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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 mission of the New York University-ISAW at the Temple of Ramses II in Abydos, led by Sameh Iskander, discovered the temple's foundation deposits during excavation work carried out at the temple's southwest corner. Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said the deposits were buried in 1279 BC at the time of the construction ceremony. They include food offerings, plaques inscribed with Ramses II's throne name painted in blue or green, small copper construction tool models, pottery vessels decorated with hieratic inscriptions, and oval shaped quartzite grindstones. The mission also uncovered 10 large mud-brick storerooms attached to...

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...

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...

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...

...in the necropolis of Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, on the West Bank at Thebes, Egypt... According to the Spanish news agency EFE, the tomb embodies all the features of the tomb of Osiris, as told in ancient Egyptian legends, and is a smaller version of the design of the Osireion, built under Egyptian pharaoh Seti I in the city of Abydos, Luxor. Researchers believe the tomb complex dates back to the 25th dynasty (760-656 BC) or 26th dynasty (672-525 BC), based on a comparison to similar tombs that contain Osirian elements. The complex consists of a large hall supported by five...

A tomb newly excavated at an ancient cemetery in Egypt would have boasted a pyramid 7 meters (23 feet) high at its entrance, archaeologists say. The tomb, found at the site of Abydos, dates back around 3,300 years. Within one of its vaulted burial chambers, a team of archaeologists found a finely crafted sandstone sarcophagus, painted red, which was created for a scribe named Horemheb. The sarcophagus has images of several Egyptian gods on it and hieroglyphic inscriptions recording spells from the Book of the Dead that helped one enter the afterlife. There is no mummy in the sarcophagus, and...

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...