Ancient World Review

Egypt Unveils 2500-Year-Old Mummy At Forgotten Cemetery

"Egypt has unveiled the 2,500-year-old mummy of a high priest at an ancient cemetery south of Cairo. Egyptologist Zahi Hawass and an Egyptian team opened three sealed sarcophagi from the 26th Dynasty." Source: Archaeology News Network (April 9, 2019).

"One contained the well-preserved mummy of a powerful priest, wrapped in linen and decorated with a golden figure depicting Isis, an ancient Egyptian goddess ... The team also opened two other sarcophagi, one containing a female mummy decorated with blue beads and another with a father in a family tomb."

Note: It looks like the archaeologists dropped the ball on this one:

"In 1927, a huge limestone sarcophagus was found in the area and placed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, but the site was then forgotten [emphasis added] ... But two years ago an unauthorized digger was found at the site and stopped ... That’s what alerted archaeologists and excavation began." (Archaeology News Network)

In other words, archaeologists forgot all about the site for almost a century. If an "unauthorized" digger -- a criminal tomb raider -- hadn't been caught exploring the area, this find might never have been made at all.

Egypt has been announcing a lot of discoveries lately. This is all part of their ongoing effort to revive their tourist industry, but it sounds like travel to Egypt is still pretty risky.

Mummified Mice Found In "Beautiful Chamber" Inside Egyptian Tomb

"Mummified mice are among the artefacts discovered in a decorated tomb recently unearthed near the Egyptian town of Sohag." Source: BBC.

"The mice and other animals surrounded two mummified human bodies and the burial chamber contains detailed paintings of funeral processions and people working in the fields.

"Experts say the tomb is more than 2,000 years old and is thought to be the resting place of a senior official called Tutu [1] and his wife. It was discovered in October when smugglers were caught illegally digging for artefacts."

[1] I think this is Tutu, "one of pharaoh's officials during the Amarna letters period 1350–1335 BC," according to Wikipedia.

Mummy Of Pharoah's Official Discovered Inside Limestone Sarcophagus In Egypt

"The mummified remains of a high-ranking official named Khuwy [Khuwyptah?] were discovered in a colorful tomb that dates back 4,400 years. Archaeologists made the discovery in south Saqqara, in Egypt, the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities announced April 2." Source: Live Science.

"Next to the burial is a pyramid complex built for the pharaoh Djedkare Isesi, who reigned from 2381 to 2353 B.C. The colors of the tomb's hieroglyphs and decorations are incredibly well-preserved, despite the passage of over 4 millennia."

Metropolitan Museum Of Art Will Return Looted Coffin

Video from Jan. 2019.

"The Metropolitan Museum of Art will return an ancient gilded coffin to Egypt after New York prosecutors determined that it had been looted from that country, the museum said." Source: Daily Mail (Feb. 2019).

"The museum had purchased the prized coffin, dating from the first century BCE, in July 2017 from a Paris art dealer for a price of nearly $4 million.

"But the Manhattan district attorney's office determined that the mummy-shaped golden coffin had been sold with fake documentation, including a forged 1971 Egyptian export license."

Note: This is the coffin of "Nedjemankh, a high-ranking priest of the ram-headed god Heryshef of Herakleopolis," The museum says that it will try to recoup its considerable investment but if I had paid four million dollars for anything I wouldn't let it go so quickly unless I was sure I could get my money back. In any case, this is a classic example of the risks involved with buying archaeological artifacts from private dealers.

Mold Formations Confirm That King Tut's Tomb Was Prepared In A Rush

"King Tut, silent in Egypt's Valley of the Kings for 3,000 years, may still have secrets to reveal. Researchers, examining what remains of ancient microbes on the walls of the young pharaoh's tomb, surmise that he may have been buried in a hurry, so quickly that the walls had not even dried when the tomb was closed." Source: ABC News (2006).

"Due to the sudden death of Tutankhamun (King Tut), it was believed that probably not enough time was available to properly finish King Tut’s tomb. Instead, it was believed that the tomb that was appointed to him was that of his vizier Ay (Aye). This was made apparent through the tomb’s size as most kings had larger and more elaborate tombs compared to King Tut. Not only was the tomb considered to be on the smaller side, but the burial chamber was the only room that had been painted within the structure. This conceivable late-planning tactic was further reaffirmed as the tomb only had a few large figures painted on the walls." Source: KingTutOne, Ancient Egypt Online.

