An Egyptian-Italian Archeological Mission Discovered 33 Graeco-Roman Family Tombs at the Aga Khan Mausoleum on Aswan’s West Bank

 

An Egyptian-Italian Archeological Mission Discovered 33 Graeco-Roman Family Tombs at the Aga Khan Mausoleum on Aswan’s West Bank.

 

Mohamed Ismail Khaled, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) said that this discovery is a significant one because it adds a new historical dimension to the Aga Khan area.

 

 

Khaled further explained that some of the newly unearthed tombs contain parts of mummies and remnants of funerary tools, that shed light on that period and prevalent diseases. 

 

 

 

One of the uncovered mummified bodies is for an adult, most probably a woman, and the other mummy is for a child, with an average age at death ranging between one to two years old, both were placed one over the other in the same stone coffin.

 

 

 

Analysis will be performed to determine the relationship between the two mummies.

 

 

Several mummified remnants were discovered inside the tombs along with fragmentary painted terracotta figurines, stone and wooden coffins, offering tables, and several painted cartonnages. 

 

 

 

The newly uncovered cemetery houses more than 400 tombs from the sixth century BC to the third century AD.

 

 

 

The unearthed tombs have unique architectural designs, some have vaulted entrances preceded by an open courtyard surrounded by mudbrick walls, while others are directly carved into the mountain rock.