CAIRO, June 5 (Xinhua) -- The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced on Friday the discovery of a portion of a Greco-Roman cemetery at the Tell Kom Aziza site in Beheira Governorate, north of Cairo, highlighting the area's significance as a multi-period settlement in the Nile Delta.

Excavations uncovered diverse burial styles, including simple pits, mud-brick-lined graves, painted plaster coffins, and barrel-shaped pottery coffins typical of the Ptolemaic period, the ministry said in a statement.

According to the statement, Egyptian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Sherif Fathy said the discovery offers an integrated view of settlement evolution, daily life, and human-environmental interaction over millennia.

Hisham Elleithy, secretary-general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), noted that preliminary studies of human remains revealed remarkable diversity in burial rituals, orientations, and positions.

Elleithy added that stratigraphic studies indicate that the cemetery was built over layers dating from the Old Kingdom, the New Kingdom, and the Late Period through the Greco-Roman era.

Mohamed Abdel-Badie, head of the Egyptian Antiquities Sector at the SCA, noted the unearthing of everyday artifacts, including pottery and stone vessels, bread molds, tools, ovens, and storage jars, alongside large quantities of animal, fish, and bird bones that shed light on ancient diets and customs.

Khaled Abdel-Ghani Farhat, director-general of Beheira Antiquities and head of the excavation mission, highlighted the rare discovery of complete wild boar burials.

He noted that this is unusual for ancient Egyptian funerary sites, given the pig's symbolic association with the god Set, suggesting possible economic or domestic significance.

The ministry said that future excavations are expected to reveal more secrets at the promising site.