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A settlement that was buried beneath the sand for thousands of years—and eluded archaeologists for centuries—is believed to be one of the largest ancient Egyptian cities ever unearthed. The site was discovered by a stroke of good luck when archaeologists began searching for the mortuary temple of the boy pharaoh Tutankhamun (r. ca. 1336–1327 B.C.) along the west bank of the Nile in Luxor. What they found instead was a well-preserved urban settlement filled with houses, streets, and walls, some of which still stand 10 feet tall. Hieroglyphic inscriptions indicate the city was called tehn Aten, or “dazzling” Aten, and...

One particularly important find is a cylinder-shaped seal made from the mineral hematite, with a cuneiform inscription from Mesopotamia (present day Iraq), which the archaeologists were able to decipher.“The text consists of three lines and mentions three names. One is Amurru, a god worshiped in Mesopotamia. The other two are historical kings, father and son, who we recently succeeded in tracking down in other texts on clay tablets from the same period, i.e., the 18th century BC. We are currently trying to determine why the seal ended up in Cyprus more than 1000 kilometres from where it was made.”Among the...

While digging in his field, an Egyptian farmer recently made the discovery of a lifetime, a roughly 2-meter-tall royal stele. The stele, which was discovered near the Egyptian city of Ismailia, 62 miles northeast of Cairo, appears to commemorate a foreign campaign of Apries (r. 589–570 B.C.E.), an Egyptian pharaoh of the 26th Dynasty who is remembered in the Book of Jeremiah as having come to Jerusalem’s aid during the Babylonian siege (Jeremiah 37:5). The sandstone stele, which includes the cartouche of Apries and 15 lines of hieroglyphic text, stands 2.3 meters tall and is just over a meter wide....

(Egyptian Antiquities Ministry) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A funerary temple belonging to Queen Nearit has been discovered in the ancient Egyptian burial ground Saqqara next to the pyramid of her husband, pharaoh Teti, who ruled Egypt from around 2323 BCE to 2291 BCE, the Egyptian antiquities ministry said in a statement. Made of stone, the temple has three mud-brick warehouses on its southeastern side that held offerings made to the queen and her husband. Near the pyramid, the team of Egyptian archaeologists also found a series of burial shafts containing the remains of people who lived during the 18th and 19th dynasties of...

A carved statue of the god Nefertum was unearthed in Saqqara necropolis on Thursday, alongside a group of intact wooden coffins which the antiquities ministry has said it will reveal more details about on Saturday. The Egyptian archaeological mission working at Saqqara, which is led by Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, uncovered a bronze statue of the god lying beside the 26th Dynasty coffins. Waziri said that the statue is one of several that the mission found during the excavation work inside an 11 metre-deep burial shaft. The statue will be displayed on Saturday during...

Archaeologists have discovered 37 ancient coffins in Egypt that are believed to have remained unopened since they were buried around 2,500 years ago, numerous sources reported. The coffins, also called sarcophagi, were buried near the Step Pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara, which is located 20 miles south of Cairo and is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site. A spokesperson for Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said 12 coffins were found earlier in September in a newly discovered well, and were followed by the unearthing of 14 more in another well, the Associated Press reported. Although the sarcophagi have been...

A team of archeologists recently found 13 Egyptian coffins that have been sealed for over 2,500 years. Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities recently shared some news on their Facebook page, explaining that archaeologists uncovered an unexpected cache -- or more specifically, a well -- of more than 13 sealed wooden coffins that are believed to be as old as 2,500 years in the Saqqara Necropolis in Egypt. They report that, according to preliminary studies, these coffins are sealed off and haven't been opened since their initial burial a couple of millennia ago. It is important to mention that this...

A nine-year project has been completed to restore the tomb of ancient Egypt's boy king, Tutankhamun, and address issues that threatened its survival. Experts from the Getty Conservation Institute repaired scratches and abrasions on the wall paintings caused by visitors to the burial chamber. The paintings were also affected by humidity, dust and carbon dioxide introduced by every person who entered. A new ventilation system should reduce the need for future cleaning. New barriers will restrict physical access to the paintings, while a new viewing platform, lighting and interpretive signage will also allow visitors to better see the tomb and...

One of these Amarna letters (EA 39) came to light just before the turn of the previous century (1900). Researchers noted references to "ameluti Ia-u-du" and "ameluti tsabe Ia-u-du." The spelling of Ia-u-du is identical to that of later Assyrian cuneiform inscriptions referring to Judah (Judah is our Anglicized form of the Hebrew Yehuda). As such, we would have a translation of the above two passages as "men of Judah" and "soldiers of Judah." Prof. Morris Jastrow Jr. (1861–1921) wrote an article titled "'The Men of Judah' in the El-Amarna Tablets"... the inscription was related to territory in the extreme...

Ancient Egyptian art frequently depicts people wearing cone-shaped headgear, but none has ever been found. Now an international team of archaeologists has uncovered the first ever physical evidence of Egyptian head cones in the ancient city of Armarna, 194 miles south of the capital Cairo. The head cones, made from wax, were discovered at two graves in 2010 and 2015. They were found in fragments but researchers have been able to reconstruct their shape. They provide the first conclusive evidence that the objects actually existed and were worn by Egyptians, according to the archaeologists.

