Ancient secrets revealed
EGYPT: FULLY INTACT BURIAL COMPLEX IN NEW FILM
Sealed 2 600-yearold sarcophagi are opened in Kingdom of Mummies.
National Geographic has released never-before-seen footage from within ancient Egypt’s first known fully intact funeral home.
In conjunction with Egypt’s ministry of antiquities, a team of archaeologists led by Dr Ramadan Hussein from Germany’s Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, uncovered the burial complex, dating back to 600 BC, deep beneath the sands at the Saqqara necropolis less than an hour’s drive south of Cairo.
The new series Kingdom of Mummies, produced for National Geographic by BBC Studios, follows the team as they explore the subterranean chambers and open four sealed, 2 600-year-old sarcophagi to unlock secrets from the age of the pharaohs.
Premiering next Friday on National Geographic and airing in 142 countries and 43 languages, Kingdom of Dummies tracks Dr Hussein’s team, along with Egyptologist professor Salima Ikram from American University in Cairo, mummy expert
Dr Stephen Buckley from University of York, digital archaeologist Dr Matthias Lang from University of Tübingen, geoengineer Dr Ayman Hamed of Suez University and paleoradiologist professor Sahar Saleem from Cairo University, as they make a host of new finds and decipher clues about Egyptian burial processes.
In addition to uncovering the first known, fully integrated funeral complex with dedicated areas for organ removal, embalming and burial, the team’s learnings are helping reveal more about death – and the business of death – in ancient Egypt.
The latest scientific testing and scanning of the tombs, their relics and the remains of the deceased also add layers of meaning to the lessons being gleaned about the sacred rites and commerce that were conducted in this subterranean space.
“The tomb contains mummies of both rich and poor people, as well as evidence of the funeral packages and quality of goods on offer. The evidence we uncovered shows the embalmers had very good business sense. They re-used chambers and resold sarcophagi to maximise the capacity of the complex,” said Dr Hussein.
Peeling back layer upon layer hidden within the funeral home, other key finds included:
The first gilded silver mummy mask in Egypt since 1939.
Only the third such mask to ever be found in Egypt, the exquisite craftsmanship and advanced metalworking technique that involves plating worked silver with a fine layer of gold, represented one step on the journey of the transformation of the dead into a god.
In ancient Egypt silver was double the value of gold and esting determined the silver’s purity at 99.07%, higher even than sterling silver at 93.5%;
The first mummy buried with an unprecedented six canopic jars holding organs, suggested an entirely new form of burial. For thousands of years the standard number of these sacred vessels used to store the mummified organs was four, each guarded by a special god;
Evidence of a previously unknown cult worshipping a mysterious snake goddess exists via inscriptions on three mummies identify them as “Priests of Niut-Shaes”. While she is a previously unknown goddess, a symbol in her name says she took the form of a snake. Three priests indicates a dedicated sect rather than isolated worshippers;
Two elite priests buried in the shaft were of Libyan descent. In just a few generations of their families moving to Egypt these immigrants reached one of the highest ranks in Egyptian society, proof that ethnicity was no hurdle in multicultural Egypt where Greeks, Carians (from southwest Asia), Phoenicians, Nubians and more existed side-by-side; One mummy was entombed with crossed arms in a divine position usually reserved only for pharaohs.
While surveying the 3D scan of one mummy, “Ayawet”, Dr Hussein spots the rare crossed arms on his chest, suggesting he could have been a priest of high status;
And in a rare archaeological coincidence, two of the mummies might be mother and son, buried 4m apart. A priest, “Tjanimit”, named his mother “Didi-Bastet” on his sarcophagus, while a canopic jar in the opposite chamber is inscribed with the hieroglyphs for “Didi-Bastet”.
To reach the workshop 12.5m below the surface, the team had to remove 42 tons of packed sand from Shaft M 23-II. This revealed the chamber had ventilation shafts and a large incense burner that acted as an ancient air-conditioning and fumigation system, as well as drainage channels cut into the bedrock to funnel blood.
Above ground one metre to the south of the workshop, they found two more facilities that were part of the funeral home, including the 30m deep Shaft K 24 leading to six tombs containing 54 mummies. At the base of this shaft, they found a tomb containing five burial chambers but, beyond the visible rooms, it took them another year to discover a hidden sixth burial chamber with more mummies behind a false stone wall.
“The discovery of this underground complex reveals even more intriguing aspects of this remarkable ancient civilization. In Kingdom of the Mummies, new details emerge about their complexities and sophistication, enabling a greater understanding of ancient Egyptian society,” said Evert van der Veer, vice-president, Media Networks, Walt Disney Company Africa.
– Citizen reporter