Among Egyptology’s many ‘unsung heroes’, Ricardo A Caminos counts as a modest yet significant figure. Carl Graves takes a look at his often-overlooked achievements, and his longstanding legacy, both within the profession of epigraphic recording, and the history of the Egypt Exploration Society.
Geoffrey Lenox-Smith visits the site where the Rosetta Stone was discovered in 1799.
On the West Bank of the Nile, opposite Aswan, is Qubbet el-Hawa, the necropolis of the governors of Elephantine during the Old and Middle Kingdoms. These officials – the guardians of Egypt’s southernmost border – built monumental tomb complexes on…
The archaeological site of Tell Abu Seifi in Qantara East (Ismailia Governorate) – a key site on the military ‘Horus Road’ – could be the location of the lost city of ‘Mesn’ mentioned in New Kingdom sources. An Egyptian mission…
Janice Kinory looks back on the curious case of the clay tablets from Glozel.
In our high-speed modern world, it can be easy to forget that the ancient world was experienced at a slower speed. Rubina Raja shares the insights that can spring from exploring the edges of the Roman world on foot.
Sometime in the 1st century AD, a crass graffiti artist carved a 2m-long graffito into the wall of a stairwell within the House of Julia Felix at Pompeii. The mudslinger didn’t mince words. In it, they mocked a man who…
A mission from the Egyptian-French Center for the Study of the Karnak Temples (CFEETK) has successfully completed the reconstruction of a Ramesses III gateway in the north-western sector of Karnak. The gate appears to have been built over an earlier…
This is the fourth edition of a book that was first published by Betty Willsher (1915-2012) in 1985, with subsequent updates in 1995 and 2005. The original publication came about due to the growing concern in the 1970s and 1980s…
Over the last 300 years, a handful of enamelled bronze vessels, most of which are thought to depict Hadrian’s Wall and in some cases are inscribed with the names of forts along its line, have been discovered in Britain and on the Continent. With a sixth example newly unearthed in Spain, Carly Hilts explores what these 2nd-century ‘souvenirs’ can tell us about Roman responses to their northern frontier.
A remarkable Roman cup discovered in central Spain is revealing links between Hadrian’s Wall and the Hispanic soldiers who served there. The object was uncovered by chance in farmland in Berlanga de Duero, in the province of Soria. Despite being…
Recent excavations at the ancient city of Savatra, in the Karatay district of Konya, central Turkey, have uncovered an impressive altar in the site’s theatre complex, which is believed to date to the Roman period. The altar is decorated with…
A site as intensely studied as Deir el-Medina, with its wealth of written sources, has produced a huge literature – the navigation of which is immeasurably eased by the present volume. Originally published in the Dutch Egyptologische Uitgaven series in…
Once hidden beneath layers of soot and bird faeces, the stunningly colourful painted scenes and elaborately carved columns adorning the Temple of Khnum at Esna (Latopolis) can now be seen in all their glory following decades of painstaking work by…
• Researchers at the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, have spotted an ancient form of ‘Tipp-Ex’ in a Book of the Dead vignette, where a white fluid was used to make the figure of a jackal slimmer. • An Egyptian-Chinese…
A spectacular tomb associated with the ancient Zapotec civilisation has been uncovered on Cerro de la Cantera, in San Pablo Huitzo, Oaxaca, south-western Mexico. The burial was brought to the attention of archaeologists from INAH thanks to an anonymous report…
The walls of Pompeii are littered with messages left behind by the city’s inhabitants two millennia ago. Recent research is shedding new light on one of the richest concentrations of these ancient inscriptions.
Two new exhibitions shed vivid light on different aspects of life within the most northerly Roman town on Hadrian’s Wall. Carly Hilts visited to learn more.
Dr Joseph L Thimes traces the development of the postal system in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.
This new publication brings a welcome focus to the creative individuals behind the artistic achievements of the New Kingdom. Building on a 2022 conference in Madrid, the collection’s 12 papers examine a broad range of interconnected themes: the role and…
The Twenty-second Dynasty Libyan king Sheshonq III (c.825-773 BC) may have been buried in the tomb of a predecessor, Osorkon II, according to a new discovery at San al-Hagar (Tanis). The Tomb of Osorkon II was discovered in 1939, but…
Patryk Chudzik describes recent archaeological discoveries in the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri.
Over the last century, Messenia in Greece has produced an extraordinary range of archaeological riches. Together, these finds showcase sumptuous burials and flourishing settlements, and shed vivid light on life during a pivotal period for the Mycenaean world. To find out more, Matthew Symonds spoke to Claire Lyons, Jack Davis, and Sharon Stocker.
REVIEW BY TIMOTHY MATNEY The academic world inhabited by Sumerologists and Assyriologists is highly specialised and largely inaccessible for even the hardiest lovers of history. The texts themselves are fragmentary, often pieced together from disparate copies, deliberately anachronistic, and range…
In March 2025, the owners of a house in the Carrollton neighbourhood of New Orleans came across a flat marble slab while clearing undergrowth in their backyard. The unusual object bore an engraved Latin inscription, leading the couple to fear…
A new exhibition explores ancient Egypt from the perspective of its craftspeople, showcasing their creations and illuminating their experiences. Carly Hilts visited to learn more.
Barbara Gai explores the history of this important monument and the clues that might lead to the location of Antinous’ tomb.
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,…
REVIEW BY MICHAEL TUNNICLIFFE This important work claims to be the first authoritative edition to combine both transliteration and translation of the Amarna Letters since their publication by Norwegian linguist J A Knudtzon in 1915. The 1992 volume by W…
Continuing his series focusing on the kings of the Twelfth Dynasty, Wolfram Grajetzki explores the reign and innovations of Khakheperra Senusret II.
REVIEW BY ROGER FORSHAW The 23rd Current Research in Egyptology (CRE) conference was held at the University of Basel in 2023. Bringing together an engaged community of mainly early career researchers, the conference offered a diverse programme from which 22…
For the first time, non-invasive technology has been used to recover a title from the ancient papyri from Herculaneum carbonised in the AD 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Earlier this year, scans of the scroll in question, known as PHerc.172,…
During this year’s annual excavations at the Roman auxiliary fort of Vindolanda, Jim and Dilys Quinlan from Merseyside – who have been volunteering on the site for 21 years – discovered this sandstone relief. It was found in May, in…
Karl Harris continues his ‘Travels in an Antique Land’ with visits to the First Intermediate Period Tomb of Ankhtify at Mo‘alla, and a multi-era temple complex dedicated to the god Montu at Tod.
REVIEW BY ALAN L JEFFREYS Emily Teeter’s book, which accompanies a recent exhibition at the ISAC Museum (see ‘Exhibitions’ in AE 145), relates the story of the University of Chicago’s Epigraphic Survey expedition to Egypt, and the team’s efforts to…
The owner of a tomb discovered in the 1970s in el-Assasif has finally been identified by a joint Egyptian-Canadian (University of Ontario) mission. Following the first archaeological work since the discovery of the tomb, known as Kampp 23, the team…