Mummies discovered in ancient tomb near Egypt’s Luxor

Egyptian archaeologists unearth several mummies, colorful wooden sarcophagi and more than 1,000 funerary statues in a 3,500-year-old tomb near the city of Luxor hailed as an “important discovery.”

“There are 10 coffins and eight mummies. The excavation is ongoing,” Mostafa Waziri, the head of the archaeological mission, tells AFP.

The 18th Dynasty tomb, discovered in the Draa Abul Nagaa necropolis near the famed Valley of the Kings, belonged to a nobleman named Userhat who worked as the city judge, the ministry says in a statement.

An archaeologist works on a wooden coffin discovered in a 3,500-year-old tomb in the Draa Abul Nagaa necropolis, near the southern Egyptian city of Luxor, on April 18, 2017. (AFP PHOTO / STRINGER)
An archaeologist works on a wooden coffin discovered in a 3,500-year-old tomb in the Draa Abul Nagaa necropolis, near the southern Egyptian city of Luxor, on April 18, 2017. (AFP PHOTO / STRINGER)

It was opened to add more mummies during the 21st Dynasty, about 3,000 years ago, to protect them during a period when tomb-robbing was common, says Waziri, the head of the archaeological mission, at the site.

“It was a surprise how much was being displayed inside” the tomb, Antiquities Minister Khaled el-Enany tells reporters outside the tomb.

— AFP

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