Egyptian archeologists have uncovered an ancient burial site containing 50 mummies dating back to the Ptolemaic era in Minya, south of Cairo, the ministry of antiquities says.

The mummies, twelve of which were children, were discovered inside four, nine-meter-deep burial chambers in the Tuna El-Gebel archeological site.

"The grave that we are talking about here has a well that is almost nine meters deep, leading to four chambers underground holding a great number of mummies - over 50 mummies. Around 40 mummies are currently being exhibited, 12 of which are … children," Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Mostafa Waziri said on Saturday.  

"This discovery has something special, namely that it even survived the Byzantine era. But who are they? Who are the owners of these mummies? This is the beginning of the discovery. The names were not there, not even now. Meaning, we have not found names written in Hieroglyphics. But, it is completely obvious from the method of mummification that these mummies did, to some degree, hold prestigious jobs, important jobs," Waziri added. 

Visitors gathered at the discovery site where 40 of the mummies were exhibited during the announcement. Some of the mummies were found wrapped in linen, while others were placed in stone and wooden coffins or sarcophagi.

The archeological finding was the first of 2019 and was unearthed through a joint mission with the Research Center for Archeological Studies of Minya University.

(Source: Reuters) Source: presstv.com