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Archaeologists May Have Found Egypt’s Most Ancient Mummy

Archaeologists May Have Found Egypt's Oldest Mummy
Archaeologist Zahi Hawass May Have Found Egypt’s Oldest Mummy. Credit: zahi_hawass / Instagram

Archaeologists in Egypt may have found the oldest mummified body ever discovered in the country.

Archaeologist Zahi Hawass, who served as Egypt’s previous minister of antiquities, told CNN on Friday that the 4,300-year-old mummy was a wealthy and prominent man named Djed Sepsh. He lived for 35 years.

“It is the oldest mummy, complete and covered in gold, ever found in Egypt,” he said, adding that it was “the most amazing discovery.”

According to Hawass, he and a group of ten assistants discovered the mummified man 20 meters (66 feet) underground in the Gisr el-Mudir enclosure, which is located in the village of Saqqara and lies in the shadow of the ancient Step Pyramid of Djoser.

Hawass also said that the mummy was located in one of the shafts that the team explored and was encased in a stone coffin that weighed 25 tones and with a lid that weighed five tones by itself.

Complete mummy of a rich man

When the crew lifted the lid, they saw what he described as the “oldest, most beautiful mummy covered in layers of gold, with a band on the head and a bracelet on the chest, which indicates he was a rich man.”

Hawass stated that among the numerous other objects from the Old Kingdom that were found were two tombs. According to Hawass, one of the tombs dates back to the reign of King Unas of the Fifth Dynasty, which occurred between 2494 and 2487 BC.

In addition, nine statues were discovered hidden behind a false door, and one of the shafts included three statues that each represented a single person.

The statues are important because they give us “knowledge for the first time about art in the Old Kingdom. It includes double statues, single statues, servant statues, all type of different statues,” the archeologist said.

Another stone coffin resembling the one that contained the mummified wealthy man was discovered, and it is expected to be opened the following week.

Mummies only ‘second after the King’

Important Mummies only 'second after the King'
Important Mummies only ‘second after the King’ found by archaeologist. Credit: zahi_hawass / Instagram

According to Hawass, the fact that this cemetery was found indicates that the people buried there were very important, “second after the King.”

According to the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, the Step Pyramid is the oldest known ancient Egyptian stone structure. It was constructed between the years 2667 and 2648 BC, at the beginning of the Third Dynasty, and is considered to be the first pyramid ever built by the ancient Egyptians.

In 2021, the burial temple of Queen Nearit, who was the wife of King Teti, the first king of the sixth dynasty of the Old Kingdom, was discovered in the vast necropolis of Saqqara, which is located approximately 32 kilometers (20 miles) south of Cairo.

Moreover, at the same location in the same year, archaeologists uncovered the tomb of King Ramses II‘s Chief Treasurer, who governed Egypt between 1279 and 1213 BC.

Moreover, King Ramses II controlled Egypt between 1279 and 1213 BC. In May of the previous year, archaeologists working at the site discovered an extensive trove of ancient bronze statues and sarcophagi.

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