Egypt's Gift: New Discovery Of 3,000 Year-Old Tomb
Egypt is the country known to be full of surprises. They are odd, 3,000-year-old surprises! Just recently, the tombs of an ancient royal family have been unearthed in Saqqara. We have found many sarcophaguses, still containing a fully enclosed and ‘fresh’ mummy. The bodies are intact and they are discovering more about this ancient royal family as we speak! Egypt is the quintessential Middle-Eastern slash North-African country. It's got sand, heat, beaches, amazing food, warm people and ancient mysteries that you would happily pay to see in person. Flying thousands of miles from around the globe seems worth it when you have so much to explore.
What’s the fuss about?
No less than thirteen coffins have been found in a mass burial tomb site, in Saqqara. However, experts have found up to 27 different bodies. It seems like a royal family was buried here, either all in the same period or in multiple periods. It is also being found that there was a concerted effort to keep the burial site hidden for many years, so as to not disturb their resting bodies. Out of so many different ancient burial sites, this one has been one of the oldest to be discovered. Some say that the bodies date to 2,500 years old but the actual tomb itself has constructed 3,000 years ago. This would mean that, for half a millennium, the tomb was not used. Some questions remain unanswered.
So who built if not for this particular royal family?
What kind of techniques were used?
Why were some of the burial does several meets down into the ground while others were at the surface level?
Why did it take so long to find the tomb?
So many questions!!
But wait, there’s more!
Small group holidays are the best way to travel in Egypt. Why? Well, for one thing, it's very hot. You don’t want to travel around in a large group when the weather is going to be very difficult at times. You don’t want stragglers to build and build and for the fitter stronger people in the group get frustrated. So travel in teams of no more than 6 people if you can. That is what is recommended on some of these incredible Egypt tours 2021. The Nubian's tour shall be done on camels, so you should seek for a smaller group because there might not be enough camels to go around a team of 10+ people. Another option is to go on a shoestring excursion. This is when you have a large group, which spreads out into a thin line and there are multiple tour guides helping everyone to enjoy the sites and still keep together.
The food
Egypt is well-known for its food, even more so than Morocco which is another jewel in North Africa. One thing you have to try is Egyptian hummus and lamb kofta. This is humus which is made from chickpeas, raisins, spices and nuts. It's a little different from Italian or Spanish humus, but the texture is largely the same. The lamb kofta is lamb mince, mixed with mint, herbs, spices and also, raisins. It's spicy, sweet and very filling. It's been gently fried so it kind of tastes like a kebab.
Try their rural breakfast if you get the chance. It's a fresh flatbread, their version of feta cheese called domiati, along with dates, prunes and a fresh salad. Sometimes you also get a pot of chickpea soup, mixed with Arabic spices, which is eaten hot. They also have your very common falafel bread but they do it slightly differently. Rather than mixed in the usual herbs, yogurt and hummus, they eat it with pickle, onions and sometimes fava beans. You can get tahini sauce as well, but we recommend you look for something called, Ta’ameya.
The sites
Oh, come on, really!? You know the deal already. You have to visit the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Sphinx, as well as the Temple of Horus. These three are the most sacred and important sites of ancient Egypt. However, there are lots of others. You should also visit Cairo for a modern Egyptian experience. Sometimes we get too wrapped up in the ancient mysteries of the nation, but there are lots of modern things to explore like the music, fashion, art and theater scenes.
Egyptian is such a wonderful and mesmerizing country. This new discovery is just another reminder that even in 2020, we still haven’t unearthed all of its secrets and who knows if we ever will!
Cover Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash
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