Image Details

Kamil Vodera/Czech Institute of Archaeology

Iufaa’s sarcophagus was made of two blocks of limestone. To open it, excavators had to dismantle the vaulted burial chamber; they then removed the 3-foot-thick, 13-foot-long lid, which weighs 24 tons. Inside (shown here) they found a 9-foot-long, human-shaped cavity, at the bottom of which rested a 7-foot-long lid covering yet another cavity—thus forming an inner sarcophagus. Inside this lower cavity was a wooden coffin (almost completely disintegrated) with the mummy of Iufaa (see photo of mummy of Iufaa).