100 mummies found at Egyptian burial site
The number of mummy-filled coffins found in a series of burial shafts at Saqqara in Egypt keeps growing. At the start of September 2020, a team of archaeologists had found 13 coffins with mummies inside. By the beginning of October that number had risen to 59, and now the number is over 100. People are “asking how many coffins did we find. The answer is I don’t know yet,” said Mustafa Waziri, the secretarygeneral of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities.
Inside the burial shafts, the team also found 40 statues depicting the deity Ptah-Soker. This deity is an amalgamation of Ptah, who was the god of Memphis, and Soker, who was the god of Saqqara. Archaeologists also found 20 wooden boxes showing depictions of Horus, an Egyptian sky god with a falcon head. Additionally, two wooden statues inscribed with the name Phnomus were unearthed, though the researchers are still trying to figure out who that person was in antiquity. Numerous shabti figures were also found. Ancient Egyptians believed that shabtis acted as servants for the deceased in the afterlife.
The various finds date back to between roughly 712 and 30 BCE. During this time period, ancient Egypt was occupied and controlled by foreign groups such as the Assyrians, Persians and Greeks. At times Egypt would regain its independence, only to lose it to another foreign power. Excavations continue at the site, and the archaeologists expect to find more coffins filled with mummies and other artefacts, said Khaled El-Enany, Egypt’s antiquities minister.