The discovery was "important, unprecedented", Mohamed Hamza, director of excavations for Cairo University said. The area hosts necropolises mainly for animals and birds. It also includes tombs and a funerary building.
Archaeologists in Egypt have found 17 mummies in catacombs in Minya province, south of Cairo, the antiquities ministry announced on Saturday.
The non-royal mummies, including some completely intact, were found inside a catacomb by a Cairo University expedition in the village of Tuna al-Gabal.
The ministry said in a statement that the non-royal mummies were found in a series of corridors after following the trail of burial shafts in the Touna-Gabal district of the central Egyptian province. The mummies were elaborately preserved therefore likely belong to officials and priests, he said.
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Pointing to the edges of the necropolis where legs and feet of other mummies could be seen, the minister said that the find "will be much bigger, " as work is now in only a preliminary stage.
The necropolis dates back to the pharaonic Late Kingdom and Greco-Roman periods, he said, adding that the find is still in a preliminary stage, and more mummies are expected to be discovered in the area.
Egyptian authorities hope that new discoveries will improve the tourism image of the country and revive interest among travelers to avoid visiting Egypt after the 2011 uprising.
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