Ancient Egypt is known as one of the oldest civilizations which had led to thousands of inventions and development to influence the life of the human civilization today. The Egyptians are well known for their culture and strong bond with the history of the early civilizations.
As a result of the rich heritage and ever so fascinating ancient monuments tons of archaeologists have conducted many excavations in the area and they have since then found the answer to many questions and have been able to explain many stories of the royal dynasties and the common people of the ancient times. One such theory that was developed earlier was that of the poor people of the civilization and the children who were involved in pot burial rituals after their death but recent analysis tells us something different.
According to ScienceNews, majority of the burial pots contained the skeletons of adults rather than children and they were often buried in wooden or clay pots and coffins along with many valuable items, gold, jewelry, clothes and other things that were considered necessary in the afterlife. Ronika Power a Bio-archaeologist, Yann Tristant and an Egyptologist from Macquarie University in Sydney are the ones who reviewed the earlier published accounts of pot burials. These pot burials, dating back to 3300 B.C. to 1650 B.C, have 46 burial sites that are placed mostly near the Nile River. Her analysis revealed that the poor could not afford to place such expensive and valuable items. Therefore it means that the presence of all the valuables mentioned above was that of the rich families who were using the pot burial method also.
Ancient Origins explains that the Egyptians were strong believers of the afterlife and the pots used to keep the body of the dead were a symbolic representation of a vessel that would carry the souls to the afterlife. The materials kept in the pots help the people in their afterlife so that they do not face any difficulty and this would enable them to live in comfort. Some of these items many include gold, ostrich eggshell beads, ivory, clothing or ceramics and trinkets.
The pots contained smaller bodies which led to the interpretation that they were only meant for children but upon detailed analysis we have come to know that there were many adult bodies too.
