Mummy ‘covered in layers of gold’ could be oldest found in Egypt
Jenny Goldsberry
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A mummy estimated to be 4,300 years old was uncovered near Cairo.
The remains of the man, known as Hekashepes, were found at the bottom of an underground tunnel near the Step Pyramid at Saqqara. Hekashepes was discovered in a sealed sarcophagus made of lime.
“This mummy may be the oldest and most complete mummy found in Egypt to date,” Egypt’s former minister of antiquities, Zahi Hawass, said in a statement. Hawass described the mummy as “covered in layers of gold.”
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Khnumdjedef’s tomb was also among the discoveries of a yearlong excavation. He was the son of Khufu, who was the pharaoh during the time the Giza Pyramids were built. As the heir to his father’s throne, Khnumdjedef was the last pharaoh of the fifth dynasty, which was roughly 2500 B.C. to 2100 B.C.
Another tomb, that of palace official and “keeper of the secrets” Meri, was also unearthed. Meri’s reputation was also immortalized in a stele that is on display at the Louvre.
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Saqqara is 15 miles southwest of Cairo.