In 1958, a mummy was found in the Acacus Mountains, southwest of Libya, about 5,600 years old.
2- This discovery aroused the interest of the world, given that the history of the mummy predates by about 1500 years the time of mummification recorded in the ancient Egyptian civilization, which dates back to (2250-2750) BC, which prompted scientists to reconsider the belief that prevailed that mummification in the African continent It began in Egypt, and pushed a new hypothesis that its source is likely to be one of the unknown previous civilizations that arose in the area now known as Libya over a period of 20,000 years.
3- The mummy’s name is “Wan Moha Gaj” or the Black Mummy. It was found by an Italian archaeological mission headed by Fabrizio Mori in 1958 during excavations in a small rocky cave located in the Chowente Valley in the Acacus mountain range, south of the Libyan city of Ghat, close to Algerian border.
4- This unique mummy, which is now preserved in the Red Saraya Museum in the capital, Tripoli, belongs to a small brown child, estimated to be two and a half years old. His body was carefully wrapped in the skin of an antelope, and it took the position of a fetus, its guts were removed and wrapped in wild herbs in order to protect it from rotting and decomposition.
To everyone’s astonishment, the radioactive carbon-14 analysis at the time showed that the mummy’s age ranged between 5400-5600 years.
5- Carvings of crocodiles, giraffes, cows, goats, elephants …. etc. were discovered, approximately 30 meters from the place of discovery of the mummy, and the stove of the gods was found, which is a circular ring with a diameter of 3 meters surrounded by small rocks and in the middle there is a place of fire that they were throwing The animals in it and a few meters away they found an altar for these animals
Drawings and inscriptions were also discovered showing the civilization, religion and tribe of Wan Mohi Gaj, including a man who puts the head of an animal on his head. Scientists said that this man is the god of death and is similar to the death god of the Pharaohs in terms of the mask, meaning that the Libyan civilization preceded the civilization of the pharaohs by more than 2000 years (That is, mummification did not begin in Egypt, but rather in Libya, and the people (Wan Mohi Gaj) in particular were the first to do mummification? Then they moved towards the north and south and towards the Nile after a sudden change of climate occurred in the Libyan desert, so they headed towards the plains and water
6- In 2008, a mummy of 2.25 meters in length was discovered by a joint Libyan-British archaeological mission led by the English scientist “David Ma Tangle” when the mission was carrying out research and excavation work in (Ubari) Wadi Al-Hayat, on the slopes of Mount Zangkara, south of the city of Garma in the (Ubari) region.
7- This mummy is estimated to be seven thousand years old, and it is placed in the burial place that the Libyans practiced in burying their dead, the biggest evidence that the ancient Libyans were the ones who discovered the mummification of the dead. The Libyans used the leaves of plants, such as palm fronds, to complete the mummification process, in addition to the salt of natron, such as the mummy of Wan Hohe Gage.
8- Also found in Jaghbub the mummy of a seven-year-old girl who died 1800 years ago. The first indication of a mummy in Jaghbub was written by Richard Goodchild (he was head of the Eastern Province’s Antiquities Monitor 1954-1967) in the book published after his death (Libyan Studies And he talks about the history of the archaeological discovery, in which he spoke about the Italian Gasparo Oliverio (chief of antiquities in the Eastern Region approximately 1921-1935).
Credit goes to original owner
