Egypt Unearths New Mummies Dating Back 2,500 Years

埃及发掘出2500年前的新木乃伊

Archaeologists in Egypt have unearthed more than 100 delicately painted wooden coffins, some with mummies inside, and 40 funeral statues in the ancient burial ground of Saqqara, the Egyptian antiquities authorities said, calling the discovery the largest find at the site this year.

埃及考古学家发掘出100多具精美图案的木质棺材，一些里面有木乃伊，在古老的萨卡拉墓地里有40个葬礼雕像，埃及文物局称，这是今年该遗址最大的发现。


Other artifacts discovered include funeral masks, canopic jars and amulets.

其他文物还包括丧葬面具、卡诺匹斯罐和护身符。

“This discovery is very important because it proves that Saqqara was the main burial of the 26th Dynasty,” Zahi Hawass, an Egyptologist, told the magazine Egypt Today, referring to the rulers from about the mid 600s B.C. to 525 B.C. It would also enrich existing knowledge about mummifications in that period, he added.

“这个发现非常重要，因为它证明了萨卡拉是第26王朝的主要埋葬地。” 埃及古物学家扎希·哈瓦斯告诉《今日埃及》杂志，这个发现大约是在公元前600年到公元前525年的统治者，他补充说，这也将丰富关于这一时期木乃伊的现有认知。


Saqqara, a city about 20 miles south of Cairo, is a vast necropolis for the Old Kingdom capital of Memphis, and it has long been the source of major archaeological finds. Made a UNESCO world heritage site in the 1970s, the necropolis holds more than a dozen burial sites, including the Step Pyramid of King Djoser, the first known burial pyramid.

开罗以南约20英里处的萨卡拉是古王国首都孟菲斯的一个巨大墓地，长期以来它一直是主要考古发现的来源。

In a dramatic flourish at the news conference on Saturday, experts opened a coffin and scanned a mummy with an X-ray, determining it was most likely a man around the age of 40.

在周六的新闻发布会上，专家们打开了一个棺材，用x光扫描了一具木乃伊，确定这很可能是一名40岁左右的男子。

The discovery announced on Saturday is the most recent in a series of historical finds at the site. Officials said in October that they had found 59 intact coffins.

周六宣布的这一发现是该遗址一系列历史发现的最新发现。官员们在10月份表示，他们已经发现了59具完整的棺材。

More discoveries are predicted at the site, with archaeologists expecting to find in 2021 an ancient workshop that prepared bodies for mummification.

预计该遗址还会有更多发现，考古学家预计2021年将发现一个为木乃伊制作尸体的古代作坊。


According to a Times database, Egypt has reported 110,547 total virus cases, with an average of 226 new infections per day over the last week. The country reopened its borders to visitors in July.

根据《纽约时报》的数据库，埃及报告的总新冠病毒病例为110,547例，过去一周平均每天新增病例226例。今年7月，该国重新向游客开放了边境。