Ancient egypt is a vast and mysterious place filled with hidden secrets, curses of the pharaohs and massive stone tombs you won’t believe. From brick mastabas during the old kingdom, to vast tunnel systems of the new kingdom, here ancient engyptian burial sites. Subscribe to American Eye
5. Valley of the Golden Mummies
Discovering a place like the valley of the golden mummies sounds like something that might happen during an indiana jones adventure. But it really happened in 1996 by the egyptologist Zahi Hawass at the Bahariya Oasis. Him and his team found roughly 105 mummies that were around 2000 years old or so that were well preserved. This would have meant that it dated back to the Greco-Roman period. Typically the face was at least covered in gold and waistcoats would depict scenes of ancient gods and goddesses across the chest. There were remains of about 250 mummies but decayed to the point where it wasn’t really a valuable artifact. It’s believed that as many as 10,000 mummies once were placed in this valley so there could be a lot more excavations coming up in the future..
4. Secret Mummy Cave
This sounds like a pretty spooky cave to explore. Also known as the royal cache or the Theban Necropolis, this site is located near Deir El Bahri and contained many unopened tombs that are few and far between. It was here where the mummy of the high priest Pinudjem II, his wife Neskhons and other family members of the high priest were buried. He lost his life sometime around 969 BC during a decline in the Egyptian kingdom and was discovered here in 1881. This illustration gives us an idea in relation to the mortuary temple exactly where it was found. The royal mummy cache of this necropolis houses more than 50 kings and queens during the new kingdom. It’s believed that the secret mummy cave would be inspected often by members of the royal family to ensure that the area was still safe from tomb robbers. It looks like this couple managed to hide out for quite a while.
3. Saqqara Necropolis
This necropolis is home to the largest group of ancient Egyptian tombs and was used by the 1st Dynasty. Built long ago in 2700 BC in the mysterious land of ancient Egypt, in the necropolis of Saqqara is the Djoser Pyramid which dominates the landscape of the nearby area. It stands 203 feet tall or 62 meters and was once polished with white limestone. It was constructed by the 2nd king of the 3rd dynasty, King Djoser which gives the step pyramid its name. Before step pyramids or smooth edge pyramids became popular, the pharaohs of ancient egypt prefered to be buried in mastabas which are rectangular prism shaped and typically made of mud bricks like we see in this photo. We begin to notice an advancement in tomb architecture when the mastabas began to stack on top of each other, essentially creating a step pyramid. The pyramid was not simply a tomb at this point, it was a way to reach the afterlife, so total dedication to the project was needed. The step pyramid wasn’t the only tomb that was built there. There are also many other tombs built for high ranking people like judges or nobles as well.
2. Queen Hatshepsut’s Mortuary Temple
Located in the The Theban Necropolis, this is one of the more notable egyptial burial grounds of ancient Egypt. Built by a woman named queen Hatshepsut, she revolutionized architecture in Egypt by constructing this unbelievable funerary temple! She’s the 2nd confirmed female pharaoh and came into power by since her father's, Thutmose I, was unable to bear a son. She often portrayed herself as a man and wore the ceremonial beard. Located in Deir el-Bahri, this temple complex is an example of perfect symmetry and was completed in the 15th century BC. For reasons still unclear to this day, her son Thutmose the III ordered his men to try to erase any written history of his mother. Thutmoses also built a mortuary complex here dedicated to the god amun. It was heavily damaged by landslides.
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