Luxor (Egypt) (AFP)

Egypt unveiled Saturday 30 sarcophagi painted wood, rare discovery of ancient objects, in excellent condition after more than 3,000 years spent under the sand near Luxor in southern Egypt.

Yellow, red, green, the colors and black lines are intact on the wood of the sarcophagi, which still carry many hieroglyphs, Egyptian deities, birds, snakes or lotus flowers.

The sarcophagi were discovered last week in the Assasif necropolis near the Valley of the Kings on the western bank of the Nile, and pictures had leaked even before the official announcement, which was made Saturday in front of the temple of Queen Hatshepsut.

"This is the first discovery in Assasif by (an Egyptian team) of archaeologists, conservatives and workers," said the secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Mostafa Waziri on the spot during a press conference in Luxor.

The 30 pieces of painted wood - which were used as coffins for men, women and children - were found one meter underground, stacked one above the other in two rows. These sarcophagi belong to an important family of priests.

Waziri pointed out that 19th-century excavations by Westerners focused on the tombs of kings, while recent Egyptian excavations revealed a "hiding place for priests".

The 30 objects found date from the 22nd Dynasty, founded more than 3,000 years ago, in the 10th century BC

"We have just done some basic repairs on these coffins in very good condition.They are (...) in good condition because there was no implantation" human on the site, told AFP Salah Abdel-Galial, a restorer of the Ministry of Antiquities, showing one of the pieces.

Minister of Antiquities Khaled el-Enany on Saturday told the press the importance of the new discovery.

- "Reputation of Egypt" -

"These discoveries have no price for the reputation of Egypt," said the minister.

"Now in Egypt, we have more security, so we have more foreigners.We have more than 250 missions (archaeological) .More excavations means more discoveries," he told AFP. margin of the press conference.

For several years, the Egyptian authorities regularly announce archaeological discoveries, with the aim, among other things, of relaunching tourism, undermined by political instability and attacks in the country since the 2011 revolution that drove Hosni Mubarak out of power.

Few major discoveries, such as Saturday, were announced during this period of unrest.

Under the government of Mr. Sissi, who has led the country with an iron fist since 2014, dozens of archaeological discoveries have been made.

However, many critics regularly mention the state of disrepair of certain archaeological sites and museums.

At the same time, Egypt recorded a resurgence in the tourism sector, with 8.2 million visitors in 2017, and 11.3 million in 2019, according to official figures. But the country is still far from the 14.7 million tourists of 2010.

On Saturday, a crowd of tourists was walking around the site of Hatshepsut's temple. And among the guests at the press conference was the famous Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass, wearing his cowboy hat, busy taking selfies with tourists.

According to Enany, the 30 sarcophagi found are an "important" collection that will be sent to the "Great Egyptian Museum", under construction near the famous Giza pyramids.

© 2019 AFP