The finding of a mummy that predates the first dynasty has shocked researchers. This mummy is one of the oldest found in Egypt and could lead to a review of what we know about history and Egypt.
The finding was made in Kom al Ahmar, also known as Nejen or Hierakonpolis, the historical capital of Upper Egypt.
Archaeologists were exploring what they assumed was a tomb built during the reign of Narmer, the first Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt and founder of the First Dynasty in the 31th century BC.
To everyone’s amazement , the research on the material obtained, revealed that the tomb was actually 500 years older.
The archaeologists found an ivory statue of a bearded man and the mummy of the tomb’s owner, who appeared to have died in his late teenage years, the ministry said.
It is thought that the teenager may have been a member of the nobility or even royal because such care was taken with the burial.
A number of other objects were found as well, including knives and combs, one of which appears to have a hippo standing upon it. The tomb’s preserved state will provide new information on pre-dynastic rituals, said Renee Friedman, the head of the multinational archaeological team.
The First Dynasty of ancient Egypt covers the first series of pharaohs to rule over a unified Egypt and dates from between 3,100BC and 2,890BC. It follows the unification of upper and lower Egypt, which was thought to have come about because of King Narmer.
It is one of two early dynasties of the ‘archaic period’ which was based at Thinis. Little is known about the First Dynasty and most information about the period is based upon a few monuments and objects bearing royal names.
The most important artefact of the time if the Narmer Pallette which dates from the 31st century BC and contains some of the earliest hieroglyphic inscriptions ever found.
No detailed records of the first two dynasties have survived, except for the terse lists on the Palermo stone. Hieroglyphs were fully developed and their shapes would be used with little change for more than three thousand years.
By Ancient Code
