Luxor

Carter’s linen tunic

Rachel Cotton investigates an extremely rare item: a linen ‘bag-tunic’ discovered by Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon in 1909.

Ancient Egypt Letters 140

Your thoughts on issues raised by the magazine.

Hypocephalus

What was the purpose of this small disc of cartonnage, now in the British Museum? Dr Campbell Price explains.

Origin of ancient Egypt’s baboons

An interdisciplinary project involving biologists, Egyptologists, and anthropologists has discovered evidence that may pinpoint the actual location of the trading region of Punt, based on the genetic analysis of an ancient mummified baboon discovered in the ‘Valley of the Monkeys’…

Ay performs the ‘Opening of the Mouth’ ritual before the deceased Tutankhamun depicted as Osiris, on the wall of his tomb in the Valley of the Kings.

The lost mansion of the Golden Pharaoh

Dylan Bickerstaffe investigates the evidence for Tutankhamun’s long-lost mortuary temple.

Ancient Egypt and the dawn of literature: Revisiting the oldest book in the world

Among the many treasures recovered by archaeologists and antiquarian collectors from Egypt are papyrus copies of a remarkable text written more than 4,000 years ago: The Teaching of Ptahhatp. Bill Manley investigates this often-overlooked survival from ancient Egypt and one vizier’s contributions to the dawn of literature.

Stela of Lady Taperet

For this issue, Dr Campbell Price chooses a beautifully painted object from the Louvre Museum in Paris.

Painting secrets revealed

A study just published by an interdisciplinary team from Belgium and France has revealed small changes and ‘touch-ups’ to paintings in Theban tombs, showing that images were often adapted and reworked during their execution, rather than created by means of…

Ancient Egypt 137 Letters

Your thoughts on issues raised by the magazine.

The Book of the Heavenly Cow

Andrew Fulton investigates the ancient Egyptian myth that tells how humanity
was saved by red-coloured beer.

Ramesses II, Egypt’s ultimate pharaoh?

REVIEW BY SG Ramesses II is known as ‘the Great’, yet there are far fewer volumes dedicated to his reign than to earlier New Kingdom kings, such as Akhenaten and, of course, Tutankhamun. So this is a timely publication –…

Ancient Egypt Magazine 136

• Min, the God of the Eastern Desert
• Temple of Mentuhotep II: an innovative building at Deir el-Bahri
• Divine kingship: Sety I, Ramesses II, and their colossal alter egos
• Pharaoh’s chariot wheel
• Exploring tomb distribution in Upper Qurna
• Horemkhauef of Hierakonpolis

Top right Tomb finds from the newly discovered family burial complex at Dra Abu el Naga. right A small stela discovered at the Dra Abu el Naga family burial complex. far right The newly opened tomb chapel TT11, belonging to Djehuty, Overseer of the Treasury.

Burial complex unearthed at Dra Abu el-Naga necropolis

Finds included canopic jar stoppers, cartonnage fragments, and several woven baskets.

Win a copy of ‘Tutankhamun and the Tomb that Changed the World’ by Bob Brier

Do you recognise where in Egypt this photograph was taken?

Ancient Egypt 134 Letters

Your thoughts on issues raised by the magazine, plus what’s coming up in future issues. Email the Editor: peter@ancientegyptmagazine.com with your comments.

Above The north wall of KV62 showing Ay performing the ‘opening of the mouth’ ritual on the mummy of Tutankhamun. Nicholas Reeves claims there are traces of Tutankhamun’s cartouches beneath those of Ay, suggesting the original scene was overpainted.

Does a hidden door in Tutankhamun’s tomb lead to Nefertiti?

Nicholas Reeves claims the north wall of KV62 originally depicted Tutankhamun burying Nefertiti and was later overpainted to show Ay burying Tutankhamun.

Tutankhamun’s canopic coffin

A detailed look at one of four coffinettes which held the king's mummified organs.

Opposite page Tutankhamun charges into battle in his chariot in a scene from a chest discovered in his tomb.

Warrior Tutankhamun: fragile pharaoh no more

In this special anniversary issue celebrating a hundred years since the discovery of KV62, we begin with new evidence that Bob Brier believes will change how we view Egypt’s most famous pharaoh.

The Past

Tutankhamun Quiz

In which year is Tutankhamun thought to have been born?

Above The area of the tomb of Tutankhamun during the early part of the excavation of the tomb.

The First Resurrection of Tutankhamun

Continuing our 100th anniversary celebration of the finding of the tomb of Tutankhamun, Aidan Dodson looks at the ‘prehistory’ of the king, and how early scholars pieced together the evidence for this obscure king prior to the discovery of his tomb in 1922.

Milestones in Egyptology: the discovery and clearance of KV62, the tomb of Tutankhamun

Howard Carter’s long search in the Valley of the Kings is rewarded.

The Past

This week: the ‘Qurna Queen’

It is a curious coincidence that the 100th and 200th anniversaries respectively of perhaps the two most famous events in Egyptology should both fall in 2022. First up, in September, came the 200th anniversary of the decoding of the Rosetta…

RIGHT The rishi (meaning ‘feathered’) coffin of the ‘Qurna Queen’. It forms part of a burial group that dates back to c.1600 BC and was discovered intact in 1908. Recent analyses of the objects are shedding new light on Egypt’s relationship with Nubia.

African Queen: an intact royal burial from Egypt reveals new insights into cultural connections

The identity of the ancient Egyptian ‘Qurna Queen’ remains a mystery over 100 years after the excavation of her intact burial. However, new research on her burial assemblage is revealing historic biases in interpretation and shedding light on Egypt’s place within African culture, as Margaret Maitland explains.

Tutankhamun before Tutankhamun

Barbara Gai recounts the discovery of the Embalming Cache KV54 and its astonishing contents.

Egyptian afterlives: an interview with Salima Ikram

As shown by the excitement surrounding the discovery of Tutankhamun 100 years ago, mummies and Egyptian tombs have an impressive ability to capture our imagination. Richard Marranca speaks to Egyptologist Salima Ikram to find out more about these funerary finds, from early medicinal mummies to recent revelations at Saqqara.

Museum news – January 2022

The latest on acquisitions, exhibitions, and key decisions.

ABOVE & LEFT CT and X ray scans of the mummy revealed that she was the first example of an embalmed pregnant Egyptian woman ever found.

An expectant mummy

Tests indicate that the woman was between 20 and 30 years old and was 26-28 weeks pregnant at the time of death.

RIGHT The ancient Egyptian city is so well preserved that many of its mud brick walls and structures are still standing.

Lost city in Luxor

The city is situated near to Amenhotep III’s royal palaces and may have provided food and other items to the royal residence, as well as acting as the administrative and industrial centre of the empire.

CT scanning of the mummy of Pharaoh Seqenenre revealed new information about the head

CT scans reveal a pharaoh’s violent death

Detailed study of the injuries to Seqenenre’s head has indicated that they were caused by several different weapons, suggesting that he was killed by multiple attackers

Minerva Magazine 187

• Queens of the Nile: royal wives & goddesses
• Transformation at the heart of the Inca empire
• Herculaneum: a grand Roman house trapped in time
• Face to face with the Greek dead
• Legacy of the Etruscans in Campania

Nefertari: into the Valley of the Queens

The Great Royal Wife of Ramesses II, Nefertari, was buried in one of the most spectacular tombs of Egypt’s Valley of the Queens. Well-educated and well-travelled, Nefertari played a crucial part in the political life of the pharaoh, and her importance was reflected through her magnificently decorated tomb. Minerva's Lucia Marchini speaks to Jennifer Casler Price to find out more.