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Oldest Intact Sarcophagus Found in Egypt

Posted by timothy on from the just-like-new-except-old dept.

soulctcher writes: "Archaeologists in Egypt have found what looks to be the oldest intact sarcophagus. To give an idea of how old, this particular sarcophagus is believed to be about 1100 years older than King Tut. You can read the full story over at Yahoo!

4 of 23 comments (clear)

  1. a history of embalming by littlerubberfeet · · Score: 4, Informative

    the quality of embalming techniques follows a rough bell curve. quality being on the Y axis
    quality --
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    -- --
    -- --
    -- ------------
    Time--------->
    excuse ascii art please. Now, the peak of the curve is about at King Tuts reign. The latter part can be seen in Abussir (spelling?) and other later tombs, especially the hastly constructed ones around the time of roman interaction. The early part of the bell curve is represented by this find and many early specimans, many of which just don't exist. It took centuries for the Eqyptians to discover all the techniques, i.e. which vital organs to remove, what clay compound to embalm and fill with, what chemicals...etc. This is what makes this find truly amazing.

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  2. Some more Egyptology resources by dpp · · Score: 2, Informative

    What was allegedly the first Egyptology site on the web(!) looks like a good starting point for Egyptology resources. They also have some comments on "The Mummy" and "The Mummy Returns" :-)

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    This post is strictly my own opinion and not necessarily that of my employer.
  3. Re:Why open it? by dpp · · Score: 3, Informative
    How about instead of opening it they bury it deeper? I suppose there is always the threat of plunderers and what not, but at some level, is an archeologist any better?

    I guess that modern archaeologists are probably quite a bit better, even if earlier generations were a bit haphazard in their techniques. These days there are non-invasive techniques like computerised X-ray tomography (CAT scans) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for examining the mummy itself, but I suppose you'd still have to open the sarcophagus.

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    This post is strictly my own opinion and not necessarily that of my employer.
  4. General Rundown by mess31173 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Firstly this mummy is of an "overseer of workers who built the pyramids" not a king. They know this because of the hieroglyphics found in his tomb. So, even though it may be a splendid specimen of a mummy and scientifically important, it is not a very culturally significant mummy compared to the king tut mummy or any other mummy for that matter really.

    The mummy is 4,600 years old, and although it may be the "oldest intact sarcophagus ever found" it isn't the oldest mummy ever found.

    That said, it is still cool to find an intact sarcophagus. Shows that there are still important things to be found in Egypt and that their efforts to research that area are not misspent.