Archaeology / Egypt, discovered 57 tombs with mummies
dating from the second millennium BC
Cairo, May 24 (AP) - A group of archaeologists has discovered 57 ancient Egyptian tombs, most of which contain a painted wooden sarcophagus with a mummy inside. The oldest date back to 2750 BC Twelve, in particular, belong to the 18th dynasty of emperors who led Egypt during the second millennium before Christ.
The graves were found in Lahoun in the region of Fayoum, about fifty miles south of Cairo. Last year, in the same area, were discovered other tombs from different periods of ancient Egypt.
article:
http://notizie.virgilio.it/notizie/esteri/2010/05_maggio/23/archeologia_egitto_scoperte_57_tombe_con_mummie, 24436711.html
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Egypt discovered 57 ancient tombs
May 24, 2010
The oldest tombs date from the Archaic period around 2750 BC, between the first and the second dynasty of pharaohs, and before it started what is now called the Old Kingdom. One of these tombs, said the archaeologist Abdel Rahman El-Aydi, is "almost completely intact, with a wooden sarcophagus containing the mummy and the funeral of the deceased. Other graves are newer and twelve of the mummies date from the eighteenth dynasty, between the sixteenth and thirteenth BC, famous for the Amenophis IV and Tutankhamun . Not that all the burials were, of course, of the pharaohs: the Supreme Council for Antiquities in Egypt has not explained, but it seems not to be found the tombs of kings, but perhaps of dignitaries who lived around the royal family.
were found on the mummy bandages decorated with texts from the so-called Book of the Dead and this, in addition to the numerous representations of deities (including Aton, the Sun, worshiped by the heretic Pharaoh Amenophis IV or Amenhotep IV, who had sent for Akhenaton ) lead archaeologists to believe that these findings are important on a cultural, rather than on that of precious objects that strike the imagination and in this case are not there anymore. The tombs discovered in Egypt, in fact, they do not appear to be exceptions, usually already have been visited by robbers in ancient times and are therefore not the most valuable items.
article:
http://www.diregiovani.it/gw/producer/dettaglio.aspx?id_doc=36184
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Another interesting article is in the site "historical fact" on this address:
http://ilfattostorico.com/2010/05/23/45-tombe-egizie-a-lahoun/
