Group of ancient family tombs unearthed in Egypt's Luxor; photos surface

An Egyptian archaeological mission, headed by Dr. Mustafa Waziri, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council for Archeology, discovered a group of family tombs in the western bank of Luxor city that dates back to the second intermediate period of Egypt (1677-1550 BC), the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said in a statement.

"The tombs are built on a 50 metre by 70 metre area that includes 30 burial wells," Xinhua news agency quoted the Ministry as saying.

A 10-tonne pink granite coffin for a Minister of king Sobekhotep II, from the 13th dynasty of the second intermediate period, was found in one of the wells.

Funeral drawings that are decorated with images of another official presenting sacrifices for the same king were found on the site.

The mission also unearthed a building made of mud bricks that were used for presenting sacrifices. The building housed a group of statues that carried hieroglyphic symbols, a large number of amulets, and hundreds of funeral stamps.

Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities shared photos of the find on their official Facebook account.

"The mission also found a milky brick building dedicated to the offering of sacrifices inside a white-painted Uchabti statues with black pencil writings with horizontal lines, Dr. Fathi Yassin, the mission, also found a large collection of ornaments made of different shapes such as roaches and sons of Horus And a large amount of beads, as well as hundreds of unengraved funeral stamps that mark the period before modern statehood," a statement by Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities read.

Luxor has frequently been characterised as the "world's greatest open-air museum", as the ruins of the Egyptian temple complexes at Karnak and Luxor stand within the modern city.

Immediately opposite, across the River Nile, lie the monuments, temples and tombs of the west bank Theban Necropolis, which includes the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens.