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Surprise Finds at Egypt Temple "Change Everything" Steven Stanek in Luxor, Egypt for National Geographic NewsDecember 17, 2007 A series of surprising discoveries has been made at the foot of Egypt's famous Temple of Amun at Karnak, archaeologists say. The new finds include ancient ceremonial baths, a pharaoh's private entry ramp, and the remains of a massive wall built some 3,000 years ago to reinforce what was then the bank of the Nile River. A host of other artifacts, including hundreds of bronze coins, has also been found. Together the discoveries are causing experts to reconsider the history of the...

Archaeologists in Egypt have uncovered the tomb of Batah-M-Woya, who was chief treasurer in the time of King Ramses II.The tomb is located in Saqqara, a huge necropolis south of Cairo, according to a statement from Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities published Saturday.Saqqara has been the site of a string of astonishing finds in recent years, and this latest discovery is the work of a team of archaeologists from Cairo University.In addition to the tomb of the former treasurer, the team also uncovered the tombs of a number of dignitaries, including a military leader called Hor Mohib.Around 20 miles...

Excavation work carried out by an American mission from New York University at the temple of Ramses II in Abydos has stumbled upon a menagerie of mummified animals that provides previously undocumented evidence of cultic worship through the ages.The most significant find at the site is over 2,000 mummified heads of rams from the Ptolemaic period along with other mummified ewes, dogs, wild goats, cows, gazelles and mongooses, said Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities.The mummified remains, some still in their linen wrappings, were found stored in one of the recently discovered magazines within the temple’s northern...

The mummified remains of ancient Egypt's most powerful pharaoh have been used to reveal what he would have looked like at the height of his powers. Ramessess II's "handsome" face can be seen for the first time in 3,200 years thanks to the new scientific reconstruction. Using a 3D model of his skull to rebuild his features, scientists from Egypt and England initially worked together to create the pharaoh’s likeness when he died around 90 years old. They then reversed the ageing process...

To the south of the causeway of King Unas in Saqqara necropolis... the sarcophagus of Ptahemwia from the reign of King Ramses II... was discovered last year in Saqqara.Mostafa Waziry, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said Ptahemwia holds several titles, including the royal scribe, the great overseer of the cattle in the temple of Ramses II, the head of the treasury, and the one responsible for the offerings of all gods of Lower and Upper Egypt...The subterranean burial chamber opened on the west side of the shaft at the depth of 7 m. It led to a square...

Israeli archaeologists on Sunday announced the "once-in-a-lifetime" discovery of a burial cave from the time of ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Rameses II, filled with dozens of pottery pieces and bronze artifacts. The cave was uncovered on a beach Tuesday, when a mechanical digger working at the Palmahim national park hit its roof, with archaeologists using a ladder to descend into the spacious, man-made square cave. In a video released by the Israel Antiquities Authority, gobsmacked archaeologists shine flashlights on dozens of pottery vessels in a variety of forms and sizes, dating back to the reign of the ancient Egyptian king who...

An Egyptian archaeological mission working in Giza’s prominent Saqqara necropolis has unearthed several blocks of white cheese dating back to the 26th dynasty of ancient Egypt (664–525 BC).A statement from the country’s antiquities ministry said the find was accomplished during the first round of excavations of the mission’s sixth season, which kicked off on Saturday.According to the statement, the mission unearthed a number of clay receptacles containing the cheese, inscribed with Demotic script — ancient Egyptian writing also found on the Rosetta Stone royal decree.The mission reportedly found a number of other containers that are expected to be opened in...

During construction work at Palmachim National Park near Tel Aviv, a fallen rock reveals an ancient treasure trove from the era of the biblically notorious pharoah A team of archaeologists was essentially transported back in time when it entered an untouched 3,300-year-old cave at the Palmachim National Park, just south of Tel Aviv, last week. The vast array of discovered items date to the Late Bronze Age, close to or during the rein of the biblically notorious Ramses II. The cave was spotted when a rock shifted during the course of construction work and light was literally shed on an...

