Antiquities Minister Mamdouh El Damaty announced that 6 statues dating back to the New Kingdom had been found carved inside the 30th and 31st chapels in Jebel El Silsila, located just North of Aswan.
This recent discovery, which was headed by prominent Swedish archaeologists Dr. Maria Nilsson and Dr. John Ward, was made during an excavation mission performed by the Lund University .
El Damaty highlighted the importance of the recent findings due to the fact that Jebel El Silsila experienced tremendous earthquakes in ancient history as well as numerous erosion effects, both of which ultimately led to it being completely covered with massive stones.
Due to the state Jebel El Silsila was in, famed Egyptologist Ricardo Caminos had declared the site as demolished and concluded that all artifacts were most likely destroyed.
Despite the circumstances, the Lund University team was successful in its attempts to clean and survey both chapels, uncovering the long lost statues.
Mahmoud Afifi, head of Egyptian Antiquities sector, explained that all six statues found dated back to the New Kingdom.
"Two of the statues were found at the back of chapel 30 and the statues are a representation of the tomb owner and his wife seated on a chair," Afifi said.
"The tomb owner is represented in the Osirian position, his arms crossed over his chest and wearing a shoulder length hair wig. The wife on the other hand is represented putting her left arm on her husband's shoulder while her left arm on her chest."
The four other statues however, were found at the end of chapel 31 and are representations of Neferkhewe, his wife, daughter and son; Neferkewe was the man responsible for overseeing foreign land during the reign of Tutmosis III.
Moreover, Nasr Salama, the general manager of Aswan Archaeological Area, said that the Swedish would continue excavation in the area, in an attempt to find more discoveries within the 32 chapels in Jebel El Silsila.