CAIRO, Nov 24 (NNN-MENA) – Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities, announced the discovery of dozens of ancient mummies and statues of animals, dating back to some 2,700 years ago, inside a cache at Saqqara necropolis in Giza province, near the capital, Cairo.
“The unearthed objects, including mummified lion cubs, cats, crocodiles and mongooses, were hidden in 25 wooden boxes, decorated with hieroglyphic texts, inside a small cache in a cemetery for animals, in Saqqara,” said Mostafa Waziri, head of the ministry’s Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), in an outdoor press conference in the necropolis.
Among the objects discovered by the SCA archaeological mission, led by Waziri, are a collection of 75 cat statues, representing ancient Egyptian cat goddess Bastet, a small wooden statue of goddess Neith, 57 bronze statuettes of ancient god Osiris, and a falcon-like statue of god Horus.
Found inside a cache in the Bubasteion animal cemetery at Saqqara, the objects belong to the 26th Dynasty that ruled ancient Egypt during the Late Period.
“This stone scarab, found inside a wooden box, is the largest discovered in the world,” Waziri said, pointing to a statue of a scarab, fixed onto a wooden base inside a showcase.
The mission also found two small-sized sandstone and wooden scarabs, three statues of crocodiles with remains of crocodile mummies inside, eight colourful clay masks, for wooden coffins, dozens of faience amulets and pots of various shapes and colours.
“This is not just a discovery but is more like a museum itself,” Egyptian Minister of Antiquities, Khaled al-Anany, told reporters, referring to the hundreds of discovered objects.
“This is the third time in 18 months, we announce an archaeological discovery in the same place, after we announced in Apr last year, the discovery of a nearby animal cemetery, and later in Dec, the discovery of the well preserved tomb of the Fifth Dynasty’s royal priest, Wahtye,” said the minister.
He added that he is very optimistic to find more discoveries in this area, noting that he will announce another discovery in a different place, before the end of the year.– NNN-MENA