The ancient vaults add to a series of archaeological discoveries Egyptian authorities hope could revive the country’s stagnant tourism industry.
The tombs, dated to 1550-1292 B.C., belong to officials who likely served in ancient capital of Thebes, now a UNESCO world heritage site.
Archeologists found a mummy wrapped in linen in one of the larger of the two tombs. An inscription on the ceiling bears the name of King Thutmose I of the early 18th dynasty.
One tomb has five entrances leading to a hall, while the other has a six-meter burial shaft leading to four side chambers.
“It is a very important discovery because both tombs contain very rich funerary collections, and one of them has a very distinguished painted statue of a lady in the Osirian shape,” Egypt’s Antiquities Minister Khaled al-Anani said on Saturday.Archaeologists also found a number of funerary cones, painted wooden funerary masks, clay vessels and a collection of some 450 statues in the tombs, located on the west bank of the river Nile in a cemetery for noblemen and top officials.