1978: Japanese Researchers Trying to Find How the Pyramids Were Actually Built

In 1978, Japanese researchers conducted several studies with the aim of proving that the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids by the primitive method of construction, which consisted of cutting stones with chisels and stacking them by lifting ropes and other manual means.

With direct funding from Japanese TV, the Japanese decided to go through the experiment and rebuild a new pyramid in Giza through primitive means. The research team began its work, where the two parties agreed that the entire experiment would be transformed into a documentary film for Japanese TV, in agreement with the Egyptian government, provided that The small "experiment" pyramid is removed after it is completed and the area is completely cleaned up and returned to what it was.

The initial planning of the experiment stipulated that a 20-meter-long pyramid would be built using terraces, with each stone weighing 4 tons. Now - and to involve 100 Egyptian workers to implement the experiment.

Despite all the technological progress available at the time of implementing the Japanese experiment in 1978 compared to what was available thousands of years ago when building the Great Pyramid, and despite the brilliant minds that participated in the study and implementation of the experiment from scientists in several fields, the team was exposed to several confusing shocks during the experiment.

In the beginning, the team found that the issue of cutting stones each weighing 4 tons using primitive tools such as chisels and others is very difficult, and requires a huge cost and a very long time, so they only had to reduce the height of the pyramid to be implemented from 20 to 10 meters only, and reduce the weight of the stone From 4 to 1 ton only, and the use of electric saws in the process of cutting stones, which was the first use by them of modern technological means in violation of the main objective of the experiment, which is to prove the ability of primitive tools to build a pyramid the size of the Great Pyramid.

Then the team discovered the failure of all means, the beginning of transporting stones from Tora to the Giza plateau via the Nile, such as the idea of ​​floating on wooden rafts or even boats, so they used the technology for the second time through the use of flat ships that carry the weight of the stones and move them in the waters of the Nile.

When the stones reached the shores near the pyramid, about 50 workers could not move one stone but several centimeters, which means that the experiment could have taken several years only to be able to transport the stones from the Nile River to the place of construction, so they had to extend a railway Small iron carts pass by, each carrying one stone.

After these difficulties as a result of the huge weight of the stones, they naturally expected the difficulty of the next step of lifting the stones and placing them in the allotted place inside the floor of the pyramid, which prompted them to use large cranes and cranes to stack the stones, and even the matter came to them to use a helicopter To set the stones precisely in their places!

Although the team eventually managed to build a 10-meter pyramid in the exact location next to the Giza pyramids, the experiment proved to be a failure by all standards, after the team had to use more than one technological means to complete the construction process.

Which means, by extension, the incorrectness of most of the traditional theories that were said in the construction of the pyramids, which depended in the construction process on the old primitive traditional tools, after practical experience proved the impossibility of that. 

Tuna el-Gebel: Egypt's Largest Animal Necropolis

Among the many archeological treasures of Tuna el-Gebel in Upper Egypt is a large cemetery for sacred animals.

Tuna el-Gebel, a village in the center of Egypt, is known as the necropolis of Hermopolis. The “City of the Dead” is famous for a large cemetery of mummified animals established two millennia ago.

Magdy Shaker, chief archeologist at the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, told Al-Monitor, “The excavations and research in the Tuna el-Gebel area began nearly 100 years ago by German archeologist [Gunther] Roeder and renowned Egyptian archeologist Sami Gabra. Gabra was the first to discover the monuments of Tuna el-Gebel with the support of Cairo University and then-dean of Arabic literature Taha Hussein during excavation works from 1931 to 1954. Later on, a joint mission of the Universities of Cairo and Munich carried out works that led to the discovery of the largest human cemetery in Graeco-Roman Egypt.”

Shaker explained, “The village of Tuna el-Gebel is located to the west of the city of Malawi and west of Hermopolis. It was the capital of the 15th Upper Egyptian Nome, and was originally named ‘Towns’ in the Pharaonic era and ‘Tahnet’ in the Roman era. The two names mean ‘blessing.’”

