Up to 40 mummies of ‘middle-class family from ancient Egypt’ are found in 2,000-year-old desert tombs packed with pottery and paper near Cairo

Archeologists have discovered a number of ancient burial chambers containing some 40 mummies in the desert province of Minya, south of Cairo.

The chambers, which were cut out of rock, are thought to have belonged to a middle-class family.

Officials said the family probably lived during the Ptolemaic, early Roman or Byzantine period.

The mummies are in good condition and at least 10 are of children.

Some were decorated with ‘demotic handwriting’ – a form of ancient Egyptian script used by ordinary people.

Archeologists also unearthed pottery, papyri and colorful mummy cases.

Egypt has made a series of archaeological finds recently, and it has been heavily promoting them to revive its tourism industry.

Tourism is a staple of its economy that was decimated by the chaos that followed its 2011 uprising.