They were discovered by a group of archaeologists. There are more than 30 tombs, relating to the Hellenistic (323-30 BC) and Roman (31 BC-ca. 640 AD) periods of Egyptian history. They were found in the Aswan governorate. The discovery could reveal new information about diseases prevalent at that time. The revealing tombs in Egypt brought new information to archaeologists.
Since 2018, the mission has been excavating the area around the Aga Khan Mausoleum, where Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah is buried, on the west bank of the Nile River, opposite the city centre of Aswan.
Adults and children
“It is a joint Italian-Egyptian archaeological mission working in the vicinity of the Aga Khan mausoleum, west of Aswan. It discovered a series of family burials hitherto unknown. They date from the late, Hellenistic and Roman periods,” reads the statement from the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
Among the remains found were “an adult, perhaps a woman, and a child who could have died when he was one or two years old.” This was said by the general director of Antiquities of Aswan and Nubia. “The two bodies were still joined together inside a stone coffin,” he added.
The secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Mohamed Ismail Khaled, added details. He stressed that some of the burials contained parts of mummies and funerary utensils. This provided information about that period and some diseases.
33 graves
Some 33 tombs were discovered during the excavation. Some of them had a vaulted entrance and others were carved into the rock. Studies of the mummies “indicate that between 30% and 40% of those buried died in their youth, as newborns or adolescents.”
The revealing tombs of Egypt were studied in detail. It was determined that the remains showed that “some suffered from infectious diseases. While others suffered from bone disorders. The remains of several adult women showed signs of pelvic bone trauma. Other mummies indicated anemia, malnutrition, chest diseases, tuberculosis and signs of osteoporosis, she explained.
