The falcon imagery seen at the falcon shrine at Berenike could signify a number of deities.This falcon sculpture is from Edfu, a city on the Nile south of Luxor. (Image credit: Photography by Ulrich Hollmann via Getty Images) Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered a 1,700-year-old “falcon shrine,” complete with the remains of 15 headless falcons […]
We are speeding north out of Cairo, careering along fast, wide roads through a desert landscape and out into antiquity. After three hours, we reach Rashid, once known as Rosetta, a port city on the Nile delta, and enter Fort Julien, walking clockwise around its interior until we reach the first corner and the reason […]
To many, Egypt’s history seems to stretch back into time immemorial. But how old exactly is ancient Egypt? It depends how you define ancient Egypt, said Aidan Dodson, an Egyptology professor at the University of Bristol in the U.K. “If you take it as meaning the civilization that incorporated pharaonic kingship, the language that was […]
Thanks to modern images of Egypt’s iconic pyramids towering over a vast sandscape, many people assume this area is, and always has been, a desert. But considering that climates and landscapes can change over time and that humans have been known to alter natural environments, was ancient Egypt a desert? And is Egypt still considered […]
Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered a 2,600-year-old tomb belonging to a man of high status: a “commander of foreign mercenaries” named “Wahibre-mery-Neith.” The tomb’s embalming cache, found in 2021, includes more than 370 pottery storage jars containing materials used in the commander’s mummification, making it the “largest embalming cache ever found in Egypt,” a team […]
A tomb dating back over 3,200 years that was built for a senior official of one of Egypt’s most powerful pharaohs has been discovered at Saqqara, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced on Oct 30. Inscriptions found in the tomb say that Ptah-M-Wia, the person buried there, held a number of positions including […]
University of Queensland’s Dr. Anthony Romilio has examined the ‘Meidum Geese,’ a painting from the Chapel of Itet at Meidum in Egypt. The Meidum Geese painting was found in 1871 in a tomb located near the Meidum Pyramid, which was built by the pharaoh Snefru (reign 2610-2590 BCE). The tomb belonged to the pharaoh’s son, the vizier Nefermaat, and […]
Before he was hanged, Tollund Man ate porridge and fish. Shortly before his violent death in 400 B.C., a man — whose remains are known as Denmark’s famous bog body “Tollund Man” — ate a meal of porridge and fish, a new study finds. Tollund Man also had several parasitic infections from whipworms and mawworms, […]
Disappearance of six Dutch and British ships sunk in 1942 sparked international condemnation The British government is in talks with Indonesia over the disappearance of half a dozen sunken warships illegally salvaged from the Java Sea, together with the remains of hundreds of Dutch and British sailors. British diplomats met the Indonesian maritime ministry in Jakarta to […]
The restoration of an ancient Egyptian temple in Esna, located about 60 km south of the ancient capital of Luxor in Egypt, has uncovered the original colors of the temple inscriptions and images, and revealed previously unknown names of ancient Egyptian constellations. The temple of Esna, dedicated to the Egyptian deity Khnum, is one of the last […]
