The burial grounds date back to the Ptolemaic Kingdom, which stretched from 323BC until the Roman conquest in 30BC. They were found by an archaeological project in the Al-Kamin al-Sahrawi area of Minya province.

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Head of the Ancient Egyptian Antiquities Sector Dr Ayman Ashmawy labelled the discovery “very important.”

Sarcophagi, stone coffins, and clay fragments found at the site indicate the tombs are around 2,000 years old.

“(This) fact suggests that the area was a great cemetery along a long span of time,” Dr Ashmawy said in a statement published on Facebook.

Head of the mission, Ali Al-Bakry, says the recently discovered tombs have different architecture designs to prior finds at the site.

In one of the tombs, excavators found a burial chamber containing four sarcophagi as well as nine burial holes.

In another they found a burial hole for a small child, the first such discovery under the project.

“This was the first time to find a burial of a child in the kamin Al-Sahrawi site,” Al-Bakry said.

One of the sarcophagi was sculpted in the shape of a human face.Studies of the bones found at the site show that they’re remains of “men, women and children of different ages.”

Excavation works on the third tomb is continuing.

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