Egyptian archaeologists have found about 30 mummies and at least one unopened sarcophagus in a burial chamber believed to be about 4,300 years old, in the latest excavations at the vast necropolis of Saqqara south of Cairo, The associated press quoted, Monday.

The new tomb was found Sunday at the bottom of a 36 foot or 11-meter deep well, Egypt's chief archeologist, Zahi Hawas said, eight of the mummies were in sarcophagi and twenty-two were found in niches of the wall, dating from about 2,650 BC, and describes the new site as a storeroom for mummies.

The mummies appear to vary in age. One dates from about 640 BC while the unopened sarcophagus, which is made of limestone and sealed with plaster, is probably much older.

We think it is Old Kingdom, maybe Fifth Dynasty, who ruled Egypt from about 2,494 BC to 2,345 BC, Archaeologist Abdel Hakim Karar told the Reuters.

Egypt