First two beetle mummies discovered in Egypt

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Until now, no similar mummified scarabs had been found in Egypt. HR

Cairo, Egypt, 11/12/2018 (El Pueblo en Línea) - They appeared as a couple, hidden in a small limestone coffin, and they are a finding as unique as it is disconcerting. An Egyptian mission has found in the sands of the Saqqara necropolis the mummies of two beetles, the first on record in ancient Egypt, along with dozens of mummified cats that were buried in the main funerary complex of Memphis, the first capital of Egypt, according to El Mundo.

"It is a unique finding. We have discovered the coffins of two mummified beetles. They are unique," admits El Mundo Sabri Farag, general director of the Saqqara necropolis, about 25 kilometers south of the Giza plateau. It is noon and under a radiant sun a delegation of diplomats and journalists slips around the pyramid of Userkaf to attend the announcement of the umpteenth discovery of the land of the pharaohs.

The archaeological mission that signs the finding began to drill into the land eight months ago. And the results have not been slow to appear in an arid geography in which humans and animals coexist. "Saqqara became a great center for sacred animals during ancient Egypt," admits Farag from inside one of the seven tombs uncovered by the expedition. Three belong to the new kingdom and were used centuries later as a cat cemetery. Of the other four, that of Khufu-Imhat, the supervisor of the construction of buildings in the royal palace, stands out.

"We are facing a very important discovery. During the excavation tasks we located two boxes. One of the sarcophagi, made of limestone and with an insect carved on its exterior, contains more than 200 beetles while the second, rectangular and with a lid decorated with three insects in black, it houses two mummified beetles", details Mustafa al Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. "Since we found them, we have asked museums in the United States, Italy, France, Belgium or the United Kingdom in search of similar specimens. And the answer has been that they do not exist. They have beetle coffins but not mummies. We are very proud" , Add.