The baby remains were interred in pots.
Egyptian archaeologists have discovered 110 tombs at the site of Koum el-Khulgan, northeast of Cairo.
(Image credit: Egypt Ministry of Antiquities)
Archaeologists have unearthed 110
ancient Egyptian tombs, many holding the remains of humans, including two babies inside pots, along the Nile Delta, the Egyptian antiquities ministry announced Tuesday (April 27).
The tombs were excavated at a site called Koum el-Khulgan, which is located about 93 miles (150 kilometers) northeast of Cairo. Of those tombs, 73 date back to between 5,500 and 5,000 years ago, a time when Egypt was in the process of unifying. During this time, hieroglyphics first appeared in Egypt and a central government would form one that would eventually be powerful enough to oversee
Archaeologists have made the incredible discovery of 110 ancient Egyptian tombs at the Koum el-Khulgan archaeological site in Dakahlia province, in the Nile extensive delta. The site is located 150 kilometers (93 miles) northeast of Cairo.
The Egyptian Tourism and Antiquities Ministry revealed that the tombs are not all from the same period but from three different epochs in the long history of ancient Egypt. Sixty-eight of the burials are in oval-shaped pits that were carved from the sandy island layer of the region spanning a period between 6000 and 3150 BCE, the late Predynastic Period when the Nile Valley was still split into Upper and Lower Egypt. People buried in these tombs were placed in a fetal position, with their heads facing west.
For the first time ever, a pregnant mummy has been discovered in Egypt. Archaeologists performed X-ray scans on the woman’s remains and they were incredibly surprised to find out that she was several months pregnant when she died around 2,000 years ago, making her the world’s first known pregnant mummy.
According to the X-ray and CT scans that were conducted as part of the Warsaw Mummy Project, the woman was between 20 and 30 years of age when she died and by analyzing the fetus’ head, she was between 26 and 28 weeks pregnant. In fact, researchers noted that her remains were very well preserved.
Egypt archeologists unearth 110 ancient tombs in Nile Delta
CAIRO (AP) Egyptian archeologists unearthed 110 burial tombs at an ancient site in a Nile Delta province, the Tourism and Antiquities Ministry said Tuesday.
The graves, some of which have human remains inside, were found at the Koum el-Khulgan archeological site in Dakahlia province, around 150 kilometers northeast of Cairo, the ministry said.