The Egyptian antiquities mission has discovered several well preserved mummies covered with cartonage in Fayyoum that date back to the Greco-Roman period.

One of the caskets contained a badly decayed mummy with a golden face mask, Zahi Hawass, the Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said Sunday. Some of the mummies were covered with eight layers of linen and tied with rope, he said.

The mission also unearthed three caskets, dating back to the Ptolemaic Age and adorned with funereal paintings from the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead. The mission also discovered necklaces, other jewellery and cloth painted with an anchor and key motif.