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An Egyptian archaeological team discovered the remains of the sixth-century-B.C. structure three years ago during excavations at an archaeological site in the ancient city of Buto, now called Tell Al-Faraeen, in Egypt's Kafr El-Sheikh governorate...Unlike traditional monuments, which typically have a single pylon, the observatory had two pylons facing each other, framing the circular observatory spot and symbolizing akhet, or the horizon where the sun rises. Facing this Akhet was a limestone watchtower that was likely once paired with another and used to observe constellations, Ghonim said.The excavation also uncovered a statue of the falcon-headed god Horus. The depiction of...

In 1935, the Metropolitan Museum of New York led an archaeological expedition to Egypt. In Deir Elbahari near Luxor, the site of ancient Thebes, they excavated the tomb of Senmut, the architect and overseer of royal works—and reputedly, lover—of the famed queen Hatschepsut (1479–1458 BCE). Beneath Senmut's tomb, they found a separate burial chamber for his mother, Hat-Nufer, and other unidentified relatives.Here, they made an uncanny discovery: a wooden coffin holding the mummy of an elderly woman, wearing a black wig and two scarab rings in silver and gold. But what struck the archaeologists was the mummy's expression: with the...

A study shows that repetitive tasks carried out by ancient Egyptian scribes – high status men with the ability to write who performed administrative tasks – and the positions they sat in while working may have led to degenerative skeletal changes.Researchers in Prague, Czech Republic, examined the skeletal remains of 69 adults males, 30 of whom were scribes, who were buried in the necropolis at Abusir, Egypt...They identified degenerative joint changes that were more common among scribes compared to men with other occupations.These changes were in the joints connecting the lower jaw to the skull, the right collarbone and the...

Ahram Online reports that a fortified royal retreat has been uncovered at the Tel Hebwa site, which is located in North Sinai. Mohamed Ismail Khaled of the Supreme Council of Antiquities said that the mudbrick structure was likely used during the 18th Dynasty reign of Thutmose III (ca. 1479–1425 B.C.). The structure’s entrance, located on its northern side, led to a large hall with three columns, added Hisham Hussein of Sinai Antiquities. This room connected to a smaller hall with entrances flanked by columns. The thresholds of entrances to these rooms were also uncovered, along with the thresholds for small...

A joint Egyptian-U.S. archaeological mission has uncovered the upper part of a huge statue of King Ramses II during excavations south of the Egyptian city of Minya, Egypt's tourism and antiquities ministry said on Monday.The limestone block is about 3.8 metres (12.5 feet) high and depicts a seated Ramses wearing a double crown and a headdress topped with a royal cobra, Bassem Jihad, head of the mission's Egyptian team, said in a statement.The upper part of the statue's back column shows hieroglyphic writings that glorify the king, one of ancient Egypt's most powerful pharaohs, he said.Also known as Ramses the...

"[The king] Unis seizes the sky and splits its iron."Inscribed in hieroglyphs in a 4,400-year-old pyramid, this sentence evidences that ancient Egyptians understood the extraterrestrial origin of iron-rich meteorites—thousands of years before European scientists reached the same conclusion......the world's oldest-identified iron objects are small beads that come from a burial in Gerzeh, a roughly 5,300-year-old village in northern Egypt. Other pre-Iron Age iron objects have been found in Egypt, including an amulet in the 4,000-year-old tomb of Queen Aashyet in Deir el-Bahari and a dagger blade in King Tutankhamun's tomb...The earliest-known Egyptian references to iron in connection with stars, meteoroids...

An ancient Egyptian woman had an ovarian tumor with teeth and was buried with a possible healing object.While excavating an ancient Egyptian cemetery, archaeologists made a rare discovery: an ovarian tumor nestled in the pelvis of a woman who died more than three millennia ago. The tumor, a bony mass with two teeth, is the oldest known example of a teratoma, a rare type of tumor that typically occurs in ovaries or testicles.A teratoma can be benign or malignant, according to the Cleveland Clinic, and it is usually made up of various tissues, such as muscle, hair, teeth or bone....

Egyptian archaeologists recently located a lost 3,500-year-old cemetery containing mummies and statues... A particularly exciting find was a Book of the Dead papyrus scroll measuring over 43 feet long—a rare surviving copy of the traditional burial item...While the cemetery—dating to sometime between 1550 BC to 1070 BC—was significant for the hundreds of archaeological finds and tombs carved into the rock located within its boundaries, the discovery of what could be a copy of the Book of the Dead captured the attention of experts as a truly rare find. But with few details released to the public about the contents of...

Scientists x-rayed ancient Egyptian tomb paintings to better understand the painters' creative process.Every painter has a process, but the painstaking revisions and countless tiny edits are invisible to those who only see the final product. In a study published today in PLOS ONE, researchers used x-rays to reveal how 3000-year-old paintings inside Egypt’s Theban Necropolis unfolded step by step. The findings hint at the creative process used to produce these ancient masterworks.Applying the x-ray method to ancient Egyptian wall paintings “is really a game changer,” says Marine Cotte, a chemist at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, who previously collaborated with...

