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Archaeologists Find Book of the Dead in Ancient Egyptian Cemetery
Archaeologists have discovered a 3,500-year-old cemetery in Egypt. It held several sarcophagi and many burial items, including a Book of the Dead on papyrus.
Book of the Dead
The Book of the Dead is the modern name for a series of spells that Egyptians used to help reach the afterlife. Not every book contained the same information. Depending on how much money the deceased person or their relatives spent, the books could contain different spells and be personalized with the name of the individual.
The spells ranged from how to maintain your spirit and heart after death, to protective utterances against the demons, gods, and animals that someone might encounter in the afterlife. Archaeologists have never found a Book of the Dead with a complete set of chapters.
The papyrus is long, measuring between 13 and 15 meters, and is still in good condition. Though the ancient Egyptians regularly buried papyrus books beside the deceased, it is incredibly rare to find them in their original burial place.
The team has been excavating the site at Tuna al-Gebal for six years but only recently discovered the graveyard. The team has not released any details about the spells the book contains or precisely who it was buried with.
“If it’s that long and well-preserved, [then it’s] certainly a great and interesting find,” Lara Weiss from the Roemer and Pelizaeus Museum in Germany told Live Science.
Hundreds of archaeological finds
A statement from the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities confirmed that the cemetery is from the New Kingdom, which dates between the 11th and 16th centuries BC. It mentions “hundreds of archaeological finds, including amulets, ornaments, and stone and wooden coffins containing mummies…the wooden [coffins] are in human shapes, some of which are engraved and colored. Inside are mummies in a good state of preservation.”
A number of the mummies were identifiable thanks to legible engravings on the coffins. The remains include those of a supervisor of the Temple of Amun, the daughter of the temple’s high priest, and a temple musician.
Other finds include canopic jars and stone sarcophagi. The canopic jars were in a wooden box next to the coffin of the high priest’s daughter. People used the urns to hold organs from embalmed bodies. Ancient Egyptians would have placed wooden coffins inside a stone sarcophagus to help preserve them.
Further excavations and analysis of the burial items are underway.
注释：
sarcophagi: n
表示"sarcophagus的复数, 石棺"，means "a stone coffin (usually bearing sculpture or inscriptions"，如：What is the significance of the empty sarcophagus? 空石棺的意义是什么？
papyrus: n
表示"纸莎草；纸草"，means "paper made from the papyrus plant by cutting it in strips and pressing it flat; used by ancient Egyptians and Greeks and Romans"，如：In those days, paper was made from s strips of the papi papyrus plant. 当时的纸是由纸莎草植物的剥离物制成的。
utterance: n
表示"话语"，means "the use of uttered sounds for auditory communication"，如：I appreciate his poetic utterances. 我欣赏他那富有诗意的话语。
amulet: n
表示" 护身符"，means "a trinket or piece of jewelry usually hung about the neck and thought to be a magical protection against evil or disease"，如：Around the man's neck was his father's amulet. 那个人的脖子上还带着他父亲的护身符。
canopic: adj
表示" 礼葬瓷的"，如：.When a body was mummified, its brain was removed through one of its nostrils and its intestines were also removed and placed in jars called canopic jars. 14，当尸体制成木乃伊，其脑部通过鼻孔移除，而脊椎也会移走，安放在盛放内脏的罐子。
urn: n
表示" 瓮；罐；骨灰盒"，means "a large vase that usually has a pedestal or feet"，如：They buried the urn in the cemetery. 他们将骨灰瓮埋在了公墓里。
embalm: v
表示"防腐；使不朽"，means "preserve a dead body"，如：Thousands of years ago in Egypt, salt was used to embalm the dead.千万年前埃及人曾利用盐涂尸防腐。
sarcophagus: n
表示" 石棺"，means "a stone coffin (usually bearing sculpture or inscriptions)"，如：I can't wait to see his crystal sarcophagus!我等不及想看到他的水晶棺了。
中文简要说明：
埃及考古学家近期在尼罗河谷地发现一处3500年前的古墓，内有一卷保存状态良好的《亡灵书》，十分少见。
综合美国《新闻周刊》、科技新闻网站「生活科学」（Live Science）报导，埃及旅游文物部10月15日公布，中部敏亚省（al-Minya）尼罗河谷地古城Tuna al-Gebel一处自2017年起展开挖掘作业的考古地点，去年发现8月一处古墓地，内有木乃伊。墓地年代可溯及「新王国时期」（New Kingdom，公元前1550年至公元前1070年），用于埋葬高级官员与祭司。
出土文物包括一件13至15公尺长的纸莎草制纸滚动条《亡灵书》（Book of the Dead，或译死者之书），内容完整且保存良好，非常珍贵。这是埃及古赖法（Al-Ghuraifa）地区首度发现完整的《亡灵书》。
《亡灵书》是古埃及人用来帮助死者前往来世的丧葬文书现代名称，也称《通往光明之书》，包含各式咒语，例如死后如何维持灵魂与内在不灭、来世遇到恶魔、神灵、动物时如何自我保护，有如死后世界行动指南。《亡灵书》内容根据死者身分、家属花费的金额而有所不同，会以死者命名，每一卷均为独一无二。美国埃及研究中心（ARCE）指，《亡灵书》能让研究人员深入了解古埃及的宗教与来世信仰。
古埃及人会把《亡灵书》或内容节录的副本埋在死者身旁，但后世在死者原本的墓穴找到《亡灵书》则属罕见。埃及旅游文物部考古团队并未公布这卷《亡灵书》任何内容，亦未公开其外观，可望日后于大埃及博物馆（Grand Egyptian Museum）展出。
埃及古物最高委员会（The Supreme Council of Antiquities）表示，这处墓地是重要的考古发现。除了《亡灵书》，本次出土文物包括多具木乃伊的石棺与木棺、保存木乃伊内脏的罐子、逾2.5万个陪葬雕像、木制与石制护身符、大量器皿；木棺雕刻清晰可辨，有助辨认死者身分，包括一名高阶祭司之女、阿蒙（Amun）神庙的一名歌手。Tuna al-Gebel古城与古埃及神祇杰胡蒂（Djehuti）有关，相传他发明了文字，也是太阳神的代表，前述彩色木棺内女子的父亲就是负责祭祀杰胡蒂的高阶祭司。
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