From looking at the history timeline from the past 200,000 years and farther, there are so many different discoveries that have been made and found to explain the movement of how us humans are today. Archaeologists travel the world into finding new treasures and discoveries in places nobody would ever thought to exist. To go back in time to a specific moment in history, the story begins to unfold in one of the biggest discoveries ever made in Egypt. The site was undisturbed for over 2 millennia until 1996 by a man named Dr. Zahi Hawass finding a site full a mummies. So what is a mummy? A mummy is a deceased human or animal that the skin and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air. This is so that the recovered body will not decay further if kept in cool and dry conditions. In this site, there was an estimation of 10,000 mummies to be found and yet the excavation still connotes to find more and more (Howard L, 134). Currently, there is an increase of tourism and seen hotels have been built around the founding (Hawass, 475). This site, located in the Bahariyan Oasis, is known as the Valley of Golden Mummies.
Egypt is known as one of the most creative eras known in history. Egypt had a great succession or many foreign rulers who adopted these ways, with the claims of having pharaohs (Werner, 80). Egyptology responds to broader shifts in the society that shares the same common goal that Amelia Edwards had. (Schneider, 58). This is done so in educational context, it is very much different (Schneider, 58). While the importance of Egypt has been a big development of human culture, it has been increasingly recognized in the last decades (Schneider 58). There has been an increase in the interest of the public (Schneider, 58). Ancient Egypt is the third cultural pillar of European civilization (Schneider, 59). Egypt is amazing when researching and exploring one of the longest lasting civilizations of humankind in history. (Schneider, 58). The use of Egyptology provides an exceptional case study of human culture (Schneider, 58). From, James Henry Breasted coined for the Oriental Institute, “a laboratory for the investigation of the early career of man” (Schneider, 58).
Before going into extreme detail about this, lets start from the beginning. How was this amazing discovery found? One of the antiquities guards, Abdul Megoud, was riding on his donkey in the Oasis and the donkey's leg stumbled in a hole, revealing an opening in the ground (Howard L, 134). When Megoud peered through the hole, he saw gold glittering in the distance with a tomb full of mummies (Howard L, 134).
The Bahariyan Oasis is located in the Western Desert in Egypt, being about 250 miles southwest from Cairo and about 380 km from the pyramids (Hawass, 2015). Bahariyan Oasis is known to be a major agricultural center during the Pharaonic era. The Oasis is known to be this because they grew crops that included: dates, olives, apricots, rice, and corn. Also, the wildlife is plentiful, especially birds such as wheatears. And it is known for its wine as far back as the Middle Kingdom (Howard L, 134). Wine was exported from the Nile Valley (Hawass, 2015). It was surrounded by black hills made up of quartzite and dolorite which made this known as the Black and White Deserts. The Black Desert was formed through wind erosion as the nearby volcanic mountains were spewed over the desert floor. As of culturally and agriculturally, the citizens in this area are a mix of people from the Nile Valley and Bedouins from Libya. The people were never fully Christianized but had their own bishop. Also, the people seemed to be very wealthy because almost all of the mummies showed that the people could afford to have gilding and cartonnage that had scenes carved on it (Hawass, 1).
From the finding of the Valley of Golden Mummies in 1996, there were a total of 4 tombs excavated. When Dr. Hawass found the mummies, they were excavated and discovered to be approximately 2,000 years old. These mummies found had four types of categories: covered with a very thin layer of gold, covered with cartonnage and scenes depicted, buried in anthropoid coffins, and mummies are wrapped in linen (Mcreese, 2014). For the mummies that were covered in a thin layer of gold, this proves to be a sign of the wealthiest and highest class like the Pharaoh. Some other mummies that were found were covered in cartonage. Cartonnage is a type of material that was used as funerary masks that were layers of linen or papyrus covered with plaster (Mcreese, 2014). On the cartonnage, the Egyptians painted scenes that involved gods and goddesses that covered the head and upper body (Mcreese, 2014). The eyes that were painted on the cartonnage were lifelike as well. From the masks having painted lifelike faces of people, each one was different. Some of them had colorful scenes painted by mortuary artists. For example, some of the paintings had people bearing offerings to ancient Egyptian gods. Another example that was found, was a painting of a crown with the insignia of Horus (Mcreese, 2014). Horus is the principle deity of living rulers. Some were found in porcelain caskets or canvas wrapping that were untouched by the tomb robbers (Mcreese, 2014). For Dr. Hawass, this was shocking because these specifically were found and located in an area where the villagers at this time were collecting stone for building (Mcreese, 2014). Furthermore, some mummies were also buried inside anthropoid coffins. These kind of coffins are made out of pottery that have human faces on them (Hawass, 1). Finally, in the lowest class, Egyptians were buried with linen and were wrapped very poorly. From the bodies being wrapped poorly and not as well as the others, when excavated, these were not as preserved (Mcreese, 2014). Dr. Hawass said, “Safety was a real issue here, for the tombs are a maze of corridors, sometimes up to twenty-five feet below ground. Cracks were apparent in the ceiling and on the sides of the walls of the first chamber” (Hawass, 476).