Shaker added that Tuna el-Gebel features funerary chambers decorated with a mixture of ancient Greek and Egyptian art. “The area is becoming more famous with new discoveries and the villageof Tuna el-Gebel has not yet revealed all of its secrets.” 

Shaker said the animal burial site is believed to be the largest ever to be discovered. “It includes four large catacombs with huge galleries carved in the rock. Ancient Egyptians would bury the mummified remains of sacred ibises and apes inside those galleries.”

He added, “The cemetery is divided into four parts, the most ancient one dating back to the 26th Dynasty. Inside the cemetery, there are two main roads and other smaller passages with large halls on each side where the birds’ owners would be received. At the entrance was a temple with a small stone altar that was used during funerary rituals specific to ibis and baboons.”

Sabah Abdel Razek, director of the Egyptian Museum, told Al-Monitor that the Tuna el-Gebel area offers a historical record of ancient architecture, sarcophagi, statues of deities and human figurines, pottery, stone and glass vessels, jewelry, mummies, papyri, lamps, surgical instruments, a water clock and other artifacts. “All these show the richness and diversity of the site" and the archeological research done there makes it "one of the major archeological sites in Egypt,” she said.

Abdel Razek pointed out that the cemetery for sacred animals consists of catacombs and lower passages that extend for a distance of more than 10 kilometers (six miles). She said, “Thousands of mummified ibises and baboons, symbolic of the god Thoth, were found in it. The site also includes the ruins of the great Thoth temple and the dwellings that were inhabited by the priests responsible for the funeral and ritual service in this temple. Another temple was dedicated to the baboon god near the entrance to the cemetery of sacred animals.”

Abdel Razek explained, “Animals in ancient Egypt were revered as tribal deities, and [their burial] was an important religious ritual during that historical era. Perhaps one of the most distinctive characteristics of the Egyptian deities were their depiction with the heads of birds and other animals." Around 800 BC and thereafter, she said, "many sacred animals were mummified and buried in cemeteries dedicated to them in sacred places in different parts of the country.”

She continued, “In certain cases a specific animal, such as the calf Apis, which was sanctified by the god Ptah, was considered sacred. Sometimes the sanctified animals included all other members of a species. For example, the baboon and the ibis were two animals sacred to the god Thoth, while cats were the sacred animal of the god Bastet.”

Salima Ikram, a professor of archeology at the American University in Cairo, explained, “There are four different types of animal mummies. The first type were pampered animals that were buried with their owners, and the second were mummified animals that were placed whole or in pieces in the cemetery as a symbolic feeding of the deceased in eternal life. The third were sacred animals, and the fourth were animals offered as sacrifices.”

Ikram told Al-Monitor, “The animals were mummified in the same way as human mummies, with modifications. Mummification mainly relies on drying the body to prevent the spread of bacteria that lead to mold. Ancient Egyptians usually emptied the body by making an opening in its left side or along its stomach. To mummify humans, the guts were also mummified after they were removed from the body and were placed in special containers called canopic pots. Only birds’ guts were returned to the body after drying them in Natron salt. The drying process usually took 40 days and the complete mummification process took 70. This period probably varied in the case of smaller animals. And after drying, the animal was rubbed with different oils to restore softness to its limbs before wrapping it in linen and preparing it for burial.”

Ikram added, “Different mummies of animals revealed different aspects of the ancient Egyptian civilization and environment. The animal wealth was much more varied and wider in ancient Egypt compared to now. For instance, the cattle egret species that was sanctified in ancient Egypt and was quite prolific at the time is now extinct, just like other types of deer and raptors.”

Medicine in Ancient Egypt

Of all the branches of science pursued in ancient Egypt, none achieved such popularity as medicine as it was based on an integrated scientific methodology and a system of medical schools. Under this system, the first of its kind in human history, the first school of medicine dated back to the first Dynasty followed by other reputed schools such as Per Bastet in the New Kingdom and at Abydos and Sais in the late period.

Medical Training
Physicians learnt their profession at schools called Houses of Life. They were no doubt given some practical experience, but chiefly they had to study what was already written. They used to administer their treatments in accordance with a written law composed by earlier famous physicians. Medical texts were used not only as a source of professional knowledge but also as a safeguard against possible failure.

