Two large tombs have been discovered at the ancient Egyptian necropolis of Saqqara – one of which is the largest ever found at the site. The 26th Dynasty tombs, likely robbed during the Roman era, are nonetheless filled with important arefacts including coffins, skeletons, pottery and mummified eagles. The tombs, discovered by an Egyptian archaeological mission from the Supreme Council of Antiquities, are at the Ras El Gisr area of Saqqara, near the landmark’s entrance. Both tombs are cut into the hills of the region: the larger first tomb is hewn from limestone while the other is mud-brick. The larger…
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A cat wanders by, leading to myself, the guard, my two friends, and the cat being the only occupants of the ruined city of Fustat on this particular day; it was originally home to roughly 200,000 people. This is an unexpected experience for Cairo solitude in the city. The Medieval Capital Fustat, the medieval capital of Egypt founded in 642 AD by General Amr Ibn el-As, was burnt to the ground (according to Arab tradition) roughly five hundred years later by order of the Vizier Shawar. Frankish crusaders were on their way, and he decided that it was better to…
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If youve ever wanted to own a perfect hand-crafted piece of traditional Egyptian pottery made by a man with only one thumb and one eye I can tell you exactly where to go. His name is Salah and he lives in Fustat, in the area better known today as Coptic Cairo. Getting to Fustat Its an easy journey, you can take the metro from downtown Cairo there in no time at all, roughly only fifteen minutes. Then, after arriving, you get to confound the local tourist police by walking away from all the wonderful ancient churches, and straight down the…
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A massive one ton granite statue of the pharaoh Taharqa has been found in Dangeil, deep inside Sudan. Taharqa was a pharaoh of the 25th dynasty of Egypt. This was a period of Kushite rule, which means that Taharqa and his fellow rulers were from Nubia and drew their power-base from there. Update: Further information on the statue of Pharoah Taharqa discovered at Dangeil and a confirmation that – indeed – no statue of a pharaoh has ever been found further south of Egypt than this one in Owen’s follow up blog. You’ll also find photographs of the statues and…
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In this Heritage Key video, Dr. Janice Kamrin, head of the EgyptianMuseum Database Project, shows and discusses some of the lifestyle objects found in Tutankhamuns tomb by Carter in 1922, and now housed in The Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Board games, and containers for perfumes, cosmetics and unguents, are amongst the objects shown in this video that give an insight into the livestyles of the rich and famous ancient Egyptians. You can catch up on the previous videos in this series when Dr Kamrin looks at Animal iconography (Watch the video), The Canopic Shrine, Chest and Jars (Watch the video)…
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Nothing keeps Dr Zahi Hawass awake at night quite like the prospect of being the first person to lay eyes on a millennia-dead Egyptian mummy. I could not sleep with thinking about it all the time, he reveals at the start of Heritage Keys latest fantastic video by Nico Piazza, documenting the opening of an intact tomb at Saqqara. Thinking about the moment that I will come down, he continues, about 11 metres, and begin to open a sealed sarcophagus that no one ever touched since 2,600 years ago. The camera pans across creepy piles of heavily decayed human bones…
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The first visitor numbers are in for the number of people visiting the King Tut exhibition. The Art Gallery of Ontario, which is hosting King Tut and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, announced that more than 100,000 tickets have been sold to date That works out to at least $3.2 million in sales (Canadian currency). The exhibit has only been open for one month. Now I should caution that tickets have been available for three months (you could buy them in advance). I should also add that it doesnt appear as if Tutankhamun will top the 750,000 visitors it…
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“In most Egyptian tombs you’ve either got the wall paintings or the coffin.” Fiona, 8th Countess of Carnarvon says, stressing the uniqueness of Tutankhamun’s tomb, the greatest discovery in history. Its treasures may be well documented, less so the incredible wall paintings that greeted Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon when they burst through in 1922 (Watch a special video on the discovery here). Lady Carnarvon, herself a two-time author on the Tutankhamun phenomenon withCarnarvon& Carter(click here to buy) and Egypt at Highclere: The Discovery of Tutankhamun(click here to buy), seems totally engrossed in the walls she and husband George Herbert,…
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The first two instalments of Nico Piazza and Sandro Vanninis four-part video series Tuts Treasures saw Dr Janice Kamrin introduce us to the boy kings canopic vessels (Watch the video) and the various fearsome representations of animal gods that guarded his embalmed body (Watch the video). Part three focuses on the many ritual figures found inside black resined wooden shrines in the treasury of Tutankhamuns lavish tomb in the Valley of the Kings. 34 ritual figures were located in total inside KV62, which was first opened and investigated by Howard Carter in 1922. Their function? Protection basically, and ritual use…
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London is one of the world’s best cities to see ancient culture. You can ramble round Roman London, see Seti’s sarcophagus at the Soane, explore the hidden pleasures of the Petrie Museum, or get lost in the British Museum, where you’ll see amazing artefacts from all over the world – including the Elgin Marbles, Rosetta Stone and great Mesopotamian relics. But what about the wonders lying just outside the city limits? There are Roman villas dotted all round London, and ancient treasures are never more than a short train journey away. One of the best days out can be had…