Among the astounding discoveries made inside a 4,300-year-old Egyptian "city of the dead" is a magnificent mummy that has been covered in gold.

It was discovered at the bottom of a 49-foot burial shaft near Saqqara, south of Cairo, at a recently discovered site. Egypt's former antiquities minister and Discovery team leader Zahi Hawass said on Thursday: "I put my head inside the sarcophagus. A gorgeous man mummy dressed in layers of gold was there.

It might be the oldest and most complete mummy ever discovered in Egypt.

The underground tombs also contained two sarcophagi, twelve exquisitely carved statues representing affluent priests, officials, and attendants, as well as twelve other statues.

Two burial tunnels, one of which contained the priceless golden mummy enclosed in a sarcophagus, however, were what Mr. Hawass was most intrigued by.

In the pyramid complex of Unas, the final monarch of the fifth dynasty, Mr. Hawass said: "The most important tomb belongs to Khnumdjedef, an inspector of the officials, a supervisor of the nobility, and a priest.

"The second largest belonged to Meri, who held many important titles, such as keeper of the secrets and assistant to the great leader of the palace."

There were statues of people, including two couples, in another grave at the location.

In the meantime, writing on another tomb indicated that it held the mummy of a guy by the name of Fetek.

The items, which were discovered within a historic stone enclosure close to the Saqqara pyramids, were dated by Egypt's ministry of tourism and antiquities to between 2500 and 2100 BC.

The famous Giza pyramids are located at the Saqqara site, which is a large necropolis near Memphis, ancient Egypt's capital.

In the 1970s, the ruins of Memphis were named a Unesco World Heritage site.

The discovery made on Thursday was the most recent in a string of recent discoveries disclosed in Egypt. Near the southern city of Luxor, a number of New Kingdom burial sites as well as the remains of an old Roman city were discovered.

Scientists from Cairo University reported in January 2023 that CT scans have revealed details about a teenage male from around 300BC that had been previously unknown.

He possessed a high social rank, as evidenced by the elaborate amulets implanted into his mummified body and the style of burial he got.