Spanish archeologists have unearthed a 3,600-year-old
mummy in the ancient city of Luxor, Egypt's Antiquities Minister said
Thursday. Prosecutors accused nine people including three Germans of
smuggling stone samples from pyramids.
In a statement, Mohammed
Ibrahim said the rare find in a preserved wooden sarcophagus dates back
to 1600 BC, when the Pharaonic 17th Dynasty reigned.
He said the
mummy appears to belong to a high official. The sarcophagus is engraved
with hieroglyphs and decorated with inscriptions of birds' feathers.
The
exact identity of the well-preserved mummy will now be studied, Ibrahim
said, adding that it was discovered by a Spanish mission in
collaboration with the Egyptian antiquities ministry.
Antiquities department head Ali Al-Asfar said the two-meter sarcophagus still bears its original coloring and writings.
Meanwhile,
Egypt's top prosecutor referred three Germans to criminal court on
charges of smuggling and damaging antiquities and six Egyptians for
acting as their accessories.
Hisham Barakat said authorities
issued arrest warrants for the alleged German thieves, who fled to their
country after the incident. He said authorities would communicate with
Germany to restore the pieces they say were taken last April under the
pretext of use for research.
The Egyptian defendants are already in detention.
Barakat
says the Germans, along with their Egyptian guides, entered the famed
pyramids of Giza with permits to visit but not excavate, and left with
samples of stone from the ramparts of two tombs and the burial room of
King Khufu.
Egyptian archaeologist Monica Hanna says the German
researchers wanted to use the samples prove their hypothesis in a
documentary they later filmed, which says that the pyramids were built
by a people that pre-dates the ancient Egyptians.
The online
documentary, removed in the wake of the controversy, showed one
researcher inside the inner chambers of the Khufu pyramid, taking
samples from the king's cartouche.
Egypt has experienced a security vacuum since its 2011 uprising. Thousands of artifacts have been stolen.
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