A STAGGERING 100 Ancient Egyptian painted coffins and 40 precious statues have been unearthed at the Saqqara necropolis near Cairo.
Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities revealed the impressive discovery at a recent press conference.
12
Some of the coffins have mummies inside.
They’ve been sealed and buried for around 2,500 years.
The huge archaeological find has been displayed at a a makeshift exhibit near Saqarra’s step pyramid.
Experts opened a coffin at the press event and revealed a wrapped and well decorated mummy inside.
12
12
12
They then carried out an X-ray to see how well the human remains had been preserved inside.
A lot of the coffins have been dated back to a period of around 320BC to about 30BC.
Other are said to date to the Late Period of 664-332BC.
12
12
12
12
They were found underground in a zone now dubbed the ‘City of the Dead’ by some.
The coffins and statues will be moved to three museums including the new Grand Egyptian Museum next to the pyramids.
12
12
The latest discoveries mean that 140 sealed sarcophagi have been revealed at Saqarra since September this year.
Egypts tourism and antiquities minister Khaled el-Anany said another announcement about a big discovery from the Saqqara necropolis will be made later this year.
12
12
The mummies and their coffins will be studied by skilled experts who are hopefully not superstitious.
The curse of the pharaohs is an alleged curse that some people believe will affect anyone who disturbs mummified remains of an Ancient Egyptian person.
This supposed curse is not said to differentiate between archaeologists and thieves and is said to cause bad luck, illness or even death.
It’s often connected to King Tutankhamun and the people who died after opening his tomb.
A brief history of Ancient Egypt
Here’s everything you need to know…
- The Ancient Egyptians were an advanced civilisation who at one point owned a huge portion of the globe
- The civilisation began about 5,000 years ago when ancient humans began building villages along the River Nile
- It lasted for about 3,000 years and saw the building of complex cities centuries ahead of their time – as well as the famous Great Pyramids
- The Ancient Egyptians were experts at farming and construction
- They invented a solar calendar, and one of the world’s earliest writing systems: The hieroglyph
- The Egyptians were ruled by kings and queens called pharaohs
- Religion and the afterlife were a huge part of Ancient Egyptian culture. They had over 2,000 gods
- Pharaohs built huge elaborate tombs to be buried in, some of which were pyramids – at the time among the largest buildings in the world
- The Egyptians believed in life after death, and important people’s corpses were mummified to preserve their bodies for the afterlife
- The Ancient Egytpian empire fell due to a mix of factors, including wars with other empires and a 100-year period of drought and starvation
SPACE FARCE
Space junk set to TRAP humanity on Earth and set off ‘chain of destruction’
WORTH A SHOT
Midweek drinks game-changer as boffs invent mask that sobers you up faster
SKY LIGHTS
Leonid Meteor Shower 2020: Spot huge fireballs streaking across sky TONIGHT
TIDAL TERROR
Sea level ‘doomsday’ simulator reveals whether YOUR home would be wiped out
STONE AGE TRAGEDY
Infant grave is oldest baby twin burial EVER found – at 31,000-years-old
In other archaeology news, sacrificed llama mummies have been dug up in Peru and they’re almost perfectly preserved after 500 years.
A Viking temple dedicated to Old Norse gods like Thor has been unearthed by archaeologists.
And, a sunken ship has been found in almost perfect condition despite spending 400 years underwater.
What do you think of the mass coffin discovery? Let us know in the comments…
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online Tech & Science team? Email us at [email protected]
This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
