Egypt: 3,400-Year-Old Cemetery Discovered in Minya

On Sunday, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced that a cemetery dating back to the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt was unearthed at Tuna El-Gebel necropolis in southern Egypt's Minya governorate.

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Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) stated that the cemetery, dating back about 3,400 years to Ancient Egypt's New Kingdom, belonged to senior officials and priests.

According to official data, the cemetery was discovered in the Al-Ghuraifa area of Tuna El-Gebel necropolis in Minya by an Egyptian archeological mission led by the SCA.

It consists of a large quantity of rock-cut tombs, and hundreds of other archaeological finds, said Waziri.

Official data shows that it is the first cemetery finding of the New Kingdom in the 15th nome, a territorial division in ancient Upper Egypt. The region was previously known for cemeteries belonging to the Old Kingdom, the First Intermediate Period and the Middle Kingdom.

"We have been looking for this New Kingdom cemetery for seven years and we finally found it in this excavation season," Waziri told Xinhua at the necropolis.

According to preliminary studies, among the finds was a complete, well-preserved papyrus that is approximately 16–18 meters long, with texts about the Book of the Dead, and an engraved, colored wooden coffin of a daughter of a high priest of Djehuti, an ancient Egyptian god.

The team also found amulets, jewelry, stone and wooden coffins containing mummies, and a group of ushabti figurines made of pottery and wood, according to the SCA chief.

The mission started its work in 2017 in the Al-Ghuraifa area.