#hekashepes

[blueiscoool]

A 4,300-Year-Old Egyptian Gold-Leaf Covered Mummy Discovered in Egypt

Egyptian archaeologists who have spent years meticulously excavating a site amid the ancient ruins of Saqqara, near Cairo, announced a number of major discoveries on Thursday dating to the fifth and sixth dynasties of Egypt's "Old Kingdom," more than 4,000 years ago. One of the most important was a large, rectangular limestone sarcophagus found at the bottom of a vertical shaft about 50 feet deep.

"The sarcophagus was about 45 tons and the lid was about 5 tons," Dr. Zahi Hawass, the director of the Egyptian excavation team at the Gisr el-Mudir site in the ancient city of Saqqara.

The lid was still sealed onto the sarcophagus with mortar, exactly as it had been left there some 4,300 years ago. It took the archaeologists about two hours of careful work to crack it open.

Inside, they found what Hawass said was the oldest non-royal mummy ever discovered in Egypt. It was also the oldest mummy wrapped in gold leaf ever found in the country, he added.

While the ancient Egyptian at the bottom of the deep shaft was no pharaoh, the elaborate sendoff to the afterlife made it clear they were also no commoner. And there was a name, inscribed on top of the sarcophagus: "HqA-Sps," or Hekashepes.

"Of course, he was important. For someone to make a sarcophagus like this, 15 meters under the ground, he should be a very important man," Hawass said.

But while Hekashepes will earn his place in the history books, the gold-wrapped mummy wasn't Hawass' favorite new discovery at Saqqara, which is part of a sprawling necropolis that used to be the capital of ancient Egypt, known as Memphis. The famed Giza Pyramids are nearby, within the UNESCO World Heritage site of Memphis.

Among the items displayed by Hawass, a veteran Egyptian archaeologist, and his team on Thursday were 14 stone statues found in another a shaft, about 33 feet deep, dating back to the "Old Kingdom," or the Age of the Pyramids, between 2700 and 2200 BC — possibly even older than the mummy of Hekashepes.

"These statues are quite unique," Hawass said. "This is the first time in this century that such a large number of statues was found in Saqqara."

"Today's discovery tells us more about art in the Old Kingdom, mummification, and also about the people who worked there," Hawass said. "One of the tombs was for a priest who was in charge of the pyramids complex of King Unas, the last king of the 5th Dynasty."

It has been a week of landmark announcements by Egyptian archaeologists, with another team revealing the discovery of a massive burial ground in the ancient city of Luxor, close to the ruins of a "complete" Roman-era city nearby.

BY AHMED SHAWKAT.

[blueiscoool]

The Oldest Known Ancient Egyptian Mummy that is Covered with Gold Discovered 

An ancient Egyptian mummy is the oldest covered with gold, but it's not the oldest ancient Egyptian mummy on record.

Archaeologists in Egypt have uncovered a series of tombs dating back around 4,300 years at Saqqara, including a sarcophagus holding the oldest known ancient Egyptian mummy that is covered with gold.

The record-breaking tomb had a sealed sarcophagus containing the mummy of a man that a hieroglyphic inscription identifies as Hekashepes, and whose remains were found covered with gold.

"When the sarcophagus was examined, it was found to be completely sealed with mortar, just as the ancient Egyptians had left it 4300 years ago. When the lid was raised, we found the mummy of a man covered with gold leaf," the team said in a statement posted on the Facebook page of Zahi Hawass, a former minister of antiquities who led the team that made the discoveries.

However, while other news outlets are reporting that this is the oldest Egyptian mummy known to archaeologists, that's not the case. Rather, "This mummy is the oldest complete mummy covered with gold," Hawass said in an email.

Many Egyptologists agree Egypt became unified around 3100 B.C., when the pharaonic state started. However, humans lived in the region as far back as 400,000 years ago. The oldest embalmed mummy in Egypt predates the pharaohs; the remains of a man who was placed in a fetal pose about 6,000 years ago. Meanwhile, the oldest known mummy in the world may be the 8,000-year-old remains of a man found in Portugal.

There is little information about Hekashepes, but it appears that "he was wealthy," Hawass said. Hekashepes' mummy was mummified using artificial methods, is intact and is covered with gold. There are older ancient Egyptian mummies — such as several mummies that date back more than 5,000 years at the site of Gebelein, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of ancient Thebes (modern-day Luxor) — but those are not covered with gold.

According to images posted online of Hekashepes' remains, it appears that his mummy is wearing clothes and doesn't have bandages, Francesco Tiradritti, an Egyptology professor at the Kore University of Enna in Italy who was not involved with these excavations, said in an email. The deceased seems like he was buried wearing a tunic with a belt and large necklace. This may be an attempt "to preserve as much as the living appearance of the deceased," Triadritti said, something that might shine light on religious beliefs at the time this man died.

Tomb with paintings

Another important tomb belongs to a man named "Khnumdjedef" who was an "inspector of the officials," who served the pharaoh Unas (ruled circa 2353 B.C. to 2323 B.C.), according to hieroglyphic inscriptions found in the tomb. His tomb was decorated with wall paintings depicting "scenes of daily life," the statement said. One painting depicts five jars lined up on top of what looks like a table.

From a released photo, it appears that some of the paintings were drawn with "elongated proportions," Tiradritti said. Paintings with elongated proportions became popular long after Khnumdjedef lived, during the First Intermediate Period (circa 2150 B.C. to 2030 B.C.), Tiradritti said. During the First Intermediate Period, a transitional time between the Old Kingdom and the Middle Kingdom, the region experienced a major drought, the central government in Egypt collapsed and the political structure changed.

The newly found paintings "are interesting to understand the evolution of [Egyptian art]," Tiradritti said.

More tombs

Another tomb found in the cemetery belonged to an official named "Meri," whose hieroglyphic inscriptions say held a number of titles, including "keeper of the secrets" and "assistant of the great leader of the palace."

Another tomb belongs to a priest, whose name may have been "Messi," alongside his wife. It contains nine statues, some of which represent servants and one that represents the priest and his wife.

Additionally, the archaeologists found a shaft 33 feet (10 meters) deep that had a stone sarcophagus belonging to a man named "Fetek" at the bottom. He was buried along with three stone statues depicting him as well as an offering table.

Royal transition

From the information released so far, "it looks like the Egyptian mission found a necropolis that can be related to the pyramid of [Unas] and his cult," Tiradritti said. Unas was the last king of the fifth dynasty and it's possible that the newly found tomb may shed light on the transition between the fifth and sixth dynasties of Egypt, Tiradritti said.

After Unas died, a pharaoh named Teti (circa 2323 B.C. to 2291 B.C.), who was not a son of Unas and may have married into the royal family, came to the throne, starting the sixth dynasty. "The reasons for a changing in the royal line is still only a matter of guess," Tiradritti said. The tombs may also help understand Egypt's economy at this time, Tiradritti added, noting that Egyptologists usually see this as being a time of economic decline for Egypt.

By Owen Jarus.