hieroglyphics

The Obelisk and Tomb of Antinous

Barbara Gai explores the history of this important monument and the clues that might lead to the location of Antinous’ tomb.

Left The Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza. Seeking to understand how this remarkable monument was constructed has long been a source of scholarly fascination. Here we see the west side of the pyramid, with the Western Cemetery, which contained officials and retainers, visible in the foreground.

Records of the pyramid builders: discovering eye-witness accounts of a legendary construction project

How did Egypt build the pyramids? It is a question that has excited the imagination of scholars and visitors for millennia. Now papyri documenting work on the Great Pyramid are revealing fresh insights into construction work. Pierre Tallet and Mark Lehner told Matthew Symonds how combining text and archaeology can expose the secrets of an extraordinary building project.

Cleopatra, por Juan Luna (Museo del Prado)

The Past

This week: Ancient Egypt

This year sees the marking of two significant anniversaries: the centenary of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb by the British archaeologist Howard Carter, in excavations funded by Lord Carnarvon; and the bicentenary of the use of the Rosetta Stone by…

LEFT The golden funerary mask of Tutankhamun, brought to light by Howard Carter and his team in 1922, quickly becoming perhaps the most famous of all archaeological finds.

Egyptology: obelisks and ambitions

Flinders Petrie is called the father of Egyptian archaeology; well, he was assisted on all of his excavations by his wife Hilda, who has never really achieved the due recognition that she deserves.

The Past

This week: Ancient technology

One of the exciting things about archaeology is that, just occasionally, something truly extraordinary comes along which radically changes the way we think about the past. One such moment came in 1900, when sponge divers working around the Greek island of Antikythera happened upon a shipwreck containing the single most important object of high technology ever recovered from the ancient world.

Tutankhamun: a teenager’s journey to the afterlife

As the centenary of Howard Carter’s discovery looms, the largest collection of Tutankhamun’s grave goods ever to leave Egypt has embarked on a world tour. The objects, ranging from glittering treasures to everyday essentials, were assembled to ease the youthful pharaoh’s passage into the next world. For all their beauty, these artefacts also tell tales of belief, the burden of royal duties, and young love, as Tarek El Awady revealed to CWA's Matthew Symonds.