Free Republic

In the nearly 200 years since his mummy’s arrival at the Leeds City Museum in northern England, an ancient Egyptian priest named Nesyamun has slowly but surely revealed his secrets.Employed as a high-ranking priest and scribe at the Karnak state temple in Thebes, Nesyamun performed rituals filled with both song and speech. Active during the turbulent reign of Ramses XI, who served as Egypt’s pharaoh between 1099 and 1069 B.C., he died in his mid-50s, likely due to a severe allergic reaction, and suffered from ailments including gum disease and heavily worn teeth. And, as evidenced by inscriptions on his...

The Marsoulas conch hasn't been heard since the late Stone Age.The sound of the Marsoulas conch hasn't been heard for 18,000 years. At the entrance to the Marsoulas cave in France's Pyrenean foothills, Henri Begouën and James Townsend Russell stumbled upon an exceptional find in 1931. A conch shell -- the hardened exoskeleton of a predatory sea snail -- lay empty at the mouth of a cave the men knew was once used by human ancestors in the late Stone Age. But, as exceptional as the find was, the researchers filed the conch away, believing it to have no sign...