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A joint Egyptian-French archaeological mission recently made a series of new discoveries at the mortuary temple of the pharaoh Ramesses II, La Brújula Verde reports. Known as the Ramesseum and the "House of Millions of Years," the complex was erected by Ramesses on the Nile's west bank across from ancient Thebes during the thirteenth century b.c. Among the new findings were a series of tombs dating to the Third Intermediate Period (ca. 1069–525 b.c.). These contained burial chambers, shafts with canopic jars, sarcophagi, and more than 400 funerary figurines. They also located storerooms for jars of honey, olive oil, animal...

Archaeological excavations at the ancient site of Megiddo in northern Israel, also known as "Armageddon," have unearthed a significant amount of 7th-century BCE Egyptian pottery, potentially providing the first physical evidence of the battle between King Josiah of Judah and Pharaoh Necho of Egypt, as documented in the biblical books of Kings II and Chronicles.A team of Israeli archaeologists, led by Prof. Israel Finkelstein of the University of Haifa and Dr. Assaf Kleiman of Ben Gurion University, detailed their findings in two academic papers published earlier this year. The unprecedented quantity of Egyptian ceramic vessels discovered at Megiddo suggests a...

SNIP To understand the text, we need to know a little about the obelisk’s history. Before it was gifted to Paris, the monument used to be one of two that stood outside the Luxor Temple in Upper Egypt. Both pillars were built around the 13th century BCE, at the time of Ramses II’s reign. But at this time, the obelisk that is now in Paris would have had a face that could be seen by passengers traveling along the Nile River, and it is from this angle (around 45°) that the secret message is visible.“When I calculated where to stand...

Montet's discovery on the eve of the Second World War was that of a tomb of a relatively obscure pharaoh of the 21st Dynasty of ancient Egypt by the name of Psusennes I. Psusennes was the third ruler of his dynasty, which ascended to power at the onset of the Third Intermediate Period, a time of political turmoil in Egypt.During this era, the country's kingship was fragmented, and the country was divided between Upper and Lower Egypt. While the pharaohs of the 21st Dynasty governed from Tanis, their influence was primarily confined to the Lower Egypt delta region. Meanwhile, Thebes...

In the late 1930s and early 1940s, an entire complex of royal tombs was found intact at Tanis, yielding four gold masks, solid silver coffins, and spectacular jewelry... The treasures are one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of all time... And while everyone knows Howard Carter's name, that of the excavator of Tanis is Egyptological trivia. It's Pierre Montet... Today, as Tutankhamun once again begins a royal procession through the United States, it is good to remember Tanis and its discoverer, Pierre Montet. The treasure of Tutankhamun may be more extensive, but Montet found three intact royal burials, an achievement...

The bronze blade, thought to be around 3,000 years old, has the markings of Ramesses II, hailed as the most powerful king of ancient Egypt...The sword was uncovered among the ruins of an ancient military fort in Housh Eissa, a city just south of Alexandria, which featured barracks for soldiers and storage rooms for food, weapons and other goods...The ancient sword likely did not belong to the famous king, but likely to one of his soldiers stationed at the fort, experts said.Elizabeth Frood, an Oxford University Egyptologist who was not involved in the dig, told The Washington Post: 'An object...

Ahram Online reports that archaeologist Ahmed Said El-Kharadly of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) and his colleagues are excavating the military site of Tell Al-Abqain, which is located near the coast of northern Egypt. They have uncovered mudbrick barracks structures dated to the New Kingdom period, between about 1550 and 1070 B.C. "It is an important discovery highlighting the strategic role of [the] Tell Al-Abqain area as a crucial military outpost on the Western military road, protecting Egypt's northwestern borders from potential invasions by Libyan tribes and Sea Peoples," said Mohamed Ismail Khaled, Secretary General of the SCA. The...

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...

