Stone age tools, paintings found in Egypt's Red Sea caves

An Egyptian-Belgian archaeological mission has found a cave with remains dating back to 7,000 BC at al-Qoseir on Egypt's Red Sea coast, the Egyptian al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Friday.

The daily quoted Gaballah Ali Gaballah, secretary general of the Supreme Antiquities Council, as saying tools and paintings recording daily life had been discovered inside the cave.

Mohamed al-Sughayer, head of the Egyptian archaeology department, said the team had found a collection of Stone Age tools, including axes, scrapers, knives and awls made of granite, as well as wall paintings of animals, birds and boats.

Sughayer told the Egyptian daily the mission had found similar tools from the same period in another cave 500 meters away.

Al-Qoseir, more than 500 km southeast of Cairo, was once an important Moslem port on the pilgrimage route to Mecca, but declined after the 10th century AD and fell into disuse after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869.