Valley of the Golden Mummies: The Greatest Egyptian Discovery Since Tutankhamun Book + PRICE WATCH * Amazon pricing is not included in price watch

Valley of the Golden Mummies: The Greatest Egyptian Discovery Since Tutankhamun Book

In the winter of 1996, a guard at the temple of Alexander the Great near Bahariya, Egypt, reported an astounding discovery: during a routine patrol, he had been startled when the donkey he had been riding fell into a hole. Helping the donkey out of its predicament, the guard saw that the hole was in fact an opening into a tomb--and one from which a mummy's golden face peered. Zahi Hawass, the director general of the Giza Pyramid complex and a leading Egyptian archaeologist, hurried to the site, which turned up more and more of those golden-masked corpses--105 in the first year of excavation alone, the largest number of mummies yet discovered at a single Egyptian site. Hawass's book describes the site and its contents, which offer material evidence of daily life at the Bahariya Oasis during the 25th and 26th dynasties, a time about which little is now known. Gaps in the historical record are quickly being filled, however, thanks to Hawass's ongoing findings, only a fraction of which are reported in his book. He guesses that the Valley of the Golden Mummies may eventually yield more than 10,000 perfectly preserved corpses and a wealth of information about their time. The richly illustrated text also provides a detailed account of the work of modern Egyptologists, who accord their subjects a respect not often shown by earlier generations of field workers; as Hawass remarks, "We always treat a mummy as if it were still a person, just as we would hope to be treated ourselves in similar circumstances." It's an altogether fascinating excursion into long-ago times. --Gregory McNamee Read More

from£24.74 | RRP: £32.00
* Excludes Voucher Code Discount Also available Used from £15.35
  • Product Description

    "The tombs of ancient Egypt have by no means exhausted their power to astonish. Years may go by without an eye-popping discovery, but then archaeologists stumble on . . . one of the most spectacular Egyptian discoveries in decades."-New York Times

    It is being hailed as the most sensational find since King Tut's tomb: hundreds of 2,000-year-old mummies, in near-pristine condition and many with masks of gold, uncovered in the Egyptian desert. Never before have so many mummies been discovered in a single site. Ever since front-page headlines announced the electrifying find, the world has awaited the full story. Now, in the only book on the golden mummies, the director of the excavation, noted Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass, takes readers to the site to see what cannot be seen anywhere else-and shares the wealth of new information the tombs are yielding about Egyptian life during the Roman occupation.

    The site will remain closed as the dig goes on, making this book-with more than 250 exceptional full-color photographs-the only place to see what lies inside these mysterious graves.

    280 photographs, 260 in full color, 5 line drawings, 93/4 x 113/4"

  • 0810939428
  • 9780810939424
  • Zahi A. Hawass
  • 6 November 2000
  • Harry N. Abrams
  • Hardcover (Book)
  • 224
  • 1st Edition.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. If you click through any of the links below and make a purchase we may earn a small commission (at no extra cost to you). Click here to learn more.

Would you like your name to appear with the review?

We will post your book review within a day or so as long as it meets our guidelines and terms and conditions. All reviews submitted become the licensed property of www.find-book.co.uk as written in our terms and conditions. None of your personal details will be passed on to any other third party.

All form fields are required.