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Saqqara mummy as one of 2018's top 10 discoveries

Saqqara mummy as one of 2018's top 10 discoveries
 
Archaeology Magazine is featuring the gilded silver mask found in Saqqara this year on the cover of its January/February 2019 issue, after the mummification workshop where it was found was selected as one of the magazine’s top ten archaeological discoveries of 2018.

The discovery of the mask was announced in July in a press conference at Saqqara.

It was part of the discovery of a mummification site dating to the Saite-Persian Period (c.664-404 BC) which included an embalmer’s cachette of pottery, a mummification workshop, and a communal complex of burial chambers.

An Egyptian-German team from the University of Tuebingen, which is carrying out the Saqqara Saite Tombs Project, found a large number of beakers, bowls and amphorae inscribed with names of mummification oils and substances, in addition to embalmer’s instructions.

The vessels preserved sizable amounts of residue of these substances, making them a “dream material” for decoding the secrets of mummification. They are now being tested by an Egyptian-German team of archaeologists and chemists.

The mummification workshop was a rectangular structure built with mudbrick and limestone blocks. It includes two rooms and a mudbrick ramp between them.

Archaeological evidence gathered from the two rooms indicate that they were used for natron and for the preparation of the mummy linen bandages.

The gilded silver mask, the first found in Saqqara since 1905 and in Egypt since 1939, has inlayed calcite, obsidian and onyx eyes, and measures 23 by 18.5 cm.

Gilded silver masks had deep religious meaning, since Egyptian religious texts indicate that the bones of the gods are made of silver, and their flesh/skin are made of gold. Therefore, a mummy mask of silver and gold is step towards the transformation of the deceased into a god.

The Saqqara Saite Tombs Project of the University of Tuebingen will resume documentation and conservation of the mummification workshop and its communal burial chambers in 2019.