A team of Egyptian and German archaeologists has discovered an incredibly rare gilded death mask in Egypt that they are calling “a sensation”.
“The finding of this mask could be called a sensation,” Ramadan Badry Hussein, a professor at the University of Tubingen in Germany, said at a press conference. “Very few masks of precious metals have been preserved to the present day, because the tombs of most ancient Egyptian dignitaries were looted in ancient times.”
The ancient mask, which is more than 2,000 years old, is formed of silver with a thin layer of gold. It appears to have been made for a priest of the Sufi period.
Additionally, the team found a mummification workshop they say will shed new insights into how ancient Egyptians carried out the embalming process. The mummification workshop includes tools and supplies used in the mummification process.
The discoveries were made at a site at the Saqqara necropolis of Memphis, which was last excavated in 1900.
Some of the newly-discovered artifacts from the site will be put up for display in the Grand Egyptian Museum, which is currently under construction.
Find out more about this incredible discovery in the video below.
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