Sarcophagus...

Chinese archeologists opened a 1000-year-old coffin live on national television today, revealing what was believed to be the body of an ancient tribal nobleman. Titled "the mystery of the 1000-year-old coffin," the event was shown on the main state television noon news from a researchcentre in the northern region of Inner Mongolia.Archeologists and police guards in rubber gloves and face masks first lifted off a cover ofan outer sarcophagus.

. They then opened an inner coffin, revealing a body covered in a silk shroud and wearing a necklace, bells around the ankles and a metal-studded mask and helmet. View: Full Article | Source: Herald Sun

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A mummy of a middle-aged woman dating to Ancient Greek times has been discovered in a lead coffin inside a marble sarcophagus, the first clear indication of embalming in Greece from the era when the Romans ruled there. A research team co-led by Frank Rühli of the University of Zurich was able to show that various resins, oils and spices were used to embalm the body, dating to A.D. 300. Along with the skeleton, the methods partially preserved some soft tissues from the body, most of which are now brittle, thin and extremely desiccated, including eyebrows, a muscle in the hand, hair and blood cells. Rühli told LiveScience thatthis a "unique finding for this temporal and spatial setting." The body was covered with a gold-embroidered purple silk cloth, indicating that the woman was probably of high social status, Rühli said. Her bones reveal that she was somewhere between 50 and 60 years old. The finding will be detailed in an upcoming issue of the Journal ofArchaeological Science.

. The mummy currently is held at the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Greece. The sarcophagus was uncovered initially in 1962 during an archaeological dig in Northern Greece, on the eastern cemetery of Thessaloniki, which was used from the Hellenistic to the Byzantine Periods for burial and other ritual practices. In addition to macroscopic andanthropological analyses, electron microscopy and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry examinations were also performed on the remains. These showed the presence of various embalming substances including myrrh, fats and resins. The lead coffin encasing the remains might also have assisted in their preservation, though the researchers were uncertain if that was intentional or effective. The coffin was made specifically for this corpse. The body, with a stature of about 63 inches, or 5 foot, 3 inches, lay on a wooden pallet inside the coffin and was wrapped with cotton and linen bandages.To view the rest of this article, please visit thesource[Source]http://www.livescience.com/history/080804-greek-embalming.html[/Source]

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Submitted by Waspie Dwarf: Archaeologists have unearthed an ancient tomb in northern Peru that could throw light on the pre-Columbian Moche Indian culture. The tomb in Ucupe, 670km (416 miles) from the capital Lima, contained well-preserved human remains along with jewellery and ceramics. The finds suggested the tomb related to nobility, experts said. The Moche Indians thrived from 100-800 AD and were famed for their ceramics,architecture and irrigation. The northern coast has been a treasure trove for stunning archaeological discoveries for the last few decades, the BBC"s Dan Collyns reports from Peru. The dry desert climate of the region has helped to preserve these relics of the Moche civilisation.Archaeologists said the tomb"s body, found inside a wooden sarcophagus, was wearing a gold-coloured funeral mask and was surrounded by copper crowns, earrings, nose pieces and ear flaps.

. More remains, of a young man and animals such as llamas, were found nearby. Peruvianarchaeologist Walter Alva, whose son Bruno was the dig co-director, told AP news agency: "Some elements like sceptres and crowns of gold are those that identify people of the highest hierarchical level." Archaeologists believe the tomb may be linked to the other world-renowned Moche ruins in the area.
View: Full Article | Source: BBC News

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Submitted by Waspie Dwarf: Egyptian archaeologists unveiled on Thursday a 4,000-year-old "missing pyramid" that is believed to have been discovered by an archaeologist almost 200 years ago and never seen again. Zahi Hawass, Egypt"s antiquities chief, said the pyramid appears to have been built by King Menkauhor, an obscure pharaoh who ruled for only eight years. In 1842, German archaeologist Karl Richard Lepsius mentioned it among his finds at Saqqara, referring to it as number 29 and calling it the "Headless Pyramid" because only its base remains. But the desert sands covered the discovery, and no archaeologist since has been able to find Menkauhor"s resting place. "We havefilled the gap of the missing pyramid," Hawass told reporters on a tour of the discoveries at Saqqara, the necropolis and burial site of the rulers of ancient Memphis, the capital of Egypt"s Old Kingdom, about 12 miles south of Cairo. The team also announced the discovery of part of a ceremonial procession road where high priests, their faces obscured by masks, once carried mummified sacred bullsworshipped in the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis.

. The pyramid"s base — or the superstructure as archeologists call it — was found after a 25-foot-high mound of sand was removed over the past year and a half by Hawass" team. Hawass said the style of the pyramid indicates it was from the Fifth Dynasty, a period that began in 2,465 B.C. and ended in 2,325 B.C. That would put it about two centuries afterthe completion of the Great Pyramid of Giza, believed to have been finished in 2,500 B.C. Another proof of its date, Hawass says, was the discovery inside the pyramid of a gray granite lid of a sarcophagus, of the type used at that time. The rectangular base, at the bottom of a 15 foot-deep pit dug out by workers, gives little indication of how imposing the pyramid might have once been. Heaps of huge rocks, many still partially covered in sand and dust, mark the pyramid"s walls and entrance, and a burial chamber was discovered inside.
View: Full Article | Source: Yahoo! News

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