In Egypt, found 30 mummies. Why is this the largest discovery of the last century?

Egypt has a rich history, so noit is not surprising that archaeological discoveries are often made on the territory of this country. For example, recently, scientists managed to find and unearth the remains of a temple located at the bottom of the flooded city of Heraklion. All these discoveries are amazing, but they all fade against the backdrop of a new archaeological find in the cemetery of El Assasif, which is located on the west bank of the Nile. Archaeologists managed to unearth 30 sarcophagi with mummies that were not touched by the robbers. It is believed that this is the largest archaeological discovery in Egypt over the past hundred years.

Egypt's largest archaeological discovery in the last 100 years

Initially, Egyptian Antiquitiesonly 20 sarcophagi were reported. However, then, during a press conference in the Egyptian city of Luxor, archaeologists talked about the excavation of as many as 30 graves. They were found thanks to the protruding top of one of the sarcophagi. Mummies were hidden at a depth of one meter, so they were not visible to the robbers. Due to the abundance of sand, they were not even touched by termites.

The largest archaeological discovery in Egypt

Thus, the sarcophagi retained a great vieweven three thousand years after the death of people. According to the researchers, in the "cache" they found, the bodies of the priests were buried, among whom were men and women. Since all the mummies were wrapped in fabric, their gender was determined only by the position of their hands on the sarcophagi. Also among the buried there were two children - they were able to recognize, not surprisingly, by their small growth.

Excavated photo

According to scientists, buried people lived around the 10th century BC. At this time, Egypt was ruled by the pharaohs from the XXII dynasty, the founder of which is considered Sheshonk I.

“This is the first major archaeological discovery made in Egypt since the late 19th century,” said Khaled El-Enani, Minister of Antiquities of Egypt.

The sarcophagi were tightly sealed, laid eachon top of each other and arranged in two rows. Due to the fact that they were well hidden, they are perfectly preserved. In particular, before the eyes of archaeologists were drawings of ancient Egyptian gods and hieroglyphs from the Book of the Dead. If not for a good disguise, the burial would have been looted in an instant. But everything remained in place, which is why it is considered such an important discovery. In addition, the discovery was not made by foreign archaeologists, but by Egyptian ones.

The "books of the dead" are called ancient Egyptiancollections of religious texts that were placed in the tombs of the dead. It was believed that thanks to them, dead people will be able to overcome the dangers of the other world.

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Basically, that's all for nowit is known about the burial found. Archaeologists cannot yet precisely determine the exact age of each of the buried people. Also, they cannot name the causes of their deaths, but among them there are clearly very few people aged. After all, as you know, thousands of years ago, people lived extremely poorly by modern standards because of the abundance of various diseases and hard work.

Very soon, sarcophagi and mummies will be sent for restoration. Then, during 2020, they will be sent to the Great Egyptian Museum, which is located near the pyramids of Giza.