The new discoveries were found beneath an ancient stone enclosure known as Gisr el-Mudir. ‘‘I put my head inside to see what was inside the sarcophagus: A beautiful mummy of a man completely covered in layers of gold,’' Hawass told The Associated Press.Īn Egyptian antiquities worker watches a recently discovered artifact at the site of the Step Pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara, 24 kilometers (15 miles) southwest of Cairo on Thursday. to 2100 B.C., in the fifth and sixth dynasties of the Old Kingdom, is part of a yearlong excavation near the Saqqara pyramids.

The mummy, 'found inside covered with gold leaf … may be the oldest and most complete mummy found in Egypt to date,' he said. Among the findings: a mummy belonging to a man called Heka-shepes sealed in a large rectangular limestone sarcophagus about 4,300 years ago, Zahi Hawass, director of the excavation, said in a post on Instagram. Egyptian archaeologists and researchers have unveiled a treasure trove of artifacts recently, including what may be the oldest and most intact mummy ever found.Ī team of Egyptologists on Thursday announced the discovery of several ancient tombs at a Pharaonic necropolis just outside of the capital of Cairo.

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