The Egyptian archaeological mission working at the Meir archaeological site in el-Quseyya (Asyut Governorate) has uncovered a building dating to the Byzantine era. The structure consisted of a courtyard with a number of rooms, storage spaces, and a fireplace. The walls of one of the rooms were decorated with prayers written in Coptic, with a number of plaster shelves for the use of the monks who lived there.
On a lower level, the team also discovered a number of Late Period burials containing the remains of skeletons, fragments of wooden coffins, and some funeral furniture in a poor state of preservation. One burial belonged to a lady whose body was found inside the remains of her coffin. The body had a mask and the remains of a chest covering. She had been buried with a number of ceramic vessels of various shapes and sizes, two copper mirrors, and a set of blue and black beads.
All images: copyright of the Ministry for Tourism and Antiquities
