Three rock-cut tombs belonging to high officials of the early New Kingdom have been discovered by an Egyptian team in the Bubasteion necropolis at Saqqara. The tombs are inscribed with their biographies, and provide important evidence of Egypt’s foreign relations…
A Dutch team from Leiden University has discovered a previously unknown Ramesside tomb in Sheikh Abd el-Qurna. Wall inscriptions name the owner as an official called Paser. The tomb has a typical Theban layout, with an open courtyard containing a…
A large multi-functional complex dating to the Fifteenth Dynasty (the Hyksos era) has been uncovered by an Egyptian mission at Tell el-Ku’a in Wadi Tumilat (Ismailia Governorate) in the eastern Nile Delta. The team discovered a walled residential compound, measuring…
Andrew Fulton describes an important New Kingdom text that invokes 75 forms of the sun god.
On 3 June 1968, Italian archaeologists digging the ancient city of Paestum made an extraordinary discovery. They had unearthed a tomb fashioned from slabs of travertine, containing the bones of an individual who had been lain to rest c.480 BC,…
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…
Peter Lacovara celebrates the achievements of one of the most important, yet under-appreciated, figures in Egyptian archaeology: Dows Dunham.
A joint Egyptian–Italian archaeological mission (University of Milan) has discovered more rock-cut Graeco-Roman tombs in the necropolis surrounding the Aga Khan Mausoleum on Aswan’s West Bank (for previous finds, see AE 144). The most impressive tomb to be found so…
The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities has completed the conservation of a Roman Period tomb at Athribis (Naga‘a el-Sheikh Hamad, west of Sohag). The brightly painted tomb, consisting of a square antechamber leading to a triangular burial chamber, belonged to…
Intact burials containing a collection of beautiful jewellery have been discovered by the joint Egyptian-American South Asasif Conservation Project in a tomb located near the Twenty-fifth Dynasty Tomb of Karabasken (TT391). This is the first Middle Kingdom burial to be…
A 1,700-year-old tomb belonging to a previously unknown Maya ruler has been discovered in northern Guatemala. The site of Chochkitam – a medium- sized Maya city with a monumental centre covering an area of c.1km2 – has been known since…
REVIEW BY KATE WADDINGTON This very readable book discusses the archaeology from a beautiful stretch of coastal north-west Wales: the Llŷn peninsula. As this volume demonstrates, it has produced a diverse range of well-preserved monuments that are of national importance.…
Do you recognise where in Egypt this photograph was taken?
Understanding burial practices and funerary customs is a vital part of any attempt to understand an ancient culture – for while the need to separate the living from the dead is common to all human societies, the way in which…
Following the discovery of the tomb of Ramesses II’s Treasurer Ptahemwia at Saqqara, the Egyptian team has now uncovered his pink granite sarcophagus in the main burial chamber.
The rock-cut tomb consists of the remains of a mud brick courtyard, with a descending staircase leading to two rooms.
Nicholas Reeves claims the north wall of KV62 originally depicted Tutankhamun burying Nefertiti and was later overpainted to show Ay burying Tutankhamun.
In which year is Tutankhamun thought to have been born?
One of the most exciting discoveries was that of a casket carved out of a single stone, which contained a glass cinerary urn, along with a wealth of stunningly-preserved funerary goods.
Barbara Gai recounts the discovery of the Embalming Cache KV54 and its astonishing contents.
‘Yes, wonderful things’ is the oft-quoted response Howard Carter gave when, on 26 November 1922, Lord Carnarvon asked if the archaeologist could see anything through a hole in the inner doorway of the tomb of the young king Tutankhamun.
The Ipogeo dei Cristallini is situated just outside the limits of ancient Neapolis.
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.
The latest on acquisitions, exhibitions, and key decisions.
The sealed funerary chamber ensured the preservation of the remains buried in the tomb, including some hair as well as a skeleton.
The balls may have indicated prestige, or have been used as ceremonial objects
After centuries of reuse and years of closure, the Mausoleum of Augustus is now open to visitors. Dalu Jones examines the structure’s long history and how, with its neighbour the Ara Pacis, it forms a modern monumental complex to the ancient emperor in the heart of Rome.
Preparations for the 2020 Olympics saw excavations under way at numerous sites in Tokyo. Simon Kaner reflects on what archaeology tells us about activity in the area before and after the birth of a great city.
A tomb belonging to King Djoser, an ancient Egyptian pharaoh who lived in the Third Dynasty, over 4,500 years ago, has recently reopened to the public after extensive restoration work.
Wax tablet archives revealed that the deceased was a public slave and a custodian of the Temple of Venus.
Whilst searching for old lagoons and marshy sites that may have been used as a fish or crustacean farm, the archaeologists came across the 4m-high walls of the Roman baths emerging from the sand.
Abydos was not only the earliest brewery and the forerunner of the great royal cemeteries... it was also the birthplace of the funeral wake and possibly too of the mass hangover.
Finally completed in April 1861,Napoleon’s remains were transferred into this huge object of red aventurine quartzite from a quarry in northern Russia.
68 of the 110 tombs date back to the Predynastic civilisation in Lower Egypt, which lasted from c. 6000-3300 BC.
The Irish archaeologist Barry Raftery (1944-2010) wrote: ‘Death represents the ultimate confrontation between the human and the supernatural worlds. The surviving burial remains and the associated funerary monuments thus provide us with the clearest and most tangible surviving evidence of religious beliefs and practices’. With this as her theme, Elizabeth O’Brien has studied every excavated Irish burial dating from the period c.200 BC to c.AD 800. She found great diversity and one common strand – burial in close proximity to ancestors or to people regarded as saints, as Chris Catling reports.
As well as the coffins, which date to the Late Period (525-332 BC) and Ptolemaic Dynasty (323-30 BC), Egyptian archaeologists found shabtis, amulets, four gilded funerary masks, and 40 statues of Ptah Sokar, a prominent god of Saqqara.