A handout picture released by the Egyptian Antiquities Ministry shows a sarcophagus which was in one of three tombs that were discovered at cemetery dating back about 2,000 years in the al-Kamin al-Sahrawi area in Minya province, south of Cairo.
Roman tombs discovered in Egypt are 2,000 years old:
A series of tombs dating back about 2000 years, to the time when the Roman controlled Egypt, has been discovered.
Excavation at Bir esh-Shaghala in the Dakhla Oasis have revealed tombs made of mudbrick and some are quite large containing multiple burial chambers.
Some of the tomb have vaulted roofs and one tomb has a roof built in the shape of a pyramid.
5 of the tombs were recently found while eight more were found within the past 6 excavation seasons, ministry officials said in a statement.
Artifacts were discovered in the tombs, including mummy masks and pieces of inscribed pottery known as ostraca.
Giant containers were also discovered that may have held wine or olive oil, although chemical tests will need to be done to confirm this.
The discovery of the tombs was made by a team of archaeologist from Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities.
The excavations at Bir esh-Shaghala are scheduled to continue.
The Romans took over Egypt in 30 B.C., following Cleopatra VII suicide after her navy was destroyed by the Roman Emperor Octavian at the Battle of Actium.
While the Roman emperors ruled Egypt from Rome, the Egyptian revered the emperors as pharaohs.
Their traditional Egyptian funerary customs (including mummification) and religious practices continued until the Roman Empire adopted Christianity as its official religion during the 4th century A.D.
Located in the Western Desert, about 217 miles (350 kilometer) west of Luxor, the Dakhla Oasis contain a vast amount of archaeological remains that date from prehistoric to modern times.
A number of settlements from the Roman era flourished in the Dakhla Oasis.
In 2014, Live Science reported that one of the Roman era settlement in the oasis had yielded the remains of an ancient school covered with writing that included references to drug use.
