Colorful wooden coffins adorned with paintings and inscriptions that were recently discovered by a team of Egyptian archaeologists were opened on Saturday to reveal perfectly preserved mummies, NBC News reports.
The 30 sealed coffins were found by accident under a mound behind the Asasif Necropolis on the west bank of the Nile river, Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general for Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, told NBC News.
"I'm very happy we found this discovery with Egyptian hands," Waziri said.
The archaeologists were conducting an unrelated dig when someone noticed what appeared to be the face of a coffin, Waziri explained. They continued digging to discover a cachette of coffins stacked in two layers only a few feet under the sand.
