SAQQARA, EGYPT—According to an Ahram Online report, Khaled el-Anany, Egypt’s Tourism and Antiquities Minister, announced the discovery of more than 100 sealed, painted coffins; some 40 gilded statues of the funerary goddess Ptah Soker; and golden funerary masks in the Saqqara necropolis, which is located about 20 miles south of Cairo. Most of the coffins have been dated to the 26th Dynasty (688–525 B.C.), but coffins dated to the Ptolemaic period (304–30 B.C.) were also found. The well-preserved coffins were recovered from three deep burial shafts, where they had been protected from decay. A CT scan of one of the mummies revealed the remains of a man who had died at about 40 years of age. Team member Bassem Gehad added that the body had been mummified with its arms crossed over its chest, in what was known as the Osiris shape, after the god of the dead and resurrection who was often depicted holding the crook and flail with his legs in mummy wrappings. The coffins and artifacts will be distributed between the Cairo Museum in Tahrir Square; the Grand Egyptian Museum, which is scheduled to open next year; and the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization. To read about a mummification workshop unearthed at Saqqara, go to "Mummy Workshop," one of ARCHAEOLOGY's Top 10 Discoveries of 2018.
