# Ancient Egyptian Doctor



## Rosemary (Dec 31, 2006)

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2006/12/06/mummy_arc.html?category=archaeology
*Dec. 6, 2006* — Archaeologists have discovered the mummified remains of a doctor they believe lived more than 4,000 years ago and was buried along with metal surgical tools.
  The mummy was discovered in Saqqara, 12 miles south of Cairo, while archaeologists were cleaning a nearby site, Egypt's official Middle East News Agency quoted Zahi Hawass, chief of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, as saying.
  Hawass said the doctor, named Qar, lived under the 6th dynasty from about 2350 B.C. to 2180 B.C., and that the upper part of the tomb was discovered in 2000 while the sarcophagus was found during more recent cleaning work.
  "The lid of the wooden casket had excellent and well-preserved decorations ... and the mummy's linen wrappings and the funerary drawings are still in their original condition." 
  He said the mask covering the face of the mummy was very well preserved despite slight damage to the mouth area.
  Bronze surgical instruments, earthenware containers bearing the doctor's name, a round limestone table, and 22 bronze statues of gods were also discovered.

*Everytime they discover new things like this, it really makes many people reaslise just how clever these ancient Egyptians were...Rosie*


----------



## j d worthington (Dec 31, 2006)

Thank you for that, Rosie! Yes, a lot of things had been pieced together back then that we lost for a long time... and without the benefit of the precision instruments that we have as aids now! As Heinlein put it: "Those old Romans were no dummies..." Nor were most of the other earlier civilizations.

I keep hoping (perhaps they have, and I've just not heard about it) that they'll find the tomb of Imhotep, who seemed to be a genuine renaissance man ... architect, doctor, soldier, statesman, poet, what-have-you....


----------

