See The Recently Discovered 2,500-Year-Old Ancient Egyptian Artifacts Now On Display

Ancient artifacts dating back approximately 2,500 years went on view earlier this week as part of a makeshift exhibition outside of the Step Pyramid of Djoser near Cairo, Egypt.

The trove, according to the country’s antiquities authorities, was recently discovered at the site.

The artifacts, all dating to roughly 500 BCE, include 250 painted sarcophagi with well-preserved mummies inside, as well as 150 bronze vessels and statues of ancient deities used in rituals to honor Isis, the ancient Egyptian goddess of fertility. Also on view was a headless bronze statue of Imhotep, the chancellor of Pharaoh Djoser, who ruled ancient Egypt from 2630 BC–2611 BCE.

The Step Pyramid resides in Saqqara, a sprawling necropolis within Egypt’s ancient capital Memphis, which includes such notable sites as the Giza Pyramids. Within the last year alone, there have been numerous major finds at Saqqara as archaeologists continue to excavate the site. In the 1970s, the ruins of Memphis were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.

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The artifacts are slated to be part of a permanent exhibition at the Grand Egyptian Museum, a mega-project currently under construction near the Giza Pyramids, outside of Cairo.

Below is a look at some of the artifacts that were on display in the makeshift exhibition.