Categories of Physicians
Priests were the first to practice medicine and some doctors belonged to the priesthood and others were counted among the scribes, as shown in such titles as “chief doctor and scribe of the word of God”.
Many enjoyed ecclesiastical as well as lay titles. Like other professions, doctors had their own hierarchy. Besides ordinary doctors there were senior doctors, inspectors, overseers and masters of physicians and the Chief of Physicians of the South and the North, a kind of minister of health. Royal and palace doctors had special hierarchy and titles especially important if treating a Pharaoh!

There was even a degree of specialization quite remarkable for the time. Each physician used to treat one disease, and no more. There were plenty of physicians everywhere. Some were eye-doctors, some dealt with the head, others with teeth or the abdomen, and some with hidden maladies. Only members of the high strata of society were allowed to learn and practice this honourable profession. Moreover, a physician had to learn the science of drugs especially botany. Ancient Egyptians held physicians in so much high esteem that they raised Imhotep, the great physician (2700 BC) after his death to a sacred status as the god of medicine.

Historical Glimpse
According to the ancient historian Biliny, Egyptians used to examine bodies of the dead to know the cause of death. This should not look strange for such people, traditionally accustomed, as they were, to an intense pursuit of knowledge. According to the American historian Breasted, an authority on ancient Egyptian history, ancient Egyptian surgeons were highly skilled as shown in inscriptions. Clean wounds were treated by stitching and adhesive bandages. Other wounds were treated by trimming wounded edges and pulling them together and treating them with honey and astringent herbs.

Moreover, fractures were successfully treated with splints. They used many methods to diagnose pregnancy and to know the gender of the baby before birth. They were the first to use Arabian gum in birth control. They were the first to use a delivery stool and special attention was paid to paediatrics and the patient’s nutrition. It also appears that for some people, at least, there was a system of free medical aid. Inscriptions and hieroglyphs on the walls of the temple of Kom Ombo show medical instruments such as forceps and clamps still used to aid birthing today.

Ancient Egyptian chemists equally excelled in preparing and extracting drugs from mineral, botanical and animal substances. However ancient Egyptian medicine was mainly based on herbs especially vegetables and other foods. Drugs were used in pills and ointment form and drops. Dressings and deodorant preparations were also used. This is clearly shown in the Ebers papyrus which includes names of medical herbs of great medical benefit.

Diagnosis Methods
It is both interesting and surprising to know that the diagnosis methods currently used in the medical profession are no much different than those used by ancient Egyptian physicians several centuries ago.
According to the Berlin Papyrus No. 154, an ancient report reads as follows:
“The patient suffers a great epigastric pain. He feels a heavy, hot and inflamed body. He complains of being unable to tolerate his clothes and feels they do not warm him. He feels thirsty during the night. His saliva has the taste of unripe fruits. His muscles pain him as if he walked for a long distance”.

Conception of Human Body
The Egyptians conception of the human body, then, was as a network of interconnecting channels and was likened to the branches of the Nile and the artificial canals seen around them. Notions of physiology and disease were all focussed in the concept of the heart as the centre of the person. The heart was one’s partner: it spoke to a person in his or her solitude. It was at the same time the engine of all the bodily functions, not just for circulation and of course modern science has revealed this since. From the heart proceeded channels (metu) linking all parts of the body together.

Medical instruments on display at Coptic Museum in Cairo

These channels, the Egyptians believed, conveyed not only the blood, but also air (reaching the heart from the nose, they thought), tears, saliva, mucus, sperm, urine, nutriment and faeces, as well as harmful substances conceived to be the agents of pain and illness. The learning and practises of medicine from the Ancient Egyptian times has passed through the generations and provided a platform for continued learning and medicinal discoveries right through to today.

The story of King Tutankhamun’s Dagger forged from a Meteorite just got a whole lot more interesting!

Researchers have uncovered new details about the origin of King Tut's iron dagger forged from a meteorite.

