The researchers also discovered newer burials, including remains from the Ptolemaic period (around 304 to 30 B.C.E.) and a coffin from the 18th Dynasty (roughy 1,550 to 1,295 B.C.E.). Though the coffin was damaged, it held a well-preserved vessel made of alabaster, the white mineral Egyptians often used to make perfume containers, jars and funerary decorations, according to Ahram Online.
“The artifacts and burials uncovered provide a window into the lives of those who lived in this ancient civilization,” Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, tells the publication.
Additionally, researchers found two terracotta statues of Isis, the Egyptian goddess associated with magic and resurrection, and one of the child deity Harpocrates riding a goose. The goose symbolizes “an evil spirit over which the Divine Child triumphs,” Kawai tells Live Science’s Owen Jarus.