An Egyptian archaeological mission affiliated with the Supreme Council of Antiquities announced on Wednesday the discovery of 83 graves during archaeological excavations in the Om El-Khelgan region in Egypt's Daqahliya governorate in the Nile Delta.

The secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Mostafa Waziri said the graves date back to the first half of the fourth millennium BC, which is known as the Buto era.

Waziri stressed that this is the first time that clay coffins dating back to the third Naqada period have been discovered in Daqahliya governorate, as they had only previously been discovered by a Polish mission in Farkha hill.

The Naqada culture dates back to pre-dynastic Egypt in the Chalcolithic era, named for the town of Naqada in Upper Egypt's Qena Governorate.

This discovery indicates that the site witnessed heavy habitation during the third Naqada and Buto periods. More graves are expected to be uncovered at the site.