Friday March 29th, 2024
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Ancient Egyptian Mummification Workshop Unearthed in Saqqara

It could provide invaluable insight into mummification process from the 26th Dynasty.

Staff Writer

In the vast Saqqara necropolis, near ancient-Egypt's capital of Memphis, a German-Egyptian archaeological mission dug up a 2500-year-old mummification workshop containing a collection of artefacts like a gilded silver mummy mask and fragments of mummy cartonnages, reports Sky News.

"The finding of this mask could be called a sensation," Ramadan Hussein, the head of the German-Egyptian mission, said to CTV News. "Very few masks of precious metals have been preserved to the present day, because the tombs of most Ancient Egyptian dignitaries were looted in ancient times."The mummification workshop also had an embalmer's cachette holding a large collection of pottery vessels, bowls and measuring cups. The excavation mission believes the findings will provide invaluable insight into the mummification process by Pharaohs of the 26th dynasty. "We are in front of a goldmine of information about the chemical composition of these oils," said Hussein.The site - which was last excavated a century ago - also includes a shaft which was used as a communal burial place in the Saiet-Persian period, which ended in 404 BC. The shaft is comprised of burial chambers carved into the bedrock lining the sides of two hallways.

The Grand Egyptian Museum, reportedly set to partially open later this year, will be the final resting place of the newly unearthed artefacts.