The details of an ancient burial site was revealed earlier this Saturday by Egyptian Archaeologists.  The discovery was made some 30 meters underground near the Saqqara necropolis south of Cairo.

The Egyptian Archaeologists are looking for fresh insight that the ancient Egyptians used such as the chemical make-up of the oils that were used to mummify their dead. The place of burial is said to be 2,000 years old and is believed to date back to the Saite-Persian period. The shaft was discovered this year in April which lead to the discovery of 35 mummies.

The head of the Egyptian-German mission that uncovered the site, Ramadan Badry Hussain said, “What this discovery will add are two very important things: the first is the type of oils used in mummification, and their chemical make-up. So we will be able to identify the exact types of oils used.”

Minister of Antiquities, Khalid Al Anany said, “The most significant artifact was a gilded silver mask, the second only such discovery ever made. This object is very rare, to have a silver mask gilded with gold, and as Ramadan mentioned now, we have only two of this kind, so it is a very nice discovery.”

There were hundreds of small statues, a number of jars and vessels as well that was used in the mummification process and all had been found inside the burial chambers which had been excavated.