Archeology Camp this time was wonderful, like always. We dug into a bit of Ancient Egypt, and even found a mummy!

Here's what happened, when it happened:

Level I: We are finding mostly Roman artifacts mixed in with a few New Kingdom artifacts. Most of the Roman and the New Kingdom artifacts are broken. Is this a Roman rubbish heap?

Level II: We are now finding New Kingdom and Middle Kingdom artifacts; lots of god statues, which are not broken! What is going on here?

We also have uncovered a coffin! Is there a mummy inside?

Level III: I want my mummy! Today we are finding only old kingdom stuff, undisturbed. And metal and Alabaster (a type of stone), which are extremely rare!

The coffin contained a mummy (of course), but also pots made of Alabaster, which only the rich would be able to afford. But why was this at the bottom of jumbled up level of Roman garbage, New Kingdom artifacts, and Middle Kingdom artifacts?

Explanations:

The New Kingdom god statues: I'm sure you've all heard of the famous Boy King: Tutankhamun. But have you heard of his father, King Akhenaten? King Akhenaten had a crazy idea that changed Egypt's entire religion forever (well for as long as his reign lasted, anyway)! He said to all of his people: “Don't worship the old gods anymore, now you will worship just Aten, the sun god.”

The people didn't like this, but he forced them to throw away their god statues. Some people buried them so that they would be safe. We think that is what happened.

The Roman Garbage: The Romans needed somewhere to empty their garbage, so they dug a big hole in the ground and emptied it, not bothering to see whether they were disturbing artifacts from another civilization. They just didn't care.

The Whole Picture: So, the whole story... Some very rich Middle Kingdom guy was buried in the ground. Time passed, and Akhenaten arrived. People began burying their god statues, not bothering that they were smashing artifacts. Then the Romans came into Egypt and took over, they didn't care what they were smashing either. All in all, it was a very mixed up story for us archaeologists!