Egyptian authorities have unearthed an ancient burial site with at least 17 mummies, the latest in a string of discoveries that the country’s antiquities minister described as a helping hand from the crypt for its struggling tourism sector.
Most of the mummies that were discovered in the site are said to be fully intact.
“2017 has been a historic year for archaeological discoveries. It’s as if it’s a message from our ancestors who are lending us a hand to help bring tourists back,” Antiquities Minister Khaled Al-Anani told a news conference announcing the find on Saturday.
The funerary site, uncovered eight metres below ground in Minya, a province about 250 km (150 miles) south of Cairo, contained limestone and clay sarcophagi, animal coffins, and papyrus inscribed with Demotic script.
According to Reuters, the burial chamber was first discovered last year by a team of students from Cairo University, using radar.
Even though the mummies are yet to be dated, they are believed to date back to the North African country’s Greco-Roman period, a roughly 600-year span that followed the country’s conquest by Alexander the Great in 332 BC, according to Mohamed Hamza, a Cairo University archaeology dean in charge of the excavations.
Egypt hopes that the recent discoveries will revive interest among tourists that once flocked its iconic pharaonic temples and pyramids.
The country’s tourism sector was hit by the 2011 political uprising, with tourist numbers declining massively.
