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Al-Ahram Weekly 17 - 23 June 1999 Issue No. 434 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 17 - 23 June 1999 Issue No. 434
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Living Travel Sports Time Out Chronicles People Cartoons Letters Valley of the gilded mummies
By Nevine El-ArefRiding on his small donkey for a tour around Graeco-Roman monuments in Bahareya Oasis to check on safety in the site, an antiquities guard fell down into a hole. This led to the discovery of the first Valley of Mummies ever found in Egypt.
"It is a very important find which will change the position of Bahareya Oasis on Egypt's tourist map. Bahareya will become a renowned archaeological site, like the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens in Luxor," said Gaballa Ali Gaballa, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA). According to Gaballa, the site is a well-preserved cemetery, containing 105 gilded mummies of the early Graeco-Roman era. It extends for six kilometres in the oasis town of Bawiti and includes four tombs, where the mummies are stacked.
"The gold coverings and the care taken in the embalming process show that the dead had been wealthy dignitaries and governors," Gaballa said. He added that a specially designed and decorated pottery collection, showing Bess, deity of joy and happiness, was found beside the mummies, as well as scarabs of different deities, ornamental instruments, faience and amulet necklaces, red carnelian earrings and copper bracelets. A wine factory with its complete set of tanks, blenders and grape press machines, Graeco-Roman coins, personal toys -- which the dead may want to play with in the afterlife -- and small statues of female mourners were also unearthed.
Zahi Hawass, director-general of the Giza Plateau, who was also the excavation's field director, said that the necropolis has a distinguished architectural style. Some tombs are hewn in sandstone, others have holes or deep shafts leading to the burial chamber.
The mummies have different configurations. Some of them wear golden masks, with magnificent designs of Ancient Egyptian divinities on their chests. Others are coated in plaster or covered with linen, while another group are placed inside anthropoid sarcophagi, made of terra-cotta (burned clay).
"Three of these mummies are very well mummified and are beautifully decorated," said Hawass. He explained that the first one belongs to a woman whose face is coated with a coloured layer of plaster showing its beautiful features in depth.
The second is that of another woman, wearing an anthropoid coloured mask on her face, while her chest is covered with carttonage (a coloured mask). The third mummy belongs to a man wearing the sacred cobra on his head and a Horus-shaped mask on his face, while his chest is decorated with precious stones.
"In view of these luxurious decorations, it seems that this mummy belongs to a high-raking official in the oasis," said Hawass. He added that a new method of mummification was used for the newly discovered mummies which is different from the one used in Pharaonic times. They replace the intestines of the dead person with palm leaves and then cover the mummy with gold, linen or plaster, he explained.
An anthropological study will soon be conducted on some of these mummies to find out more about their identities, their health condition and any diseases they might have had.
"This is the first time that a necropolis with such a large number of mummies has been discovered," said Gaballa, adding that excavation will continue for several years in order to retrieve an estimated 10,000 more mummies in the necropolis.
"These mummies will remain on site where tourists can see them in their original place and also pay a visit to a temple of Alexander the Great located near the necropolis," Hawass said.
