Fagg_El_Gamous
Fag el-Gamous
Ancient cemetery in Egypt
Fagg El Gamous (translated Way of the Buffalo) is an ancient Egyptian cemetery located in the Faiyum Governorate dating from the 1st to the 7th century AD, the period of Roman rule in Egypt.
The cemetery was discovered by a team of archeologists from Brigham Young University in 1980. They were given sole responsibility for the excavation in 1981.
The excavations are done under time-pressure due to threat of incursion by local farmers who wish to expand their fields across the cemetery.[1]
The skeletons and natural mummies (i.e. not the result of a professional mummification as used for royalty), seem to be common people; "The bodies have been well preserved, so the organs and remains are virtually complete. The preservation results from sealing in the moisture and the atmosphere of the burial spot."[2] By 2014, roughly 1,000 bodies had been excavated at the site.[2]
In 1988, it was noted by the researchers that the graveyard contained an unexpected number of blondes amongst the naturally mummified bodies, as well as oddities in tooth decay amongst the buried; "Of those whose hair was preserved 54% were blondes or redheads, and the percentage grows to 87% when light-brown hair color is added".[3] In 2014, it was revealed that burials seem to be clustered by hair-colour, those with red-hair are in one area, those with blonde hair in another.[1]