Egypt unearths 110 tombs in Nile Delta
CAIRO: Egyptian archeologists unearthed 110 burial tombs at an ancient site in a Nile Delta province, the Tourism and Antiquities Ministry said on Tuesday.
The graves, some of which have human remains inside, were found at the Koum El Khulgan archeological site in Dakahlia province, around 150km northeast of Cairo, the ministry said.
They include 68 oval-shaped tombs dating back to the Predynastic Period that spanned from 6000-3150 BC, the ministry said.
There are also 37 rectangular-shaped tombs from an ancient era known as the Second Intermediate Period (1782-1570 BC), when the Semitic people of Hyksos ruled ancient Egypt, the ministry added.
The remaining five oval-shaped tombs date back to the Naqada III period that spanned from around 3200 BC to 3000 BC.
Archeologists also found human remains of adults and children and funerary equipment and potery objects in these tombs, the ministry said.
The discovery is the latest in a series of archaeological discoveries in recent years.
Recently, Egypt unearthed a city located between the temple of King Rameses III and the colossi of Amenhotep III on the west bank of the Nile in Luxor.
The city continued to be used by Amenhotep III’S grandson Tutankhamun, and then his successor King Ay.
Some mud bricks bear the seal of King Amenhotep III’S cartouche, or name insignia.
Amenhotep III, who ruled ancient Egypt between 1391 BC and 1353 BC, built the main portions of the Luxor and Karnak temples in the ancient town of Thebes.
Egypt’s best-known archaeologist Zahi Hawass said that archaeologists found brick houses, artifacts, and tools from pharaonic times at the site of the 3,000-year-old lost city.
It dates back to Amenhotep III of the 18th dynasty, whose reign is considered a golden era for ancient Egypt.
“This is really a large city that was lost. The inscription that found inside here says that this city was called: ‘The dazzling Aten,’” Hawass told reporters at the site.
Archeologists started excavating in the area last year, searching for the mortuary temple of boy King Tutankhamun. However, within weeks they found mud brick formations that eventually turned out to be a well-preserved large city.