Archaeology, features and articles | Educational Science

Nov 22, 2022

Ancient Egyptian mummification was never intended to preserve bodies, new exhibit reveals

It's long been believed that ancient Egyptians used mummification as a way to preserve a body after death. However, an upcoming museum exhibition indicates that was never the case, and instead the elaborate burial technique was actually a way to guide the deceased toward divinity. Researchers from the University of...

Nov 29, 2022

Tomb aligned with winter solstice sunrise excavated in Egypt

Archaeologists have unearthed an unfinished, 3,800-year-old ancient Egyptian tomb with a chapel perfectly aligned with the sunrise on the winter solstice. Archaeologists say that this might be the oldest known tomb in Egypt that is aligned with the winter solstice. The tomb, near modern-day Aswan, was built during Egypt's 12th...

Dec 1, 2022

Gold tongues found in 2,000-year-old mummies in Egypt

Archaeologists in Egypt have uncovered the remains of several mummies with tongues made of gold in an ancient cemetery near Quesna, a city located about 35 miles (56 kilometers) north of Cairo, according to Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. Some of the mummies were buried in wooden coffins with...

Dec 6, 2022

Ancient mummy portraits and rare Isis-Aphrodite idol discovered in Egypt

Archaeologists have discovered ancient mummies buried with stunning, lifelike portraits of the deceased. The mummies were interred in a cemetery at the ancient city of Philadelphia in Egypt, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced on Dec 1. The city of Philadelphia, located about 75 miles (120 kilometers) southwest...

Dec 14, 2022

Ancient Egyptian 'masterpiece' is so realistic, researchers identified the exact bird species it depicts

An ancient Egyptian masterpiece painting of birds flying and perching within a verdant marsh is so detailed, modern researchers can tell exactly which species artisans illustrated more than 3,300 years ago. The painting was discovered about a century ago on the walls of the palace at Amarna, an ancient Egyptian...

Dec 16, 2022

Egyptian ring featuring 'god of fun' discovered in ancient burial

Archaeologists in Egypt have unearthed stunning gold jewelry, including a ring depicting the god of fun, in a burial that's more than 3,300 years old, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced. The burial is located in the northern part of the ancient city of Akhetaten (modern-day Amarna), about...

Dec 26, 2022

10 times ancient Egyptian discoveries awed us in 2022

Ancient Egypt has many secrets to tell, and in 2022, archaeologists made some fascinating findings, including the tomb of a previously unknown queen, a falcon shrine with a cryptic message and a massive tunnel beneath a temple. Here are some of the most amazing discoveries at ancient Egyptian archaeological sites...

Jan 20, 2023

Royal tomb discovered near Luxor dates to time when female pharaoh co-ruled ancient Egypt

Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered a 3,500-year-old royal tomb near Luxor. The tomb was likely constructed at a time when Hatshepsut, a female pharaoh, co-ruled ancient Egypt. Partial inscriptions and ceramic evidence suggest this was constructed during the joint-reign of Thutmose III and Hatshepsut, archaeologists said in a statement. The...

Jan 26, 2023

52-foot-long Book of the Dead papyrus from ancient Egypt discovered at Saqqara

Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered a 52-foot-long (16 meters) papyrus containing sections from the Book of the Dead. The more than 2,000-year-old document was found within a coffin in a tomb south of the Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara. There are many texts from The Book of the Dead,...

Jan 27, 2023

Ancient Roman residences with 'pigeon towers' discovered in Luxor, Egypt

Archaeologists have discovered a residential area in Luxor dating to the time when the Roman Empire ruled Egypt. A team of archaeologists from the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities found a number of residential buildings, along with workshops and pigeon towers (where pigeons could be raised for eating), according...

Jan 31, 2023

Egyptian mummies covered in gold are rare, and we may have just found the oldest

Archaeologists in Egypt have uncovered a series of tombs dating back around 4,300 years at Saqqara, including a sarcophagus holding the oldest known ancient Egyptian mummy that is covered with gold. The record-breaking tomb had a sealed sarcophagus containing the mummy of a man that a hieroglyphic inscription identifies as...

Jan 31, 2023

Who was Nefertiti, the ancient Egyptian queen depicted like a goddess?

Nefertiti was an ancient Egyptian queen consort who was likely King Tut's stepmother and may have ruled as a pharaoh in her own right. She lived during the 18th dynasty during the 14th century B.C., but the years of Nefertiti's birth and death are not certain. She was the wife...

Feb 1, 2023

Elaborate underground embalming workshop discovered at Saqqara

Archaeologists at Saqqara have finally identified the many embalming ingredients used to mummify the dead in ancient Egypt. They also deciphered how those different ingredients — many of which came from distant lands — were used. In 2016, an international team of archaeologists discovered the underground embalming workshop near the...

Feb 5, 2023

What did the ancient Egyptian pyramids look like when they were built?

The Egyptian pyramids erupting from the sands at Giza are a testament to human ingenuity and engineering. Raised to mark the tombs of ancient pharaohs, these great structures have stood for thousands of years. But over the millennia, the pyramids have changed, largely due to construction workers' repurposing of in-demand...

Mar 7, 2023

Newfound ancient Egyptian sphinx statue may depict Roman emperor Claudius, but not everyone agrees

Archaeologists excavating an ancient temple in Egypt have unearthed a statue of a sphinx whose face may depict the Roman emperor Claudius, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said in a statement Monday (March 6). However, scholars not affiliated with the research told Live Science that they cannot be...