- Dr Nasri Eskander, the Director of Research and
Restoration
Department of Egyptian Antiquities, announced that the mummies found in
Bahariya Oasis were not discovered in 1999 as it is believed, but in 1991.
He told the Wafd newspaper in 20/4/01 that:
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- "The mummies discovered recently in the Baharia
Oasis are not golden mummies. The small burial amulets found with these
mummies are not made of gold, although it is used to decide the date of
the tombs. The discovered bodies have masks that point to the Roman period.
He also said that the mummification process used with these bodies is bad
and does not follow what we are accustomed with in the Pharaonic periods.
Eskander said that the discovery announced in 1999 took place earlier in
1991/92."
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- When Egypt announced the discovery of the Golden Mummies
in 1999, this was declared to be the most important find since Howard
Carter
opened Tutankhamun's tomb 79 years ago. However, Dr. Nasri Eskander has
shown that, not only the Bahariya remains were discovered 8 years earlier,
but also they were neither golden nor even mummies. Eskander told me that
he personally took part in the work at Bahariya tombs, when it was
accidentally
discovered in 1991. While the guard of Alexander's temple was riding his
donkey on his way to work, he fell into a hole in the ground. The guard
reported the accident to his boss El-Ashri Shaker, the local director of
antiquities, who soon realised that there were tombs under the road. Shaker
got his men, dug up the area and cleared forty bodies. According to Dr.
Eskander, these were badly mummified bodies so only bones were found.
Instead
of the usual bandages the bodies were rapped in linen cloth. Except for
few thin golden plates, no gold was discovered in these tombs, only
amulets.
No copy of the Book of the Dead was found in these burials and no
hieroglyphic
texts, even the names of the majority of these bodies are not known. As
it had no historical value, the antiquity authorities at the time decided
neither to carry on clearing the tombs nor to announce the discovery to
the press.
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- The great publicity for the Golden Mummies launched by
Fox TV two years ago, that claimed to be a live event, now appears to be
misleading. As Hollywood was getting ready to release its new production
about The Mummy in 1999, the American media was eager to establish the
Baharia find as the most important discovery of the century. Dr. Zahi
Hawass,
the director of Giza antiquities, played an important part in misleading
viewers by claiming that the Bahariya bodies were found live in 1999, and
describing them as being golden mummies. He even welcomed Hollywood's
horror
film as a great event which helps to educate people about Egyptian history.
Following the great box office success, a second film, the Return of the
Mummy, has just been released by Hollywood and coincides with Hawass' announcement of the discovery of more Golden Mummies. American movies were not th
e only
business to gain from the myth of the Golden Mummies. Following the
Antiquity
Organisation's demolition of local houses, tourist companies have rushed
in to buy cheap land in the Bahariya Oasis, and turn it into hotels and
tourist accommodation. Except for the body of the 26th dynasty governor
of the oasis, the remains buried at Bahariya, estimated by Hawass to be
about 10,000, have no historical importance. These were ordinary people
who left no record of historical value. This was the position taken by
Ahmed Fakheri, the great Egyptian archaeologist, about half a century ago.
When Fakhery was working at the Bahariya Oasis in 1947, he found the temple
of Alexander the Great, only one kilometre away from these tombs. He also
mentioned in his report that he did find the location of the tombs,
however,
neither he nor his successors thought it worthy to dig out the bodies as
they were of no historical value.
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- While many people enjoy watching horror movies and see
the destruction of the bad mummy by the good western hero, the mummy had
a different image in ancient Egypt. When the Egyptians recognised that
man has two dimensions, physical and spiritual, they believed that if they
were able to keep the body safe the spirit would return one day, and the
dead would rise again. Contrary to the horror created by mummy movies,
Egyptian mummies represent belief in the resurrection and eternal life.
All countries regard the tombs as sacred dwellings, and forbid exposing
the dead or stealing tomb contents. For this reason President Sadat ordered
the hall of the royal mummies in Cairo Museum to be closed in 1980 however,
it was reopened in 1993. While the benefit of showing the royal mummies
to visitors is clear, what can be gained from exposing 10,000 bodies to
the tourists. Egypt has a great wealth of ancient remains, and is in no
need to expose the bodies of its dead in order to attract the
tourists.
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- "No gold and no mummies - in the Valley of the
Golden
Mummies" by Ahmed Osman first published in al-Shaq al-Awsat 29/4/01
c. Ahmed Osman 2001
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