Photographs of the Pyramids at Meroe in Sudan, 2005. Photos taken by: Fabrizio Demartis

Ancient Egyptian mummy masks, tombs and 'god of silence' statue discovered at Saqqara

Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered a series of tombs dating from about 1,800 to 4,800 years ago, some of which contain colorful mummy masks and even the childlike statue of the god of silence, according to the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

The colorful mummy masks, which would have been worn by the dead, date to the Ptolemaic period (304 to 30 B.C.) and Roman period (29 B.C. to A.D. 641), according to Nozomu Kawai, the director of the Institute for the Study of Ancient Civilizations and Cultural Resources at Kanazawa University in Japan, who led the excavations.

The archaeologists also found a small statue showing Harpocrates, a Greek god that looks like a child who is associated with silence, riding a goose. The goose represents "an evil spirit over which the Divine Child triumphs," Kawai told Live Science in an email. Read more.