Category Archives: Egyptology

Egypt scraps plan to restore cladding on one of three great pyramids of Giza

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Antiquities authority drops proposal for Menkaure pyramid after review prompted by international outcry

Egypt has scuttled a controversial plan to reinstall ancient granite cladding on the pyramid of Menkaure, the smallest of the three great pyramids of Giza, a committee formed by the country’s tourism minister said in a statement.

Mostafa Waziri, the secretary general of the supreme council of antiquities, announced the plan last month, declaring it would be “the project of the century”.

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Sphinx-like statue and shrine discovered in southern Egypt

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It is thought the Roman emperor Claudius could have inspired work found in the temple of Dendera

Archaeologists have unearthed a sphinx-like statue and the remains of a shrine in an ancient temple in southern Egypt.

The artefacts were found in the temple of Dendera, in Qena province, 280 miles (450km) south of Cairo, Egypt’s antiquities ministry said.

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Trove of ancient Egyptian coffins and statues found at cemetery near Cairo

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Painted wooden coffins and bronze statues of deities dating to 500BC found by archaeologists in Saqqara

Archaeologists working near Cairo have uncovered hundreds of ancient Egyptian coffins and bronze statues of deities.

The discovery at a cemetery in Saqqara contained statues of the gods Anubis, Amun, Min, Osiris, Isis, Nefertum, Bastet and Hathor along with a headless statue of the architect Imhotep, who built the Saqqara pyramid, according to Egypt’s ministry of tourism and antiquities.

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Mummy’s older than we thought: new find could rewrite history

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Discovery of nobleman Khuwy shows that Egyptians were using advanced embalming methods 1,000 years before assumed date

The ancient Egyptians were carrying out sophisticated mummifications of their dead 1,000 years earlier than previously thought, according to new evidence which could lead to a rewriting of the history books.

The preserved body of a high-ranking nobleman called Khuwy, discovered in 2019, has been found to be far older than assumed and is, in fact, one of the oldest Egyptian mummies ever discovered. It has been dated to the Old Kingdom, proving that mummification techniques some 4,000 years ago were highly advanced.

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Researchers ‘shocked’ to find Egyptian mummy was a pregnant woman

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Archaeologists studying Warsaw’s national collection of mummies expected to uncover a male priest

Polish researchers examining an ancient Egyptian mummy that they expected to be a male priest were surprised when X-rays and computer tests revealed instead that it was a mummy of a woman who had been seven months pregnant.

The researchers said on Thursday it was the world’s first known case of such a well-preserved ancient mummy of a pregnant woman.

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Nearly 100 coffins buried over 2,500 years ago found in Egypt

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Mummies and up to 40 gilded statues found in a vast Pharaonic necropolis south of Cairo

Egyptian antiquities officials have announced the discovery of at least 100 ancient coffins, some with mummies inside, and about 40 gilded statues in a vast Pharaonic necropolis south of Cairo.

Sealed sarcophagi and statues that were buried more than 2,500 years ago were displayed in a makeshift exhibit at the feet of the famed Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara.

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Talk like an Egyptian: mummy’s voice heard 3,000 years after death

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Researchers in UK recreate Nesyamun’s sound using 3D version of his vocal tract

The “voice” of an ancient Egyptian priest has been heard for the first time since he died and was mummified 3,000 years ago, researchers have said.

Nesyamun lived under the pharaoh Rameses XI, who reigned around the beginning of the 11th century BC.

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Egypt asks Interpol to trace Tutankhamun relic auctioned in UK

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Cairo calls on international police agency to find head sold to unknown buyer for £4.7m

Egypt has called on Interpol to intervene and will sue over the sale at Christie’s auction house in London of a 3,000-year-old Tutankhamun sculpture that may have been looted from a Luxor temple.

The 28.5cm brown quartzite head was part of a statue of the ancient god Amun with the facial features of the young pharaoh Tutankhamun, who ruled Egypt between 1333 and 1323 BC. Similar statues were carved for the Temple of Karnak in the city of Thebes, now Luxor.

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Bust of Tutankhamun sold at auction for £4.7m despite Egypt protests

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The ‘rare and beautiful’ 3,000-year-old sculpture goes under the hammer in defiance of claims it was stolen

A brown quartzite head of young king Tutankhamun has sold at auction in London for more than £4.7m despite Egyptian demands for its return.

The more than 3,000-year-old sculpture, displayed at Christie’s London auction house, shows the boy king taking the form of the ancient Egyptian god Amen.

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