Egypt discovers oldest, most complete unroyal mummy

CAIRO: Egypt's renowned archaeologist Zahi Hawass has announced the discovery of "important tombs hosting a 4300-year-old mummy" in the Saqqara necropolis near the Pyramids of Giza.

"The mummy is the oldest and most complete unroyal mummy found in Egypt to date," Xinhua news agency quoted Hawass as saying in a press conference on Thursday.

The mummy of a man, Hekashepes, covered with gold leaf, was found inside a large rectangular limestone sarcophagus in a room located under a 15-metre-deep shaft, the archaeologist said.

He added that many stone vessels were seen around the sarcophagus, which was completely sealed when the mission discovered it.

"The oldest mummy is part of the important discovery of a group of tombs that date back to the fifth and sixth dynasties of the Old Kingdom," said Hawass, the director of the Egyptian excavation team working with the Supreme Council of Antiquities at Gisr el-Mudir area in Saqqara. IANS

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