Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt

The Tomb of Amenhotep III

Two decades of restoration work has finally been completed in the Tomb of Amenhotep III (WV22). The preservation of the tomb scenes was carried out by a Japanese-Egyptian team under the sponsorship of the UNESCO Japan Trust Fund. Restoration work…

Ancient Egypt news in brief

• A German-Egyptian ScanPyramids team has discovered two previously unknown air-filled cavities in the Pyramid of Menkaura at Giza, which might suggest the presence of a second entrance on the eastern side of the monument. • Research published in the…

Meir

Karl Harris continues his ‘Travels in an Antique Land’, discovering the ‘Art of Cusae’ in Middle Kingdom tombs at Meir – accompanied by a local snake charmer.

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Ancient Egypt October listings

DISCOVERING ANCIENT EGYPT After five years as a travelling exhibition, visiting Japan, South Korea, and Australia, the RMO’s exhibition returns to the Netherlands. It explores the life, religion, and culture of the ancient Egyptians through nearly 500 objects, including golden…

Hesyre the dentist

Roger Forshaw records the life and career of a court official and scribe who was the world’s first recorded dentist.

Concerns for Mount Sinai

The Egyptian government’s ‘Great Transfiguration Project’ for the UNESCO World Heritage site of Mount Sinai – the location of the 6th century Monastery of St Catherine – has caused international concern, and calls for the area to be placed on…

Rare Egyptian hat

A rare felt hat from the Roman Period has gone on display for the first time at Bolton Museum, in the north-west of Britain, following conservation work. Dating to c.AD 200, the hat is thought to have belonged to a…

New Canopus Decree stela

A new and complete version of the Ptolemaic Canopus Decree has been found by an Egyptian team working at Tell Far’oun (Tell Nabasha) in Egypt’s Sharqia Governorate. Unlike other surviving versions of this decree, which are trilingual (written in hieroglyphic,…

Purifying the Great Pyramid

A new air-purification system has been installed inside the Great Pyramid of Khufu to stabilise humidity levels within the monument and prevent the erosion of the inner walls. The improved air quality will also provide a more comfortable environment for…

Rare Ptolemaic coin

Another recent find connected to Berenice II has been announced by the Israel Antiquities Authority. A rare gold coin depicting the Ptolemaic queen without her consort (and a cornucopia on the reverse) has been discovered during the excavation of a…

Sunken treasures

The Egyptian Department of Underwater Antiquities has recovered three heavy ancient artefacts from the seabed off the coast at Abu Qir Bay in Alexandria. One of them is a large quartz sphinx bearing the cartouches of Ramesses II. The team…

Copper-smelting workshop

An Egyptian team excavating the Wadi el-Nasab site in south Sinai has discovered a copper-smelting and -casting workshop with administrative buildings at what was one of the most important ancient mining centres. Copper ingots of different sizes and shapes were…

Ancient Egypt news in brief

• The gold bracelet of the Twenty-first Dynasty pharaoh Amenemope was recently stolen from the conservation laboratory of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Arrests were made but, sadly, the bracelet had already been melted down for gold. • An ancient…