Egypt: Discoveries will 'rewrite history'

One of the wooden coffins

Mummies, wooden coffins, and other historical objects dating back almost 3,000 years have been discovered in Egypt.

Archaeologists found the treasures in a temple in Saqqara necropolis which is near Egypt's capital - Cairo.

They also discovered, on a nearby site, the temple of Queen Neit who was the wife of King Teti.

Archaeologist Zahi Hawass said: "All these discoveries will rewrite the history of Saqqara and the New Kingdom."

What did they find?

Archaeologists didn't just find mummies and coffins - they also found a papyrus scroll full of spells.

Papyrus was what the Ancient Egyptians used as paper. The spells in the scroll were to direct the dead to their afterlife. The team even found some ancient games and masks.

Statues and figures including miniature wooden boats were among some of the other things found, as well as the 22 burial wells, containing 54 colourful and decorated coffins.

What can the discoveries tell us?

Finding Queen Neit's temple has actually given historians and archaeologists lots of new information and the teams have only unearthed about a third (30%) of the temple - so lots more could be found!

King Teti was the first King of the Sixth Dynasty that ruled Egypt from around 2323 BC until around 2150 BC.

He was previously only thought to have had two wives named Iput I and Khuit II, who are both buried in pyramids nearby.