Pharaonic-era children's tombs unearthed in Egypt

By Mohammed al-Rayes

CAIRO

The graves of four children and an incomplete statue from the pharaonic period have been discovered near Egypt's southern city of Aswan, the Antiquities Ministry announced Thursday.

"A joint Swedish-Egyptian archaeological team working in the Jabal al-Silsila area [near Assiut] has uncovered the ancient tombs of four children," a statement said.

According to the Ministry, the tombs date back to the period between 1550 and 1307 BC.

The first grave, the Ministry said, "consists of a rock-hewn burial tomb for a child who died between two and three years old".

"The child’s mummified body is covered in organic material that is likely the remains of an eroded wooden coffin," it said, adding the second body -- aged between six and nine years old -- was found in a wooden coffin, while the third and fourth appear to have been between five and eight years old when they died.

"All the tombs contain funerary items, including amulets and crockery," read the statement.

According to the Ministry, the latest find sheds light on burial customs during Egypt’s pharaonic era.

The archaeological mission also found an incomplete statue hewn from yellow limestone.

The statue portrays a woman wearing a dress similar to that traditionally worn by Artemis, the Greek goddess of hunting, wilderness, virginity and fertility, the Ministry said.