Ancient tomb containing 6 mummies unearthed in new valley

The French archaeological mission operating in the Al-Deir area in the Kharga oasis unearthed a Ptolemaic-era tomb containing six complete mummies and two limestone sarcophagi.

A source from the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) Saturday said that large parts of a funerary bed emblazoned with numerous painted shapes with palm-fibre rug beside it were found for the first time inside this discovered tomb.

The six mummies include a 155-CM-long elderly man, he said adding examinations on the mummy showed a diseased pelvis and decayed teeth with arms closed to the chest in god Osiris fashion.

Another mummy is of decapitated four-year-old and six-year- old boys. Another mummy is of a decapitated 137-centimeters-long girl with six toes in each foot and another of an aged woman measuring 150 centimeters long.

Meanwhile, SCA Secretary General Zahi Hawas delivered a series of lectures in the Italian capital Rome on recent archaeological finds at the Great pyramid with a host of archaeologists from Italian universities and Egyptomaniacs attending.