The Business of Death in Ancient Egypt: The Discovery of a Mummification Workshop at Saqqara

In March 2016, the University of Tübingen, Germany, launched a project of documentation, conservation and publication of a number of Dynasty 26 tombs (ca. 664-525 BC) at Saqqara. These tombs were discovered between 1899 and1903, and the team employed a 3D digital technique to document them. While mapping the site of the tombs, the clearance activities fortuitously unearthed an unparalleled mummification workshop complex dating back to the Saite-Persian Period (Dynasties 26 and 27, ca. 664-404 BC). This complex is comprised of a subterranean embalming room, a purification house, and a communal burial shaft. A large and diverse corpus of pottery vessels was found in the embalming room. They are inscribed with instructions and names of embalming oils and resins.

The lecture will be given by Ramadan Badry Hussein who is currently the Director of the Saqqara Saite Tombs Project and a professor of Egyptology at the Eberhard Karls Universität, Tübingen, Germany.

Meeting ID: 834 5159 2816

Password: 333755