Egypt's top archeologist made his version of a sales pitch Sunday, presenting 22 coins, 10 mummies, and a fragment of a mask with a cleft chin as evidence that the discovery of the lost tomb of Mark Antony and Cleopatra is at hand. Zahi Hawass showed off the ancient treasures to journalists during a tour of a 2,000-year-old temple to Osiris, where they were found. He believes the site near the Mediterranean Sea contains the tomb of the doomed lovers that has been shrouded in mystery for so long. Mark Antony and Cleopatra challenged Caesar Augustus for control of the Roman Empire more than two millenia ago. Their armies were defeated and rather than submit to capture, the lovers committed suicide — Mark Antony by his sword, Cleopatra with a poisonous asp. The Roman historian Plutarch said Caesar allowed the two to be buried together, but their tomb was never found. Hawass guided journalists through the Toposiris Magna temple 30 miles (50 kilometers) from Egypt's ancient seaside capital of Alexandria. One by one, he held up the fruits of three years of excavation by a team from the Dominican Republic, including the fragment of a mask bearing a distinctive cleft chin. For Hawass, however, the most significant element was the recent discovery of tombs from the same time period ringing the area around the temple. The tombs included 10 mummies of apparent nobles. The discovery of the cemetery prompted Hawass to conduct a study of the temple with ground-penetrating radar, which revealed three possible sites for subterranean burial chambers 40 feet (12 meters) underground. Excavations will start Tuesday, said Hawass.
