Valley of the Golden Mummies [Hardcover]

Zahi Hawass (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2000

"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"

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

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

From Publishers Weekly

During the summer of 1999, one of the more spectacular discoveries in recent archeological history was announced in Egypt. At the Bahariya Oasis, 230 miles southwest of Cairo, a large group of intact ancient Egyptian tombs were unearthed that contained more than 60 mummies in excellent condition. This was truly a stunning find and made headlines the world over. In this elegant and marvelous book, the flamboyant and well-regarded Egyptian archaeologist Hawass, who was in charge of the excavations, describes this unusual discovery. Hawass explains that these mummies, probably remains of people of a merchant class, date from the second and third century C.E. The text is geared to the general reader and Hawass is a great storyteller with a knack for providing the spicy detail (sometimes his persona intrudes a bit too muchDa small criticism). Fabulous color photographs of the remote and serene excavation site and detailed pictures of the various finds grace Hawass's informative text. The author estimates that it the Bahariya site may, once fully excavated, yield over 10,000 mummies. This book, therefore, will probably not be the last we hear from Bahariya, but it is a great start and easily whets the appetite for more. For anyone even remotely interested in ancient Egypt or archeology, this title is worth its weight in golden mummies. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams; 1ST edition (October 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810939428
• ISBN-13: 978-0810939424
• Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 9.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,676,612 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book on the amazing discovery of a necropolis, October 25, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Valley of the Golden Mummies (Hardcover)

This book features lots of great information on the amazing discovery of a golden mummy necropolis near the village of Bahariya known as the Valley of The Golden Mummies. The book is written by one of the best Egyptian Egyptologists, Dr. Zahi Hawass, and is written using a very friendly tone, unlike so many other Egyptology books. The text is quite easy to read, and is interesting to both beginners and advanced learners. The discovery itself is very fascinating. The necropolis was found completely by chance. A donkey, walking along in the desert sand stumbled over a rock and uncovered a golden mummy mask. After this, Hawass has led the excavation at Bahariya with great success. The world media has also had many front page stories on the discovery. Inside the book, you can read about Hawass' life, how the Valley of The Golden Mummies was discovered, a day at the dig, the mummies themselves, the artifacts, and some of the surrounding sites.

Overall, the book is the best one on the market, and is well worth buying if you wish to learn more about this century's most important discovery within Egyptology.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful!, October 6, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Valley of the Golden Mummies (Hardcover)

The discovery of the Valley of the Golden Mummies is one of the most exciting archaeological finds in recent memory (especially for all of us who dreamed of being Howard Carter when we were young), and this book makes you feel like you're there. The reproductions are glorious! My only criticism (and it's slight) is that I would have liked the text to be more extensive and thorough. But I suppose that there will be other reading books on the site since it seems that new chambers filled with mummies are being uncovered every day. Other recent and wonderful books on ancient Egyptians prior to mumification are _Chronicle of a Pharaoh_ by Joann Fletcher (lots of juicy details about the private life of the fascinating Amenhotep III) and _Conversations with Mummies_ by Rosalie David. I highly recommend both.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Experience an Ancient Excavation Thru Breathtaking Photos, January 6, 2004

By 

mwreview "mwreview" (Northern California, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Valley of the Golden Mummies (Hardcover)

Zahi Hawass was director general of Giza, Saqqara, Imbaba, and Bahariya Oasis who was concentrating his excavations at the Giza Pyramids, particularly the Tombs of the Pyramid Builders, when the Golden Mummies were discovered in the Bahariya Oasis in 1996. Then on, his efforts shifted to this new discovery. So far, over 100 complete Greco-Roman period mummies have been uncovered at Bahariya ranging in status from wealthy gold-encased merchants to the carelessly prepared poor. Hawass believes up to ten thousand mummies will eventually be discovered in a fifty year excavation (pg. 16). Many questions may be answered from these discoveries concerning the influence of Greek and Roman rule on Egyptian life (pg. 18).

Hawass gives the reader some insight on what it is like to be part of the excavation. Digging up black sand, for example, is an indication that one is getting close to a mummy (pg. 33). He describes the overpowering smells one experiences when uncovering a mummy that has been under the sand for thousands of years and what it is like to be brushing away and then to suddenly be greeted by the stare of an obsidian eye (pg. 53). He describes a mummy being prepared for transport and his own experience with the curse of the mummies forcing him to send the father of two child mummies to the museum to reunite the family (chapter 6).

Besides the golden mummies, other amazing discoveries in Bahariya are detailed in this book including an ancient wine factory (the first of its kind to be discovered), temples to the God of Bes and Hercules, and the only temple honoring Alexander the Great known to exist. Hawass describes the history of Bahariya as well as daily life as it exists today. Then, of course, there are the hundreds of breathtaking color photographs of the unique mummies, temples, and artifacts found at the sites. Because the sites described in this book are still under excavation, the defnitive book on the Valley of the Golden Mummies is yet to come and, if the author is correct, will take fifty years to complete. Still, the book offers interesting info on the sites up to this point in time although some of the copious details of mummies and artifacts gets tedious, especially in the last chapters. The book is 223 pages and includes an index, bibliography, and chronology of Egyptian rulers.