Historic mummification workshop found out

Egyptian archaeologists have discovered an ancient mummification workshop near the three pyramids of Giza.

The workshop dates back 2,500 years and is part of the vast Saqqara necropolis south of Cairo, near the ancient city of Memphis.

Memphis was the first capital of ancient Egypt, and its large necropolis is home to a range of temples and tombs.

Image: The pyramid of Djoser marks the landscape near the Saqqara necropolis

Alongside the mummification workshop is a shaft used as a communal burial place, dating back to the Saite-Persian period, from 664-404 BC.

The site lies just south of the Unas pyramid and was last excavated more than 100 years ago in 1900.

Among the artefacts which the archaeologists found were a gilded silver mummy mask and fragments of mummy cartonnages - the elaborate funerary masks which mummies wore.

Image: Statuettes discovered near the Saqqara necropolis

Also discovered were canopic cylindrical jars used to preserve the organs of their owner, alongside cups made from marl clay and faience.

The artefacts will be displayed in the Grand Egyptian Museum, which is under construction and will partially open this year.

Image: The gilded silver mummy mask found in the Saqqara necropolis

At the very bottom of the 30m (100ft) shaft were several mummies, wooden coffins and stone sarcophagi.

The shaft is comprised of burial chambers carved into the bedrock lining the sides of two hallways.

In the mummification workshop, an embalmer's cachette was found that the archaeologists hope will reveal more about the oils used in the mummification process in the 26th dynasty.

More from Egypt

• Giant mysterious black sarcophagus found in Egypt

• Police jailed for five years after going on strike in Egypt

• Laura Plummer: Briton jailed in Egypt over painkillers seen in prison video

• Abdel Fattah al Sisi re-elected Egypt president as spoilt ballots outnumber rival

• UK urged to do more to help 'thousands' of Egyptian political prisoners

• World's 'oldest tattoos' found on ancient Egyptian mummies

Image: A broken gilded mummy mask retrieved near the Saqqara necropolis

"We are in front of a goldmine of information about the chemical composition of these oils," archaeologist Ramadan Hussein told a press conference.

"It's only the beginning," said the minister for antiquities, Khaled al Anani, who added that the sites were likely to hold more secrets which would be uncovered with further excavation.

Original Article

Technology

March 16, 2019