Egypt unearths 250 mummies in ancient necropolis
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250 sarcophagi — or painted coffins — with well-preserved mummies inside were discovered during recent excavations at a burial ground outside Cairo.
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The find includes 250 painted sarcophagi with well-preserved mummies inside. (AP)
Archaeologists in Egypt announced Monday that they had discovered a trove of ancient artifacts, including mummies and bronze statues, dating back 2,500 years, at the necropolis of Saqqara near Cairo.
250 sarcophagi — or painted coffins — with well-preserved mummies inside were discovered during recent excavations at a burial ground outside Cairo, said Egypt Supreme Council of Antiquities Secretary-General Mostafa Waziri.
At a makeshift exhibit Monday he added: "In one of the wooden sarcophagi, we found, for the first time, a complete and sealed papyrus."
The document was immediately relocated to a museum for further examination. Waziri believes it is related to those discovered 100 years ago that discusses the Book of the Gates and the Book of the Dead. Both are Egyptian funerary texts from antiquity.
Waziri, who led the archaeological mission, added that the dig also uncovered 150 bronze statues of Egyptian deities and ritual instruments dating back to the Late Period of ancient Egypt, around 500 B.C.
The Egyptian government is hoping that a recent flurry of archaeological discoveries will help revitalize the country's tourism industry, bringing in much-needed foreign currency and creating new jobs.
Egypt's tourism-dependent economy has suffered in the last decade. It was recently heavily affected by the coronavirus pandemic, which has curtailed global travel, as well as the war in Ukraine; Russia and Ukraine are traditionally major sources of tourists for the country.
In recent years, ancient finds have been made across the country, providing a new understanding of the dynasties that ruled ancient Egypt.
Archaeologists discovered 16 human burial chambers at the site of an ancient temple on the outskirts of Alexandria, Egypt, in February of last year. According to Egyptian Antiquities Ministry officials, two of the mummies had golden tongues that allowed them to "speak in the afterlife". Additionally, five ancient Pharaonic tombs were unearthed at Saqqara, a necropolis south of Cairo, in March.
In the same month, a massive 5,000-year-old brewery was discovered in the southern city of Sohag, thought to be the world's oldest. Researchers hypothesized that the beer was used in burial rituals for Egypt's first kings.
Archaeologists announced in April last year that they had discovered a 3,000-year-old "lost golden city" in the southern city of Luxor, a discovery they said could be the largest since the tomb of the boy king Tutankhamen.
The sarcophagi will be displayed at the new Grand Egyptian Museum, which will open near the famed Giza Pyramids outside Cairo in November.
