Egypt teases biggest discovery of the year from ancient ‘City of the Dead’

Archaeologists excavating a site claim they’ve found something “very exciting” in an underground shaft labelled the “City of the Dead”.

The “biggest archaeological discovery of the year” will soon be announced by Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

Archaeologists who have been excavating at the Saqqara necropolis near Cairo claim they have something very exciting to share with us at a press conference in the next few days.

Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Khaled El-Enany tweeted about the discovery last month.

تشرفنا اليوم بزيارة دولة رئيس مجلس الوزراء لتفقد الكشف الأثري الجديد بمنطقة سقارة.
سوف نعلن عن تفاصيل الكشف قريبا ...

Honored to have our PM visit today our new discovery in Saqqara.
We will announce the details of this discovery soon... pic.twitter.com/OamJE2T19J

— Khaled El-Enany (@KhaledElEnany6) October 19, 2020

Egyptian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Khaled Al-Enany opens a sarcophagus excavated at the Saqqara necropolis. Picture: Khaled Desouki/AFP

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The Minister said Egyptian prime minister Moustafa Madbouly had visited the site and that they would “announce the details of this discovery soon”.

According to Egypt Today, the big discovery is 100 good condition painted coffins that haven’t been opened for thousands of years.

This follows on from 59, 2500-year-old painted coffins that were found at the site and announced last month.

Wooden statues and gilt masks were found alongside the coffins.

Most of the burial caskets were painted very clearly like humans.

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Some 2500-year-old wooden coffins discovered in a burial shaft at the desert necropolis of Saqqara. Picture: Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities/AFP

The Djoser step pyramid at the Saqqara necropolis south of Cairo. Picture: Mohamed el-Shahed/AFP

The coffins and artefacts were all found down newly discovered burial shafts that haven‘t been opened for 2500 years.

Many of the coffins are said to still contain the bodies of the people who were buried inside.

The shafts have even been labelled as an underground “City of the Dead”.

At October’s press conference Mr El-Enany said: “Today is not the end of this discovery, I consider it the beginning.”

Another important find included a bronze statue of the god Nefertum that was covered in precious stones.

The new announcement later this month could reveal more discoveries like this or may even reveal that archaeologists have acted on their plans to look deep inside some of the newly discovered coffins.

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission