Luxor Sarcophagus Unearthed: Archeologists Excavate 3,000-Year-Old Tomb In Egypt

A team of Spanish archeologists excavating near the southern Egyptian city of Luxor have stumbled upon a unique wooden sarcophagus believed to belong to a 5-year-old child.

The coffin, which is over 3,000 years old, could shed light on a little-known period before the unification of ancient Egypt, explained head archeologist Jose Manuel Galan to ABC.es. He added that the mission also discovered a number of ancient pots and wooden statues wrapped in linen.

“The coffin was found during the ongoing excavation and documentation of the tomb of Djehuty, one of the most high-ranking dignitaries during the era of Queen Hatshepsut, at Dira Abul-Naga area in western Luxor,” explained Mansour Boraik, field director of excavations in Luxor, according to NZWeek.com.

Experts have been exploring the site over the past three years, digging around the tombs of Djehuty and Hery, two top Egyptian court officials who lived between 1500 and 1450 B.C., IANS writes. The news service explains that the find of the child's sarcophagus is unexpected, since the coffin predates the lives of the court officials.

This is not the first important archeological discovery in Egypt this year. In early January, Italian scientists excavating under the mortuary temple of Pharaoh Amenhotep II came across a collection of tombs hiding human bones, the remains of wooden sarcophagi, and jars used to store the organs of the deceased, the BBC reported.