Maze Of Tombs With 40 (?) Perfectly Preserved Mummies Discovered In Egypt

"Archaeologists have discovered a maze of tombs in Egypt holding tens of mummies, of all ages, possibly dating back to the Ptolemaic dynasty, which lasted from 305 to 30 B.C." Source: Live Science.

"The mummies, which likely belonged to a family from the elite middle class, were discovered at the Egyptian archaeological site called Tuna el-Gebel, which lies to the west of the Nile River, the Egyptian antiquities ministry announced. The burials date back to a line of rulers descended from Ptolemy Soter, who was one of Alexander the Great's generals."

Note: "Archaeologists have been exploring Tuna el-Gebel cemeteries for about 80 years. For instance, in 1934, archaeologists announced they had discovered fragments painted with mythical scenes at a house at the site, showing episodes of Agamemnon and Oedipus legends, according to a New York Times article. In 2017, they discovered a cemetery at el-Gebel with underground catacombs. And just last February, the discovery of a cemetery with mummified high priests was announced." (Live Science)

500-Year-Old Greenland Mummies Had Heart Disease

"Five mummies lay entombed in ice in Greenland for some 500 years, their flesh, muscles and even their blood vessels sealed off from the vagaries of decay. Now, scientists have analyzed the mummies to find that some of them had arteries that were coated with plaque, a sign of atherosclerosis." Source: Live Science.

Egyptian Mummy Oldest Heart Disease Case

Video from 2015.

"An ancient Egyptian princess would have needed bypass surgery if she'd lived today, according to researchers who examined the mummy and found blocked arteries in her heart in what's now the oldest case of human heart disease." Source: Live Science (2011).

"And she wasn't the only one: An investigation of 44 mummies revealed that nearly half had evidence of calcification in their arteries, or atherosclerosis."

Report from 2011.

Mummy Of Egyptian Princess (?) Probably Dismembered By Tomb Raiders

Note: I'm not sure whose mummy this is. According to Wikipedia, "KV64 is the tomb of an (as yet) unknown 18th Dynasty burial re-used in the 22nd Dynasty for an intrusive burial of the lady Nehmes Bastet, a singer at the temple of Karnak, in the Valley of the Kings, near Luxor, Egypt. It is located on the pathway to Tomb KV34 (Thuthmosis III) in the main Valley of the Kings. KV64 was found by Dr Elina Paulin-Grothe of the University of Basel."

Incidentally, tomb-robbers weren't the only ones responsible for mummy mutilations. According to journalist Jo Marchant's account of the discovery of KV64, the mummy of Nehemes-Bastet was still wrapped and covered with a black resin that made it impossible to remove without damage. The famous archaeologist, Howard Carter, ran into the same thing when he discovered the tomb of King Tut, but he apparently wasn't too worried about it:

"...Howard Carter had the same problem when he unwrapped the mummy of Tutankhamun in 1925. Undaunted, he cut the mummy into pieces and scraped it out with hot knives..."

Related: Tomb Robbing in Ancient Egypt.

The Dog Catacombs Of Anubis

Video from 2015. Good images. Bad audio.

"Animal sacrifice was rampant in ancient Egypt, and underneath the country’s earliest pyramid [the Pyramid of Djoser aka the Step Pyramid] lie remnants of around 8 million mummified animals." Source: The Daily Beast.

Notes: The quote above is misleading because it makes it sound like these mummified animals were discovered under the famous Step Pyramid. In reality, the Catacombs of Anubis aka the Dog Catacombs are located under the desert to the northeast of the pyramid.

"The Dog Catacombs, as they are known, date to 747-730 B.C., and are dedicated to Anubis, the Egyptians' jackal-headed god of the dead," according to Live Science (2011). "They were first documented in the 19th century; however, they were never fully excavated."

 "According to a new research study, a 5,000 square foot network of underground tunnels are stuffed full of linen-wrapped dogs, along with a few foxes and cats laid to rest thousands of years ago by the cult following of a canine-like deity [Anubis] who Egyptians believed would usher them into the afterlife." (Daily Beast)

"A few of these animals presumably lived in the Anubieion temple at Saqqara, revered as living representatives of the god ... Their mummies might be categorized as those of 'sacred animals' ... who were worshipped during their lifetimes as manifestations of the god, and then mummified and buried with great pomp after their death." -- Killing Man's Best Friend?, Archaeological Review From Cambridge, 2013.