Valley of the “Golden Mummies” in Egypt.. Creativity that gives life and beauty to the history of the dead

When humans die, their bodies temporarily fade, but the equation of the ancient Egyptians - over their long ages - adhered to another rule of survival embroidered with beauty, as highlighted by the tomb of the "Valley of the Golden Mummies", the second most important Egyptian discovery in the 20th century, after the tomb of Tutankhamun.

Those mummies were not wrapped in wraps that preserve the mummified bodies of the dead and treated with oils and resins (gums), and they are surrounded by the rituals of the pharaohs and under the protection of the spells of these ancients.

The Valley of the Golden Mummies was known in the Roman and Greek periods (31-323 BC). It is located in the Bahariya Oasis area in the Western Desert of Egypt, about 420 km from Cairo.

The cemetery of the valley of these mummies gives an additional life to the history of the ancient human beings, to dazzle the eyes with the beauty adorned by the wonderful gold collectibles.

The second largest archaeological find

According to identical archaeological sources reported by local media, the tomb, which was officially reopened on November 12, 2021, was discovered in the late nineties of the last century by an Egyptian mission headed by the famous Egyptologist Zahi Hawass.

The tomb is the second largest discovery in Egypt after the English archaeologist Howard Carter reached at the beginning of the last century, with the discovery of the tomb of the most famous pharaoh, Tutankhamun, and its unprecedented golden treasures in November 1992.

Those mummies were not wrapped in wraps that preserve the mummified bodies of the dead and treated with oils and resins (gums) (Anatolia Agency)

The Golden Mummies Cemetery occupies an area of ​​36 square kilometers, and is considered the largest cemetery in the Nile Valley, and most of it contains the mummies of notables and nobles.

Unofficial accounts say that in 1996, a guard led one of the archaeological temples near the cemetery to this discovery, after his beast stumbled while walking in one of the areas. about her secrets.

Indeed, Hawass' mission ended with the discovery of a huge tomb showing mummies, most of them with gilded masks and chests, and decorated with hieroglyphic inscriptions and religious drawings.

This was followed by - after several seasons of archaeological excavation - the excavation of about 250 mummies, whose number is unofficially estimated at about 10,000.

In an article published in a newspaper, Hawass narrated the details of what he called "the story of the Valley of Gold", in which he stated that in March 1999, 6 kilometers from the city of Bawiti, the capital of Bahariya Oasis, he revealed the Valley of the Golden Mummies.

The Egyptologist added that during the first excavation season, I removed the sand from more than 100 complete mummies, as such a large number of mummies had never before been discovered, and in a good state of preservation.

golden mummies

The mummies date back to the Greco-Roman era;

It showed different models and styles of art, and a representation of all social classes that lived in this era.

Some of the mummies were covered with a layer of gold from the head to the chest area, which reflects the wealth of their owners, according to Hawass.

The Valley of the Golden Mummies was known in the Roman and Greek periods (323-31 BC), and is located in the Bahariya Oasis area (Anatolia).

It is estimated that there are 10,000 mummies in the Golden Valley, and it takes 50 years for excavation works to be completed, all of them.

The mummies discovered at that time with gilded faces, according to Hawass, were widely known worldwide, and their pictures occupied the covers of the most famous magazines in Europe, the United States and Japan.

Special issues of all magazines specialized in the field of antiquities, which are published in the United States and Europe, were also devoted to this discovery.

The golden mummies are not "just beautiful mummies. Rather, they helped answer many questions that revolve around the history of the oases, their political and economic conditions, and the daily life of the inhabitants of Bahariya oases during different antiquity," Hawass added.

In January 2001, when Hawass was holding the position of director of the Giza Antiquities District, he said in press statements that "these mummies illustrate and chronicle the life that the ancient Egyptian lived in this time period, and the continuity of the Egyptian religion, despite the existence of special Greek and Roman beliefs." the rulers of this period.