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Need to know ~ Topics & Events
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100 ancient coffins discovered in Egypt
Djoser Pyramid at Saqqara, Egypt
Photo: Chmouel, CC BY-SA 3.0
Why current?
2020-11-15
There has been a big find at a burial site in Egypt. The name of the site is Saqqara, which is the location of the oldest Egyptian pyramid – the Djoser Pyramid (also known as the Step Pyramid).
On November 14, 2020, it was reported that at least 100 coffins and some 40 statues were found at the burial site. Many of the coffins contain mummies.
There have been other finds at Saqqara in the past weeks, but this was the biggest. The painted coffins are around 2,500 years old. Other artifacts discovered at the site include canopic jars (containers for the organs that were removed during the mummification process), funeral masks, and small ornaments, or amulets, given to the dead for luck. All of these items will be exhibited at the new Grand Egyptian Museum, set to open in 2021.
One particularly remarkable event of the past days was when a coffin was opened by researchers, and the mummy inside was scanned with an X-ray. The archaeologists could determine from the scan that the body is that of a 40-year-old man.
Since September, a total of about 140 sarcophagi (coffins) have been found at Saqqara. And archaeologists think they will discover more in the coming months, including the remains of a workshop where bodies were mummified.
More about Ancient Egyptian mummies
Why did they mummify bodies?
Egyptians believed in an afterlife. They also believed that a well-preserved body was essential to happiness after death and that in order for the soul to live on, it needed to exist in a perfectly mummified body. The Egyptians developed their methods of preservation to such a high level that 3,000 years later, the bodies they mummified can still give us great insight into how they looked when they were alive.
how to make a mummy –
The Egyptians figured out that to preserve a body, they had to dry it out. And to dry it out, they had to remove as much of the insides as possible. Only special priests had the skill set to perform the required religious rituals, as well as to do the delicate work of mummification. All the internal organs had to be removed through an incision made in the side of the body. The brain was taken out through the nose, using metal hooks, and then was discarded (it was seen as unimportant). The heart, on the other hand, was left in the body; it was supposed to possess the intelligence and the spirit of the person. Whatever organs were removed from the abdomen were put into containers called canopic jars and would later be placed inside the tomb along with the body.
In order to completely dry out the body, it was covered with natron (basically, salt and baking soda). Natron was also put in little bags and placed inside the body. After 70 days, all the natron was removed, and the body was cleaned. It was then often stuffed with soft materials like linen to make it look more life-like.
Next, the body was wrapped up in lots and lots of linen. Sometimes a mask was placed over the face.
Once the body was wrapped, it was placed into a coffin, or sarcophagus, which in turn was brought into the person’s tomb. All kinds of things that the person would need in the afterlife would also be placed inside the tomb. These included food, drink, vehicles, tools, and sometimes even pets and servants. After the funeral ceremony, the entrance to the burial chamber of the tomb was sealed off.
special mummies –
For a while, only pharaohs, the leaders of Egypt, were special enough to get mummified. They had ornate coffins and tombs filled with glittering treasures. High-ranking members of society could later also be mummified, but the process was too expensive for commoners. Some animals were mummified, too!
detectives of the distant past –
People who study mummies, artifacts, and other remains of prehistory are called archaeologists. They spend a great deal of time searching for and digging up remnants of the past. It is hard, often tedious work, but when they unearth something important, it is like finding a puzzle piece that fills a gap in our understanding of prehistory. Archaeologists can look at their findings and use their expertise to fit those findings into a larger context, gradually piecing together a picture of the distant past.
The recent discoveries in Egypt are going to help archaeologists gain a better understanding of life in Ancient Egypt. Using x-rays, researchers are able to study mummies without unwrapping them and can get clues about people’s lives thousands of years ago.
Sources: Associated Press in Cairo, The Guardian, “Nearly 100 coffins buried 2,500 years ago in found in Egypt,” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/14/nearly-100-coffins-buried-over-2500-years-ago-found-in-egypt#:~:text=Egyptian%20antiquities%20officials%20have%20announced,Pharaonic%20necropolis%20south%20of%20Cairo, November 14, 2020; Kwai, Isabella, The New York Times, “Egypt Unearths New Mummies Dating Back 2,500 Years,” https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/15/world/middleeast/egypt-discovery-mummies.html, November 15, 2020; Smithsonian, “Egyptian Mummies,” https://www.si.edu/spotlight/ancient-egypt/mummies.