Archeologists Discover 16 Ancient Egyptian Tombs

Archeologists on Thursday unveiled 16 ancient Egyptian tombs filled with sarcophagi and other artifacts from a vast burial ground.

Egypt's antiquities ministry announced the discoveries in the village of Tuna al-Gabal, near the Nile Valley city of Minya in central Egypt. The site boasts an array of previously excavated finds, including funerary buildings and catacombs filled with thousands of mummified ibis and baboon birds.

The long-abandoned tombs date to the Pharaonic Late Period.

Among the new treasures presented: 20 sarcophagi made from limestone and etched with hieroglyphic texts, five wooden coffins, hundreds of amulets and 10,000 blue funerary statues, known as ushabti figurines, which are fixtures in the ancient tombs of the area.

While such contents can be looted or decay over time, Mostafa Waziri, head of the archaeological mission described the tombs as in good condition.

Waziri said that the tombs likely belonged to the high priests of Thoth, the ancient Egyptian god of writing and wisdom, among other senior officials.

The Ministry of Antiquities invited journalists to tour the site, displaying pottery vessels in glass boxes and shepherding film crews down ladders into dark, narrow shafts full of skeletons and sarcophagi. The sarcophagi lids were molded into a mummy-like figures of men.

The Egyptian government frequently promotes archeological finds to revive its vital tourism sector, which was hard hit by political turmoil following the 2011 popular uprising.

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