Up to 40 mummies of 'middle-class family from ancient Egypt' are discovered in tombs near Cairo
Egypt says it has discovered a number of ancient burial chambers containing some 40 mummies (left and top right) in the desert province of Minya, south of Cairo. Ten of the mummies are said to be children. The burial chambers, which were cut out of rock, are thought to have belonged to a middle-class family. The family probably lived during the Ptolemaic, early Roman or Byzantine period. Archeologists (bottom right) also unearthed pottery, papyri and colorful mummy cases.