ancient Egypt

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Debate Rages Over Netflix's Black Cleopatra

Some Egyptian experts are fuming over what they say is a false portrayal

(Newser) - Jada Pinkett Smith, executive producer and narrator of the new Netflix drama-documentary series Queen Cleopatra , says it was "really important for me" to highlight "stories about Black queens," per the Guardian . The series premiering May 10 certainly portrays the last pharoah of Egypt as Black, with mixed-race...

Newly Unearthed Sphinx May Have Face of Roman Emperor

It was found in a temple south of Cairo

(Newser) - Archaeologists have unearthed a Sphinx-like statue and the remains of a shrine in an ancient temple in southern Egypt, antiquities authorities said Monday. The artifacts were found in the temple of Dendera in Qena Province, 280 miles south of Cairo, the Antiquities Ministry said in a statement. Archaeologists believe the...

'Time Machine' Unearthed on Ancient Egypt's Mummies

Embalming workshop found in 2016 offers hints on the mummification process

(Newser) - For thousands of years, ancient Egyptians mummified their dead in the search for eternal life. Now, researchers have used chemistry and an unusual collection of jars to figure out how they did it. Their study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature , is based on a rare archaeological find: an embalming...

Gold-Covered Mummy Was Undisturbed for 4.3K Years

It 'may be the oldest and most complete mummy found in Egypt to date'

(Newser) - Since 2,300BC, a time when a few mammoths still walked the Earth, the gold-covered mummy of a man named Hekashepes lay in a limestone sarcophagus at the bottom of a shaft 50 feet deep, undisturbed by grave robbers. Egyptian archaeologists say the lid of the sarcophagus, one of several...

In Egypt, an 'Increasingly Rare' Find

First complete papyrus to be found in a century will be displayed at Cairo's new museum

(Newser) - From one of 250 wooden sarcophagi uncovered last year at Egypt's famed necropolis of Saqqara comes the first complete papyrus scroll discovered in a century. And it's a long one. The scroll containing sections of the Book of the Dead stretches 52 feet long, per Live Science . The...

Tomb Dating to Dynasty That Included Tut Is Unearthed

Archaeologists find it in Luxor, Egypt

(Newser) - Archaeologists in Egypt appear to have discovered another tomb belonging to an ancient royal. An Egyptian-British team discovered it in the city of Luxor on the west bank of the Nile, in the area of the famous Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens, reports AFP . A government...

'Miracle' Tunnel Might Lead to Cleopatra's Tomb

Tunnel sits below Taposiris Magna temple in Egypt, possible site of royal tomb

(Newser) - Archaeologists hoping to find Cleopatra's lost tomb have instead discovered an incredible feat of engineering: a 6.5-foot-tall underground tunnel stretching for nearly a mile. The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism calls it a "geometric miracle," per Smithsonian . Kathleen Martinez of the University of San Domingo, whose team...

Egypt's New Find Includes Well-Preserved Mummies

Recently unearthed antiquities date to 500 BC

(Newser) - Egypt on Monday displayed a trove of ancient artifacts dating back 2,500 years that the country's antiquities authorities said were recently unearthed at the famed necropolis of Saqqara near Cairo. The artifacts were showcased at a makeshift exhibit at the feet of the Step Pyramid of Djoser in...

Small Mummy at Cornell Wasn't What It Seemed

Carol Anne Barsody uncovers misidentified ibis

(Newser) - A football-sized mummy, thought to hold an ancient Egyptian hawk, actually holds "something sacred." When and how the remains ended up at Cornell University are unclear, and it's also unclear why the mummy was mislabeled as a hawk. But Carol Anne Barsody, a master's student in...

Tombs Unearthed in Egypt Could Be Up to 8K Years Old

110 ancient tombs were found at Nile Delta site

(Newser) - Egyptian archeologists have unearthed 110 burial tombs at an ancient site in a Nile Delta province, the country's Tourism and Antiquities Ministry said Tuesday. The graves, some of which have human remains inside, were found at the Koum el-Khulgan archeological site in Dakahlia province around 93 miles northeast of...

