THE PORTRAITS of two mummies have been recently uncovered, the Egyptian Government has announced.
Egyptian archeologists made the discovery at the Gerza excavation site in Fayoum, Egypt, which is around 75 miles southwest of Cairo.
3 Portraits of two mummies have been recently uncoveredCredit: Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
3 The two full-color artworks, also known as “Fayoum portraits”Credit: Instagram/theorientalinstitute
3 Other artifacts uncovered at the site include mummies, papyri, pottery and coffinsCredit: Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
The two full-color artworks, also known as “Fayoum portraits,” are the first of their kind to be discovered in over a century.
Because of this, they are among the “most important archaeological discoveries that were found during the current season,” the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said in a translated statement.
Adel Okasha, head of Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, noted that the team found the portraits in a funerary house “with a floor made of colored lime mortar and decorated with interchangeable tiles.”
Other artifacts uncovered at the site include mummies, papyri, pottery and coffins, all dating back to the Ptolemaic period (305–30 BCE) through the Roman era (30 BCE—390 CE).
The coffins featured a number of different styles, “some of them in the human form and others in the Greek form with a gabled roof,” according to Dr. Bassem Jihad, the supervisor of the central training unit and head of the mission.
Also found inside one of the wooden coffins was a terracotta statue of the goddess Isis Aphrodite.
Dr. Jihad told ArtNet News this rare find “reflects the influence of Greeks on Egyptian art as a result of [the] new community living there.”
The excavation mission began work at the Gerza site in 2016.
Since then, archeologists have uncovered many fixed and movable archaeological finds dating from the third century BC to the third century AD.
“Among these models are 6 huge mud-brick tombs that represent mass graves in the Catacomb style,” the statement revealed.
Wealth disparity
The findings emphasized the importance of socioeconomic standing in Ancient Egyptian times.
“What was discovered at the site illustrates the diversity and difference in the accuracy and quality of the mummification process during the Ptolemaic and Roman eras,” MOTA’s statement reads.
“Which indicates the economic level of the deceased, starting from high-quality mummification to burials of a simple nature,” it continued.
Mummies that were buried with portraits often meant that the deceased individual was very wealthy.
The importance of artwork
The Egyptians believed that art had the power to communicate with the gods and appeal to them in the afterlife, per Arts and Culture by Google.
These pieces of art could be in the form of sculptures, paintings, tomb paintings and carvings.
“Egyptian tomb art was known to be the point of contact between the dead and the living,” Arts and Culture’s webpage reads.
According to Deborah White, an editor at the Australian Museum, “Egyptian tombs were like secret art galleries that were never meant to be viewed.”
“Instead, these amazing examples of artistic craftsmanship spoke only to an elite group of visitors – the gods.”