7 Pharaonic Age Tombs Uncovered in Egypt

Along with statues of cats and birds
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Nov 10, 2018 6:00 PM CST
New Mummies Found in Egyptian Tombs
The leader of the excavation holds a statue found in a newly discovered tomb, at an ancient necropolis near Egypt's famed pyramids in Saqqara, Giza, Egypt, Saturday, Nov. 10, 2018.   (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

A top Egyptian antiquities official says local archaeologists have discovered seven Pharaonic Age tombs near the capital Cairo containing dozens of cat mummies along with wooden statues depicting other animals and birds, the AP reports. Mostafa Waziri told reporters Saturday that the discovery at Saqqara also includes mummies of scarabs, the first ever to be found in the area. Of the statues found, those depicting cats were the majority, reflecting the reverence ancient Egyptians showed the felines, whose God Bastet was worshipped.

Other statues depicted a lion, a cow, and a falcon. Egypt has been whipping up publicity for its new historical discoveries in the hopes of reviving a devastated tourism sector still recovering from the turmoil following a 2011 uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

(More Egypt stories.)

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