Archaeologists have uncovered over 100 coffins at the ancient necropolis of Saqqara in the south of Cairo. The Egyptian antiquities officials said the coffins were sealed and found with canopic jars (jars used to store the entrails of someone during the mummification process), funerary masks, and 40 gilded statues. They believe the coffins buried in three 40-feet-deep newly found shafts would be over 2,500 years old.
The findings of the archaeologists happened a month after they had discovered 59 sarcophagi (box for a corpse or mummy) in other burial shafts in the Saqqara's necropolis city -- which is part of the ancient royal capital of Memphis. In a makeshift exhibit organized by Egyptian officials to announce the discoveries, archaeologists opened a coffin at random to reveal its content before the audience. Inside the coffin was a mummy x-rayed in real-time to show how it had been well-kept over the years.
Inside the x Rayed Mummy
Tourism and Antiquities Minister Khaled el-Anany told reporters the X-ray revealed the mummy was a healthy Egyptian male who died between 40 and 45 years old. The 5 feet 7 inches tall man inside the mummy has his arms crossed in resemblance to the Egyptian god Osiris, and his internal organs removed except the heart. Khaled el-Anany said they would transfer all the coffins to three museums in Cairo, including the new big Egyptian museum near the famous Giza Pyramids currently under construction.
The team behind the discovery has been exploring the city since 2018 expecting to find more artifacts after they discovered a trove belonging to ‘Wahtye’ -- a fifth dynasty royal priest; and mummified animals. Egypt hopes the successive discoveries will help revive the tourism sector, which is undergoing the effects of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings followed closely by the COVID-19 outbreaks.
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