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Archaeologists have made the incredible discovery of 110 ancient Egyptian tombs at the Koum el-Khulgan archaeological site in Dakahlia province, in the Nile extensive delta. The site is located 150 kilometers (93 miles) northeast of Cairo.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.The Egyptian Tourism and Antiquities Ministry revealed that the tombs are not all from the same period but from three different epochs in the long history of ancient Egypt. Sixty-eight of the burials are in oval-shaped pits that were carved from the sandy island layer of the region spanning a period between 6000 and 3150 BCE, the late Predynastic Period when the Nile Valley was still split into Upper and Lower Egypt. People buried in these tombs were placed in a fetal position, with their heads facing west.
Five also oval-shaped burials dated back to the Naqada III era somewhere between 3200 and 3000 BCE. Some of these tombs had a layer of clay on the side, bottom, and even the roof. They also included funerary elements such as pots and kohl prayer plates decorated with geometric drawings and shapes used in burials and funeral rites.
The remaining 37 are rectangular and slightly more recent. They were dug in the Second Intermediate Period (1782-1570 BCE). The people buried here were laid to rest in an extended position with the head facing west and their face upwards. More funeral furniture, as well as silver rings, were discovered in these.
At the site, archaeologists have also found several child burials including a pottery coffin for a child, two brick tombs, and a baby buried inside a large pottery pot. These were found in both the older oval tombs and in the tombs from the Second Intermediate Period. Construction tools and materials, ovens and stoves, scarab amulets made of semi-precious stones, and jewelry such as earrings were also discovered in this excavation.
Many exciting discoveries have come out of Egpyt recently, including the discovery of the "Lost Golden City", a skeleton with a golden tongue and the oldest known "map" to the underworld.
