Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Mystery of the Pharaonic Coffins

Zahi Hawass talking about the opening of KV63: I was first to enter the KV-63, carrying a torch that shed light upon a unique, beautiful scene of seven sealed coffins and large jars that had been hidden for thousands of years. As I announced the discovery, news soon spread everywhere about the unknown tomb. We opened the coffins but found no mummies—only mummification material such as natron, linen and oils. Inside the sixth coffin, we found pillows, which we could not account for had probably been placed there for the dead to enjoy in the hereafter, corresponding to god Osiris waiting to judge the deceased. Among the coffins, there was a small gilded coffin. Coffin 7 was observed by the international media. When I arrived at the Valley of the Kings at 8am, it was silent although there were thousands of tourists and reporters. I went inside the tomb and remembered the coffin opened by Zakaria Ghuneim in the presence of President Jamal Abdul Nasser that was found empty. I asked the Egyptologist Otto Schaden to open the coffin in front of the reporters, so the workers and Schaden began to open it very slowly. With the coffin now opened, we looked inside but did not find the mummy we expected."
See the above page for the full story.
This follows on from a previous article at the URL below, and appears to be part of a series:

No comments: