Yesterday, Egyptian archaeologists managed to unearth 17 non-royal mummies, in addition to some animals and birds coffins near the Nile valley in Minya. Cairo University students first detected the chamber using radar technology last year.


According to Mohamed Hamza, the Dean of Archaeology at Cairo University and the man in charge of the excavations, the mummies have not yet been dated. Hamza believes they belong to the Greco Roman period, which is the span of time that followed the conquest by Alexander the Great.

Salah El Kholi, a Cairo University Egyptology professor, stated that as many as 32 mummies might still be discovered in the chamber, including those of women and children.

The Minister of Antiquities hopes the new finding of mummies and tombs will boost tourism in Egypt. Indeed, the minister was right. The discovery of the tomb made frontline news all over the world, even Tom Cruise tweeted about it.

https://twitter.com/TomCruise/status/863470280559218688

 

Tom Cruise has an upcoming movie called ‘The Mummy’, maybe that is the reason he’s interested in the news. The Minister of Antiquities declared on yesterday’s episode of the show ‘Kol Youm’ that his ministry is trying to get hold of Tom Cruise to come and visit Egypt in order to publicize for visiting Egypt.

Will Cruise actually visit Egypt like Will Smith did a while back or is it just sheer propaganda by the minister to entice the public about the new discovery?