Most iron objects from this era are heavily corroded, but the dry conditions in Tutankhamun’s tomb kept the dagger rust-free. Credit: Daniela Comelli.

King Tutankhamun, or King Tut for short, became ruler of Ancient Egypt more than 3,300 years ago when he was just nine years old. He died just a decade later, ending a rather unmemorable rule. In fact, the only remarkable thing about the Boy King is his death itself — specifically his burial. After years of excavation, British archaeologists found King Tut’s tomb in 1922, and nothing could have prepared them for the “wonderful things” they found there.

Tutankhamun’s tomb had been filled with precious objects to aid the Pharaoh on his journey into the afterlife. These included numerous exquisite artifacts such a crook and flail (the fundamental symbols of royal power in Ancient Egypt) made of gold and colored glass, elaborate pieces of jewelry, musical instruments, and even board games. This sensational trove of artifacts instantly turned King Tut into the most famous pharaoh on the planet.

Among these unprecedented riches, archaeologists also uncovered two beautiful daggers: one made almost entirely of gold, the other from iron with a hilt and sheath made of gold. While the gold blade is fitting for a man of King Tut’s status, the dagger made of iron seems rather perplexing at first glance since this was still the Bronze Age, a time when craftsmen had yet to perfect their metallurgical methods required to work with iron ore’s high melting point (over 1,500° C or 2,700 ° F).

But later investigations performed with modern analytical tools showed that the iron dagger was actually forged from a meteorite rather than from inaccessible iron ore deposits. This makes sense, considering the historical context. In 2017, Albert Jambon from the Institut de minéralogie, de physique des matériaux et de cosmochimie in France showed that all iron used during the Bronze Age was meteoric. Space artifacts, as it turns out, aren’t as rare as we might think.

In other words, the Boy King’s blade was literally extraterrestrial — the most fitting final parting gift for a royalty who was thought to descend from divinity.

The length of the dagger is ~35.2 cm (~21.8 cm for the blade and ~13.4 cm for the hilt) and that of the sheath is ~22.5 cm.

In 2016, researchers from the Polytechnic University of Milan, in Italy, confirmed Tut’s dagger was truly made of a meteorite, which contained a ratio of nickel and cobalt that matched well with the composition of 11 iron-bearing meteorites analyzed in the same way. However, while this study answered what the original meteorite must have looked like, it didn’t tell us where it came from.

A 70-lb. iron meteorite found in the Arizona desert was bought at an online auction for $237,500. (Image credit: Christie's)

To better understand the origin of King Tut’s dagger, researchers from the Chiba Institute of Technology in Japan conducted a non-invasive chemical analysis of the premised artifact by shining X-rays onto it. The analysis revealed elements like iron, nickel, manganese, and cobalt, with sulfur, chlorine, calcium, and zinc found in greater abundance in the blackened spots on the blade, Gizmodo reported.

A similar elemental composition was reported by previous studies, but this time around the researchers also reported a cross-hatched texture, known as a Widmanstätten pattern, on both sides of the dagger. The Widmanstätten pattern has a chemical structure typical of an octahedrite, the largest and most common group of iron meteorites. Most originate from the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter.

To investigate if their hunch was correct, the Japanese researchers compared the results of the chemical analysis with the pattern on Shirihagi, a 22-kg octahedrite that was found in Japan in 1890, whose iron was used to forge a number of premium katanas acquired by the Taisho Emperor. Apparently, weapons made from meteorites were in great demand by royalty the world over.

The Widmanstätten pattern also hints at how the meteorite was processed by the ancient Egyptians. The cross-hatched texture, along with the presence of iron sulfide, hints that the dagger was forged at low heat, likely under 950 °C (1,742° F).

Most intriguing, the extraterrestrial dagger wasn’t forged specifically for King Tut or his burial. After some digging around, the Japanese researchers found mentions of an iron dagger in a gold sheath that was gifted to Pharaoh Amenhotep III, Tutankhamun’s grandfather, by the king of Mitanni, an ancient kingdom in the region of Anatolia, with the occasion of the pharaoh’s wedding. Since iron tools were exceedingly rare during the Bronze Age, let alone a dagger meant for a pharaoh, there’s a good chance Tut’s meteorite dagger was passed down to him as a family heirloom.

