Dozens of cat mummies and rare beetles discovered in Egyptian tombs

Dozens of cat mummies and ancient scarab beetles have been discovered in a mass cemetery in Egypt during an archaeological excavation near Cairo.

Ministry official Mostafa Waziri said that the archaeologists found seven Pharaonic Age tombs containing dozens of cat mummies along with wooden statues depicting other animals.

The discovery at Saqqara also includes mummies of scarabs, the first ever to be found in the area.

Two of the beetles were wrapped up in linen inside a rectangular limestone sarcophagus decorated with paintings of large black beetles, considered sacred in ancient Egypt.

Of the statues found, those depicting cats were the majority, reflecting the reverence ancient Egyptians showed the felines, whose God Bastet was worshipped.

Other statues depicted a lion, a cow and a falcon.

A bronze statue dedicated to the cat goddess was found among 100 wooden gilded cat statues and dozens of mummified cats, the Ministry of Antiquities said.

Four other tombs were found in Saqqara, including one which belonged to Khufu-Imhat, the overseer of buildings in the royal palace.

Egypt has been promoting its new historical discoveries in the hope of reviving a devastated tourism sector still recovering from the turmoil following the uprising in 2011.