Hekashepes' mummy was mummified using artificial methods, is intact and is covered with gold. There is little information about Hekashepes, but it appears that 'he was wealthy,' Hawass said. This sarcophagus belongs to a man named Hekashepes whose mummy was found covered with gold. Related: 7 famous mummies and secrets they've revealed about the ancient world Meanwhile, the oldest known mummy in the world may be the 8,000-year-old remains of a man found in Portugal. The oldest embalmed mummy in Egypt predates the pharaohs the remains of a man who was placed in a fetal pose about 6,000 years ago. However, humans lived in the region as far back as 400,000 years ago. Many Egyptologists agree Egypt became unified around 3100 B.C., when the pharaonic state started. Rather, 'This mummy is the oldest complete mummy covered with gold,' Hawass told Live Science in an email.
However, while other news outlets are reporting that this is the oldest Egyptian mummy known to archaeologists, that's not the case. When the lid was raised, we found the mummy of a man covered with gold leaf,' the team said in a statement posted on the Facebook page of Zahi Hawass, a former minister of antiquities who led the team that made the discoveries. 'When the sarcophagus was examined, it was found to be completely sealed with mortar, just as the ancient Egyptians had left it 4300 years ago.
