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Cairo (AFP) – Seven sarcophagi, some dating back more than 6,000 years, were found at a site on the edge of the Saqqara pyramid complex, south of the Egyptian capital, officials said Saturday. archeology.
The Minister of Antiquities, Khaled el-Enany, said the discovery was made by an Egyptian archaeological mission during excavations in April.
Three of the tombs were used for cats, he said, while one of the other four sarcophagi found on the site belonged to Khufu-Imhat, responsible for the royal palace buildings.
Mostafa Waziri, president of the Supreme Council of Egyptian Antiquities, said the mission also uncovered the first mummies of beetles found in the region.
Two of these mummies were found in a rectangular limestone sarcophagus with a vaulted lid adorned with three black-painted beetles, he said.
Dozens of mummies of cats have also been discovered, as well as 100 statues of golden cats and wooden cats and a bronze dedicated to the goddess Bastet cats.
Cats held a special place in ancient Egypt and were mummified as religious offerings.
A collection of gilded wood statues depicting a lion, a cow and a hawk was also unearthed at the Saqqara site.
The Department of Antiquities also discovered cobras wood sarcophagi containing mummies and two crocodile wood sarcophagi.
