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Ancient Luxor Tomb Discovery Could Inflate Egypt's Sagging Tourist Industry

© AP Photo / Hamada ElrasamAn Egyptian guard stands next to a funeral mural inside a newly discovered tomb on Luxor's West Bank known as "KAMPP 161" during an announcement for the Egyptian Ministry of antiquities about new discoveries in Luxor, Egypt, Saturday, Dec. 9, 2017
An Egyptian guard stands next to a funeral mural inside a newly discovered tomb on Luxor's West Bank known as KAMPP 161 during an announcement for the Egyptian Ministry of antiquities about new discoveries in Luxor, Egypt, Saturday, Dec. 9, 2017 - Sputnik International
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The two small tombs, unearthed in the southern city of Luxor contain mummies, funerary masks and coffins which date back 3,500 years.

The ancient vaults add to a series of archaeological discoveries Egyptian authorities hope could revive the country’s stagnant tourism industry.

The tombs, dated to 1550-1292 B.C., belong to officials who likely served in ancient capital of Thebes, now a UNESCO world heritage site.

​Archeologists found a mummy wrapped in linen in one of the larger of the two tombs. An inscription on the ceiling bears the name of King Thutmose I of the early 18th dynasty.

One tomb has five entrances leading to a hall, while the other has a six-meter burial shaft leading to four side chambers.

“It is a very important discovery because both tombs contain very rich funerary collections, and one of them has a very distinguished painted statue of a lady in the Osirian shape,” Egypt’s Antiquities Minister Khaled al-Anani said on Saturday.

Archaeologists also found a number of funerary cones, painted wooden funerary masks, clay vessels and a collection of some 450 statues in the tombs, located on the west bank of the river Nile in a cemetery for noblemen and top officials.

READ MORE: X Marks the Spot: Twelve Ancient Tombs Unearthed in Egypt

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