Several of the bodies found inside the tombs at the El Bahnasa site ( Egypt ) were protected with decorated shrouds, while in some tombs archaeologists found offerings.
An Egyptian-Spanish archaeological mission announced on Friday the discovery of 22 tombs dating from Persian, Byzantine and Coptic times in the Minia governorate in Upper Egypt , according to the Supreme Council of Antiquities.
The new discovery took place at the El Bahnasa site, where the Spanish Archaeological Mission headed by the University of Barcelona works, and in which archaeologists found three limestone tombs from Roman times, another three from Persian times and sixteen Byzantine and Coptic.
According to a statement from the aforementioned department, reproduced by various Egyptian media, several of the bodies found inside the tombsthey were protected with decorated shrouds, while in some tombs archaeologists found offerings that consisted of two frogs deposited inside two jars.
In other parts of the necropolis, restoration work has been carried out on the structure of a basilica found within the necropolis itself, as well as on the wall paintings in the crypt, he added.
Works in upper necropolis
The secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt , Mustafa Waziri, explained that the work in El Bahnasa during the last archaeological season, which ended in January, focused on the upper necropolis, one of the most important areas of the site.
He also affirmed that the excavations in the El Bahnasa necropolis, divided into four sectors, “have yielded important results related to the history of this site, which will be studied”, and predicted that “it would reveal many of the secrets of this important site of the ancient Egypt .”
For her part, Maite Mascort, who leads the mission together with Esther Pons,
The current El Bahnasa, ancient Greco-Roman city of Oxyrhynchus, is considered one of the most important archaeological sites in Egyptology due to its richness in the artifacts found as well as the numerous papyri and other unearthed objects, which are still being studied.