Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt is famous for its pyramids, pharaohs and mummies, but archaeologists are still learning about this sophisticated society. The 5,000-year-old kingdom left behind a written record and countless artifacts, allowing archaeologists to learn about its culture, including its elaborate ideas on the afterlife and gods and goddesses, as well as its taxes and trading and farming practices. Here's the latest news on Egyptian archaeology and what it can tell us about the people who lived there.

Related Topics: Archaeology, Dead Sea Scrolls, Mummies

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This stela, dating back about 2,600 years, was found in a farmer's field near the city of Ismailia in Egypt. It contains 15 lines of hieroglyphic writing.

Farmer discovers 2,600-year-old stone slab from Egyptian pharaoh

By Owen Jarus

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.

About 250 tombs have been found cut into the sides of a hill in Egypt's Eastern Desert. They date between roughly 4,200 and 2,100 years ago.

Huge cemetery with at least 250 rock-cut tombs discovered in Egypt

By Owen Jarus

About 250 tombs, some with fancy layouts and hieroglyphics, have been discovered cut into a hill at Al-Hamidiyah cemetery in Egypt.

Researchers took scans of the mummy and found that the remains belonged to a pregnant woman.

First-known pregnant mummy discovered

By Yasemin Saplakoglu

Researchers have discovered the world's first-known pregnant mummy, dating from the first century in Egypt.

The reconstruction of KV 55, thought to be the pharaoh Akhenaten.

King Tut's father revealed in stunning facial reconstruction

By Mindy Weisberger

An astonishingly lifelike facial reconstruction reveals the face of an enigmatic mummy who may have been the biological father of the renowned pharaoh Tutankhamen.

A VR headset provides Jessica Johnson, a doctoral candidate in Egyptology at UC Berkeley, with a tour of a 2,500-year-old Egyptian tomb.

Enter the mysterious ancient Egyptian tomb of 'the Doctor' in this new VR experience

By Mindy Weisberger

An ancient Egyptian tomb, sarcophagus and funerary artifacts could soon be accessible through virtual reality.

Section of the papyrus that deals with swellings of the skin.

Ancient papyrus holds the world’s oldest guide to mummification

By Mindy Weisberger

A newly discovered instruction manual for embalming mummies in ancient Egypt contains the earliest known description of these mysterious techniques.

"Meidum Geese' was found in the Chapel of Itet in the tomb of Nefermaat and Itet.

Ancient Egypt's Mona Lisa? An elaborately drawn extinct goose, of course

By Yasemin Saplakoglu

Nearly five millennia ago, an artist inked an incredibly detailed painting of geese in the tomb of an Egyptian vizier and his wife.

The mummy of Seqenenre Taa II was first discovered in the 1880s. Even then, archaeologists noticed several prominent wounds on the pharaoh's face.

Egyptian pharaoh was executed on the battlefield, mummy reveals

By Stephanie Pappas

Egyptian pharaoh Seqenenre Taa II seems to have been overwhelmed by multiple attackers on the battlefield, perhaps after being captured and bound.

This beautifully decorated coffin (right) doesn't belong to the unusual mud-wrapped mummy (left) that was found inside it.

Never-before-seen 'mud mummy' from Egypt discovered in wrong coffin

By Laura Geggel

An ancient Egyptian mummy was damaged and then wrapped in an unusual mud carapace.

A 13-foot-long (4 meters) copy of chapter 17 of the Book of the Dead was found in the burial shafts. The name of the papyrus's owner Pwkhaef is written on it. The Book of the Dead helped guide the deceased through the afterlife.

13-foot-long 'Book of the Dead' scroll found in burial shaft in Egypt

By Owen Jarus

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.

This Pan hamadryas provided three tissue types: hair, bone and enamel. It's also missing its canines.

Mummified baboons may identify lost land of Punt, ancient Egypt's trading partner

By Stephanie Pappas

Ancient Egyptians got those baboons from somewhere.

The small cigar tin held pieces of cedar that Scottish archaeologists took from the Great Pyramid in the 19th century.

Lost artifact from Great Pyramid was just found in a cigar tin in Scotland

By Mindy Weisberger

After a small piece of wood from the Great Pyramid was donated to a museum in Scotland, it vanished for decades. A curator found it hiding in plain sight.

X-ray diffraction showed the mummy's unerupted adult teeth and a mass of resin inside the skull.

Roman-era Egyptian child mummy scanned with laser-like precision

By Mindy Weisberger

High-energy X-ray scans of an intact Egyptian mummy mapped a detailed glimpse of the bones and objects inside.

A close-up showing one of the mummy filled coffins. The colors are remarkably well preserved despite the passage of over 2,000 years of time.

Mummy count continues to grow at ancient Egypt burial site

By Owen Jarus

The number of mummy-filled coffins found in a series of burial shafts at Saqqara in Egypt keeps growing, archaeologists with the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities reported.

HIeroglyphic writing indicates that many of the people buried in the coffins were priests.

59 priest mummies and statue of unusual god unearthed in Egypt

By Owen Jarus

Archaeologists have now discovered 59 mummy coffins in Saqqara in Egypt. Many of the mummies are likely the remains of priests.

"Meritamun" was inscribed on the mummy's wrappings. And the researchers believe that when she was alive, Meritamun would have stood just under 5 feet (151 centimeters).

'Screaming mummy' may have died of a heart attack, researchers say

By Stephanie Pappas

An Egyptian woman who was mummified with her mouth open in a silent scream probably died of a heart attack, new research finds.

A man called "Abisha the Hyksos" was part of a foreign delegation described in a painting on the tomb of Khnumhotep II (circa 1900 B.C.) This is one of the earliest known uses of the term "Hyksos."

Foreign dynasty's rise to power in ancient Egypt was an inside job

By Mindy Weisberger

Ancient Egypt was once ruled by a dynasty of foreigners known as the Hyksos, but new evidence shows that this takeover wasn't an invasion from a distant land.

The richly decorated sanctuary in the Red Monastery at Sohag in Egypt.

Explore ancient Egyptian queen's tomb and a Coptic monastery with this new 3D virtual tour

By Laura Geggel

These virtual tours will entertain you while you're stuck at home during the pandemic.

A closeup of the papyrus showing the Egyptian jackal-headed god Anubis shooting Kephalas with an arrow. Kephalas is depicted nude with an enlarged penis and scrotum. The arrow Anubis shoots is supposed to make Kephalas lustful for a woman named Taromeway.

Woman seeks man in ancient Egyptian 'erotic binding spell'

By Owen Jarus

An Egyptian papyrus dating to 1,800 years describes a spell conjuring a ghost to play matchmaker between a woman and the man of her dreams.

This individual had a number of grave goods. It appears that the red pigment ochre covered part of the grave when the deceased was laid to rest.

Dozens of ancient Egyptian graves found with rare clay coffins

By Laura Geggel

Archaeologists have found 83 graves filled with the bones and artifacts of ancient Egyptians, not too far from the Mediterranean Sea.