King Tut’s dagger is now on display at the Egyptian Museum of Cairo.

The findings were reported in the journal Meteoritics and Planetary Science.

Source: zmescience

A 28-week-old Fetus was kept inside an Egyptian Mummy for about 2,000 years!

The fetus was discovered during a scan by researchers led by the University of Warsaw in April 2021. The finding suggests that there may be other mummies in museums that are currently "hiding" unidentified fetuses.

An embryo found in the belly of an Egyptian mummy last year was preserved for more than 2,000 years due to the acidification (lowering of the pH) of the woman's body as it disintegrated. Without oxygen entering the body, the chemical reactions that take place produce acidic compounds, such as formic acid. "The pH of the blood in the corpses, including the contents of the uterus, drops significantly, it becomes more acidic," the researchers wrote.

This is the conclusion of a team of researchers from the University of Warsaw, who discovered the presence of the remains of the unborn child using a combination of computed tomography and X-ray in April last year.

The mummy of the Mysterious Lady. [Credit: Warsaw Mummy Project]

Researchers said that the acidification process is more serious in mummies because sodium, a natural salt that accumulates in and around the body during the mummification process, creates a barrier that traps acid in certain places, such as the uterus. "The end result is an almost hermetically sealed uterus that contains the fetus," the researchers wrote.

The acidic conditions inside the mummy's uterus would not be strong enough to disintegrate the fully formed human bones. However, they could have disintegrated the fetal bones because "the [bone] metallization is very weak during the first two trimesters of pregnancy and accelerates later," the researchers wrote. However, the remaining soft tissues that make up the fetus would have remained largely intact.

The fetus remained in the untouched uterus. In the photo: two volumetric yields of the fetus from the CT data. The labels on the right represent the head (A), the right hand (B), the left hand (C), and the right foot (D). [Credit: Warsaw Mummy Project]

The mummy is believed to be the first embryonic specimen known to contain an embryo and was removed from Egypt by Jan Wężyk-Rudzki, who donated the specimen to the University of Warsaw in December 1826.

A great deal of uncertainty surrounds the adult mummy - dubbed the "Mysterious Lady" - with experts still unsure of who she was and what exactly caused her death at the age of 20 in the 1st century BC.

Even the location of her tomb has disappeared from history, with some records showing that it was found in the "Royal Tombs of Thebes" and others in the Pyramid of Giza.

A great deal of uncertainty surrounds the mummy of the "Mysterious Lady" - with experts not yet sure who she was and what exactly caused her death at the age of 20 in the 1st century BC. In the photo: computed tomography of the pelvic area of ​​the "Mysterious Lady". The head of the fetus is marked as "A", while his hand is marked "B". [Credit: Warsaw Mummy Project]

Egypt: King Thutmose II Huge Statue in Luxor to be Inaugurated soon after Restoration

The statue of King Thutmose II, sitting on the southern side of the Karnak Temple, was undergoing restoration work, said Director of Karnak Temples Salah al-Masikh.

The restored statue will be inaugurated within a few weeks to tourists and the public, he added.

Masikh, who is supervising the project to restore the statue of King Thutmose II, added that work on the restoration of the statue began in 2021 and is expected to be finalized soon. The statue is the largest of King Thutmose II in the southern facade of Karnak.

Masikh said that the statue is one of three statues for the same king around Egypt, one in the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square, the second in Aswan, and the third being restored at Karnak,  The statue is about 11 meters high and weighs 65 tons. It is a seated statue of the king, with more than 75 pieces destroyed before starting restoration, Masikh added.

The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced the start of restoration work on the statue of King Thutmose II, one of the kings of ancient Egypt, after it was left in ruins in the Karnak Temple in Luxor Governorate for more than a thousand years.

Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Mostafa Waziry confirmed that work is currently underway on a new statue belonging to King Thutmose II in the Karnak temples in front of the eighth pylon in the temple.

