Dig days: The Valley of the Golden Mummies By Zahi Hawass Many people consider the Valley of the Golden Mummies in Bahariya Oasis to be the "Tutankhamun's tomb" of the Graeco-Roman period. This discovery appeared in magazines and newspapers, and even featured on the cover of many of them. TV programmes all over the world reported on the discovery. A live show on Fox TV about the discovery featured Bill Pullman, the American actor who played the American president in the movie Independence Day. The Golden Mummies captured the hearts of people all over the world. This year, Atlantic Productions chose the Valley of the Golden Mummies as one of the top 10 archaeological discoveries in Egypt for a film that will be shown on the Discovery Channel. Being in Bahariya to film this programme brought back many good memories for me, memories that I will never forget. The discovery happened by accident, when a guard who worked at the temple of Alexander the Great was riding his donkey. The donkey stepped into a hole and fell, and when the guard bent down to investigate he could see through the hole mummies covered in gold. The site falls under the Giza antiquities authority, of which I was the head at that time. I went to Bahariya with a team that I myself had trained in excavation techniques. First we stopped at a café to discuss how we should proceed with what we already knew would be a discovery of enormous significance. While we were there, the owner of the café came over and said to me, "Sir, when you appear on TV, please talk about our town." A month later Bahariya became the most famous place in Egypt. Of course, there were only two hotels there. One was old, and very few people who come to Bahariya stayed there. The other one had just been finished at the time of the discovery, and that is where we stayed. The owner made back all the money he had invested in his new hotel after the Valley of the Golden Mummies became famous. Before we began our excavation I walked all over the site, surveying it carefully. I estimated that there could be more than 10,000 mummies buried at Bahariya, most of them covered in gold. The mummies were amazing not only because they were covered in gold, but also because they were decorated with scenes of gods and goddesses, of mummification and the Hall of Judgement, and even with royal symbols such as the uraeus, which had earlier been associated only with royalty but by that time had become common among the upper class. One mummy had its face covered with gold, while the chest was covered in cartonnage decorated with scenes of Thoth, the god of wisdom, and Anubis, the god of embalming and cemeteries. There was a crown on the mummy's head, with a golden hawk in the middle. The mummies have helped us to understand the lives of the people who lived at the oasis in ancient times. One woman lay next to her husband, her face turned towards him as though in affection. We saw a man who was buried beside his children. The faces shown on the mummy masks were very realistic. The faces of some mummies were covered not with gold but with painted wooden panels. One of these showed a woman inside an Egyptian temple, dressed in preparation for resurrection and guarded by kings of Egypt in the shape of snakes. Some of the tombs contained more than 40 mummies. The golden mummies were buried with many unique artefacts, such as coins, bracelets, rings, earrings, pottery in the shape of the god Bes (the main god of Bahariya Oasis) and many masks. The site is very important, because it offers so much information on the lives of the people who lived there. There were many distinct groups among the inhabitants of the oasis. Each had its own character, whether Egyptian, Bedouin, Libyan, Greek or Roman. Bahariya was an important place during both the 26th Dynasty and the Graeco-Roman period. It was known for the production of excellent wine. Selling this wine all over Egypt allowed the merchants who lived at the oasis to afford to explore gold mines, and to cover their mummies in gold. The Valley of the Golden Mummies has captured the hearts of people all over the world.
