Skeleton Found in 4,500-year-old Egyptian Sarcophagus

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, September 17, 2002

Skeleton Found in 4,500-year-old Egyptian Sarcophagus

Egyptian archaeologists early Tuesday morning found a skeleton in a 4,500-year-old sarcophagus near the Great Pyramid, instead of a mummy as expected.

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Egyptian archaeologists early Tuesday morning found a skeleton in a 4,500-year-old sarcophagus near the Great Pyramid, instead of a mummy as expected.

"The man, whose name is Nisert, dies some 4,500 years ago," said Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the Egyptian Supreme Council for Antiquities, on the scene, where the event was broadcast live by the US-based National Geographic Channel broadcast.

"The sarcophagus,the only intact one ever found, was believed to belong to an administrator of the pyramids area," he added.

However, Hawass said earlier he expected that a mummy would be inside the coffin, because "the owner would not have had such agrand limestone sarcophagus unless it was intended to hold his mummy."

"If we discover a mummy, it will be the oldest mummy ever foundby modern archaeologists," he said.

The limestone sarcophagus, two meters long and one meter wide,was believed to belong to an overseer of workers at the pyramids.

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