The University of Barcelona is presenting the results of the latest excavation campaign of the Oxyrhynchus Archaeological Mission, in Egypt. Some work that was carried out between November 7 and December 7 of last year. It does so in three days where the protagonists of the excavation explain the incredible finds in this area from the Ptolemaic era, the period of Greek domination of Egypt after the conquest of Alexander the Great.
There are two appointments ahead with the team of archaeologists to discover all this new historical heritage. Next Monday, February 19, Núria Castellano will offer a session on one of the Roman tombs in the Upper Necropolis. In it, several mummified individuals were found, two of them with thin golden tongues in their mouths. A kind of ritual of protection of the deceased, well attested in the Roman necropolis of Oxyrhynchus, and of which a total of 16 have been found in various campaigns.
Bodies also appear that had magical papyri on their chests, protected with an elimo seal decorated with Egyptian motifs. Some of these mummies were covered with polychrome cardboard, and one had a golden mask.
José Javier Martínez will present the results of all these archaeological surveys, on the same day the 19th. However, on the last day, February 26, Bibiana Agustí will summarize the results of the 2023 anthropological work and Bernat Burgaya and Delia Eguiluz will present the restoration tasks of this November and December campaign, in which archaeological prospecting work was also carried out to delimit new sectors and better understand the urban fabric of the necropolis, as well as topography, photogrammetry and aerial photography work.
The hypogea
In hypogeum 4 they accessed a well 3.37 meters deep, which had a stone curb and was covered with sand, small stones and blocks. At 1.78 meters they found, on the east side, a stone door with a lintel and jambs closed with adobe. Near the well there was a cut in the pavement, covered with sand, small stones and blocks. Within that cutout, five anthropomorphic stone sarcophagi were located: three were open and empty, but the other two were completely closed. Inside, two mummified individuals were discovered, a man and a woman, covered with polychrome cardboard. 23 mummified individuals were also found outside the sarcophagi and some polychrome terracotta figures representing the goddess Isis-Aphrodite.
Hypogeum 5 also had a stone curb to protect the access shaft, which was 3.10 meters deep and covered with sand, small stones and blocks. At 2.15 meters they found, also on the east side, a stone door with lintel and jambs, closed with mud bricks. Near the well there was also a cutout in the pavement, covered with sand, small stones, blocks, amphorae, a large stone vase, and limestone blocks, many with painted decoration in blue, red, white, black, and yellow. Some of these blocks had a decoration that imitated the veins of marble, others had a floral decoration, some columns with decoration of vineyards, and others had figures of animals: hares, doves and urea. Here they located four anthropomorphic stone sarcophagi, one of them with two mummified individuals. They also found many clay funerary-votive unguent jars.
Mascort and Pons explain that “the archaeological tasks of this hypogeum are not finished, and we are sure that there will be one or two more sarcophagi.”
The research carried out throughout this archaeological campaign has been possible thanks to the IPOA, the Palarq Foundation, the Catalan Society of Egyptology and Baula Archaeological Research, with the collaboration of the Supreme Council of Antiquities and the University of Cairo.
