New Discovery, Saqqara "8" : Egypt tomb Sarcophagi buried for 2,500 years unearthed in Saqqara.

A total of 27 sarcophagi buried more than 2,500 years ago have been unearthed by archaeologists in an ancient Egyptian necropolis.
They were found inside a newly-discovered well at a sacred site in Saqqara, south of the capital, Cairo.
Thirteen coffins were discovered earlier this month, but a further 14 have followed, officials say.
The discovery is now said by experts to be one of the largest of its kind.

Images released show colourfully painted well-preserved wooden coffins and other smaller artefacts.

Saqqara was an active burial ground for more than 3,000 years and is a designated Unesco World Heritage Site.
Initial studies indicate that these coffins are completely closed and haven't been opened since they were buried," Egypt's antiquities ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
The statement adds that Egypt's Antiquities Minister Khaled al-Anani initially delayed announcing the find until he could visit the site himself, where he thanked staff for working in difficult conditions down the 11m-deep (36ft) well.
Excavation work is continuing at the site as experts attempt to establish more details on the origins of the coffins.
The ministry said it hoped to reveal "more secrets" at a press conference in the coming days.

Other artefacts discovered around the wooden coffins also appeared to be well-crafted and colorfully decorated.
In November, a large cache of mummified animals discovered in 2018 by archaeologists near the Step pyramid of Saqqara were displayed to the public for the first time.
The discovery included mummified cats, crocodiles, cobras and birds.

Source:BBC

New Discovery, Saqqara "7":14 Fully Intact and Sealed Coffins Discovered after 2,500 Years in Egypt’s Saqqara.

The Saqqara necropolis southwest of Cairo has yielded yet a new discovery of 14 intact and sealed sarcophagi estimated to be 2,500 years old. The sarcophagi, or ornate coffins, are made of wood and still retain some of their original colour.
This discovery brings the total number of newly unearthed coffins to 27, after 13 were discovered in similar condition earlier this month in a neighboring burial shaft.
The total number of coffins and artefacts buried in this site are as yet unknown according to Waziri, but El-Enany said that it “includes the largest number of coffins in one burial since the discovery of the Al-Asasif cachette.”

Head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Mustafa Waziri, who heads this archaeological mission, stated that details on the excavation will soon be communicated officially in a press conference in Saqqara.

The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities has published a series of videos teasing at footage of the discoveries, in the most recent of which Minister Khaled El-Enany declares that this is only the beginning. In a video published earlier this month, Waziri and world-renowned Egyptologist Zahi Hawass show a few shots of the colourful, newly unearthed discoveries.

                              

Source:egyptianstreets

News, Giza: GEM receives 2,000 ancient artefacts from across Egypt.

The Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) in Giza has, amid tight security provided by Egypt’s Tourism and Antiquities Police, received 2,000 artefacts for display in its various halls.
The artefacts were previously located at the Egyptian Museum in central Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the Museum Store in Tell El-Yahudiyeh in the Nile Delta, and at the Giza Pyramids antiquities area.
GEM General Supervisor Atef Moftah said that, following the arrival of the new collection, the museum is now home to about 54,000 artefacts. 

“Among the most important pieces received on Saturday are two columns of pink granite from the reign of King Ramses II, each measuring 6 metres high and each weighing 13 tonnes,” Moftah said, “They will be displayed in the Great Staircase following the museum’s opening.”
Issa Zaidan, Director General of Executive Affairs for the Restoration and Transfer of Antiquities at GEM, said that the process of transporting and receiving antiquities is proceeding according to the specified schedule. The museum’s opening has been delayed to 2021, due to the emergence of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

He added that 47 wooden pieces have also been transferred from the second Khufu boat located at the Giza Pyramids Plateau. A total of 1,053 wooden pieces from the boat now call the GEM home.

Source:dailynewsegypt 

New Discovery: El-Assasif new discoveries continue to amaze.

CAIRO - 16 October 2019: Sources at the Ministry of Antiquities revealed that work is still underway to extract the coffins discovered in El-Assasif area in Luxor.
Numerous breathtaking artifacts appeared to excavators of the Egyptian archaeological mission led by Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Mostafa Waziri, where coffins are being extracted while many are still buried deep in the ground. The number of coffins is expected to rise in the next couple of days before the ministry’s official announcement on the findings on Oct. 19.
Sources at the Ministry of Antiquities confirmed to the press that the number of sarcophaguses discovered in the cemetery of El-Assasif, west of Luxor reached on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 29 colored coffins belonging to senior statesmen and middle class individuals in the 18th, 25th and 26th ancient Egyptian dynasties.
Among the discovered artifacts are two small colored sarcophaguses likely belonging to two children buried in the ancient cemetery.
On Tuesday Oct. 15, officials at the Ministry of Antiquities conducted a full inspection of the coffins and the cache found arranged and stockpiled on top of each other in a very distinctive state of preservation.

It is likely that the coffins were exhumed and buried again to re-use the tombs at Mount Qurna, in successive eras from the ancient Egyptian state.
The press conference will be attended by international and local media outlets, in addition to officials of the ministries of antiquities and tourism, and leaders of various foreign countries to celebrate this historic event and contribute to the promotion of tourism in Egypt.

