Display heading to London has had 1.3 million visitors, beating 50-year-old record held by previous Tut show A vast touring show of treasures linked to Egypt’s boy-king Tutankhamun has attracted more than 1.3 million visitors in Paris, becoming the most-visited exhibition in French history. The show, based at a vast space at La Villette before it arrives […]
Country hopes find will boost tourism industry, which has been suffering since 2011 uprising Egypt has announced the discovery of two small tombs in the southern city of Luxor dating back about 3,500 years, a find the government hopes will help revive the country’s ailing tourism sector. The tombs, located on the west bank of the […]
‘Iconic’ finding of 3.8m-year-old fossil in Ethiopia casts doubt on previous evolutionary theory The face of the oldest species that unambiguously sits on the human evolutionary tree has been revealed for the first time by the discovery of a 3.8 million-year-old skull in Ethiopia. The fossil belongs to an ancient hominin, Australopithecus anamensis, believed to be the […]
Why did the bust of a queen carved more than 3,000 years ago achieve such fame when it was exhibited in 1924? Even with her blinded left eye, Nefertiti has come to epitomise female perfection. Uncannily symmetrical, and with the second most famous half-smile after the Mona Lisa, her image has been pressed into service to sell […]
Scientists say iceman ate ‘horrible-tasting’ high-fat meal of ibex before his murder 5,300 years ago Ötzi the iceman filled his belly with fat before he set out on the ill-fated hunting trip that ended with his bloody death on a glacier in the eastern Alps 5,300 years ago, scientists say. The first in-depth analysis of […]
‘Wherever you dig, there’s another one,’ top scientist says The remains of 227 children, sacrificed in an “uncontrollable” wave of killings designed to appease ancient gods, have been discovered in Peru. It is believed to be the biggest single such discovery anywhere in the world – but took place in a region where scores more sacrificed […]
Researchers believe the 140 children were sacrificed 550 years ago by the Chimú civilisation as floods ravaged the coastline Archaeologists in northern Peru say they have found evidence of what could be the world’s largest single case of child sacrifice. The burial site, known as Las Llamas, contains the skeletons of 140 children who were aged between […]
Cracked shells released overpowering ‘potent stench’ [slide-anything id=’2811′] Archaeologists accidentally broke three Roman eggs that had been going off for 1,700 years. The excavators unearthed a basket of four chickens’ eggs in a waterlogged pit during a dig in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. Three of the eggs cracked, releasing an overpowering “potent stench”, however the team managed to preserve […]
Her body was buried sitting upright on a bed of deer antlers. A hunter-gatherer woman who lived in what is now Sweden 7,000 years ago was recently brought to life in a remarkable reconstruction. The blue-eyed woman wears a feather cape, a slate necklace and a belt made of 130 animal teeth; her dark skin […]
Ancient Egyptians have long been depicted wearing so-called head cones, but until now, archaeologists had no physical evidence of their existence. Now, two such head cones, made of wax, have been discovered on the skulls of two individuals buried about 3,300 years ago at the site of Amarna in Egypt. Between 1550 B.C. and 30 B.C., Egyptian art depicted […]
