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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!

6 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. Why open it? by Gregg+Alan · · Score: 3, Interesting


    I realize it must be almost impossible to resist opening it to see exactly what's inside but wouldn't it be really cool for a future generation to find something someday?


    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 I see it like a future race opening every casket in a graveyard simply because it's there and there might be another gold ring inside. I'd rather we didn't destroy everything until something like a holodeck can be built to preserve these sites in at least one sense.

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    1. 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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  3. Plunder by hokanomono · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The Egypt government has to decide who may do the excavations and what will become of everything they find. An archeologist may not sell the sarcophagus for his own profit. Of course the Egyptian obelisks found all over Europe are plunder, maybe plundered by archeologist, maybe by militaries. The point is not, who finds it, but who it belongs to. A plunderer is a kind of thief.

    Not all archeologists are white. There are Egyptian archeologists working for Egypt's government. I can understand resentments against archeology, but this is about a sarcophagus found recently by Egypt archeologists. Egypt is not a colony anymore. What's the problem?

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  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.

    1. Re:General Rundown by texchanchan · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Re, ... it is not a very culturally significant mummy compared to the king tut mummy...

      Hey now, I don't think a mummy is more culturally significant because in life it was a royal personage. A regular worker or manager mummy is pretty interesting too.

      Although ancient people of any social rank are interesting to learn about, to me the very small middle class is extra-fascinating. Royalty left plenty of written and pictured records of themselves; and peasant life is oppressed peasant life. I can't identify with either. I can, however, identify with scribes, architects, and engineers of the ancient world, and it's them I would like to know more about. Therefore, this find is culturally significant to me.