The slabs included hieroglyphic inscriptions about the kings' achievements, including King Amenhotep III, also known as Amenhotep the Magnificent and ancestor of King Tut...The ancient artifacts were discovered in the area in 1960, but were lost the following decade during the construction of the Aswan High Dam in Aswan.Archaeologists had rushed to remove them before they were lost underwater, but many couldn't be relocated in time...The researchers used underwater filming and photographing techniques to document the discovery.They are also creating 3D models of the images using photogrammetry - the process of using surface measurements from pictures to create an accurate...

Researchers suggested that the inscriptions are short cultic proverbs related to the religious temple they were found in, which was burned and destroyed thousands of years ago.The temple was located in an ancient settlement called Deir 'Alla, at the center of Jordan Valley, which runs along the Jordan River from the Sea of Galilee in Israel to the Dead Sea...Archaeologists discovered the tablets in a heavily burned part of the excavation site.The team also found ceramics among the ruins, including goblets and ceremonial vessels, along with armor.Sculptures that were a gift from Egyptian Queen Twosret were also found at the...

...The decoration and texts of this sarcophagus demonstrated that it had been used twice, the second time by a high priest of the XXI dynasty, Menkheperre (around 1000 BC). Its first owner, however, remained a mystery, although the quality of the object indicated that it belonged to a very high-ranking figure in the Egyptian New Kingdom. By examining the newly engraved hieroglyphic texts, Frédéric Payraudeau was able to establish that they contained the cartouche of Ramesses II himself.Until now, we knew that the tomb of this pharaoh in the Valley of the Kings (Luxor) had been completely looted and his...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Israeli archaeologists on Sunday announced the "once-in-a-lifetime" discovery of a burial cave from the time of ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Rameses II, filled with dozens of pottery pieces and bronze artifacts. The cave was uncovered on a beach Tuesday, when a mechanical digger working at the Palmahim national park hit its roof, with archaeologists using a ladder to descend into the spacious, man-made square cave. In a video released by the Israel Antiquities Authority, gobsmacked archaeologists shine flashlights on dozens of pottery vessels in a variety of forms and sizes, dating back to the reign of the ancient Egyptian king who...

An Egyptian archaeological mission working in Giza’s prominent Saqqara necropolis has unearthed several blocks of white cheese dating back to the 26th dynasty of ancient Egypt (664–525 BC).A statement from the country’s antiquities ministry said the find was accomplished during the first round of excavations of the mission’s sixth season, which kicked off on Saturday.According to the statement, the mission unearthed a number of clay receptacles containing the cheese, inscribed with Demotic script — ancient Egyptian writing also found on the Rosetta Stone royal decree.The mission reportedly found a number of other containers that are expected to be opened in...

During construction work at Palmachim National Park near Tel Aviv, a fallen rock reveals an ancient treasure trove from the era of the biblically notorious pharoah A team of archaeologists was essentially transported back in time when it entered an untouched 3,300-year-old cave at the Palmachim National Park, just south of Tel Aviv, last week. The vast array of discovered items date to the Late Bronze Age, close to or during the rein of the biblically notorious Ramses II. The cave was spotted when a rock shifted during the course of construction work and light was literally shed on an...

A team of archaeologists from the Czech institute of Egyptology have unearthed a tomb in the Abusir necropolis, near to modern-day Cairo, Egypt. The tomb belongs to an Egyptian dignitary named Wahibre-mery-Neith, who lived during the 26th or 27th Dynasty (5th century BC)...The site was first excavated in 2021, where archaeologists found the largest ancient embalming cache in Egypt, containing 370 pottery storage jars that held materials used in the mummification of Wahibre-mery-Neith...At the bottom of the shaft the researchers found a double sarcophagus situated directly on a filling of sand, but discovered that the tomb had already been robbed...

The Egyptian-German mission has uncovered a collection of decorated blocks and fragments from the King Nactanebo I temple at the Matariya archaeological site in Heliopolis.Aymen Ashmawy, head of the ancient Egyptian antiquities sector and head of the mission from the Egyptian side, explains that the inscriptions mention the regnal years 13 and 14... as well as the dimensions and the materials used in this sanctuary.“Several blocks were unfinished too and no further decoration work seems to have been commissioned after the death of Nectanebo I...” he said, adding that other architectural elements attest to the building projects of Ramesses II...