Egypt’s antiquities ministry says that archaeologists have discovered three tombs dating back more than 2000 years, from the Ptolemaic Period.

The discovery was made in the Nile Valley province of Minya south of Cairo, in an area known as al-Kamin al-Sahrawi.

Egypt’s antiquities ministry released a statement to say the team “found a collection of sarcophagi of different shapes and sizes, as well as clay fragments”, head of the ministry’s Ancient Egyptian Antiquities Sector Ayman Ashmawy said.

The discovery “suggests that the area was a great cemetery for a long span of time”.

Sarcophagi which were discovered in a cemetery date back about 2000 years. Photo: Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities

One of the tombs has a burial shaft carved in rock and leads to a chamber where anthropoid lids and four sarcophagi for two women and two men were found. 

Another tomb contains two chambers; one of them has six burial holes, including one for a child.

Clay fragments found at the site date the tombs between the 27th Dynasty, founded in 525BC, and the Greco-Roman era, which lasted between 332BC and the 4th Century.

The antiquities ministry said in a statement that “works are under way in order to reveal more secrets”.

This work follows previous excavation at the site, which began in 2015.

– with AAP