More than 40 mummies discovered at Egypt burial site

More than 40 mummies discovered at Egypt burial site

Rob Picheta, CNN • Published 3rd February 2019

(CNN) — Dozens of newly discovered mummies have been unveiled at a burial site in Egypt.

The finds date from the Ptolemaic era, which lasted from 323 BC to 30 BC, and were discovered during an excavation last year. Agence France-Press reported that more than 40 had been found.

They include the remains of men, women and children most likely from the same wealthy family, according to Egypt's Minister of Antiquities, Khaled El-Enany, who unveiled the site to a group of journalists and diplomats from various countries on Saturday.

The mummies were most likely from the same upper-middle class family, the Minister said.MOHAMED EL-SHAHED/AFP/AFP/Getty Images

"Some of them were buried inside stone or wooden sarcophagi while others were buried in sands or on the floors of the tombs or inside niches," the ministry said in a statement, noting that all of the mummies are in good condition.

A research group from the Ministry and Minya University "stumbled upon" the burial site in Minya, central Egypt, last February, noticing "a tomb engraved in rock composed of a corridor leading to sloping stairs that opened to a rectangular chamber with a number of burials," the ministry added.

Another chamber was later found, housing mummies and large stone sarcophagi, and a third chamber containing sarcophagi was also discovered.

Researchers later dated the finds with the help of fragments of papyri unearthed in the grave.

The partially uncovered skull of one of the mummies.

MOHAMED EL-SHAHED/AFP/AFP/Getty Images

Several impressive discoveries have been made in Egypt in recent months.

In November, authorities opened the sarcophagus of a mummified woman dating back 3,000 years for the first time.

And just days later, eight mummies -- also from the Ptolemaic era -- were discovered inside limestone coffins.

World News

Feb. 2, 2019 / 4:02 PM

More than 40 mummies discovered in Egyptian desert province

By

Allen Cone

UPI

Mummies found at Tuna el-Gebel archaeological site in Minya. Egypt, are on display for the media and government officials Saturday. The tombs are believed to be grave for an elite middle class family with mummies of all genders and ages found in multiple burial chambers from 305 to 20 B.C. Photo by EPA

A mummy at Tuna el-Gebel archaeological site is show to officials and the media Saturday in Minya, Egypt. EPA-EFE/STR

An archaeologist works on a mummy at Tuna el-Gebel archaeological site in Minya on Saturday. Photo by EPA

    

An archaeologist works on a mummy at Tuna el-Gebel archaeological site in Minya on Saturday. Photo by EPA

A mummy at Tuna el-Gebel archaeological site is show to officials and the media Saturday in Minya, Egypt. EPA-EFE/STR

    

Feb. 2 (UPI) -- More than 40 mummies from 305 to 20 B.C. have been discovered in burial chambers in Minya, the desert province in Egypt.

Hundreds of media and government officials, including ambassadors and cultural attaches from 11 foreign countries, on Saturday saw firsthand the first discovery announced this year in Egypt, Ahram online reported.

A joint mission from the Antiquities Ministry and the Research Center for Archaeological Studies at Minya University discovered a collection of Ptolemaic-era rock burial chambers from 305 to 20 B.C., 160 miles south of Cairo. They included mummies of different sizes and genders, including 12 children, in four burial chambers, BBC reported.

"The newly discovered tombs are a familial grave which was probably for a family from the upper middle class," Khaled El-Enany, the minister of antiquities, said at the event.

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Some mummies have fragments of colored cartonnage covers -- material used in ancient Egyptian funerary masks from the First Intermediate Period to the Roman era -- near their feet.

"The methods used in burying the mummies inside the maze of tombs varies in style," said Mostafa Waziri, the secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities.

Because ostraca, which is writing surface, and fragments of papyri were also found in the tomb, it helped reveal that it dated to the Ptolemaic period.

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Waziri explained some mummies were inside stone or wooden sarcophagi, and others were buried in sand or were laid on the floors of the tombs or inside niches.

The mission started its work in Tuna El-Gebel in February 2018. It discovered a tomb engraved in rock composed of a corridor leading to sloping stairs that went to a rectangular chamber with a number of burials.

Also, a chamber was also discovered at the western side filled with mummies and large stone sarcophagi. on the north side, a chamber contained collection of stone sarcophagi inside niches.

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The archaeological site includes the tomb of Petosiris, the Isadora tomb, a sacred animal ceremony, a Roman cemetery and two frontier reliefs of king Akhenaten.

Egypt "has it all," Rania Al-Mashat, the minister of tourism, said at the event

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