Egyptian officials have banned Dutch archaeologist from the country after an exhibition was launched which portrays black American singers, comedians and musicians as the rulers of ancient Egypt...However Dutch archaeologists have been banned from the Saqqara burial ground, near Cairo because of the portrays which have been described by as 'falsifying history.'...The controversy comes after Netflix received backlash for their casting of black British actress Adele James as Cleopatra.The show has been subject to 'blackwashing' claims after James was cast despite historical records showing Cleopatra was Macedonian-Greek.The ban comes as a big blow to RMO who have been active in...

Tutankhamun and the Tomb that Changed the World with Dr. Bob Brier | 22:16World History Encyclopedia | 73.9K subscribers | 3.1K views | 7 months ago

Excavation work carried out by an American mission from New York University at the temple of Ramses II in Abydos has stumbled upon a menagerie of mummified animals that provides previously undocumented evidence of cultic worship through the ages.The most significant find at the site is over 2,000 mummified heads of rams from the Ptolemaic period along with other mummified ewes, dogs, wild goats, cows, gazelles and mongooses, said Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities.The mummified remains, some still in their linen wrappings, were found stored in one of the recently discovered magazines within the temple’s northern...

We know a lot about how mummies were embalmed, but the specific substances and mixtures and how exactly they were used have long eluded us — until now. Scientists have uncovered an ancient embalming facility in Egypt, an unprecedented discovery offering deep insight into the complicated process of how mummies were made and into Egyptian hieroglyphs. Located around 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) south of Cairo, the facility dates to around 664-525 BC and consists of an aboveground structure and several underground rooms up to 30 meters (98.4 feet) below ground. The substances found inside were sourced from as far away...

An illustration depicting the ancient Egyptian process of embalming. (Nikola Nevenov) ********************************************************* An analysis of the residue on ceramics found in an ancient embalming workshop has given us new insights into how ancient Egyptians mummified their dead. Even more astonishingly, a team of scientists has been able to link different substances to the specific parts of the body on which they were used. This discovery is, in part, thanks to the residues themselves, which were studied using biomolecular techniques; but many of the vessels were intact, including not just the names of their contents, but instructions for their use. "We...

The mummified remains of ancient Egypt's most powerful pharaoh have been used to reveal what he would have looked like at the height of his powers. Ramessess II's "handsome" face can be seen for the first time in 3,200 years thanks to the new scientific reconstruction. Using a 3D model of his skull to rebuild his features, scientists from Egypt and England initially worked together to create the pharaoh’s likeness when he died around 90 years old. They then reversed the ageing process...

The art in question is part of a series discovered at the Amarna site on the east bank of the Nile, in modern day Minya. Excavations conducted in 1924 revealed a palace featuring several lavishly decorated rooms that include numerous plaster panels illustrated with natural scenes in stunning detail...Here the team looked at artwork in what's known as the Green Room, a place most likely used for rest and relaxation, if not occasional socializing and music playing.Some birds, including the pigeons and kingfishers, had already been identified, but the researchers were able to expand on the catalogue of known animals...

Small branding irons from ancient Egypt were likely used to mark the skin of human slaves, a new study suggests.Several of the ancient Egyptian branding-irons — actually made of bronze — were too small for large animals like cattle and were probably used to brand human slaves.Several ancient texts and illustrations, as well as 10 branding irons dating to 3,000 years ago, suggest that ancient Egyptians branded slaves. These branding irons, actually made of bronze, are now in the collections of the British Museum and the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology at University College London.The branding irons are thought to...

The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced Sept. 22 that the joint Egyptian-German archaeological mission working on the Temple of Esna in Luxor governorate (south Egypt) has restored several inscriptions, drawings and colors in the temple’s ceiling...The Temple of Esna, near the west bank of the Nile River in the city of Esna in southern Egypt, was begun during the reign of Roman Emperor Claudius in the first century AD and finished in the era of Emperor Decius between 249-251. It was dedicated to the ancient deity Khnum, who is usually depicted with the head of a ram...The colors...

A prominent Egyptologist has boldly claimed to have solved one archaeology’s greatest mysteries: the location of Queen Nefertiti’s mummified remains. Zahi Hawass, the previous Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs in Egypt, is part of the Egypt-led team that undertook a high-profile excavation in Luxor’s Valley of the Kings that allegedly uncovered amulets once owned by King Tut. The team announced last December that they had also unearthed several unnamed mummies, one of which Hawass believes is the famed ruler. “We already have DNA from the 18th dynasty mummies, from Akhenaten to Amenhotep II or III, and there are two...

To the south of the causeway of King Unas in Saqqara necropolis... the sarcophagus of Ptahemwia from the reign of King Ramses II... was discovered last year in Saqqara.Mostafa Waziry, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said Ptahemwia holds several titles, including the royal scribe, the great overseer of the cattle in the temple of Ramses II, the head of the treasury, and the one responsible for the offerings of all gods of Lower and Upper Egypt...The subterranean burial chamber opened on the west side of the shaft at the depth of 7 m. It led to a square...