Archaeologica.org

CAIRO (AFP) - A team of US archaeologists has discovered the ruins of a city dating back to the period of the first farmers 7,000 years ago in Egypt's Fayyum oasis, the supreme council of antiquities said on Tuesday.

"An electromagnetic survey revealed the existence in the Karanis region of a network of walls and roads similar to those constructed during the Greco-Roman period," the council's chief Zahi Hawwas said.

January 30, 2008—Four ancient tombs containing well-preserved mummies and ornate painted coffins have been unearthed at El Faiyum, an oasis about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southwest of Cairo (see map).

This gold-painted mask—photographed November 21, 2007—was found on a female mummy, a rare treasure for a site known to be a frequent target for modern-day grave robbers.

The mask was the first of its kind found at the El Faiyum site, an ancient "city of the dead" known as Deir el-Banat, offering hope to archaeologists that more valuable antiquities await discovery there.

In ancient times, gold symbolized eternity and was thought to preserve the remains of the dead forever.