US diggers unearth pharaonic tomb in Egypt's Luxor

The Egyptian antiquities authorities released this picture showing a fresco inside a tomb belonging to Sa-Mut on March 10, 2015 in Luxor

American archaeologists have unearthed a pharaonic tomb from the 18th dynasty in Egypt's famed temple city of Luxor, officials said on Tuesday.

The tomb, found at Al-Qurna archaeological site in Luxor, dates to the period of the New Kingdom (1550-1070 BC) and its walls show scenes of celebrations and daily life at that time, the antiquities ministry said.

The scenes "are records of daily life practices that prevailed in that era," Antiquities Minister Mamdouh al-Damaty said in a statement.

Damaty said there were signs that the tomb had been looted as some scenes and inscriptions on its walls were erased.

Last week a similar tomb was discovered at Al-Qurna.

Luxor, a city of some 500,000 people on the banks of the Nile in southern Egypt, is an open-air museum of intricate temples and pharaonic tombs.

Archaeologists find 5,600-year-old tomb in Egypt (Update)

Egypt said Wednesday archaeologists have unearthed a 5,600-year-old preserved tomb and mummy predating the pharaonic First Dynasty, a discovery that will shed new light on the pre-dynastic era.

The tomb was built before the rule of king Narmer, the founder of the First Dynasty who unified Upper and Lower Egypt in the 31th century BC, the antiquities ministry said in a statement.

The tomb was discovered in the Kom al-Ahmar region, between Luxor and Aswan, on the site of ancient Hierakonpolis, the city of the falcon, which was the capital of the Kingdom of Upper Egypt.

The archaeologists found an ivory statue of a bearded man and the mummy of the tomb's owner, who appeared to have died in his late teenage years, the ministry said.

They also found 10 ivory combs as well as tools, blades and arrow heads, it said.

The tomb's preserved state will provide new information on pre-dynastic rituals, said Renee Friedman, the head of the multinational archeological team.

The tombs of king Narmer and king Ka, a pre-dynastic pharaoh who paved the way to Egypt's unification, were previously discovered in Hierakonpolis.