The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities said that the sarcophagi recently discovered in the province of Minya belonged to the high priests, Le Figaro reports.
Sarcophagi discovered at an archaeological site in the province of Minya. January 30, 2020
Researchers have found that some of them contain the remains of the servants of the god of wisdom Thoth. One sarcophagus is dedicated to the protector of the pharaohs, the god Horus.
Archaeologists also discovered about ten thousand earthenware figurines of Ushebti, which were usually placed next to the deceased, 700 amulets in the shape of a scarab (some of them are made of pure gold), one - in the form of a cobra with wings, as well as burial vessels of canopa, in which the Egyptians kept organs removed from the bodies of the deceased during mummification.
Collection of statues of Ushebti at the archaeological site in Minya province. January 30, 2020
© AFP 2019 / Mohamed el-Shahed
Collection of statues of Ushebti at the archaeological site in Minya province. January 30, 2020
A total of 16 burials, and in them 20 stone and wooden sarcophagi, whose age is almost three thousand years, were found 300 kilometers south of Cairo.
Over the past few years, Egypt has been actively talking about its archaeological finds in order to resume tourist flow, which has significantly decreased after the protests in 2011 and the A321 plane crash over the Sinai Peninsula on October 31, 2015.