Sterilization of Tuna al-Gebel mummies completed

CAIRO –9 June 2017: The sterilization of mummies discovered in Tuna el-Gebel area in Minya governorate has been completed, stated Ghareeb Sonbol, head of the Central Administration for the maintenance and restoration of Antiquities.

Sonbol said that the cemetery was closed after the sterilization, in order not to be negatively affected by weather factors and not to be subjected to damage and microbe, until foreign missions start their work scheduled in next September.

It is worth mentioning that Tuna el-Gebel in Minya Governorate witnessed the discovery of eighteen robust mummies, in addition to 12 others and other parts of 20 mummies need restoration.

Tuna el-Gebel in the city of Mallawi was the necropolis of Khmun. It contains monuments from the Greek and Roman eras, as well as the Late Middle Ages. On May 13, Minister of Antiquities Khaled Anani announced in a press conference that archaeologists at Cairo University have discovered catacombs including 18 non-royal mummies in Tuna el-Gebel.

"Antiquities are the soft power that distinguishes Egypt," Minister of Antiquities Khaled Al-Enany told reporters during the press conference. "News of antiquities is the thing that attract the world to Egypt,” he added.

Egyptologist Salah al-Kholi said, "the first human necropolis found in central Egypt with so many mummies,” adding that it could herald even more discoveries in the area.”