Personal adornment in early Egypt
Barbara Boczar explores the materials used to create objects for personal adornment in Egypt from the prehistoric to the Early Dynastic periods.
Predynastic & Early Dynastic
The mineral wealth of pharaonic Egypt
Colin Reader shows how ancient Egypt’s geology led to wealth, power, and influence.
Oldest bow drill
A joint British-Austrian team has identified Egypt’s oldest known rotary tool. The small metal drill was found at Badari more than 100 years ago, and had attracted little attention until now. The tool, measuring 63mm (2.5in) in length and weighing…
Early ‘smiting’
Another rock inscription at Sinai has recently been interpreted by researchers at the University of Bonn in Germany. The 5,000-year-old inscription at Wadi Khamila, in south-west Sinai, depicts a large man with his arms raised over another figure. The smaller…
Hilary Wilson on… Axes
Hilary Wilson looks at the development of axes, from Palaeolithic flint to ceremonial gold in the Eighteenth Dynasty.
The discovery of Tomb U-j
The Predynastic tomb found in 1988 sheds light on the development of the earliest Egyptian state.
Analysing an ancient Egyptian genome
A recent study has successfully carried out full genome sequencing of a person from ancient Egypt for the first time.
King Scorpion’s Macehead: Ritual and power at the dawn of Egyptian kingship
Philippe Rosset explores the iconography of this ceremonial weapon, which marks a transitional moment in Egyptian kingship.
Ancient Egypt Magazine 150
• Hierakonpolis: the Predynastic ‘City of the Falcon God’
• Tattooing in the New Kingdom
• Palestrina GraecoRoman Egypt in a stunning Nilotic mosaic
• The reign and innovations of Khakheperra Senusret II
• Aquila Dodgson, the oft-forgotten collector and polymath
• Oxyrhynchus Papyri and the ordinary people of late ancient Egypt
• Hands: not everything is as you would expect!
• Out and about: The isolated Temple of Qasr el-Sagha
Alignment and ritual
French researchers using AI to analyse more than 500 intact early graves at the cemetery of Adaïma (8km south of Esna) have revealed an evolution in funerary practices that helped to shape early Egyptian statehood. The earliest First Dynasty burials…
Hierakonpolis
Julian Maxwell Heath describes the excavation history of the Predynastic ‘City of the Falcon God’ and some of the important discoveries made there.
Tattooing in the ancient Nile Valley
In the first of two articles describing the practice of tattooing in ancient Egypt and Nubia, Renée Friedman looks at the surviving evidence from the Predynastic Period to the Middle Kingdom.
Tomb of a prince
A new Fifth Dynasty tomb has been discovered at Saqqara by an Egyptian mission led by the Supreme Council of Antiquities and the Zahi Hawass Foundation for Antiquities and Heritage. The 4,400-year-old tomb belongs to Userafra, a previously unknown son…
Hilary Wilson on… Horned beasts: 2
In the second part of an article on the symbolism attached by the ancient Egyptians to beasts with horns, Hilary looks at goats, sheep, and wild animals.
Unveiling Female Social Power in Early Egypt (c.3080-2180 BCE)
REVIEW BY ANNA GARNETT This volume is the first to be published from BAR International’s exciting new specialist sub-series focused solely on the archaeology of Egypt and Sudan. Sue Kelly explores the roles of women at the very beginning of…
What can ancient skulls tell us?
Rachel Cotton investigates why some early Egyptologists collected skulls, and shows how the analysis of one particular skull can reveal much about the deceased person’s life.
Hilary Wilson on… Horned beasts: 1
In the first of a two-part article on the symbolism attached by the ancient Egyptians to beasts with horns, Hilary looks at cattle.
The discovery of the Narmer Palette
The Narmer Palette may be regarded as the world’s first historical document, recording the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt in about 3000 BC.
Gertrude Caton-Thompson at Hemamieh
Celebrating the work of the British pioneer of Egyptian prehistory.
Hydraulic lift?
Another news item that has had widespread coverage is the claim that the Step Pyramid of Djoser was built using a hydraulic lift. Research by a privately owned French institute specialising in hydrology, archaeology, and geotechnics suggests that the ancient…
The Cat in Ancient Egypt: Hunter pampered pet divine goddess
Meilin Lyu explores the different aspects of the ancient Egyptian cat, its depictions in art, and its importance in religion, cults, and daily life.
Flinders Petrie and the discovery of early Egypt
Petrie’s work at Naqada revealed for the first time the prehistoric past of Egypt.
Beliefs and narratives: Images from Predynastic Egypt
Barbara A Boczar explores the imagery of Egypt’s Naqada periods.
Travels in an antique land: Mud-brick, mud-brick, glorious mud-brick
Each issue, AE magazine goes off the beaten track to explore some of Egypt’s lesser known sites, new museums, and newly opened monuments, with tips to help the independent traveller. In this issue, Karl Harris explores two under-visited sites at Abydos.
New finds at Saqqara
A joint Egyptian-Japanese team working on the eastern escarpment of the North Saqqara plateau has discovered a rock-cut tomb dating to the Second Dynasty. The tomb contained an adult buried in a crouched position, found lying next to the remains…
Meretneith’s wine
New evidence found at Umm el Qa‘ab (‘Mother of Pots’) in Abydos has shed light on the importance of the First Dynasty queen Meretneith (or Merneith), and casts doubt on the theory of ritual human sacrifice as part of royal…
Win a copy of Oxbow Classics in Egyptology: Objects of Daily Use by W. M. Flinders Petrie
Do you recognise this place?
Predynastic warfare – No eden: violence and warfare in the Nile Valley
Continuing his series of articles on Predynastic Egypt (see AE 127, 135, and 137), Julian Heath now looks at evidence for the disputes that arose between different groups of early settlers.
Flinders Petrie’s sequence dating chart
A major step forward in understanding and dating ancient Egyptian ceramics.
Tell el-Farkha: An exceptional predynastic site in the Nile Delta
Following his articles in AE 127 and AE 135 exploring Predynastic sites in Egypt’s Western Desert, Julian Heath now looks at archaeological evidence for occupation of the Nile Delta during the Late Predynastic and Early Dynastic Periods
Ivory label of King Den: From the William MacGregor Collection
Dr Campbell Price examines a tiny artefact in the British Museum
that names one of Egypt’s earliest pharaohs.
Terracotta female figurine from el Ma’mariya
In this issue, Dr Campbell Price describes an intriguing Predynastic artefact in the Brooklyn Museum.
More than a hundred ancient tombs discovered in Egypt
68 of the 110 tombs date back to the Predynastic civilisation in Lower Egypt, which lasted from c. 6000-3300 BC.