One, an unusually well-preserved mummy which escaped plunder by thieves over the ages, could contain scores of gold amulets in the folds of its linen wrappings, Egypt's chief archaeologist Zahi Hawass said.Archaeologists find THIRTY Egyptian mummies... and at least one may have been buried with scores of gold amulets have found 30 mummies inside a sealed tomb in the world's oldest standing step pyramid at Saqqara. One, an unusually well-preserved mummy which escaped plunder by thieves over the ages, could contain scores of gold amulets in the folds of its linen wrappings, Egypt's chief archaeologist Zahi Hawass said.
Egypt's antiquities chief Zahi Hawass (l) brushes away the sand to reveal a wooden sarcophagus, one of eight sarcophagi found inside a 26th dynasty limestone burial chamber. 'It is a typical mummy of the 26th dynasty...This mummy should contain amulets, golden amulets, to help the deceased go to the afterlife,' Hawass said after ascending from the burial chamber on a rope pulley. 'To find an intact mummy inside a limestone sarcophagus is not common. It's rare. It's very rare,' he said.
Archaeologists found the ancient mummy when they removed the lid of its limestone sarcophagus deep in a burial chamber in the desert on the western side of Saqqara, about 12 miles south of Cairo. The 26th dynasty ruled Egypt from about 664 to 525 BC, immediately before Persians occupied the area. Hawass said the mummy found in the sarcophagus, believed to be the original owner of the burial room, would undergo scans to determine if it did contain amulets.
It is unusual to find intact burials in well-known necropolises such as Saqqara, which served the nearby city of Memphis, because thieves ransacked the area over the years. (Source: Daily Mail)
