The identity of the main mummy found in the tomb was not known, but Hawass said he would have been wealthy. The lid of his sarcophagus was cracked, but Hawass said it had been sealed with mortar in antiquity, preserving the mummy.
"If a mummy is inside the limestone sarcophagus, it means this person is rich," he said.
Of the roughly 30 mummies found inside the burial chamber alongside the limestone sarcophagus and its mummy, Hawass said some would have been poor and some wealthy. They may have been relatives of the original owner.
Most of the additional mummies were found in niches in the walls of the burial room, about 11 metres (34 feet) below ground level, and they included four mummies buried with a dog. But the finds also included two anthropoid wood coffins with hieroglyphic inscriptions.
Hawass found a 26th dynasty mummy in one of the wood coffins when he opened it on Wednesday after brushing away loose sand. The other wood coffin was deemed too fragile, and would be opened later after conservation efforts.
The Associated Press
Inside the chamber, 22 mummies lay covered only by sand in four niches dug into the chamber's walls. Most were badly decomposed, showing only skulls and parts of skeletons, with decayed mummy wrappings. The sarcophagi were placed throughout the room.
A dog's mummy — possibly of a pet — was also found along with mummies of children, prompting speculation the chamber holds the remains of a large family, with the richer, more prominent members, buried in the sarcophagi.
2 comments:
Two Australian men have purchased a papyrus from a deceased estate in Western australia which turned out to be real, from the tomb of Tchaenhoy 1100BC. In effect a lost treasure. The papyrus was found with another tourist papyrus which had been specifically drawn to hide the real papyrus when placed over the top of it in a frame. The papyrus was also found with a painting by Vlase Zanalis called "The Miner" which turned out to be a famous painting owned by Claude de Bernales a famous Mining entrepeneur from France who supplied the finance to the Kalgoorlie gold mines in Western australia in the early 1900's. Claude de Bernales father was a Basque General living in France in the mid 1800's, the French military controlled all Egyptian antiquities at the time and somehow this piece came into his hands and ended up in his sons estate. See the pictures of the real thing at http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=434946894&albumId=846273. The original "Book of the dead"- "Judgement Scene" of Tchaenhouy has had a signature added and two false cartouches at either end to hide it and to make it seem like a tourist item. The other fake papyrus was drawn to hide it, the cartouches at either end fit into each other as do the heiroglyphics within them, also the male and female figure in the main scene exactly cover all the figures and heiroglyphics at the top in the main scene of the real Tchaenhouy papyrus. Tchaenhouy was a Pharoah around 1100 BCE and ruled between the 2oth and 21st dynasty. This find was reported in "The Sunday Times" in Western Australia in March 2007. The find is being examined and tested forensically by Dr. R. John Watling of the University of Western Australia.
I have been sent this story by a lot of people but I haven't posted it because there's something about it that doesn't ring true. I'm just waiting to see.
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