Cairo - Archaeologists have found a 2 500-year-old tomb near Egypt's ancient pyramids in Giza.
According to Zahi Hawass, who heads the excavation team as well as Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, the team located the tomb using radar and then dug to a depth of about 10 metres before unearthing some of its contents.
"We still need to excavate another ten metres before reaching the sarcophagus and discovering the identity of the occupant, which will take another one or two months," he said.
The team found a box of 400 small statues which the ancient Egyptians believed helped the deceased in the afterlife.
Hawass said the tomb from the 26th dynasty was located between the Sphinx and the Khafre pyramid on the Giza plateau, popular tourist sites that draw thousands of visitors from all over the world each year.
The pyramids themselves were built about 4 500 years ago, during the 4th dynasty.