Mummies have been found in at least 100 ancient coffins dug up at a huge cemetery in Egypt.
Colourful, sealed sarcophagi and statues buried more than 2,500 years ago were displayed in a makeshift exhibit at the feet of the famed Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara.
Archaeologists opened a coffin with a well-preserved mummy wrapped in cloth inside at the huge city of the dead south of Cairo.
They also carried out X-rays of the structures of the ancient mummy, showing how the body had been preserved in the necropolis.
Tourism Minister Khaled el-Anany said that the discovered items date back to the Ptolemaic dynasty that ruled Egypt for some 300 years — from around 320 BC to about 30 BC, and the Late Period (664-332 BC).
The Mirror reported last month how archaeologists had found 59 well-preserved and sealed wooden coffins at Saqqara.
The mummified remains inside were also wrapped in burial cloth which was covered in brightly coloured hieroglyphic inscriptions.
The mummies had their brains removed with iron hooks through their noses after the organ was liquefied with a mixture of chemicals.
