According independent archaeologists have uncovered part of a cemetery thousands of
years old near Egypt ’s famed pyramids on the Giza plateau near Cairo .

The cemetery houses burial shafts and tombs of top officials. The most significant artefact uncovered was a limestone statue of the tomb’s owner, his wife and his son dating back to the fifth dynasty (2465-2323 BC), officials said.

Ashraf Mohi, head of the archaeological site, said it was known that the cemetery had
been reused extensively in the Late Period (664-332 BC), as archaeologists found painted
and decorated wooden anthropoid coffins, and wooden and clay funerary masks from that
period.

Egypt has touted a series of archaeological finds recently, hoping such discoveries will
spur tourism , which suffered a major setback during the unrest that followed the 2011
uprising.