Archeological workers in Egypt unearthed an ancient burial site with at least 17 intact mummies near the Nile Valley city of Minya, news agency reports said.
The mummies, discovered at a depth of about 7.6m, are believed to be the bodies of priests and officials, The Associated Press reported.
The site included sarcophagi made of limestone and clay, animal and bird coffins, and papyrus with Demotic script — not the hieroglyphs found in earlier Egyptian tombs.
Photo: Reuters
It was discovered near the village of Tuna al-Gabal, where a necropolis for thousands of mummified animals was previously excavated.
It was found last year by some Cairo University students using radar, Reuters reported.
The mummies are believed to date to Egypt’s Greco-Roman period, a 600-year epoch that began in 332 BC after the region was conquered by Alexander the Great, said Mohamed Hamza, the dean of archeology at Cairo University, who helped lead the excavations.
The burial site might hold as many as 32 mummies.
It is “the first human necropolis found in central Egypt with so many mummies,” Egyptologist Salah al-Kholi said, according to the Telegraph.
Egyptian Minister of Antiquities Khaled al-Anani called this a “historic year” for discoveries.
“It’s as if it’s a message from our ancestors who are lending us a hand to help bring tourists back,” he said at a news conference on Saturday.
It was the second discovery of mummies announced with much fanfare by the government in less than a month.
Last month, the ministry invited reporters to the southern city of Luxor to unveil eight mummies discovered in a 3,500-year-old tomb belonging to a nobleman.
For the cash-strapped Egyptian government, the discoveries are a boon from the nation’s glorious past as it struggles to attract tourists scared off by a series of Islamist militant attacks.
Egypt’s tourism industry has struggled in recent years. About 5.4 million people visited last year, down from 14.7 million in 2010.
“Antiquities are the soft power that distinguishes Egypt,” Anani said. “News of antiquities are the things that attract the world to Egypt.”
Millions of tourists visited Egypt every year to see its Giza Pyramids — the only surviving monument of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World — and its ancient pharaonic temples and relics.
However, a popular uprising in 2011 that overthrew former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak ushered in years of unrest that battered the economy and drove away tourists.
Nauru has started selling passports to fund climate action, but is so far struggling to attract new citizens to the low-lying, largely barren island in the Pacific Ocean. Nauru, one of the world’s smallest nations, has a novel plan to fund its fight against climate change by selling so-called “Golden Passports.” Selling for US$105,000 each, Nauru plans to drum up more than US$5 million in the first year of the “climate resilience citizenship” program. Almost six months after the scheme opened in February, Nauru has so far approved just six applications — covering two families and four individuals. Despite the slow start —
MOGAMI-CLASS FRIGATES: The deal is a ‘big step toward elevating national security cooperation with Australia, which is our special strategic partner,’ a Japanese official said Australia is to upgrade its navy with 11 Mogami-class frigates built by Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles said yesterday. Billed as Japan’s biggest defense export deal since World War II, Australia is to pay US$6 billion over the next 10 years to acquire the fleet of stealth frigates. Australia is in the midst of a major military restructure, bolstering its navy with long-range firepower in an effort to deter China. It is striving to expand its fleet of major warships from 11 to 26 over the next decade. “This is clearly the biggest defense-industry agreement that has ever
DEADLY TASTE TEST: Erin Patterson tried to kill her estranged husband three times, police said in one of the major claims not heard during her initial trial Australia’s recently convicted mushroom murderer also tried to poison her husband with bolognese pasta and chicken korma curry, according to testimony aired yesterday after a suppression order lapsed. Home cook Erin Patterson was found guilty last month of murdering her husband’s parents and elderly aunt in 2023, lacing their beef Wellington lunch with lethal death cap mushrooms. A series of potentially damning allegations about Patterson’s behavior in the lead-up to the meal were withheld from the jury to give the mother-of-two a fair trial. Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale yesterday rejected an application to keep these allegations secret. Patterson tried to kill her
MILITARY’S MAN: Myint Swe was diagnosed with neurological disorders and peripheral neuropathy disease, and had authorized another to perform his duties Myint Swe, who became Myanmar’s acting president under controversial circumstances after the military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi more than four years ago, died yesterday, the military said. He was 74. He died at a military hospital in the capital, Naypyidaw, in the morning, Myanmar’s military information office said in a statement. Myint Swe’s death came more than a year after he stopped carrying out his presidential duties after he was publicly reported to be ailing. His funeral is to be held at the state level, but the date had not been disclosed, a separate statement from the
RSS