Egypt discovers 17 Mummies, Hopes it will boost Tourism

Newly Found Egyptian Mummies

The latest discovery of 17 Mummies in Egypt is an archaeological feat that the country is hoping will boost it tourism sector.

The burial site which was first discovered about a year ago by a university student in Cairo using laser technology is suspected to contain about 32 mummies with women, children and infants according to  Salah Al-Kholi, a Cairo University professor in Egyptology  who led the excavation.

The necropolis, uncovered eight metres below ground in Minya, a province about 250km south of Cairo, contained limestone and clay sarcophagi, animal coffins and papyrus inscribed with Demotic script.

Aljazeera reports that the mummies have not yet been dated but are believed from Egypt's Greco-Roman period, a roughly 600-year span that followed the country's conquest by Alexander the Great in 332 BC, according to Mohamed Hamza, a Cairo University archaeology dean in charge of the excavations.

The Egytian antiquity minister Khaled al-Enany, who said "The discovery is still at its beginning," described 2017 as a year of historic for Egypt alluding a helping hand from Egypt ancestors.

"2017 has been a historic year for archaeological discoveries. It's as if it's a message from our ancestors who are lending us a hand to help bring tourists back,"

Recounting the number of discoveries made already, Al-Enany highlighted their achievements by archaeologists which includes:

 The uncovering of what is believed to be 3,700-year-old burial chamber for a pharaoh's daughter,  

the discovery of pharaoh statues in a muddy pit, dating back 3,700 years,  in a suburb of Cairoin  March and 12 cemeteries that are believed to be about 3,500 years.

The Minister of Tourism,Yehia Rashed, is optimistic that the tourism sector which was affected by political uprising will experience boost of tourist arrivals this year to about 10 million, an improvement from the 9.3 million visitors that came in 2015 but still far below the 14.7 million from 2010.