New Mummies Discovered In Egypt Might Help Us Finally Find Cleopatra’s Tomb
I’ll fully cop to not being much of an ancient history buff, but when it comes to all the weird myths and tales of the ancient Egyptians, pass me the damn popcorn because I’m ready for the tea.
One of those tales is of Egypt‘s last ruler and reputedly hot bitch, Cleopatra.
While we seem to know a lot about her — that she invented makeup and died by suicide rather than bow down to Octavian, the future first emperor of Rome, etc etc — no-one ever found where she was buried. But a recent discovery of new mummies in Egypt might have changed all that.
As reported by The Guardian, two mummified bodies of “high-status individuals who lived at the time of Cleopatra” were found at Taposiris Magna. The discovery is being considered a pretty big deal by archeologists because it shows the importance of this necropolis in relation to our ancient Queen.
In a major bummer, water managed to get into the burial chamber despite it being untouched for 2,000 years, so the mummies aren’t in a fab condition (ew).
However they were able to recover evidence that they were originally buried in a gold leaf covering, aka they were fancy and important people. Scientists reckon they could even possibly have rubbed shoulders with Cleopatra.
An x-ray also revealed one was male and the other female, and one had the image of a scarab painted in gold leaf, which symbolises rebirth. Prompting a suggestion that they may have been priests who helped the pharaoh hold on to his power.
If you want to see it for yourself, the discovery was filmed for a new documentary The Hunt for Cleopatra’s Tomb which airs on Channel 5 — here’s a link for you.
Senior lecturer in Egyptology at Liverpool University and doco presenter, Dr Glenn Godenho, reckons the whole discovery is pretty phenomenal.
“Although now covered in dust from 2,000 years underground, at the time these mummies would have been spectacular. To be covered in gold leaf shows they … would have been … important members of society,” he said.
I’m sorry guys, but this is COOL.
(Lead Image: Pexels / David McEachan)
