Ancient Egypt is a fascinating culture.
The monuments of the time such as the Great pyramids and the Sphinx, cause people reverence today. The interest of researchers cause, and ancient Egyptian papyri. After all, Egypt is one of the earliest cultures, representatives of which were detailed records about all events. But today scientists do not know everything about the secrets of ancient Egypt, and researchers continue to make amazing discoveries.
1. Meteoric iron
In the Egyptian city of Girza in 1911 archeologists found the tomb, which was kept nine metal beads. Incredibly, it turned out that the beads appeared 2,000 years earlier than in Egypt began to smelt iron. Since then, historians have puzzled over the origin of the ancient Egyptians took iron for beads. The Egyptian hieroglyph that meant iron, literally translates as “metal of heaven”, which gives very good reference to understand its origin.
Due to the rarity of the metal, it is mostly associated with wealth and power. Usually it is made jewelry and baubles for the Royal family, not weapons, as was customary later. In 1980-ies of the chemical analysis showed that the level of Nickel in the beads was similar to that found in meteorites. So the Egyptians thousands of years before they learned to smelt this metal, there was iron. This can also explain the mystery of the dagger of Tutankhamun, made of iron and gold.
2. Religious tattoo
Today, people get tattoos for different reasons: to capture a loved one, to emphasize their difference from others or to talk about their interests. The mummy, found in the village of Deir El-Medina, was proof that the tattoos were the ancient Egyptians. Mummy Deir El-Medina — a headless and armless torso that belonged to the woman who lived between 1300 and 1070 BC
Using infrared light it was discovered 30 clearly visible tattoos. What is unique about this mummy tattoo she did while still alive, not after death as a religious ritual. Most of the characters were dedicated to the powerful goddess Hathor. It was soon discovered three similar mummies, tattoos which were also designed for expression of religious piety.
3. Image demons
4000 years ago the Egyptians were very afraid of demons. However, until recently scientists had no idea how the Egyptians imagined them. So it was until, until I found two two coffins Dating from the Middle Kingdom (about 4500 years ago), which was discovered the world’s oldest image of the demons. One of them, called In the MEP, was a mixture of dog and baboon and the other by the name of Cheri-Benet was a strange creature with a human head.
The demons are depicted as two guards enter the tomb, but what they actually said is unknown. Also on another coffin was found the image of Centi demon that looked like big bird with a cat’s head.
4. Ancient heart disease
Atherosclerosis is a chronic disease of the arteries, which is today very common. A sedentary lifestyle and a diet rich in fatty foods contribute to this disease. It is not surprising that physicians believed that atherosclerosis is a relatively new disease and it was not common in ancient populations. Egyptologists found out that it was a very common disease and thousands of years ago.
After the study of 52 mummies in the National Museum of antiquities in Cairo revealed that 20 of them had evidence of calcification, and this means that they are likely to suffer from atherosclerosis during their lifetime. Their average age was about 45 years old, and they lived in the 16th century BC. One of the mummies belonged to the Royal family, namely Princess Ahmose-Marie-Amon who lived in Thebes, and died in forty years. She is the oldest person who had ischemic heart disease.
5. Egyptian fashionista
In the modern days when women’s hair starts to thin out, there are several ways to fix it. Apparently, women in the past had the same problem, because the remains of a woman found in a ruined Egyptian city of Amarna 70 extension hair, similar to those used today.
The hair was so well done that they have survived to this day, even though the rest of the woman’s body decomposed (she died 3,300 years ago and was not mummified). The cemetery in which were buried a woman, were found and other body hair, dyed with henna.
6. Mummified fetus
About 100 years ago in Giza was excavated 45 cm sarkofag. He was taken to Cambridge University, where he was sent to the store and forgot about him. Originally found in a tiny coffin for an unknown reason placed the individual organs. But after careful study using MRI found that it is actually a 16-18-week-old human embryo, which were mummified and buried in its own purpose-built sarcophagus, which contained intricate patterns and decorations.
7. Cancer of the Egyptians
As heart disease, cancer, until recently, was considered to be a purely modern disease. About this disease has never been mentioned in historical records. However, this does not mean that cancer was not in the ancient world. According to recent studies, two mummies, a male and a female, were found signs that they were suffering from cancer.
In 2015, the Spanish University has found a mummy, which bore signs of damage from breast cancer. 4200-year-old mummy of a woman who lived during the sixth dynasty of the pharaohs.
8. Ancient papyrus
In 2011 archaeologist Pierre Tallet made a remarkable discovery in a remote region of Egypt , far away from any civilization. Thirty caves in the limestone rock found a kind of warehouse for storage of boats in ancient Egypt. But even more stunning was the discovery that he did a few years later , in 2013, a series of papyrus , inscribed on both sides hieroglyphics and hieratic letter (informal, casual letter the ancient Egyptians), and the papyri are the oldest papyri ever discovered.
Among them were found the journal of an official by the name of Merer, who led the group of 200 men, responsible for ensuring materials and supplies working on the construction of the great Pyramid.
9. Brain drain.
In 525 BC, the Persian king Cambyses captured the Egyptian capital at Memphis. After the conquest of Egypt the majority of the great Egyptian minds and artists began to take to Persia, to serve there Empire. In Egypt was only mediocre artists that perfectly clear on the coffin, discovered in 2014. Despite the fact that the body in the coffin has not been found, scientists have found that the coffin dates back to around the years of the Persian occupation.
Interestingly, initially thought that the coffin is a forgery because it was done very roughly and poorly. However, later it turned out that it was really original. On the coffin there’s a lot of bizarre images, including badly drawn falcons (symbols of the God Horus), which are more like fish, four jars with the heads of the four sons of the Choir, which was described as “headless” and other mistakes relating to Egyptian mythology.
10. Egyptian sexy spells
In 2016, was deciphered two papyrus scrolls of the third century ad, which was written in Greek. 1700-year-old scrolls that were found a century ago, was kept in the University of Oxford in England. And only now it turned out that they were written sexy spells designed in order to fall in love with another person. The author of the spells is unknown, but they mentioned a few Gnostic gods.
