Graeco-Roman mummies, painted wooden sarcophagi, jewellery and papyri have been unearthed in Deir Al-Banat necropolis in Fayoum, reports Nevine El-Aref Deir Al-Banat necropolis, which lies in the southern Fayoum, comprises a series of rock hewn tombs dating from the Graeco-Roman period through to early Christian times. To the north is a well preserved ruin of a mediaeval monastery with a fired brick church at its centre, a mud brick residential area and a refectory where the monks would have communal meals. Between 1980 and 1995 the necropolis was the site of major excavations by the Egyptian Antiquities Authority, now the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA). A collection of intact Roman burials were discovered along with disturbed Coptic graves containing bones and skulls. The necropolis was then neglected until 2002 when a joint Russian-American mission was given permission to conduct excavations and an anthropological survey. Early studies of the necropolis revealed that the north western section had been subjected to widespread clandestine digging throughout the 1970s. The anthropological survey of unearthed skulls revealed that the majority of females died by the age of 30 with only 1.5 per cent reaching the age of 50. While males also had a high mortality rate between 18 and 30 far more survived into their 40s. In the last six years several burials with mummies were found as well as a collection of cartonage wooden sarcophagi, arm rings, clay vessels and remains of linen. This year the mission located and studied 154 rectangular shaped tombs with rounded corners partly dug in compact sand and partly cut in rock. Their depth ranged from 1.5 and 1.7 m and each contained an unpainted wooden sarcophagus with an anthropoid mask on the lid and a cartonage inside covering the head, shoulders and feet of the mummy. In one of the graves an intact mummy of a young lady was found while four Ptolemaic graves, which appeared to have been looted, contained the lids of painted coffins along with mummies with their feet torn off. "Despite these mummies being footless they are very well preserved and wearing gilded masks," says Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of the SCA .The eastern side of the necropolis, the site of Graeco-Roman burials, contained three more mummies, this time wrapped with eight layers of linen and tied with ropes. These corpses, explained Hawass, were mummified using much cheaper materials than in the first type of burial. Tombs often overlapped with their neighbours, and were sometimes reused for burials so that in some cases several corpses can be found in the same plot. Jewelry, including rings, necklaces and bracelets, were found along with caps made of wool and fragments of textiles bearing a painted anchor crossed by a key. "All finds were cleaned, conserved and placed in the Kom Aushim storage," reports Hawass. Galina Belova, director of the mission, said that the two mummies of young ladies will be x rayed to facilitate the reconstruction of their faces. The coffins, she said, were cleaned of salt, sand and treated against insect damage. Ceramic and faience vessels have been consolidated and covered with protective layers.
