Archaeologists have found the ancient Egyptian mummy of a boy who lived 4.7 thousand years ago. Caring parents put a chrysocolla stone to the body. "Green magic" was supposed to protect the boy in the afterlife. During the life of adolescents, they were decorated with green cosmetics
The Italian researcher Rafaella Bianucci from the University of Turin managed to decipher the 30th chapter from the ancient Egyptian "Book of the Dead". It says that an amulet of green minerals in the form of a scarab should be placed in the heart of the mummy.
Historians have previously focused on studying the role of the scarab as a sacred animal. Bianucci believes that it is all about the color, not the shape of the amulet.
Green mascot.
Exploring the remains of an ancient Egyptian boy about 15-18 months old, she found a leather bag in swaddling clothes, and in it two stones. One of them turned out to be bright chrysocolla, a hydrous copper silicate. Blue chrysocolla is often confused with turquoise, green with malachite.
According to Discovery News, the boy died of malaria 4.7 thousand years ago. "We assume that the parents wanted to protect their son from unwanted influences and dreamed that he was healthy in the afterlife," - said Bianucci.
The color green in ancient Egypt meant physical well-being and prosperity, as it symbolized young vegetation and crops. Most likely, chrysocolla was precisely a child's stone: earlier, archaeologists discovered in another burial a small figurine of a child made of the same mineral.
Chrysocolla was difficult to get. If malachite was a common stone for Ancient Egypt, then chrysocolla deposits are found only in the Sinai Peninsula and in the Eastern Desert.
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The magic of color
An Italian study explains why so often in ancient documents and frescoes, children were depicted with green eyes drawn. In all likelihood, the Egyptians believed that color itself is a source of sacred energy that can be directed towards creation or destruction. “In ancient Egypt, color was perceived as an integral part of the world and being,” says Bianucci.
Red was a symbol of life and victory, white - purity and omnipotence, black - night and death, blue - life and rebirth, yellow - eternal and indestructible principles, such as the sun and gold.
The first colored amulets appeared in Ancient Egypt back in the pre-dynastic period - 6.5-5.8 thousand years ago.
Bianucci's research is pending publication in the March issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science.