Professional restorers and archaeologists began to open the coffins one by one to find out their contents which turned out to be human remains belonging to a number of individuals of the ancient Pharaonic dynasties. Those coffins were prepared for burial in the tombs of the middle class families in the cemetery of El-Assasif.

The Ministry of Antiquities stated that after completing the comprehensive inspection of the findings, officials at the Ministry of Antiquities and the Supreme Council of Antiquities will hold an international press conference in Luxor on Oct. 19 to reveal all the findings in the area and explain to the world the endless magic of the ancient Egyptian civilization.

The press conference will be attended by international and local media outlets, in addition to officials of the ministries of antiquities and tourism, and leaders of various foreign countries to celebrate this historic event and contribute to the promotion of tourism in Egypt.

Source:egypttoday

News, EgyptAir: EgyptAir announces international travel promotion.

EgyptAir announced on Thursday its launch of a promotional campaign called “We won’t stop traveling”, which offers customers a discount of up to 20 percent on international airfare. 
The promotion aims to provide customers with flexible travel options and encourage them to enjoy flying again under the airline’s COVID-19 precautionary measures.
Customers have the option to pay a deposit on a flight voucher that will
secure them a discount to use on a future international flight. 
There are three discount tiers:
– Customers paying a deposit of LE300 will receive a 10 percent discount. 
– Customers paying a deposit of LE500 will receive a 15 percent discount.
– Customers paying a deposit of LE700 will receive a 20 percent discount. 
Vouchers will be available from September 20 to October 20, and can be bought in-person at Egyptair offices or by calling the airline. They are valid for one year after their purchase date. 
EgyptAir currently operates direct flights to more than 35 international destinations, and plans to increase the number of available destinations as more countries reopen for international travel. 

Source:egyptindependent

New Discover, Saqqara "6" : Egyptologists discover rare coffin cache in Giza.

When Egyptians hid several sealed coffins deep into a shaft some 2,500 years ago, they probably thought they would be there for all eternity, undisturbed, while their occupants travelled forth to greater things.
Once their souls had successfully passed through judgment by the god Osiris — easy peasy if you were from the upper class — they went on to an eternal paradise, The Field of Reeds, where everything which had been lost at death was returned and one would truly live happily ever after.
Alas, the Field of Reeds will have to wait, as they will probably end up at the massive new Egyptian museum in Cairo.
On Sunday, Egyptian officials announced the discovery of a collection of more than 13 intact sealed coffins dating back to about 2,500 years ago, China Daily reported.
The coffins were found at an archeological site in Saqqara necropolis in Giza, said the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in a statement.
The coffins, along with three sealed niches, were unearthed inside an 11-meter-deep shaft, according to the statement.

Egyptian Tourism and Antiquities Minister Khaled al-Anany and Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), visited the site on Sunday and inspected the excavation work in the shaft, China Daily reported.

“The discovery marks the largest number of coffins found in one burial place since the discovery of the Asasif Cachette,” the minister said, referring to the discovery of 30 ancient coffins in October 2019 at Asasif cemetery in Upper Egypt’s Luxor Province.

“The discovery in Saqqara includes a wonderful collection of colored wooden coffins whose colors and inscriptions are still in a good condition despite the passage of 2,500 years,” said Waziri, who leads the Egyptian archeological mission in Saqqara.

Waziri said the exact number of the unearthed coffins as well as the identity and titles of their owners have not yet been determined, but they will be found out in the coming few days as the excavation work still continues.

“The mission continues excavation work on the site and it is expected to result in many other new discoveries of shafts, colored wooden coffins and statues,” the SCA chief added.

Initial studies revealed that the coffins are completely sealed and have not been opened since they were buried inside the shaft, China Daily reported.

Source:asiatimes

Egypt's tourism minister suggests unifying international precautionary measures for travel.

Egypt's Antiquities and Tourism Minister Khaled El-Anany suggested on Wednesday that the international community form a committee to unify anti-coronavirus precautionary measures for the travel and tourism industry in light of the different policies adopted by each country, a statement by the ministry said.

The minister made the remarks in a speech at the opening of the 112th session of the Executive Council of the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) in Tbilisi, Georgia.

The session was attended by Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Gakharia, Secretary-General of the UNWTO Zurab Pololikashvili, and 170 ministers and officials responsible for tourism from 24 countries.

According to the statement, El-Anany's proposal was praised by the attendees and the secretary-general of the World Tourism Organisation.

El-Anany began his speech by thanking Pololikashvili for his visit to Egypt in August, which was his first outside Europe after the emergence of the coronavirus, the statement said.

The Egyptian minister also told the UNWTO council about the precautionary measures and health safety protocols taken by Egypt to ensure the safety of tourists, citizens and workers in the tourism sector, in addition to reviewing Egypt's successful experience of resuming tourism.

On 1 July, Egypt announced the gradual resumption of international flights at its airports nationwide in line with the resumption of beach tourism in the South Sinai, Red Sea, and Matrouh governorates.

More than 600 hotels nationwide have been allowed to reopen after adhering to the safety protocols announced by the authorities and at a reduced occupancy of 50 percent.

El-Anany concluded his speech by calling for using and activating the slogan "Travel Today," instead of the organisation's current slogan "Travel Tomorrow," in order to preserve this important industry, which provides tens of millions of job opportunities to the world's citizens.

Source:ahramonline