Despite – or perhapsin spite of – a wave of recentTwitter paranoia , archaeologist with Egypt’sMinistry of Antiquitieshave open that elephantine 2.65 - meter ( 8.7 - foot)black sarcophagusunearthed from a deepness of 5 meter ( 16.4 feet ) during a construction survey to begin with this month .
The granite sarcophagus was the largest ever determine in the Sidi Gaber district of Alexandria and had everyone scratching their heads and asking the same interrogation : What could mayhap be privileged ? Experts estimated it dated back to the Ptolemaic period ( 323 - 30 BCE ) , an era of Egyptian history that followed the death of Alexander the Great and finish after the Roman invasion and death of Cleopatra VII . A stratum of trench mortar between the lid and sarcophagus eubstance indicated the content had never been opened . The bust of a man cut up from alabaster was found nearby and is consider to be the possessor of the tomb .
Because of its big and improper size , experts who spoke withNational Geographicsaid they consider the sarcophagus could go out to an earlier pharaonic dynasty and could have even been lend to the city from an early internet site down the Nile River and used to rebury someone later on .
Getting the sarcophagus out of its resting property will be an technology feat of its own . Waad Abul - Ela , capitulum of the Projects Sector at the Ministry , toldEgypt Todaythat they plan to sneak the 30 - ton casket in a two - part cognitive process . First , they will take the area around the sarcophagus and then after they will arise it with a towage truck “ in a scientific style that does not harm the ancientness . ”
But because the world is apply its breathing space in prediction of the imminent doom this casket could unfreeze once give , experts decided to hold in out what ’s inside .
The good news ? The pit coffin did n’t contain a sinister evil quick to loose an apocalyptic curse upon the earth . Phew . So what DID it contain ?
Content warning : The next pageboy include image of human remains .
Here ’s the bad intelligence : The contents are found in an ooey - gooey , sludgy mess . Informationpostedby the Ministry read that the casket was filled with sewage that appear to have leaked in via the road in the expanse . The stench was so spoiled the archaeological teamreportedlyhad to forget the casket for an minute after it was opened to countenance the tomb air out .
Resting in the boggy carmine stew - eld were three skeletons . Shaaban Abdel Moneim , a specialist in the study of mummies and skeletons , tell a preliminary interrogatory indicates they are all male and , because one stick out from what seems to be an pointer wound to the head , were most likely officials , mayhap member of the war machine . Then again , Egypt Todayreports the sarcophagus could belong to a priest , but certainly not a king or emperor butterfly as it does not have any inscriptions .
official take sample for analysis andsaythe systema skeletale will be reassign to the Alexandria National Museum for renovation and further subject area , including an probe into their drive of death . Dating techniques will also be used to find where they fit out in Alexandria ’s plenteous and various history .
