Antiquities Minister Mohamed Ibrahim said Saturday two ancient Pharaonic tombs belonging to the 26th dynasty (663-525 BC) had been discovered at the Bahnasa region in Minya.
One of the tombs belonged to one of the ancient inscribers who had enriched cultural life during that era, the minister announced. It contained writing tools such as a bronze inkwell, two reed pens, as well as the intact mummy of the inscriber.
The second tomb, the minister said, belonged to a major clerical family whose members ran rituals at the Osirian temple discovered years earlier west of the two new discovery.
Ali al-Asfar, the head of the antiquities sector at the ministry said the tombs also contained mummified fish.
The minister said the discovery was made in cooperation with the Spanish mission working in the area.
Ibrahim added that the site would be rehabilitated to be included on the tourist map. He noted that the area hosts historical constructions dating back to the Greek, Roman, Coptic and Islamic eras.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
