Ancient Mummy Coffin, Sealed 2,500 Years Ago, Opened In Egypt

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Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said in a statement that 59 wooden coffins were discovered inside burial wells in Saqqara’s archaeology area.

Archaeologists in Egypt have opened an ancient mummy coffin in front of a live audience. On Saturday, dozens of people watched and filmed as archaeologists unsealed the first of 59 sealed sarcophagi found earlier this year in Saqqara, revealing a mummy inside, reports Global News.

On Saturday, one of the coffins was opened for the first time since it was sealed some 2,500 years ago. A video of the unsealing, hosted by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, has now gone viral on social media. It shows a mummy inside the coffin, wrapped in an ornate burial cloth. Watch it below:

Twitter users took to the comments, bringing up some interesting and valid points about the opening of an ancient coffin.

I’ve always wondered when opening something like this if it could contain viruses or germs that maybe modern humans have no immunity to,” one Twitter user wrote. “You couldn’t have waited a couple more months? This ain’t the year,” another said.

Greg Lewis, New Zealand’s ambassador to Egypt, also shared a video of the unsealing on Twitter Saturday.

According to a press release by Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, initially three wells with 13 coffins were discovered in Saqqara, then another 14 coffins were revealed, bringing the total number of coffins discovered to date to 59 coffins.

The coffins will be transferred to the new Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza for display.