Posted on 11/10/2017 7:26:32 AM PST by SJackson
The finding marks the first time archaeologists have discovered female remains in the area.
A consortium of archeologists and researchers from Tel Aviv University have discovered the 3,200-year-old remains of a pregnant Egyptian woman in Southern Israel’s Timna Valley, adjacent to an ancient Egyptian temple in an area once known as “King Solomon’s Mines", according to a report in Haaretz.
Situated in an arid climate with scarce natural resources to sustain life, few human corpses – and no previous female remains – have been unearthed near the copper mines, which were believed to have been exploited for 500 years between the 9th and 14th centuries BCE.
Be the first to know - Join our Facebook page.
Noting that the last time human remains were uncovered in the Timna Valley was in 1964, archeologist Erez Ben Yosef, who has led the Tel Aviv University team excavating the site since 2012, told Haaretz the finding is extremely unusual.
“It is very rare to find human remains in Timna, and it is the first time we found a woman,” Ben-Yosef told Haaretz.
“There are no water sources in Timna and it is very inhospitable, so no one ever settled there permanently,” he continued. AD September Monthly Winner | Campfire Sponsored by OutsideTV
Due to the unwelcoming climate, Ben-Yosef postulated to the paper that the few burial plots in the Timna Valley were vacant because “people would be buried there temporarily and their bones would be taken back home by a later expedition.”
Moreover, he told Haaretz looters have been known to steal remains from the few tombs found in the area, most of which were reserved for ancient aristocracy.
Portions of the woman’s skeleton were initially discovered during the final days of last winter’s excavation season, resulting in a long delay before Tel Aviv University Faculty of Medicine physical anthropologists Israel Hershkovitz and Hila May could extricate and analyze the remains.
The dig resumed last summer, when it was determined that the upper half of the corpse was missing, while the lower part – including the remains of the fetus, believed to be in its first trimester – was intact.
May estimated in an interview with Haaretz that the woman was likely in her 20s when she died, although due to a lack of collagen in the bones necessary for radiocarbon dating, an accurate determination remains difficult.
The only clue that helped the researchers deduce any information about the woman’s identity were two well-preserved glass beads found in her tomb.
According to Deborah Sweeney, an Egyptologist at the university, the beads link the woman to the Egyptian goddess Hathor, known as the protector of miners, for whom the adjacent temple was built to ensure the miners’ safety and bounty.
Additionally, remains of musical instruments and a carving of a woman playing a sistrum – an ancient percussion instrument – were found.
That led Sweeney to theorize the pregnant woman likely traveled to the copper mines to serve as a singer or musician for Hathor – also known as the goddess of music, love, fertility and natural resources.
“Unfortunately, she must have died there for some reason, and was buried close to the temple so that Hathor would protect her,” Sweeney told Haaretz.
“It’s actually quite sad,” she continued. “She was probably quite adventurous to go so far away from home, which was rare for women in Egypt. But she never came back.”
Her HMO semt her to a mine?
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
..................
Archaeologists always attach some ‘religious’ significance to their finds.
Why couldn’t this just be the burial of a accidental death in the mines?................
ping
She was Sexually Assaulted by King Solomon. Her lawyer Gloria of Yishub is suing.
Let me guess....her name was Kopechne?
The ACLU immediately filed a lawsuit to have Planned Parenthood abort the mummy baby.
Obamacare.She kept her Doctor.
Stewart Granger would have nailed it with no problem! A much better Quartermaster!
Religion was important.
And she had the beads
And was adjacent to the temple
“always attach” ??
Couldn’t she just have been the house maid of the temple?.....................
Pretty presumptuous of them to assume the pregnant person was female and not a trans-person. I thought we had all been instructed that gender is not binary. Silly archaeologists.
Because few women in that time were sent into mines.
She could be the wife of the overseer but it would be beyond rare for anyone else to be able to bring a female in to that area and support her.
Remains of Musical instruments were found.
She may have been a musician or a groupie...................
We’ll the Bible spoke plainly about the corruption many of the Kings of Israel were engaging in in those days. In fact it lends argument to the accuracy of the Bible, if it could be argued. Doubtful, though, because that’s way too fragmentary for telling us what actually brought her there.
Doubtful she was a groupie.
She was pregnant, so she may have been ‘the other woman’..................
More likely because temple singers were respectable women in Egypt. And getting her into the area would have required some major pull.
Possibly the wife of the temple priest, the official scribe or the overseer.
Those are the only ones who would have had enough pull to get her there. We are talking about a place where everything would have had to be brought in so they kept the number of people there to a minimum.
Bringing in an extra person would have meant one less miner.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.