A new discovery made by Dr. Zahi Hawass and his team shows that an ancient pharaoh made serious efforts to save the Sphinx. At Giza his team found the remains of a mudbrick enclosure wall that would have surrounded the Sphinx, perhaps protecting it from sand blown by wind. Made of mudbrick, the first section runs to the east of the Sphinx for 86 meters north-south and is 75 cm tall. The second section is 46 meters long, 90 cm in size, and runs east-west along the perimeter of Khafre’s valley temple. The two sides converge in the southeast. Archaeologists are already aware…
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The royal tomb of Pharaoh Psusennes I is said to be one of the most spectacular discoveries ever made in Egypt. So, why hasn’t the world heard about it? And what does it reveal about Ancient Egypt? Find out in ‘Secrets of the Dead:The Silver Pharoah’, premiering this Wednesday. Tanis, Egypt, circa 1939. An excavation team led by French archaeologist Pierre Montet unearthed an intact royal burial chamber (NRT III), which containedtreasures that (almost) rivals the riches found in Tutankhamuns tomb almost two decades before. One of the most spectacular discoveries inside the crypt was the exquisite silver sarcophagus of…
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Toronto is the place to be this week for fans of ancient Egypt. Especially if youre interested in the gruesome ways that two of its pharaohs might have died. King Tut: Death by Hippo? This Wednesday, at 7 pm at theU of Tcampus, Dr. Benson Harer of California State University at San Bernardinowill argue that King Tutwasmauled to death by a hippo his lecture istitled”What really killed King Tut: The Hippo Heresy.” Dr. Harer is a medical doctor and adjunct professor of Egyptology atCalifornia State so he brings a unique perspective to this issue. Indeed, the death of King Tut…
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Treasures from the tomb of King Tutankhamun will be seen in Australia for the first time, when the Melbourne Museum hosts ‘Tutankhamun and The Golden Age of The Pharaohs’, startingApril, 2011. Up to 700,000 people are expected to visit the exhibition, which will feature more than 130 artefacts from Tut’s tomb and the gravesand temples of his ancestors from Egypt’s 200-year ‘Golden Age’. Six months ago,Frank Howarth, director of Sydney’s Australian Museum, said the show’s $10 million price tag for six months, and its size were too big for Australian institutions to handle. In stead, the Australian Museum hosted the…
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King Tut’s treasures are returning to the UK, as ‘Tutankhamun His Tomb and His Treasures’ opened this weekend at Manchester’s Museum of Museums. Over 1,000 faithful replicas offer visitors the opportunity to look through Howard Carter’s eyes and experience the greatest discovery of all time for themselves. The entire world is familiar with ancient Egypt’s ‘piece de resistance’, the symbol of Egyptology King Tut’s golden death mask (slideshow). Yet, fewer people know that when Carter and Carnarvon discovered the pharaoh’s final resting place in 1922, it contained so many treasures that it was almost impossible to enter. It would take…
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Exploring is more fun now with the new Heritage Key Virtual Quest in the Treasures region! As you land in the Arrivals Area after logging into Heritage Key Virtual, make your way to the teleports where you will see several destinations. Selecting “Treasures” will take you to King Tutankhamun’sGolden Shrine. One of the museum guides will give you the keys that you will need to find the mummy. This is a short quest which will take you into the Golden Shrine. You will slowly open and enter the layers of the shrine and while doing you will get real close…
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Attribution: Zahi Hawass (on Flickr) Zahi Hawass Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities 28 May 1947 World-renowned archaeologist Zahi Hawass currently serves as Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, and directs ongoing excavations at Giza, Saqqara, and in the Valley of the Kings. Dr. Hawass received his PhD in 1987 from the University of Pennsylvania. He has written numerous scholarly articles and books, and is highly respected as an Egyptologist. Over the course of his long career, he has been presented with numerous awards and honors. In addition, Dr. Hawass is known for his charisma and…
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What do you get when you combine the Sphinx with cleavage? You get a video that looks something like this (Watch the Video). YouTube phenomenon Marina Orlova, a former teacher who presents facts with a slightly risqu twist, gives a lesson on the famous monument. According to her bio she holds two degrees in philology (that’s historical linguistics), has just under 400,000 YouTube subscribers and yes she did teach high school, back in Russia. She uses the tag line intelligence is sexy. To be fair to her, the video is informative and while her attire is – eye-catching – it…
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The biblical narrative of the crossing of the Red Sea has inspired and mystified people for millennia. So far, Archeologists and Egyptologists have found little direct evidence to substantiate many of the events described in Exodus, said to have taken place more than 3,000 years ago. Now, a new study offers a new hydrodynamic explanation for the miracle a strong east wind, blowing overnight, could have created a land bridge (watch the video) and allowed for passage. By pinpointing a possible site south of the Mediterranean Sea for the crossing, the study – based on a reconstruction of the likely…
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Archaeologists have rediscovered the ‘lost’ tomb an ancient Egyptian priest at the Theban Necropolis in Egypt.It was announced today by Egypt’s Minister of Culture, Farouk Hosny, that the team excavating and conservating the tomb has now cleared the burial shaft of tomb and reached its burial chamber. The tomb is located at Qurnet Murai, south Assasif, on the west bank of the Nile opposite to Luxor, and belonged to a priest named Karakhamun. It dates to the 25th Dynasty (the Reign of Shabaqo, circa 700BC) and is referenced as TT223 (Theban Tomb 223). The el-Assasif area is a well known…