A 'Mind-Blowing' Find: Egypt's 'Lost Golden City'

Archaeologists tease 'untouched tombs filled with treasures' in Luxor

(Newser) - Big news out of Egypt, where a 3,000-year-old lost city has reportedly been found buried under the sand untouched. The "lost golden city of Luxor," as Egyptologist Zahi Hawass dubs it, was uncovered in September and dates to the reign of Tutankhamun's grandfather, Amenhotep III, who...

How to Make a Mummy: Oldest Manual Yet Is Found

It dates back to Egypt from around 3.5K years ago

(Newser) - A doctoral student in Denmark has uncovered the oldest instruction manual on mummification to date. Sofie Schiodt of the University of Copenhagen deciphered a papyrus from ancient Egypt that goes back about 3,500 years, reports CNET . The papyrus is a medical text of sorts, and the section on embalming...

Pharaoh Who Risked His Life 'to Liberate Egypt' Died Horribly

Study suggests a bound Seqenenre Tao was attacked on all sides

(Newser) - The death of Seqenenre Tao is said to have indirectly led to the reunification of ancient Egypt, which was divided during the pharaoh's lifetime in the 16th century BC. Only now do we know what exactly that death entailed. Researchers studying the mummy of the pharaoh, first discovered in...

Archaeologists Find What May Be Oldest Known Beer Factory

Found in Abydos, Egypt

(Newser) - American and Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed what could be the oldest known beer factory at one of the most prominent archaeological sites of ancient Egypt, a top antiquities official said Saturday. Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said the factory was found in Abydos, an ancient...

One of 3 Items Taken From Great Pyramid Is Found

The wood, lost for 70 years, was one of 3 items to emerge from the ancient wonder

(Newser) - Just three known objects have been recovered from Egypt's Great Pyramid, and one of those has been missing for 70 years. That is until an Egyptian archaeologist stumbled upon it in Scotland. Curatorial assistant Abeer Eladany was digging through the University of Aberdeen's museum collections late last year...

Archaeologists Bust Myth About Ancient Egypt
Study Suggests an Ancient
Invasion Never Happened
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Study Suggests an Ancient Invasion Never Happened

Hyksos weren't foreign invaders of Egypt; they were already living there before rising to power

(Newser) - Archaeologists believe they've uncovered an ancient Egyptian propaganda campaign and in the process busted a millennia-old myth. It centers around the Hyksos , the first known people of foreign origin to rule ancient Egypt. They seized power from the pharaohs around 1638 BCE and ruled for a century. More than...

20 Sealed Coffins Uncovered in Egypt

And nearby, evidence of funerary items produced on an 'industrial scale'

(Newser) - The colorful strokes, painted millennia ago, are still visible beneath a layer of dirt, which is partly why Egypt's antiquities ministry is celebrating the discovery of more than 20 ancient coffins as one of the "largest and most important" finds in the country in recent years. But the...

Egypt Opens Its 'Unusual' Bent Pyramid

Pair of its most ancient pyramids open to public for the first time since the 1960s

(Newser) - Egypt on Saturday opened two of its oldest pyramids, located about 25 miles south of the capital Cairo, to visitors for the first time since 1965. Antiquities Minister Khaled el-Anany told reporters that tourists are now allowed to visit the Bent Pyramid and its satellite pyramid in the Dahshur royal...

7 Pharaonic Age Tombs Uncovered in Egypt

Along with statues of cats and birds

(Newser) - A top Egyptian antiquities official says local archaeologists have discovered seven Pharaonic Age tombs near the capital Cairo containing dozens of cat mummies along with wooden statues depicting other animals and birds, the AP reports. Mostafa Waziri told reporters Saturday that the discovery at Saqqara also includes mummies of scarabs,...

Big Egypt Find: Signs of Village Way Before the Pyramids

About 2,500 years before, to be (somewhat) exact

(Newser) - When you think of ancient Egypt, pharaohs and pyramids come to mind. But a new discovery in the Nile Delta is shedding some light on an even earlier time in Egypt's history. Archaeologists have discovered storage silos containing animal bones and food dating back to the Neolithic era (around...

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