Famed Egyptologist Zahi Hawass on Sunday unveiled ancient treasures found at the Saqqara archaeological site south of Cairo, including sarcophagi over 3,000 years old, reports AFP.

A vast necropolis, Saqqara is one of the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Hawass and his team found the treasures near the pyramid of King Teti, the first pharaoh of the Sixth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom. More than 50 wooden sarcophagi dating to the New Kingdom (16th century BC to 11th century BC) were found in a burial shaft.

Hawass told AFP that the discovery will re-write the history of Saqqara. He said his team had discovered a total of 22 shafts.

“One of the coffins belonged to a soldier. We found the axe that he used to fight,” Hawass said.

A stone sarcophagus and “a papyrus around five metres” was also found. The games, known as Senet and Game 20, he said, were placed in the tombs so the dead could play on in the afterlife.

“It is a rare and new discovery because most of the artefacts we found are dated back to the New Kingdom, whereas in Saqqara, it’s usually more around 500 BC,” he added.

Objects including human skulls and bones were displayed to the media on Sunday, while excavations of the site are ongoing.

The artefacts unearthed by the team so far represent only 30% of what is expected, Hawass said.

The ministry said the team had also discovered the “funerary temple of Queen Nearit, the wife of King Teti, which had already been partially discovered in recent years”.

Egypt hopes archaeological discoveries will spur tourism, a sector which has suffered multiple shocks, from a 2011 uprising to today’s coronavirus pandemic.