The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities has confirmed the discoveries of three ancient wooden coffins believed to date all the way back to the Greco-Roman era, from 332 B.C. to 395 A.D.

The coffins were found last week floating in the Nasseriya Canal, an irrigation waterway located in the village of Auda Basha. According to Egypt's antiquities ministry, the tombs were likely discovered as a result of illegal digging by local residents. The ministry's chief of Egyptian artifacts, Youssef Khalifa, gave Daily News Egypt one scenario of what might have followed.

"The robbers may have resorted to dumping these sarcophagi in the irrigation canal when they felt that authorities were closing in on them, or perhaps when they were approaching a security checkpoint," Khalifa said.

The three coffins each were decorated with colorful designs and patterns with origins dating back 1,600 years. However, as Khalifa noted, none of the designs contained Egyptian writings or hieroglyphics. Upon further investigation, authorites found that only two of the coffins contained ancient corpses, while the third remained empty, Mada Masr reported.

Once experts have concluded their full investigations of the corpses and curators have conducted their restorations, they will be placed on museum display at the Mallawi National Museum in Minya.

(H/T: Daily News Egypt)

–

Follow Jon Street (@JonStreet) on Twitter