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Updated November 14th, 2020 at 21:45 IST

Egypt reveals details of coffins, statues in Saqqara

Egyptian antiquities officials announced the discovery of at least 100 ancient coffins on Saturday, some of which had mummies inside.

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Egyptian antiquities officials announced the discovery of at least 100 ancient coffins on Saturday, some of which had mummies inside.

Around 40 gilded statues were also discovered in a vast necropolis south of Cairo.

Colorful, sealed sarcophagi and statues, that were buried more than 2,500 years ago, were displayed in a makeshift exhibit at the famed Step Pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara.

Archaeologists opened a coffin with a well-preserved mummy wrapped in cloth inside.

They also carried out public X‐rays to visualize the structures of the ancient mummy and show how the body had been mummified.

Egypt's Tourism and Antiquities Minister Khaled el-Anany told a news conference the discovered items date back to the Ptolemaic dynasty that ruled Egypt for some 300 years — from around 320 B.C. to about 30 B.C., and the Late Period (664-332 B.C.).

He said they would move the artifacts to at least three Cairo museums including the Grand Egyptian Museum being built near the famed Giza Pyramids.

The discovery in Saqqara necropolis is the latest in a series of archaeological finds in Egypt.

Since September antiquities authorities revealed at least 140 sealed sarcophagi with mummies inside most of them, in the same area of Saqqara.

Egyptian archaeologists had found another shaft "full of coffins, well gilded, well painted, well decorated," Mostafa Waziri, Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, told reporters on Saturday.

The Saqqara site is part of the necropolis at Egypt's ancient capital of Memphis that includes the famed Giza Pyramids, as well as smaller pyramids at Abu Sir, Dahshur and Abu Ruwaysh.

The ruins of Memphis were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1970s.

Egypt frequently touts its archaeological discoveries in hopes of spurring a vital tourism industry that has been reeling from political turmoil following the 2011 popular uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

The sector was also dealt a further blow this year by the coronavirus pandemic.

 

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Published November 14th, 2020 at 21:45 IST

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