Egypt dig unearths 3,600-year-old mummy

A sarcophagus with a mummy inside that dates back to 1600 B.C. has been unearthed in the ancient Egyptian city of Luxor.

Archaeologists say they unearthed a rare find during a dig in Egypt: a sarcophagus that's 3,600 years old -- with a mummy still inside.

 

Egypt's state-run Al-Ahram newspaper reported Thursday that a team working on a routine excavation at a tomb in Luxor uncovered the painted, human-shaped sarcophagus.

It dates back to 1600 B.C., when the Pharaonic 17th Dynasty reigned in Egypt, the country's Supreme Council of Antiquities said.

Men dig up the sarcophagus in Luxor. The sarcophagus belonged to a top government official, reports say.

The sarcophagus belonged to a top government official, whose mummy was enclosed inside, Al-Ahram said,

citing Egypt's antiquities minister, Mohamed Ibrahim.

The sarcophagus is engraved with titles of the official, but archaeologists haven't yet been able to identify him, Ibrahim said.

The Spanish-Egyptian team also found two other burials while digging at the Draa Abul-Naga necropolis on Luxor's west bank, Al-Ahram reported, but both were empty.

"It is believed they were robbed in antiquity," the newspaper reported.

-CNN