Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered a cemetery hidden under the south of Cairo. The 2,000-year-old necropolis was found of Egypt's capital in the Nile Valley of Minya. The word necropolis is from ancient Greek and means "city of the dead". The necropolis contains of artifacts, including coffins and . Archaeologists started excavation work on the site late last year. They found tombs belonging to of Thoth. He was the ancient god of the moon and . Thoth was also believed to be the of writing. Egypt's Antiquities Minister, Khaled al-Anani, said: "We will need at least five years to work on the necropolis. This is only the beginning of a new ."
Mostafa Waziri, the of the archaeological , said he was very excited about the of the site. He said he and his colleagues have uncovered eight tombs so . He expects many more to be found soon. The tombs contain a wealth of historic . One tomb includes more than 1,000 statues and four pottery jars that contain the remains of the organs of important ancient Egyptians. Mr Waziri also said there were 40 sarcophagi. A sarcophagus is a coffin in which dead bodies were placed. Waziri hopes the new will help to attract more to Egypt. There has been a downturn in tourism since the that took place there in 2011.
