, well painted, well decorated,” Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, told reporters on Saturday.
The Saqqara site is part of the necropolis of Egypt’s ancient capital, Memphis, which includes the pyramids of Giza, as well as the smaller pyramids of Abu Sir, Dahshur, and Abu Ruwaysh. The Memphis ruins were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the 1970s.
Egypt frequently touts its archaeological discoveries in hopes of stimulating the vital tourism industry that has been recovering from the political turmoil that followed the popular uprising in 2011 that toppled the autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
The sector also received a new blow this year from the coronavirus pandemic.
