Most of Egypt is desert, dry, sandy and desolate, and it was only because the Nile provided water for the land that a great civilization flourished there. But the Nile provided more than just water. Each year, between June and October, it flooded, depositing rich sediment across the valley, carried downstream from central Africa, thousands of miles away. The crops grown in the fertile soil included wheat, barley, flax (used for making linen), onions, cabbages, lettuces, figs, grapes and pomegranates. The farmers also raised cattle, pigs, sheep, goats and geese. Egypt was a land of plenty and the people enjoyed life to the full.
Chris McGowan spent some time in Egypt, with another paleontologist, searching for fossils. Meanwhile, the Museum's Egyptologists were excavating some ruins. "We found a few mosasaur and plesiosaur bones, but these were nowhere near as interesting as the Egyptian treasures." He was intrigued by the mummies that the archaeologists were unearthing, especially by the abnormalities seen in some of the 2000-year-old skeletons. "All had heavily worn teeth, caused by the sand in their bread." One skeleton had such bad arthritis that the joint surfaces of the knees were deeply grooved. Another skeleton had a spongy outgrowth that covered part of the skull, caused by tuberculosis.
Although most of his time was spent in the Dakhleh Oasis, he did visit the Great Pyramid. "The most impressive part of the trip was clambering through the great passageway leading through the middle of the pyramid toward the burial chamber. How they managed to carve the enormous blocks of stone perfectly squarely, so they fitted together with the smallest of gaps, is amazing." The huge slabs forming the roof of the burial chamber were even more remarkable. "I paced them out to be about 18 feet (5 m) long. But you can't have such long slabs because stone isn't strong enough to resist sagging without breaking! That's why Roman buildings have their columns so close together." Two days later he figured out how they must have achieved the remarkable engineering feat.
While driving across the desert they found a modern mummy--a cow whose body had become so baked in the sun that the hide was as hard as wood. It was propped up on a pile of rocks beside the road like a statue. Maybe it's still there.
The tomb robbers were so good at finding burial chambers that very few tombs have been discovered that have not been plundered. That's because most of the robbers had either helped build the tombs themselves, or had been tipped off by others who had. King Tut's tomb was the rare exception. Imagine the excitement, back in 1922, when Howard Carter, a famous English Egyptologist, discovered a sealed shaft leading to King Tut's tomb. And then he peeked inside...
If you want to feel what it was like inside a real burial chamber, read Abacus.
Chris McGowan spent some time in Egypt, with another paleontologist, searching for fossils. Meanwhile, the Museum's Egyptologists were excavating some ruins. "We found a few mosasaur and plesiosaur bones, but these were nowhere near as interesting as the Egyptian treasures." He was intrigued by the mummies that the archaeologists were unearthing, especially by the abnormalities seen in some of the 2000-year-old skeletons. "All had heavily worn teeth, caused by the sand in their bread." One skeleton had such bad arthritis that the joint surfaces of the knees were deeply grooved. Another skeleton had a spongy outgrowth that covered part of the skull, caused by tuberculosis.
Although most of his time was spent in the Dakhleh Oasis, he did visit the Great Pyramid. "The most impressive part of the trip was clambering through the great passageway leading through the middle of the pyramid toward the burial chamber. How they managed to carve the enormous blocks of stone perfectly squarely, so they fitted together with the smallest of gaps, is amazing." The huge slabs forming the roof of the burial chamber were even more remarkable. "I paced them out to be about 18 feet (5 m) long. But you can't have such long slabs because stone isn't strong enough to resist sagging without breaking! That's why Roman buildings have their columns so close together." Two days later he figured out how they must have achieved the remarkable engineering feat.
While driving across the desert they found a modern mummy--a cow whose body had become so baked in the sun that the hide was as hard as wood. It was propped up on a pile of rocks beside the road like a statue. Maybe it's still there.
The tomb robbers were so good at finding burial chambers that very few tombs have been discovered that have not been plundered. That's because most of the robbers had either helped build the tombs themselves, or had been tipped off by others who had. King Tut's tomb was the rare exception. Imagine the excitement, back in 1922, when Howard Carter, a famous English Egyptologist, discovered a sealed shaft leading to King Tut's tomb. And then he peeked inside...
If you want to feel what it was like inside a real burial chamber, read Abacus.
Ancient Egypt (continued)
