In the presence of prominent businessman Mohamed Aboul Enein, the founder and chairman of Cleopatra Group and writer Elham Aboul El Fateh, the General Manager of Cleopatra Media Group, Minister of Antiquities Khaled el-Anani announced on Saturday a new archaeological discovery in Saqqara archaeological area.
This discovery was made by an Egyptian archaeological mission, headed by Dr. Mostafa Waziri, the Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, during its work at the animals’ cemetery.
The Minister of Antiquities revealed that he is about to announce not only a new archaeological discovery but a whole museum.
“Today's discovery includes a huge collection of 75 statues of cats of various sizes and shapes, made of wood and bronze, 25 wooden boxes with covers decorated with hieroglyphic inscriptions which contain mummies of cats, wooden statues of various animals, including mongoose, calf Apis, small crocodiles, and stuffed crocodile remains, statue of Anubis, and two mummies of mongoose.
The mission also discovered a large scarab made of stone, two other small scarabs made of wood and sandstone, a distinctive wooden statue of Ibis, and another collection of statues of ancient Egyptian gods, including 73 bronze statues of Ozir, 6 wooden statues of Ptah-Sokar, 11 statues of Sekhmet in addition to a beautiful wooden statue of Neith.
El-Anani also revealed that the mission discovered two small limestone coffins of the Bastet cat, as well as a stone plaque with the pictorial name of King PsamtikI of the 26th Dynasty.
The mission uncovered a small wooden box with the remains of a gilt mask, two wooden statues of two women with cobra heads, several cobra statues, amulets, a head of ibis, a colored wooden sarcophagus, a collection of amulets of various shapes and sizes, a collection of papyrus cards with drawings of the Taweret goddess, several wooden, mud and colored masks, a wooden headrest.
The Minister of Antiquities said a number of large mummies have been uncovered. He also pointed out that this discovery is not the last, but there is another one that will be announced in next December, in addition to completing three important projects, including Baron Palace, the Jewish Temple and Hurghada Museum.
Meanwhile, Dr. Waziri noted that the most important thing in today’s discovery is uncovering five mummies of large cats, as the preliminary studies suggest they were small black cubs, stressing that more studies will be carried out in the coming weeks to confirm the initial results.
He added that if the studies proved that these mummies belong to small black cubs, it would be the first time mummies of black cubs have been discovered.
On his part, Aboul Enein expressed his happiness to sponsor this great event and to support the Egyptian achievements in various fields.
He stressed that in 2020, Egypt will start a new era in tourism and will become the most attractive country to tourists, especially with the resumption of British flights.
The prominent businessman confirmed that the tourism sector is witnessing a major breakthrough thanks to the efforts of Antiquities Minister, Dr. Khaled Al-Anani, who deals with Egyptian antiquities as a national global project
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