TTE 07 Ramadan Hussein

Published: Aug. 24, 2020, 6 a.m.

This episode is a conversation with Dr Ramadan Hussein, an Egyptian Egyptologist who is in charge of an incredible site in the ancient Necropolis of Sakkara, near Cairo. I was privileged to spend two months filming his dig, 30 metres or 100ft, underground. Now bear in mind that 100ft is a 14-storey building, we were that deep underneath the surface when Ramadan made some incredible discoveries. His site is helping rewrite the model of burial in Egypt 2600 years ago, with the first ever confirmed location of a mummification complex, including an air-conditioned chamber for removing the organs and buildings for dessicating the body with natron salts and for wrapping the bodies. But the real eye-opening discoveries were the chambers with huge sarcophagi, plus extremely valuable funerary objects. Many of the mummies discovered were women priests and the site is helping to redefine our ideas about the place of women in ancient Egyptian society. Many of those women had greater rights and freedoms than many women in many modern cultures and societies enjoy even today. I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did.