In addition to serving as priests and undertakers, ancient Egyptian embalmers were real-estate salesmen, too. “It was a huge industry,” Hussein says.īut a mummy’s journey didn’t end with embalming and burial-and neither did the income stream. The towering pyramids of the pharaohs and the glittering gold from King Tutankhamun’s tomb are familiar reminders of the lengths the richest Egyptians went to to ensure they would spend eternity in style. The discovery has been a boon for scholars who study ancient Egyptian burial practices, offering a unique look at the sacred rites-and gritty realities-of mummification. “Instructions are written directly on the objects.” (Related: Archaeologists uncover an embalming recipe some 5,600 years old.) Sacred rites, gritty realities “Every single cup or bowl has the name of the substance it held, and the days of the embalming procedure it was used,” Hussein says. Over the past year, pottery experts were able to piece together the ceramic sherds, reconstructing hundreds of small bowls and jars, each one inscribed with a label. “You want constant movement of air when you’re dealing with cadavers.” “If you’re doing evisceration down there, you need air moving in to get rid of insects,” Hussein says. The clues suggested to Hussein that the chamber had been a mummification workshop, complete with an industrial-strength incense burner, drainage channels to funnel blood, and a natural ventilation system.
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