Archaeologists Found the Lost 'Book of the Dead' Buried in an Egyptian Cemetery

[Judi Lynn]

Story by Tim Newcomb • 9mo • 3 min read



Egyptian archaeologists located a lost 3,500-year-old cemetery containing mummies, statues, and a Book of the Dead papyrus scroll.
© mikroman6 - Getty Images

• Egyptian archaeologists recently located a lost 3,500-year-old cemetery containing mummies and statues—among other discoveries.
  
  
• A particularly exciting find was a Book of the Dead papyrus scroll measuring over 43 feet long—a rare surviving copy of the traditional burial item.
  
  
• The team behind the find was mum on the details of the textual discovery.

Ancient Egyptians sure knew how to create a burial scene—curated resting places complete with canopic jars holding the organs of the deceased and a Book of the Dead scroll with text meant to help navigate the world beyond the grave.

One of those scenes was recently located in central Egypt, when archaeologists discovered a New Kingdom cemetery that dates back to more than 3,500 years ago and features mummies, canopic jars, amulets, statues, and a papyrus scroll containing a portion of the Book of the Dead that measures more than 43 feet long.

This scroll is the first complete papyrus found in the Al-Ghuraifa area, and is “characterized by being in good condition,” Mustafa Waziri, secretary general of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, said in a translated Arabic statement from the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

While the cemetery—dating to sometime between 1550 BC to 1070 BC—was significant for the hundreds of archaeological finds and tombs carved into the rock located within its boundaries, the discovery of what could be a copy of the Book of the Dead captured the attention of experts as a truly rare find. But with few details released to the public about the contents of the scroll—believed to be 43 to 49 feet in length—there’s plenty of questions remaining about this particular copy of the traditional Egyptian cultural book.

More:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/archaeologists-found-the-lost-book-of-the-dead-buried-in-an-egyptian-cemetery/ar-AA1j60pv