Cache of Cherished Centuries-old Crypts Captured Close to Cairo

Egyptian archaeologists have uncovered over 100 ancient tombs in the Nile Delta area north of Cairo, Egypt’s Tourism and Antiquities Ministry announced on Wednesday. The rare findings include 73 oval-shaped pits from the pre-dynastic period of approximately 3,300 BCE, before the kingdom’s pharaohs roamed the earth, and 37 tombs from around 1,600 BCE, when the Hyksos people entered Egypt across the Sinai Desert and took over the land as foreign rulers. The archaeological mission also unearthed “a group of ovens, stoves, remnants of mud-brick foundations, pottery vessels and amulets … some of which were made of semiprecious stones and jewelry such as earrings,” the government’s statement said. Earlier this month, to much pomp and circumstance, Egypt transferred 22 of its prized mummies, discovered in the late 19th century, to their new resting place in the recently opened National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Cairo.