To continue, these burials were deliberate. How so? One of the mummies that Dr. Hawass found was a guided lady with her head turned toward the face of her husband with love and affection (Howard L, 134). Furthermore, some of them were buried in groups of families. With that being. said, the children of these families were covered with gold (Hawass, 1). Furthermore, one mummy specifically was a women that had a crown with four decorative rows of red-colored curls (Hawass, 1). The curls were created rom her forehead to behind her ears. Underneath the crown, her hairstyle is similar to the Terracotta statues (Hawass, 1).
The art of a community is a big impact for the reason that it explains the religion and beliefs. Much of the artwork that was depicted on these mummies and on the walls in the tombs represented a form of judgement of the dead. In the Bahariyian Oasis, the people believed in a mummy god, the God of death, known as Anubis. He played a huge hole in several ways to the Bahariyians. He played a confirmed role of having judgement scenes where he operated a scale that the heart is weighed against a feather of Maat (Mcreese, 2014). While Anubis is doing this, Thoth, who is the God of knowledge, records the result of the weighing process and reports it to (Mcreese, 2014). Secondly, he believed in a technique known as enbalming. This is a basic condition of rebirth. What Anubis did was he would protect the body of the deceased and assist in its revival of coming back to life (Mcreese, 2014). While in the tomb, there would be these scenes of Anubis doing mummification rites on coffins and their masks as well (Mcreese, 2014). Another piece of art that was found was the scene of Eyfu being prepared for the afterlife by Anubis (Mcreese, 2014). Eyuf's 12-ton sarcophagus is adorned with rock-carved portraits and profiles of the mayor (Mcreese, 2014). Eyuf was a native of Bahariya. By his sarcophagus, there was large amounts of hematite. Dr. Hawass said, “When I entered the tomb I felt the hematite prickle my chest like thorns. Perhaps Eyuf put the yellow powder to protect his tomb from unwelcome visitors” (Mcreese, 2014).
Artifacts also plays a big role in showing the agriculture and the workforce that the citizens played in the Bahariyan Oasis. One of the biggest findings was these small statues of mourning ladies that were made out of pottery (Hawass, 1).. It was represented as the women weeping for the deceased for eternity (Hawass, 1). Also, the people created clay statuettes that were depicted as mothers symbolizing fertility (Hawass, 1).. Found on the site was also jewelry such as bracelets, earrings, and coins that were made out of silver, copper, bronze, faience, and ivory (Hawass, 1).. Some of this jewelry was found on a mummy that was clothed out of roman robes (Mcreese, 2014). The mummy was entombed in a decorated gypsum sarcophagus that was 38 inches tall. This was depicted as a woman or a girl who died in the Greco-Roman period about 2,300 years ago (Werner, 80). From this finding, it proves that there was an existence of a large Greco-Roman civilization nearby (Werner, 80). Small glass vessels, in different shapes and sizes, were found empty but it was believed that they have held symbolic tears that were shed by the deceased passing (Mcreese, 2014). Finally, Dr. Hawass and his team also found a sheet of gold depicting the four sons of the ancient Egyptian sky god Horus: Imsety, Duamutef, Hapi and Qebehsenuef (Hawass, 1). The interior design consisted of a long stairway leading to a corridor which ends in a hall. Each corner of the hall contains mastabas that were used in burning the deceased. Mastabas are rectangular structures found above many Egyptian tombs (Mcreese, 2014). This was set in covering over 1,250 square miles in Egypt's Western Desert near the city of Bawiti (Mcreese, 2014). In the background, the Bahariya Oasis consists of colonies of palm trees and hot springs, with black hills (Mcreese, 2014). But there was no trace of pyramids or mausoleums.
This site, located in the Bahariyan Oasis, is known as the Valley of Golden Mummies. From Dr. Hawass’s discovery, Egypt is known as one of the biggest and long lasting civilizations known in history, even to today. The Valley of Golden Mummies is an amazing discovery that will inspire and intrigue many around the world to come and explore what was found. If a donkey did not trip and create a hole in the ground, who knows if this discovery was ever thought to be found from a accident that occurred in the Bahariyan Oasis in 1996. As Dr. Hawass quotes, “Never before have such a number of mummies been found in a single site in Egypt. I could not believe such a beautiful specimens existed” (Puleo, 1999). We will have to wait until the next digging season to find out, but expect nothing less than spectacular.