Egypt unearths ancient tomb

Egyptian archaeologists have uncovered the tomb of a goldsmith dedicated to the god Amun and the mummies of a woman and her two children, the antiquities ministry said yesterday.

The finds, dating back to the New Kingdom (16th to 11th centuries BC), were made in the Draa Abul Naga necropolis on the west bank of the Nile in Luxor, famed for its temples and burial grounds.

The tomb of "Amun's Goldsmith, Amenemhat" contained a sculpture carved into a recess of him seated beside his wife, the ministry said.

A portrait of their son was painted between them.

A burial shaft in the tomb led to a chamber where the archaeologists discovered mummies, funerary statues and masks, the ministry said.

Another shaft led to a chamber where the team found the mummies of a woman and her two children.

The woman appears to have died at the age of 50 and tests showed she had suffered from a bacterial bone disease, the ministry quoted bone specialist Sherine Ahmed Shawqi as saying.

The team also discovered 150 small funerary statues carved in wood, clay and limestone.

The tomb also holds clues to new tombs, in the form of funerary masks belonging to four officials whose burial spots have not yet been found.

"This is not the end. This will lead to more discoveries in the future," Waziri said.

The clue that led to the tomb unveiled Saturday was in fact uncovered in another 3,500-year-old tomb unearthed in April in the same area, he said.

Egyptian archeologists have also found several other tombs and statues in other areas of Egypt this year.

Parts of a 3,000-year-old colossal statue, believed to have stood about 30 feet tall, were found in Cairo in March. Archeologists unearthed the statue in a pit in an area of low-income housing in the eastern neighborhood of Matareya.