Ancient Egyptians have long been depicted wearing so-called head cones, but until now, archaeologists had no physical evidence of their existence. Now, two such head cones, made of wax, have been discovered on the skulls of two individuals buried about 3,300 years ago at the site of Amarna in Egypt. Between 1550 B.C. and 30 B.C., Egyptian art depicted people wearing what look like cones on their heads. Because no examples of these cones had ever been found, archaeologists wondered whether they actually existed or were an artistic motif that had no basis in reality The two cone-wearing individuals were...

As a diplomatic dispute rages between Egypt and the auction house Christie's in London over a sculpture depicting the head of the pharaoh Tutankhamun, set to be auctioned on July 4, a Live Science investigation reveals several clues as to where this sculpture comes from. The sculpture, being auctioned off by an anonymous owner through Christie's, is made of quartzite (a type of stone). Estimates for how much the sculpture will fetch vary around $5.1 million (4 million pounds). However, Egypt believes that it was looted from the Karnak temple sometime after 1970, and the country's embassy in the U.K....

In May 2018, media outlets around the world ran the headline: “Secret Chamber Does Not Exist”, referring to the possible burial chamber of Queen Nefertiti behind the walls of the tomb of King Tutankhamun in the Valley of the King's in Egypt. So you’ll image my surprise when this week I see that the major media outlets across the world are once again reporting that Nefertiti could be hiding behind a wall in King Tutankhamen’s tomb. The story was ran by a number of well known publications, including The Sun, New York Post, Fox News and more, but why have...

Archaeologists unearth 3,300-year-old coffin at Tel Shadud thought to hold Canaanite official in service of Egyptian pharaoh :snip: Found alongside the new sarcophagus was a scarab seal ring encased in gold, carved with the name of Pharaoh Seti I, who ruled ancient Egypt in the 13th century BC. Seti I conquered the region of today's Israel in the first year of his reign in order to secure Egyptian trade routes and collect taxes for Egypt, said Ron Beeri, an archaeologist who participated in the dig. The man buried in the sarcophagus might have been a tax collector for the pharaoh,...

Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered the ruins of an ancient fortress dating to the 26th Dynasty, the last dynasty in which native Egyptians ruled before the Persians conquered the country in 525 B.C., according to the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities. Researchers uncovered parts of the mud-brick stronghold -- including the northeastern and southeastern towers -- at the Tell El-Kedwa site in North Sinai. Previously, in 2008, archaeologists had excavated the military citadel's eastern wall, but the fortress is so large, it took until now to unearth more of its remains... Curiously, the old citadel also has chambers full of sand,...

A team of marine archaeologists has uncovered a 3,600-year-old shipwreck in the Mediterranean, just off the coast of Antalya, Turkey. The ship, believed to have been a merchant vessel sailing from Cyprus, may be the oldest ever discovered, according to Haaretz... Based on its position and the large cargo of copper ingots found inside and around the wreck, it is likely to have been a trading ship, ferrying goods from Cyprus to the Aegean region. Although the ship is in very poor condition, and the hull has been almost completely destroyed, the bulk of the ship, together with its precious...

Archaeologists in Egypt made a surprising discovery dating back more 2,500 years near the country's famed pyramids south of Cairo. Their findings, which include a mummification workshop and a shaft, used as a communal burial place, are located at the vast Saqqara necropolis part of the Memphis, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Memphis was the first capital of ancient Egypt and its large necropolis houses a wide range of temples and tombs as well as the three pyramids of Giza. The latest find, announced at a press conference Saturday, belongs to the Saite-Persian Period, from 664-404 B.C. The site, which...

"To the King of Egypt, my brother. Thus says the King of Alashiya, your brother: ... Send your messenger along with my messenger quickly and all the copper that you desire I will send you." ...these words are from the collection of tablets known as the Amarna Correspondence, a cache of diplomatic exchanges discovered in the late 19th century. Historians identify the king of Egypt as Akhenaten, but who was writing to him? And where was Alashiya? Many historians feel that the most likely candidate for copper-rich Alashiya is in Cyprus. But the story of identifying the lost city near...

Israeli archaeologists have unearthed a rare sarcophagus featuring a slender face and a scarab ring inscribed with the name of an Egyptian pharaoh, Israel's Antiquities Authority said Wednesday. The mystery man whose skeleton was found inside the sarcophagus was most likely a local Canaanite official in the service of ancient Egypt, Israeli archaeologists believe, shining a light on a period when pharaohs governed the region. "This is a really beautiful face, very serene," said Edwin van den Brink, an Egyptologist and archaeologist with Israel's government antiquities authority. "It's very appealing." Van den Brink said archaeologists dug at Tel Shadud, an...

Egyptian archaeologists digging near the Suez Canal have discovered the remains of what is believed to be the largest fortress in the eastern Delta, Egyptian Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni announced. Located at the site of Tell Dafna, between El-Manzala Lake and the Suez Canal, the remains reveal the foundation of a military town about 9 miles (15 kilometers) northeast of the city of western Qantara. "The fortress covers an area of about 380 by 625 meters (1,247 by 2,051 feet), while the enclosure wall is about 13 meters (43 feet) in width," Mohamed Abdel Maqsoud, head of the Central...