Egyptian archeologists have opened a number of sealed coffins that they accidentally discovered earlier this week. Inside they found mummies of men, women and children – all in excellent condition.

Thirty sarcophagi were uncovered under a mound behind the Asasif Necropolis on the west bank of the Nile River by local scientists, who were conducting an unrelated excavation.

One of the archeologists noticed something in the sand, which later turned out to be the face of an ancient coffin. Further digging revealed a whole cache of wooden sarcophagi adorned with colorful paintings and inscriptions stacked on each other in two layers.

“It is the first large human coffin cache ever discovered since the end of the 19th century,” Egypt’s Antiquities Minister Khaled El-Enany said as he attended the opening ceremony in Luxor.

Excavation team leader Mostafa Waziri said he was proud that the discovery of the sarcophagi was made by “Egyptian hands,” unlike many other significant finds in the country that were made by foreign archeologists.

Inside the coffins there were mummies of male and female priests as well as children, he said, adding that the burial dates dating back to the 10th century BC under the rule of the 22nd Pharaonic dynasty.

The gender of the mummies was established by the shape of their hands, as men were laid to rest with closed palms, while women had them opened.

The coffins were likely so richly decorated to compensate for the fact they weren’t buried properly in tombs. However, this shortcoming was what allowed them to remain so well preserved as the sand protected the sarcophagi not only from termites, but tomb raiders too, Waziri explained.

The coffins will undergo some restoration before being moved to a special showroom that will be opened at the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza next year.

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