Ancient Luxor Tomb Discovery Could Inflate Egypt's Sagging Tourist Industry

The two small tombs, unearthed in the southern city of Luxor contain mummies, funerary masks and coffins which date back 3,500 years.

The ancient vaults add to a series of archaeological discoveries Egyptian authorities hope could revive the country’s stagnant tourism industry.

The tombs, dated to 1550-1292 B.C., belong to officials who likely served in ancient capital of Thebes, now a UNESCO world heritage site.

I love these sort of stories. Its like real life Indiana Jones. Or Stargate. Archaeologists discover 2 ancient tombs in Egypt's Luxor: 🇪🇬 https://t.co/roNMV4CxEs pic.twitter.com/6eMD829tL9

— David Mac Dougall (@davidmacdougall) 9 декабря 2017 г.

​Archeologists found a mummy wrapped in linen in one of the larger of the two tombs. An inscription on the ceiling bears the name of King Thutmose I of the early 18th dynasty.

One tomb has five entrances leading to a hall, while the other has a six-meter burial shaft leading to four side chambers.

“It is a very important discovery because both tombs contain very rich funerary collections, and one of them has a very distinguished painted statue of a lady in the Osirian shape,” Egypt’s Antiquities Minister Khaled al-Anani said on Saturday.

Archaeologists also found a number of funerary cones, painted wooden funerary masks, clay vessels and a collection of some 450 statues in the tombs, located on the west bank of the river Nile in a cemetery for noblemen and top officials.

READ MORE: X Marks the Spot: Twelve Ancient Tombs Unearthed in Egypt