Egypt to host Austrian travel agencies meet, finds 50 mummies

Austrian Travel Agencies Federation agreed to hold its 44th conference in Egypt on October 23-26, according to the International Tourism Information Unit of the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism. The decision was made after considering several invitations received from a number of other European countries, federation sources told the tourism ministry. Tourism Minister Mamdouh el Beltagui said that Egypt’s hosting of meetings by tour agencies was a key part of the country’s strategy to promote its tourism industry.

Separately, Archaeologists working in Egypt say they have uncovered more than 50 mummies dating back to the first millennium BC.

Two sarcophagi, one wooden with a mummy inside, and the other stone, formed part of the discovery. Officials have hailed the wooden sarcophagus, which dates to the Ptolemaic period (323-30 BC), as the best preserved of its kind in the world.
“This type of discovery happens two or three times in a century,” said Jean-Pierre Adam, a French member of the archaeology team.

“Here, the miracle is that, so close to the surface, we found areas that had already been dug, except these two tombs which remain intact,” he said. French archaeologist Guy Lecuyot said he had spotted the coffins side by side while trying to remove other mummies.

“It was when I was extricating the mummies, which had been looted, that I found the head of the wooden sarcophagus and a gilt head that seemed intact, from the Ptolemaic era,” said Mr. Lecuyot.

The mummies were found in a newly-discovered network of deep shafts and corridors at Saqqara, 25 kilometers south of Cairo.

Head of Egypt’s Antiquities Council Zahi Hawass said Egyptians had used the shafts over several centuries, starting from the 26th dynasty (664-525 BC) through to the Ptolemaic period, which ended with the death of Cleopatra in 30 BC.

“It’s a maze of corridors with mummies everywhere, right and left, up and down,” said Mr. Hawass.

“When people came, there was no more space so they put the coffins in the wall, or they cut another shaft, or they put a mummy above a mummy.”

Mr. Lecuyot said at least one of the Ptolemaic mummies is in exceptional condition in terms of its state of preservation and style.

“I hope that next week we will have a chance to open other sarcophaguses and find other mummies in this state, and the elements will enable us to understand Pharaonic civilisation better,” said Mr. Lecuyot.
The mummy wrappings may contain hundreds of gold amulets, typical of the period, according to Mr. Hawass.

“I have never seen . . . a mummy from the Ptolemaic period that is so unique, that is well preserved,” he said.

“The linen is covering it in a beautiful way.”

Researchers are now trying to precisely date the sarcophagi.В 

eTN Headquarter
author: Nelson Alcantara

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May 25, 2004   Posted in: Egypt