More on Mummies

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Where were the pharaohs buried?
What happened to the royal mummies?
What is "the mummy's curse"?
Why do we excavate?
Did Americans excavate in Egypt?
How can we identify the pharaohs?
Who were the artists?
Where did the artists obtain their materials?
Did the ancient Egyptians worship animals?

Where were the pharaohs buried?

In the Old and Middle Kingdoms (2628-1638 BC), Egyptian kings were buried in pyramids. About 50 royal pyramids have survived. They were built on the desert edge, west of the ancient capital of Memphis. The earliest is the Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara; the later pyramids, such as the Great Pyramid of Cheops at Giza, are smooth sided. Most of the pyramids are much smaller than the Great Pyramid and less well preserved; all were plundered in antiquity.

In the New Kingdom (1504-1069 BC), the pharaohs built their tombs in the Valley of the Kings at Thebes. Not pyramids, these tombs were tunnels cut deep into the natural rock. Of the 23 royal tombs in the Valley, only that of Tutankhamen, discovered in 1922 by British archaeologist Howard Carter, kept its treasure, virtually intact, until modern times.

After 1069 BC, there were no more royal burials in the Valley of the Kings. The kings of the following period (Dynasties 21 and 22, 1069-715 BC) built their tombs within the precincts of the temple of Amen at Tanis, their capital in the north. Six of these tombs were discovered in 1939 by French archaeologist Pierre Montet with their treasures. All the royal tomb treasures, including Tutankhamen's, are now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

What happened to the royal mummies?

After the pharaohs abandoned the Valley of the Kings, tomb robbery became a problem. To safeguard the royal mummies, the new kings (who were buried at Tanis) ordered the priests to remove the royal mummies from their individual tombs and hide them where they could be better protected. In the process, the mummies were stripped of their remaining gold, which was recycled into the economy. Rewrapped and labeled, the mummies were placed in new or refurbished coffins and reburied. In 1881 a first group of royal mummies (including Ramesses II) were discovered in a well-concealed private tomb at Thebes. In 1898 a second batch of royal mummies (including Amenhotep III) was found in the tomb of Amenhotep II. All the royal mummies, except for that of Tutankhamen, which still rests in his tomb, are now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

What is "the mummy's curse"?

"Death shall come on swift wings to him that toucheth the tomb of Pharaoh."

So reads a totally imaginary inscription supposedly in the tomb of Tutankhamen. In fact, the so-called mummy's curse is an invention of the media and the entertainment industry. On April 5, 1923, six weeks after opening the burial chamber of Tutankhamen's tomb, Lord Carnarvon, who had financed the excavations, died from complications resulting from a mosquito bite, and for years afterward, the death of anyone connected with the discovery of the tomb was attributed to supernatural causes. Howard Carter, the actual discoverer of the tomb, who ought to have been the prime victim, lived until 1939. According to Carter:

It has been stated in some quarters that there are actual physical dangers hidden in [Tutankhamen's] tomb--mysterious forces, called into being by some malefic power, to take vengeance on whomsoever should dare to pass its portals. . . . All sane people should dismiss such inventions with contempt.

In fact, there is no place less morbid than an Egyptian tomb. The paintings and inscriptions contain not curses on possible intruders but blessings on the deceased, magical spells to ensure a good afterlife.

Why do we excavate?

Formerly, people excavated for buried treasure; today, they excavate for knowledge about our past. The first excavator to employ rigorous scientific methods in his work was the British archaeologist Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie (1853-1942). He realized that a piece of broken pottery can tell us as much, if not more, about ancient civilization as a gold necklace. Today, excavators are not permitted to take home even a small share of their finds, but excavating continues. Everything discovered is carefully recorded and photographed exactly as found, before being removed to be cleaned and, if needed, conserved, and then published so that scholars everywhere have access to the information.

Did Americans excavate in Egypt?

Americans entered Egyptian archaeology later than the Europeans, but American contributions to the field have been significant. Perhaps the greatest American archaeologist was George Andrew Reisner (1867-1942), who excavated first on behalf of Phoebe Hearst and the University of California at Berkeley (1899-1905) and later for the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston-Harvard University Expedition (1910-1942). Important excavations were also undertaken (and are still going on) by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. In 1995 there were 24 American archaeological projects, sponsored by universities and museums, active at sites all over Egypt. These projects are not limited to digging; they also include mapping, site surveys, conservation, and copying monuments and inscriptions threatened by the environment.

How can we identify the pharaohs?

The pharaohs have been dead for thousands of years. There are no descriptions of their physical appearance, and even the best preserved royal mummies bear little resemblance to living human beings in their prime. Egyptian sculptures, however, were almost always inscribed with the names and titles of their owners. A sufficient number of inscribed statues have survived to allow us to recognize the most important pharaohs, and in most cases it is now possible to identify bodiless heads, which have lost their inscriptions, as specific rulers.

Who were the artists?

Ancient Egyptian artists did not sign their works, and even when we know from inscriptions that someone was an artist by profession, it is rarely possible to identify his work. Imhotep, who built the Step Pyramid of Djoser (about 2628 BC), is credited with inventing the art of building in stone, and Amenhotep son of Hapu was responsible for many of the great works of Amenhotep III's reign (1391-1353 BC), such as the Colossi of Memnon. These men, however, were more like contractors than artists.

A man called Bak was chief sculptor in the reign of Akhenaten (1353-1337 BC); another sculptor, Tuthmosis, probably carved the famous bust of Nefertiti in the Egyptian Museum, Berlin, among other beautiful works. The artists who decorated the royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings are also known by name. They lived in a special community at Thebes, called Deir el-Medina, where they enjoyed certain privileges. But these people are the exceptions. Most ancient Egyptian artists remain anonymous.

Where did the artists obtain their materials?

The expense involved in royal building projects--which included statue manufacture--was enormous. Expeditions were sent to quarries to extract quantities of choice stone. Hard stones like quartzite came from Gebel Ahmar, near Cairo; red granite and granodiorite from Aswan; graywacke from the Eastern Desert; and soft stones such as limestone and travertine (Egyptian alabaster), were found along the Nile. Each type of stone was prized for its specific color and texture. Curiously, the Egyptians did not care much for marble, using it only sparingly; the marble quarries in the Eastern Desert were exploited mainly in the Greco-Roman period.

Did the ancient Egyptians worship animals?

As a rule, the Egyptians did not worship animals themselves, but rather the divine forces they represented. Because each god could manifest himself or herself as a particular species of animal, creatures of all sorts--dogs, cats, ibises, crocodiles--were protected, venerated, mummified at death, and buried by the thousands in special animal cemeteries. The sacred bull cults were different, for in their case an individual animal rather than the whole species was worshipped. Chief among these was the Apis bull, associated with Ptah, the god of Memphis, and other deities. When an Apis bull died, it was given a magnificent funeral like a king. Then the priests searched for a successor, identified by specific physical traits. According to the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, the Apis bull was black, with white markings resembling a diamond on its forehead and the image of an eagle on its back, double hairs on its tail, and a scarab under its tongue. The Apis bull was worshipped from the earliest times down to the Roman period (about 2950 BC-AD 362).