One woman known for notching her belt with remarkable finds has another one: the remains of a possible 2,000-year-old “Sleeping Beauty” in North Ethiopia. There is some speculation that the corpse found in the biblical city — as if it were asleep — is that of the legendary Queen of Sheba, citing a Fox 8 news report.
Louise Schofield led an expedition to the ancient kingdom of Aksum, which is referred to as Eritrea and Ethiopia, today. There, the archaeologist and former head of the British Museum set up a digging site at the Gheralta plateau near a 20-foot statue of the Sheba queen. A primitive symbol of the sun and the moon in a crescent is linked to the monarch, according to Schofield.
“The story of the Queen of Sheba has a central place in the heart of all Ethiopians, so I became interested in the story myself,” she recalls (Sheba is thought to be located in parts of Ethiopia).
It was this initial visit that ultimately led her to discover the 2,000-year-old remains of a character she fondly refers to as ‘sleeping beauty.’”
In the area of the stele (aka stela), the digging team found the mortal remains of a woman who appeared as if she were sleeping in the fetal position. Her head rested gingerly on her right hand. A bronze Roman-style mirror was placed beside her body near her face, as if she were staring into it — perhaps admiring her beauty.
Scientists uncover 2000-year-old grave site of Ethiopian ‘Sleeping Beauty’ http://t.co/3AoN4mMz8S pic.twitter.com/AIhhe7uY2N
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) June 9, 2015
Additionally, the team found a bronze cosmetics spoon, lump of kohl eyeliner and a glass flask. The latter is believed to have been used to catch tears from the dead, as part of tradition. This likely meant that the sleeping beauty was indeed, well, beautiful, or simply vain.
“She must have been very wealthy, and probably well-loved to be placed in this position, and judging by all the items of finery around her,” theorized Schofield, who added that several other graves were found at the site. The stacked bodies were likely warriors who perished in a battle.
“We think they were warriors from a battle,” she says. “The food, drink and cosmetics were all presumably left for her to use in the afterlife. She was pre-Christian and that’s how people buried their dead then.”
Archaeologists unearth 11 ancient graves, revealing a ‘Sleeping Beauty’ http://t.co/E0w5rLvy31 pic.twitter.com/kTJJK2RgkY — Newser (@Newser) June 9, 2015
The finding of the sleeping beauty grave site comes on the heels of another extraordinary discovery. According to a previous Inquisitr report, Dr. Aryeh Shimron, an Israeli geologist-archaeologist, told media sources that he found evidence of the tomb of Jesus Christ .
Moreover, he claims the Son of Man, his wife, and child were all buried in the Talpiot Tomb. To him, all evidence points to a myth about the Christian account of a resurrection site. In short, he believes a physical site did not exist.
The remains from the sleeping beauty burial site will be on display to the public later in October in the town of Wukro.
[Photo via Louise Schofield.]
