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The tip came from a lawyer, a faithful reader from Brooklyn named Harvey Herbert- An Egyptian hieroglyphic papyrus now in the Brooklyn Museum mentions an Asiatic slave named Shiphrah. Shiphrah, of course, is the name of one of the Hebrew midwives (the other is Puah) whom Pharaoh summoned to carry out his order that all boys born to the enslaved Israelites be killed (Exodus 1-15)... And here was an Asiatic slave with this same name mentioned in an Egyptian papyrus written in hieroglyphics... All I can do is report what to some (surely, to me) are previously unknown facts that...

The tomb of King Khakaure Senusret III (Senwosret III), one of the most dominant and popular pharaohs of ancient Egypt's Middle Kingdom, is set to open to the public within a couple of years. This will provide an opportunity for visitors to descend into the underground chambers and marvel at the architecture of the Egyptian builders who constructed the burial complex nearly four thousand years ago... According to Dr. Josef Wegner, Associate Curator of the Egyptian Section of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, who has been excavating in Abydos for decades, this is the largest tomb...

Contact: Pam Kostypkosty@sas.upenn.edu 215-898-4045University of Pennsylvania Archaeologists uncover 3700-year-old 'magical' birth brick in Egypt PHILADELPHIA--University of Pennsylvania Museum archaeologists have discovered a 3700-year-old "magical" birth brick inside the palatial residence of a Middle Kingdom mayor's house just outside Abydos, in southern Egypt. The colorfully decorated mud birth brick--the first ever found--is one of a pair that would have been used to support a woman's feet while squatting during actual childbirth. The birth brick, which measures 14 by 7 inches, was discovered during summer 2001 excavations directed by Dr. Josef Wegner, Associate Curator, Egyptian section of the University of Pennsylvania Museum...

Birdwatcher Alexander Ternopolsky made a remarkable discovery one day at the archaeological site of Tel Dor on Israel's Carmel Coast -- not a bird, but a rare Egyptian scarab seal. The stone scarab -- an ancient Egyptian object shaped like a scarab beetle -- belonged to a high-ranking official of the 13th Dynasty (18th-17th centuries B.C.E.) in Middle Kingdom Egypt... The name of the scarab's owner, his position, and ankh and djed symbols (representing eternal life and stability, respectively) are engraved on the Egyptian scarab seal. While the owner's name hasn't been deciphered yet, he is described on the scarab...

Archaeologists have uncovered more than 100 ancient inscriptions carved into rock at Wadi el-Hudi, where the ancient Egyptians mined amethyst. In addition to the carved-rock inscription, the researchers also found 14 stele (inscriptions carved on a stone slab or pillar) and 45 ostraca (inscriptions written on pieces of pottery). Analysis of the newfound inscriptions is underway. So far, archaeologists can tell that many of the inscriptions date back around 3,900 years, to a time that modern day archaeologists call the "Middle Kingdom." Many of the ostraca date back around 2,000 years, to around the time that Rome took over Egypt....

Conclusively, Semitic slaves there were. However, critics argue there's no archaeological evidence of a Semitic tribe worshiping Yahweh in Egypt. Because of the muddy conditions of the East Delta, almost no papyri have survived -- but those that did, may provide further clues in the search for the lost Israelites. The papyrus Anastasi VI from around 3200 years ago describes how the Egyptian authorities allowed a group of Semitic nomads from Edom who worshiped Yahweh to pass the border-fortress in the region of Tjeku (Wadi Tumilat) and proceed with their livestock to the lakes of Pithom. Shortly afterwards, the Israelites...

'Ancient artefacts brought over by Egyptians, not by traders' Natalino Fenech The triad discovered at an abandoned archaeological site in Gozo in 1713. Two members of the Egyptological Society of Malta are promoting the theory that the many ancient Egyptian artefacts unearthed in Malta were brought over by the Egyptians themselves, and not, as commonly thought, by traders. In an article titled Did The Ancient Egyptians Ever Reach Malta?, published in the Egyptian Egyptological journal, Anton Mifsud and Marta Farrugia analysed Egyptian artefacts found here and went through old and recently published material on which to base their conclusions. Dr...

Pharaoh Senebkay, one of the earliest kings of a forgotten Abydos Dynasty, was brutally killed in battle more than 3,600 years ago, says a study that has reconstructed, blow by blow, the king’s last moments. The research identified 18 wounds on the pharaoh’s bones. It also established that Senebkay is the earliest Egyptian pharaoh to have died in battle. Woseribre Senebkay was unknown to history until last year, when a University of Pennsylvania expedition led by archaeologist Josef Wegner, working with Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, found his remains in a four-chambered tomb at South Abydos in Sohag province, about...

The remains of a previously unknown pharaoh who reigned more than 3,600 years ago have emerged from the desert sand at South Abydos in Sohag province, about 300 miles south of Cairo... The skeleton of Woseribre Senebkay, who appears to be one of the earliest kings of a forgotten Abydos Dynasty (1650–1600 B.C.) was found by a University of Pennsylvania expedition... It rested in a four-chambered tomb amidst the fragmented debris of his coffin, funerary mask and canopic chest... Senebkay's tomb dates to about 1650 B.C., during Egypt's Second Intermediate Period, when central authority collapsed, giving rise to several small...

A US team in Egypt has identified the tomb of pharaoh Sobekhotep I, believed to be the founder of the 13th dynasty 3,800 years ago, the antiquities minister said. The team from the University of Pennsylvania had discovered the quartzite sarcophagus of Sobekhotep I, which weighed about 60 tonnes, a year ago, but was unable to identify who it belonged to until last week, the ministry said. Its identity was established after the team found fragments of a slab inscribed with the pharaoh's name and showed him sitting on a throne, Antiquities Minister Mohamed Ibrahim said in a statement. "He...