Remains of about 50 royal Egyptian mummies have been discovered in a huge tomb in Egypt's Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Antiquities Minister Mohamed Ibrahim said on Monday.
Belonging to the 18th Pharaonic dynasty, the final resting place of princes, princesses and infants was found by archaeologists while excavating a trashed tomb, Live Science reported.
Hieratic inscriptions (a cursive form of hieroglyphs) revealed that most of the mummies in the tomb were related to two pharaohs, Thutmose IV and Amenhotep III, who ruled during the 14th century B.C.
Eight previously unknown royal daughters, four princes, and some children were among the dead mummies, the archaeologists said.
"They are wrapped in numerous layers of bandages and treated with bitumen," a sticky embalming substance, Bickel told Live Science in an email.
For now, the archaeologists have not determined a cause of death for these infants; anthropological investigations are planned for the next dig season, Bickel said.
"What is certain is that they did not die at the same time (no epidemic), but over a certain time span," Bickel said.
Wooden coffins, probably dating from the New Kingdom, state news agency MENA quoted Ibrahim as saying, referring to Egypt's 18th, 19th and 20th dynasties between about 1567 and 1085 BC., were found beside the bodies, Reuters reported.
Working with the Egyptian government, the discovery was made by a Swiss team from the University of Basel.
According to Live Science, studying the newfound mummies and their scattered grave goods could shed light on the lives of people in the pharaohs' royal court, Bickel and her colleagues said.
Since the Arab Spring, Egypt has failed to secure ancient sites and stop theft from museums, mosques, stores and illegal excavations. But antiquities have been vital to Egypt's tourist trade despite the insecurity and political chaos in the past three years.
