Egypt says ancient cemetery found at Giza famed pyramids

Two ancient sarcophagi are seen at the newly discovered burial site, the Tomb of Behnui-Ka and Nwi, dating back to circa 2500 B.C. near the Great Pyramids in Giza, on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt May 4, 2019. (Reuters)

Artifacts discovered in the recently unearthed burial shaft at the Giza pyramid plateau, on the southwestern outskirts of the Egyptian capital Cairo, on May 4, 2019, are displayed following the discovery of several Old Kingdom tombs and burial shafts. (AFP)

An Egyptian archaeologist works on the sarcophagi at the newly discovered burial site, the Tomb of Behnui-Ka and Nwi, dating back to circa 2500 B.C. near the Great Pyramids in Giza, on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt May 4, 2019. (Reuters)

An ancient sarcophagus is pictured at the newly discovered burial site, the Tomb of Behnui-Ka and Nwi, dating back to circa 2500 B.C. near the Great Pyramids in Giza, on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt May 4, 2019. (Reuters)

An ancient cemetery at an area by the famed pyramids at the Giza plateau just outside Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, May 4, 2019. Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said the cemetery houses burial shafts and tombs of top officials and a fine limestone statue from the Old Kingdom’s Fifth Dynasty (2465-2323 B.C.). (Ministry of Antiquities via AP)

CAIRO: Egypt’s Antiquities Ministry says archaeologists have uncovered part of an ancient cemetery near the country’s famed pyramids on the Giza plateau just outside Cairo.
Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, says Saturday the cemetery houses burial shafts and tombs of top officials and a fine limestone statue from the Old Kingdom’s Fifth Dynasty (2465-2323 B.C.).
Ashraf Mohi, the head of the Giza Plateau archaeological site, says scientists know that the cemetery had been reused extensively in the Late Period (664-332 B.C.), as archaeologists found painted and decorated wooden anthropoid coffins, and wooden and clay funerary masks from that period.
Egypt has touted a series of archaeological finds recently, hoping such discoveries will spur tourism, which suffered a major setback during the unrest that followed the 2011 uprising.