Egypt unveils biggest ancient coffin find in over a century

Egypt on Saturday (October 19) unveiled the details of 30 ancient wooden coffins with mummies inside discovered in the southern city of Luxor in the biggest find of its kind in more than a century.

A team of Egyptian archaeologists discovered a "distinctive group of 30 coloured wooden coffins for men, women and children" in a cache at Al-Asasif cemetery on Luxor's west bank, an Egyptian antiquities official said at a press conference.

The intricately carved and painted 3,000 year old coffins were closed with mummies inside and were in "a good condition of preservation, colour and complete inscriptions," the officials said.

They were for male and female priests and children, dating back to the 10th century BC under the rule of the 22nd Pharaonic dynasty.

The coffins will undergo restoration before being moved to a showroom at the Grand Egyptian Museum, due to open next year next to the Giza pyramids, the ministry said.

The discovery is the latest in a series of major finds of ancient relics that Egypt hopes will revive its tourism sector, which has been badly hit by political instability since the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak.