2,500-Year-Old Mummy Found Inside Coffin Earlier Thought To Be Empty, Suspected To Be Of Ancient Priestess
The sarcophagus had been left untouched at a university
museum in Sydney for more than 150 years, the BBC reported.
Archaeologist Fraser said that the coffin was built for a
woman named Mer-Neith-it-es (Representational)
SYDNEY: Australian scientists have discovered the remains of a mummy in a 2,500-year-old coffin that was previously classified as empty.
The sarcophagus had been left untouched at a university museum in Sydney for more than 150 years, the BBC reported.
When scientists opened the coffin last year, they were astonished to find the remains of human feet and bones.
Researchers said the remains were previously damaged, probably by tomb raiders.
Archaeologist Jamie Fraser said the disclosure, just now made open, had been a remarkable minute.
"It was simply unbelievably astonishing what we saw - one of those minutes where you can't help but take in a breath and simply hang in the occasion," the BBC cited Fraser, from the Nicholson Museum at the University of Sydney, as saying.
"I've never excavated an Egyptian tomb, but this comes close."
The sarcophagus was one of four sourced from Egypt around 1860 by the museum's author. A handbook later classified it as vacant.
Fraser said the "dowdy-looking and non-descript" question had received little attention while Egyptologists studied the other coffins, which seemed more impressive and had finish mummies.
Specialists will endeavor to identify the mummy, which was "seriously torn separated" and ransacked by tomb raiders. Just around 10 for each penny of the body remains in the coffin.
Fraser said its hieroglyphics date to about 600 B.C. also, demonstrate that it was built for a lady named Mer-Neith-it-es, who was either a priestess or a worshipper.
