A Russian archaeological team has discovered a well-preserved mummy from the Greco-Roman period in a wooden coffin south of Cairo, Egypt’s antiquities ministry said.
The discovery was made near New Fayoum city, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of the Egyptian capital, the ministry said in a statement.
The team ‘found inside the coffin a well-preserved mummy, wrapped in linen, with its face covered by a human mask with drawings in blue and gold,’ it said.
A Russian archaeological team has discovered a well-preserved mummy (pictured) from the Greco-Roman period in a wooden coffin south of Cairo, Egypt’s antiquities ministry said
While mummification is mostly ᴀssociated with ancient Egypt, the practice continued into the Greco-Roman era.
The Russian team from the Insтιтute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences made its discovery near a monastery in the village of Qalamshah.
‘The expedition carried out an initial restoration of the coffin and the mummy, as the coffin was found in a bad condition,’ the ministry said, citing the minister’s ᴀssistant Mohamed Abdel Lateef.
The statement did not say when the discovery was made.
‘The cover is broken and the base has several cracks, and it doesn’t have an inscription on it,’ it added, citing Abdel Lateef.
The mask of the mummy depicts an image of the sky deity Khebir.
The chest depicts the goddess Isis, ᴀssociated with marriage, fertility, motherhood, magic and medicine and beneath the feet is the drawing of a white clog.
Any inscriptions that could have existed are believe to have been lost over time.
When Egypt was conquered by Alexander the Great and the Romans there was a fusion of traditions.
Some members of the Greco-Roman culture adopted the practice of mummifying their ᴅᴇᴀᴅ.
The team ‘found inside the coffin (pictured) a well-preserved mummy, wrapped in linen, with its face covered by a human mask with drawings in blue and gold,’ it said
The discovery was made near New Fayoum city, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of the Egyptian capital, the ministry said in a statement
The Russian mission has been operating in the Deir al-Banat region for seven years.
It has Islamic and Coptic monuments as well as others from the Greco-Roman period (330 BC-670 AD).
In 2014 scientists excavated 1,700 mummies from Fag el-Gamous in the Fayoum region of Egypt.
Those leading the work believe there could be up to a million similar bodies buried in shafts cut into the limestone rock that are at times up to 75ft (22.9 metres) deep.
The mask of the mummy, found in New Fayoum, depicts an image of the sky deity Khebir. The chest depicts the goddess Isis, ᴀssociated with marriage, fertility, motherhood, magic and medicine and beneath the feet is the drawing of a white clog
The Russian mission has been operating in the Deir al-Banat region for seven years. A similar mummy was found in 2008 in Fayoum (pictured)
It is thought the mummies were buried around 1,500 years ago, between the 1st and 7th Century AD, when Egypt was controlled by the Roman and Byzantine Empire.
Unlike many famous mummified remains discovered in Egypt, these were found in mᴀss graves and appear to be ordinary citizens rather than royalty or other important figures.
They have also discovered that the mummies appear to be clustered together by hair colour, with those with blond hair in one area and all of those with red hair in another.
Unlike royal Egyptian mummies, the people buried at Fag el-Gamous had few goods buried with them and were laid in the ground without coffins