A team of archaeologists from the Czech institute of Egyptology have unearthed a tomb in the Abusir necropolis, near to modern-day Cairo, Egypt. The tomb belongs to an Egyptian dignitary named Wahibre-mery-Neith, who lived during the 26th or 27th Dynasty (5th century BC)...The site was first excavated in 2021, where archaeologists found the largest ancient embalming cache in Egypt, containing 370 pottery storage jars that held materials used in the mummification of Wahibre-mery-Neith...At the bottom of the shaft the researchers found a double sarcophagus situated directly on a filling of sand, but discovered that the tomb had already been robbed...

664 B.C. Egyptian Mummy Finally Gets a Face Scientists at the FAPAB Research Center in Italy have unveiled the forensic facial reconstruction of a young woman who lived in Thebes, Egypt in the early 26th dynasty. The mummy of the young woman arrived in Switzerland as early as 1820 and has been the star among mummies in the country ever since. The forensic reconstruction on the skull was made in multiple phases following the Manchester method, the gold standard of available forensic methods. According to the published paper, once the mummy’s skull was digitized, the team reconstructed the soft tissue...

The Egyptian-German mission has uncovered a collection of decorated blocks and fragments from the King Nactanebo I temple at the Matariya archaeological site in Heliopolis.Aymen Ashmawy, head of the ancient Egyptian antiquities sector and head of the mission from the Egyptian side, explains that the inscriptions mention the regnal years 13 and 14... as well as the dimensions and the materials used in this sanctuary.“Several blocks were unfinished too and no further decoration work seems to have been commissioned after the death of Nectanebo I...” he said, adding that other architectural elements attest to the building projects of Ramesses II...

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....

A farmer living near Ismailia in Egypt has uncovered a 2,600-year-old stela erected by pharaoh Apries, who ruled from about 589 B.C., to 570 B.C., the Egyptian antiquities ministry reported. The farmer found this ancient slab of sandstone while preparing his land for cultivation, about 62 miles (100 kilometers) northeast of Cairo; he then contacted the Tourism and Antiquities Police about the discovery, the ministry statement said. The stela is 91 inches (230 centimeters) long, 41 inches (103 cm) wide and 18 inches (45 cm) thick. At the top of the stela is a carving of a winged sun disk...

How Pharaoh sailed to Karnak New discoveries at Karnak Temple in Luxor have changed the landscape and the history of this great religious complex, writes Nevine El-Aref Clockwise from top: Ptolemaic bath with 16 seats; a stelae bearing the name of the 25th-Dynasty King Taharqa; the obelisk of Tuthmoses I at the eight pylons; restoration work at the Chapel of Osiris Neb-Ankh History has a special scent and taste at Karnak Temple. The emotions it evokes are powerful and timeless. Inside the lofty pylons is amassed an unsurpassed assembly of soaring obelisks, awe-inspiring chapels and hushed sanctuaries reflecting the spectacular...

(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...

National Geographic today released never-before-seen footage from within ancient Egypt's first known fully intact funeral home. In conjunction with Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, a team of archaeologists led by Dr. Ramadan Hussein from Germany's Eberhard Karls University of Tuebingen, uncovered the burial complex, dating back to 600 BC, deep beneath the sands at the Saqqara necropolis less than an hour's drive south of Cairo. The new, four-part series KINGDOM OF THE MUMMIES produced for National Geographic by BBC Studios follows the team as they explore the subterranean chambers and open four sealed, 2,600 year-old sarcophagi to unlock secrets...

Two weeks ago, during a routine excavation work at the mastaba of the Sixth-Dynasty lector-priest Sennedjem, archaeologists from the SCA stumbled upon what is believed to be a cache of mummies of the 26th Dynasty... inside an 11- metre deep burial shaft excavated inside the Sennedjem mastaba. Although the mastaba dates from a much earlier period, the shaft is intrusive... One of the newly-discovered, 2,600- year-old wooden coffins was still sealed... From the finely carved inscription on the coffin, Hawass was able to determine that the mummy belonged to a man named Padi-Heri, the son of Djehuty-Sesh-Nub and the grandson...