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Gebelein predynastic mummies
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Gebelein predynastic mummies
The Gebelein predynastic mummies are six naturally mummified human bodies from Gebelein in Upper Egypt, dating to the Late Predynastic period of Ancient Egypt. The best known of the group, EA 32751, is dated to Naqada II, c. 3400 BC, with a calibrated radiocarbon range of 3341–3017 BC at 95.4% probability.
The bodies were excavated in 1896 by Wallis Budge, then Keeper of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities at the British Museum, from shallow sand graves at Baḥr Bila Mâ, on the eastern slopes of the northernmost hill at Gebelein. They were acquired by the British Museum in 1900.
Two of the bodies are identified as male and one as female; the sex of the others is uncertain. Some grave goods were documented at the time of excavation as "pots and flints", but they were not acquired by the British Museum and their later whereabouts are unknown. Three of the bodies retain coverings or wrappings of different kinds, including basketry, linen, wicker, fur, and bandages. The bodies were buried in flexed positions, generally lying on their left sides.
The first body excavated, EA 32751, has been on public display in the British Museum since 1901. The museum's current display places it in a reconstructed sand grave in Room 64, case 15; the object record describes ginger-coloured hair on the scalp and a penetrating wound to the upper left back. Infrared imaging published in 2018 identified figural tattoos on EA 32751 and on the female body EA 32752, making them among the earliest known figurative tattoos preserved on human skin.
In 1895 and 1896 the ruins at Abydos, Tukh, Hierakonpolis and Gebelein were excavated. In 1892 Jacques de Morgan, Director of Antiquities in Egypt, proved that pottery found at Abydos and Nakadah pre-dated the dynastic period, stimulating interest by many European archaeologists. As each excavation was completed, local Egyptian residents would continue to search the sites for remains. In 1895 E. A. Wallis Budge, on behalf of the British Museum, procured inscribed coffins and funerary furniture from the 12th Dynasty tombs at Al-Barshah by working with the Egyptian Service of Antiquities. Budge started purchasing predynastic finds from the locals including bowls, spear and arrowheads, carved flint and bone figures and partial human remains (described as chiefly bones without skin or flesh remaining).
In 1896, Budge was approached by a resident of Gebelein who claimed to have found more mummies. Budge was taken to the bodies, and he immediately recognized them as from the predynastic period and the first complete pre-dynastic bodies identified. He began excavations and a total of six mummified bodies were removed from shallow sand graves at Baḥr Bila Mâ (Waterless River) located at the eastern slopes of the north-most hill at Gebelein.
The only grave goods were a pot found with the female adult body and partial remains of wicker, fur and linen with the other bodies. In the predynastic period bodies were usually buried naked and sometimes loosely wrapped. In such a burial, when the body is covered in warm sand, the environmental conditions mean that most of the water in the body is quickly evaporated or drained away, meaning that the corpse is naturally dried and preserved. This method was widely used in the pre-dynastic Egyptian period, before artificial mummification was developed. The natural mummification that occurred with these dry sand burials may have led to the original Egyptian belief in an after-death survival and started the tradition of leaving food and implements for an afterlife.
All bodies were in similar flexed positions lying on their left sides with knees raised up towards their chin. In comparison, most bodies excavated from Egypt dating to the predynastic period are in a similar position, however at Merimda Beni Salama and El-Amra bodies were found on their right sides. From the time these bodies were buried up until the Middle Kingdom period, the dead were laid on their sides. After this period they were buried on their backs (dorsal position), and from the Fifth Dynasty the bodies were always fully extended.
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Gebelein predynastic mummies
The Gebelein predynastic mummies are six naturally mummified human bodies from Gebelein in Upper Egypt, dating to the Late Predynastic period of Ancient Egypt. The best known of the group, EA 32751, is dated to Naqada II, c. 3400 BC, with a calibrated radiocarbon range of 3341–3017 BC at 95.4% probability.
The bodies were excavated in 1896 by Wallis Budge, then Keeper of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities at the British Museum, from shallow sand graves at Baḥr Bila Mâ, on the eastern slopes of the northernmost hill at Gebelein. They were acquired by the British Museum in 1900.
Two of the bodies are identified as male and one as female; the sex of the others is uncertain. Some grave goods were documented at the time of excavation as "pots and flints", but they were not acquired by the British Museum and their later whereabouts are unknown. Three of the bodies retain coverings or wrappings of different kinds, including basketry, linen, wicker, fur, and bandages. The bodies were buried in flexed positions, generally lying on their left sides.
The first body excavated, EA 32751, has been on public display in the British Museum since 1901. The museum's current display places it in a reconstructed sand grave in Room 64, case 15; the object record describes ginger-coloured hair on the scalp and a penetrating wound to the upper left back. Infrared imaging published in 2018 identified figural tattoos on EA 32751 and on the female body EA 32752, making them among the earliest known figurative tattoos preserved on human skin.
In 1895 and 1896 the ruins at Abydos, Tukh, Hierakonpolis and Gebelein were excavated. In 1892 Jacques de Morgan, Director of Antiquities in Egypt, proved that pottery found at Abydos and Nakadah pre-dated the dynastic period, stimulating interest by many European archaeologists. As each excavation was completed, local Egyptian residents would continue to search the sites for remains. In 1895 E. A. Wallis Budge, on behalf of the British Museum, procured inscribed coffins and funerary furniture from the 12th Dynasty tombs at Al-Barshah by working with the Egyptian Service of Antiquities. Budge started purchasing predynastic finds from the locals including bowls, spear and arrowheads, carved flint and bone figures and partial human remains (described as chiefly bones without skin or flesh remaining).
In 1896, Budge was approached by a resident of Gebelein who claimed to have found more mummies. Budge was taken to the bodies, and he immediately recognized them as from the predynastic period and the first complete pre-dynastic bodies identified. He began excavations and a total of six mummified bodies were removed from shallow sand graves at Baḥr Bila Mâ (Waterless River) located at the eastern slopes of the north-most hill at Gebelein.
The only grave goods were a pot found with the female adult body and partial remains of wicker, fur and linen with the other bodies. In the predynastic period bodies were usually buried naked and sometimes loosely wrapped. In such a burial, when the body is covered in warm sand, the environmental conditions mean that most of the water in the body is quickly evaporated or drained away, meaning that the corpse is naturally dried and preserved. This method was widely used in the pre-dynastic Egyptian period, before artificial mummification was developed. The natural mummification that occurred with these dry sand burials may have led to the original Egyptian belief in an after-death survival and started the tradition of leaving food and implements for an afterlife.
All bodies were in similar flexed positions lying on their left sides with knees raised up towards their chin. In comparison, most bodies excavated from Egypt dating to the predynastic period are in a similar position, however at Merimda Beni Salama and El-Amra bodies were found on their right sides. From the time these bodies were buried up until the Middle Kingdom period, the dead were laid on their sides. After this period they were buried on their backs (dorsal position), and from the Fifth Dynasty the bodies were always fully extended.
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