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Unearthed Cemetery In Egypt May Contain One Million Mummies!

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The mummies appear to have been buried between the 1st and 7th centuries when Egypt was controlled by the Roman and Byzantine Empire.

A cemetery containing more than a million mummified human bodies has been unearthed in central Egypt, according to archaeologists. Scientists have already excavated more than 1,700 mummies, preserved by the hot dry desert in the Faiyum region of Egypt about 60 miles (96km) south of Cairo. But those leading the work believe their could be up to a million similar bodies buried in shafts cut into the limestone rock that are at times up to 75ft (22.9 metres) deep.
They have also discovered that the mummies appear to be clustered together by hair colour, with those with blond hair in one area and all of those with red hair in another.
Cemetery with one MILLION mummies unearthed in Egypt | Daily Mail Online

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-don
  • Profile picture of the author Rod Cortez
    Wow! I love stories like these. That's a lot of mummies! They've dug up 1,700 of them so far. They've got a lot of work ahead of them.

    RoD
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    • Profile picture of the author AprilCT
      I have definitely got mixed feelings about digging up burial grounds. Imagine some scientists come by here in 1200-1500 years and decide to check out all the graves in the cemeteries to conduct their research, maybe just to see if they can figure out how each one died. Graves weren't meant to be disturbed back then or now. There can be some compelling reasons, but surely not every graveyard has one.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
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    They have also discovered that the mummies appear to be clustered together by hair colour, with those with blond hair in one area and all of those with red hair in another.
    Great, segregated mummies. This should piss someone off.
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    • Profile picture of the author HeySal
      Originally Posted by yukon View Post

      Great, segregated mummies. This should piss someone off.
      LOL - ya think?

      We had a few mummies here found - red hair, around 7' tall. They were donated to the Smithsonian to be NOT heard of since. Drat - now I have to go email an archaeologist friend and see what the dates on those graves were estimated at. Might be the same race of people and would give a little clue where they came from.
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      Sal
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      • Profile picture of the author AprilCT
        HeySal, there was a large road put through not all that far away from me. During the blasting and digging, Indian burial mounds were found. It was quite a very long time ago, but if I remember correctly, the Indians (not sure whom or from where) had to be consulted on how to handle this. In any event, I don't suppose there are any relatives who would know where their ancestors were buried and are being dug up and studied.
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        • Profile picture of the author HeySal
          Originally Posted by AprilCT View Post

          HeySal, there was a large road put through not all that far away from me. During the blasting and digging, Indian burial mounds were found. It was quite a very long time ago, but if I remember correctly, the Indians (not sure whom or from where) had to be consulted on how to handle this. In any event, I don't suppose there are any relatives who would know where their ancestors were buried and are being dug up and studied.
          Then they might know, too. Natives have very strong spiritual beliefs tied to their burial grounds. If they were no longer around - who would really bother? As it is, they are here, and they have to give permission for us to do such a thing. That's okay. Obviously, this cemetery is old enough not to have representation among the living that find the excavation offensive.

          Max - there have been some here and there, but nothing of this magnitude.
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          Sal
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          • Profile picture of the author AprilCT
            The bodies weren't processed before burial. Placement in the hot sand and with the dry weather, they were naturally mummified.
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    Don - saw this one in my archaeology alerts yesterday. It's a very interesting site as it's not kings or slaves -- it's the graves of the common people this time. It should give us some new insights to the lives and beliefs of the commoners of that era.

    April -- do you really care what happens to your bones thousands of years from now? Give them more time and a lot of cemeteries will be destroyed by natural earth events anyway most likely. If there were a live group of ancestors that felt it were being desecrated, that might be different. There seems not to be, though. We stand to learn so much from archaeology. It would seem more unusual to me to not study it than to do so. A lot of what we know about our human past comes from grave sites. It would be a shame to pass up that knowledge.
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    Sal
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    • Profile picture of the author lanfear63
      What bugs me is where are all the Daddies buried?
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  • Profile picture of the author Max Winner
    Wonder if this is the first time anyone discovered common people as mummies....its really interesting
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