The search for new mummies in Egypt is going very well these days. Back in April, archaeologists uncovered a trove of eight sarcophagi in Egypt’s Dra-abu’ el-Naga area, in what was once the same spot as the ancient city of Thebes and just a stone’s throw from the nation’s most famous mummy hotspot, the Valley of the Kings. Last weekend, the province of Minya had its own mummy discovery to celebrate, with the excavation of 17 non-royal mummies in the village of Tuna al-Gabal, reports the Guardian.
“It’s the first human necropolis to be found here in Tuna al-Gabal,” antiquities minister Khaled al-Anani said in a statement to media. The antiquities minister explained that he expects the discovery “will be much bigger” as work continues.
The recently uncovered well-preserved sarcophagi are believed to be officials and priests. The village, situated at the edge of the Western desert, features a necropolis that dates to the late Ancient Egyptian and Greco-Roman era (between the 6th and 3rd centuries B.C.) which has yielded thousands of mummified animal remains in the past.