A "City of the Dead" with more than 300 tombs was discovered in Egypt: entire mummified families. Photo.
Archaeologists have discovered a huge burial site in Egypt with more than 300 tombs, in which entire families were found. Archaeologists have already called it a new "City of the Dead".
The city of Aswan, where the ancient cemetery was discovered, was founded more than 4500 years ago. It was an important trade, quarrying, and military zone, but no archaeological evidence of the everyday life of its inhabitants has been found so far, DailyMail reports.
During the latest excavations, another 36 tombs were found that had been reused over the centuries.
Source: University of Milan
A team of archaeologists worked at this site for five years. During this time, they found tombs that had been reused for 900 years. Each of them contained 30 to 40 mummies.
Patricia Piacentini, an archaeologist from the University of Milan, said that the burial site covers more than 80 thousand meters and contains up to 10 terraces of ancient tombs located in layers on a hill near the modern Aga Khan III Mausoleum.
Rich people were buried in spacious tombs at the top of the hill.
Source: University of Milan
"This is a really amazing find, very unique to Egypt. The people who once lived in Aswan covered the hill with tombs. It is something like the City of the Dead," said Piacentini.
Aswan was one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, located on the eastern bank of the Nile River. It was originally called Swenett, and later Swan, which means market. After all, this city was on the border, where many goods were delivered and exported.
The first tomb in Aswan was discovered in 2019. Archaeologists found four mummies in it, two of which were lying side by side. "At first we thought it was a mother and child, but new CT scans showed that it was two children," Piacentini said.
"But recently, archaeologists found a woman next to them, who was probably their mother, and the remains of a man, probably their father.
Some of the remains were wrapped in cardboard or papier-mâché material, as well as molds made of fired clay.
Source: University of Milan
The archaeologists also uncovered graves where there were many small families buried together. "We found two or three small groups of family graves that may have died of infectious diseases," added Patricia Piacentini.
Ayman Ashmawy, head of the Egyptian Antiquities Department at the Supreme Council of Antiquities, emphasized that the mummy studies "show that 30 to 40 percent of the buried are newborns or teenagers."
The remains of the children showed signs of illness, anemia, and even malnutrition.
Source: University of Milan
Five years of excavations also revealed that people were buried here according to class. Members of the elite were buried at the top of the hill, including the mummified remains of the commander-in-chief Aswan. The middle class was buried below.
According to scientists, the tombs found date from between the sixth century BC and the ninth century AD. Some of them have an entrance to an open courtyard surrounded by walls of milk bricks. Others are carved directly into the mountain rock.
Many ceramic and wooden objects have been found in the tombs.
Wooden and ceramic household items were found near the tombs.
Source: University of Milan
Archaeologist Patricia Piacentini emphasized that their team will study the mummies in detail, but will not move them to the museum. "This is their resting place. We are revealing their story and then bringing them back and closing the tomb. This was important to me from the very beginning," the researcher summarized.
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