Greco-Roman Tomb Uncovered in West Aswan

During an excavation near the Mausoleum of Aga Khan just west of Aswan, an Egyptian-Italian archaeological mission uncovered a Greco-Roman rock-cut tomb, containing many coffins and artefacts in surprisingly good condition.

The tomb consists of two parts: a rectangular building above the ground with an entrance, built out of sandstone blocks and covered by a vault of mud bricks, and a rectangular courtyard carved out of stone containing four burial chambers.

According to Dr. Patrizia Piacentini, one of the heads of the mission and a Professor at the University of Milan, the tomb was built for multiple families. The artefacts within the tomb include a variety of stone panels with hieroglyphics, a copper necklace with Greek writing engraved on it, wooden statues and parts of a coloured cartonnage, which is a material used to create funerary masks.