More findings at Saqqara, including a silent goose.
Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered a series of tombs dating from about 1,800 to 4,800 years ago, some of which contain colorful mummy masks and even the childlike statue of the god of silence, according to the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
The colorful mummy masks, which would have been worn by the dead, probably date to the Roman period (29 B.C. to A.D. 641), according to
Nozomu Kawai, the director of the Institute for the Study of Ancient Civilizations and Cultural Resources at Kanazawa University in Japan, who led the excavations.
The archaeologists also found a small statue showing Harpocrates, a Greek god that looks like a child who is associated with silence, riding a goose. The goose represents "an evil spirit over which the Divine Child triumphs," Kawai told Live Science in an email. The team also found a stela, or a carved stone slab, with writing that states it belongs to a man named "Heroides," Kawai said.
Kawai and his colleagues originally found some of the burials at this site in northern Saqqara — including the
tomb of a "worthy" woman named Demetria depicted in a carving with her pet — in 2019. But the COVID-19
pandemic meant the archaeologists had to suspend their work, Kawai said.
https://www.livescience.com/archaeo...d-god-of-silence-statue-discovered-at-saqqara