HUNDREDS of rock tombs have been unearthed by archaeologists in Egypt.
Experts found 250 tombs carved into the mountainside of the Al-Hamidiyah necropolis.
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Ancient pottery, offerings, a mirror and animal and humans bones were also uncovered at the site.
The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced the impressive discoveries that were found in mountains east of Sohag in southern Egypt.
The tombs were carved into the mountain at various heights and had different styles.
Some contained wells, others had burial chambers and some had ramps.
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Some of the graves are thought to date back to the end of the Old Kingdom of Egypt, which was around 4,000 years ago.
Others are a lot newer and date to around 300 BC.
One of the oldest graves had a fake door and clear hieroglyphic inscriptions and wall paintings.
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The paintings show the owners of the grave giving sacrifices to the gods and the dead.
The director of the Antiquities Museum at Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Hussein Abdel-Basir, told Al-Monitor: “The Sohag region, where the recent archaeological discovery was made, is a very important archaeological area.
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“Many more new discoveries are expected during the coming period with the number of archaeological missions increasing there.”
He continued: “Al-Hamidiyah necropolis area is one of the most important and renowned sites in Sohag and has many rock tombs. Sohag was deemed a local center for burial in ancient Egypt.
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“Of note, it was an Egyptian mission that worked on this site, and this reflects the great confidence in the Egyptian missions and their high efficiency.”
Research will continue at the site to try and learn more about the people buried there and their religious rituals.
A brief history of Ancient Egypt
Here’s everything you need to know…
- The Ancient Egyptians were an advanced civilisation who at one point ruled over a huge portion of the globe
- The civilisation was founded about 5,000 years ago when ancient people set up villages along the River Nile
- It lasted for about 3,000 years and saw the building of complex cities centuries ahead of their time – as well as the famous Great Pyramids
- The Ancient Egyptians were experts at farming and construction
- They invented a solar calendar, and one of the world’s earliest writing systems: The hieroglyph
- The Egyptians were ruled by kings and queens called pharaohs
- Religion and the afterlife were a huge part of Ancient Egyptian culture. They had over 2,000 gods
- Pharaohs built huge elaborate tombs to be buried in, some of which were pyramids – at the time among the largest structures in the world
- The Egyptians believed in life after death, and important people’s corpses were mummified to preserve their bodies for the afterlife
- The Ancient Egyptian empire fell in 30BC due to a mix of factors, including wars with other empires and a 100-year period of drought and starvation
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What do you think of the rock tombs? Let us know in the comments…
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
