Unbelievable facts
Archaeologists have discovered more than a million mummies in an ancient Egyptian cemetery. Researchers have been excavating a cemetery named Fagh el-Gamos and a nearby pyramid for 30 years.
Many mummies date back to when the Roman or Byzantine Empire ruled Egypt from the 1st to 7th centuries AD.
The cemetery was not a burial place for rulers, as people in this place were often buried without grave items and even without coffins.
But despite their low status, many beautiful items have also been found, such as linen, glass utensils, and even colored baby booties.
The internal organs of the dead were rarely removed, and mummification was facilitated by the arid environment.
Ancient Egyptian mummies
A mummified 18-month-old girl with bracelets on both arms was found in Fagh el Gamos.
Where more than a million mummies came from remains a mystery that has yet to be solved. The nearby village is too small for such a large cemetery.
Read also: Famous mummies and their mysterious stories
The ancient city of Philadelphia, named after King Ptolemy II Philadelphus, is also nearby, but the city has its own burial sites.
Many bodies were collected into groups, like these remains of two children and two adults.
There is also a small pyramid nearby, but it was built 4,500 years ago, and the cemetery was first used more than two millennia later.
Many of the bodies were wrapped in cloth or straw, which, together with the dry climate, helped mummify the remains.
“We are almost certain that there are more than a million graves in the cemetery. It's huge and densely located,” said Kerry Muhlestein, project manager from Brigham Young University.
Giant people and other discoveries
More than 1,700 bodies have been excavated on a 1.2 square kilometer site over the past 30 years.
Over the past 30 years, more than 1,000 mummies have been excavated and several interesting discoveries have been made.
The skeleton was buried inside an unusual triangular-shaped basement at the bottom of the burial shaft.
Thus, one of the mummies was more than 2 meters tall. The man was too tall to fit in the mine, so he was bent in half and thrown into the hole. This increase is difficult to explain given the poor diet of these people, although for people with adequate nutrition, the growth is unusual.
The bodies were distributed by hair color, like this woman with long blond hair.
It is also interesting that all people with blond hair were gathered in one place, just like all people with red hair who were grouped elsewhere. This may be due to some family areas or genetic groups, and scientists are trying to find out.