Egyptian archaeologists have discovered an ancient necropolis containing dozens of beautifully preserved mummies dating back as far as 4,000 years.

Excavations revealed 53 rock-cut tombs south east of the Illahun pyramids in the oasis of Fayoum, the country’s antiquities chief said.
Zahi Hawass described four mummies, dating to the 22nd Dynasty (931-725 BC), as among the most beautiful ever discovered.

Fitted perfectly within wooden coffins, the mummies were wrapped in linen and painted in the traditional Egyptian colours of gold, turquoise and terracotta, said Hawass.
The decoration and inscriptions on the mummy trappings were remarkably well-preserved.

The mission, led by Supervisor of Antiquities for Middle Egypt Dr. Abdel-Rahman El-Ayedi, also recovered charred remains from a number of other coffins, which are thought to have burned during the Coptic period.

Among the remains, the team unearthed 15 painted masks, clay pots and protection charms known as amulets.
The archeologists also found a Middle Kingdom funerary chapel with offering table.
Preliminary study suggests the chapel was reused in subsequent periods, perhaps as late as the Roman era (30 BC to 337 AD).

Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni, who announced the discovery, said the tombs vary in design.

Some of the tombs are reached through a single burial shaft, while others have another shaft leading to a second, lower chamber.

The latest discovery follows another exciting for the Egyptian team just two months before when Zahi Hawass announced the uncovering of thirty mummies inside a sealed tomb in the world's oldest standing step pyramid at Saqqara.
It is unusual to find intact burials in well-known necropolises such as Saqqara, which served the nearby city of Memphis, because thieves ransacked the area over the years.
Of the roughly 30 mummies found inside the burial chamber alongside the limestone sarcophagus and its mummy, Hawass said some would have been poor and some wealthy. They may have been relatives of the original owner.

Horror film after horror film and still nobody learns... Leave em alone. :rolleyes:

comegetwild said:

It's beautiful to see but it is desecration of a grave.
Soon people will pay 40 bucks to see them behind glass with a security guard next to them.