SAQQARA, EGYPT — During a dig in Saqqara, Egypt, a team of Egyptian and German archeologists discovered a mummification workshop dating back more than 2,500 years, according to a press statement released by Egypt's Ministry of State of Antiquities.<br /><br />The statement added that an embalming workshop contained labeled bowls and measuring cups, which held oils and substances that were used in the mummification process.<br /><br />Two basins were also found, which archaeologists believe may have been used to dry the mummies and prepare the bandages used to wrap them. <br /><br />A 30-meter burial shaft was also discovered near the mummification workshop in the Saqqara necropolis in Egypt.<br /><br />Five mummies with their sarcophagi were found. Archaeologists found a mummy with a gilded silver mask with eyes containing calcite, obsidian and a black gemstone inside one of the sarcophagi.<br /><br />Shabti figurines, which were placed with the dead to accompany them into the afterlife, and alabaster vessels were also found at the excavation site.<br /><br />More excavations in the area are expected to take place this year.<br /><br />The findings will soon be displayed in a museum, with Egypt hoping the discoveries will attract more tourists to the country.