He stressed that Egyptian archaeologists working on the project were in a challenge to restore the great statues of many pharaonic kings in the temples of Karnak and Luxor after a careful study of all the statues.

Egypt digitally ‘unwraps’ mummy of Pharaoh Amenhotep I

Researchers unearth new mummification techniques used for Pharaoh Amenhotep I whose rule dates back to the 1500s BC.

A 3D reconstruction of Amenhotep I’s head, done using CT [Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities/Handout via AFP]

Egypt has digitally “unwrapped” the mummy of famed Pharaoh Amenhotep I, revealing its secrets for the first time since it was discovered in 1881 without disturbing his funerary mask.

Thanks to the advanced digital 3D imagery, researchers unearthed new mummification techniques used for the pharaoh, who ruled from 1525 to 1504 BC.

The research was led by Sahar Saleem, a professor of radiology at Cairo University, and renowned Egyptologist Zahi Hawass, a former antiquities minister, the tourism and antiquities ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Saleem and Hawass used advanced X-ray technology, CT [computed tomography] scanning, as well as advanced computer software programs to digitally unwrap the mummy of Amenhotep I in a safe non-invasive method without the need to touch the mummy,” it added.

“The Egyptian study revealed for the first time the face of King Amenhotep I, his age, health condition, in addition to many secrets about the mummy’s unique mummification and reburial.”

Analysis showed Amenhotep I was the first pharaoh to be mummified with arms crossed and the last not to have had his brain removed from the skull.

The tomography scan also revealed that the pharaoh, who conducted several military campaigns during his 21-year rule, had died at the age of 35, apparently of injury or illness.

The mummy, discovered in Luxor, southern Egypt, is the only one not to have had its tight bands unrolled by archaeologists, in order to preserve the mask and garlands of flowers that surround it like hair.

SOURCE: AFP

City of Kerma: Center of the Nubian 'Kerma Culture'

Kerma was located in present-day Sudan at least 5500 years ago. It is one of the largest archaeological sites in ancient Nubia. Around 3000 BC, a peculiar culture began around Kerma. It was a large urban center that was built around a large adobe temple known as the Western Deffufa.

Model of the city of Kerma c. 2000 BC, National Museum of Sudan

By 1700 BC, Kerma had a population of at least 10,000 people. Different to those of ancient Egypt in theme and composition, Kerma's artefacts are characterized by extensive amounts of blue faience, which the Kermans developed techniques to work with independently of Egypt, and by their work with glazed quartzite and architectural inlays.

The ceremonial palace A, © B.-N. Chagny. Swiss-French-Sudanese mission of Kerma-Doukki Gel

Influence from Egypt may be observed in numerous burials, especially with regards to material evidence such as pottery and grave goods. Kerma contains a cemetery with over 30,000 graves. The cemetery shows a general pattern of larger graves ringed by smaller ones, suggesting social stratification. The site includes at its southern boundary burial mounds, with four extending upwards of 90 metres (300 feet) in diameter. These are believed to be the graves of the city's final kings, some of which contain motifs and artwork reflecting Egyptian deities such as Horus. Artifacts such as scarab seals and amulets are prolific, indicating extensive trade with ancient Egypt as well as an exchange of cultural ideas. After the sacking of Kerma, the cemetery was used to host the kings of the 25th or "Napatan" dynasty of the Kingdom of Kush from Upper (Southern) Nubia.

Tumulus from Kerma c. 2450 BC, National Museum of Sudan

The Kerma culture or Kerma kingdom was the early civilization centered in Kerma. It flourished from around 2500 BC to 1500 BC. The Kerma culture was based in the southern part of Nubia, or "Upper Nubia", and later extended its reach northward into Lower Nubia and the border of Egypt. The polity seems to have been one of a number of Nile Valley states during the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. In the Kingdom of Kerma's latest phase, lasting from about 1700–1500 BC, it absorbed the Sudanese kingdom of Sai and became a sizable, populous empire rivaling Egypt. Around 1500 BC, it was absorbed into the New Kingdom of Egypt, but rebellions continued for centuries. By the eleventh century BC, the more-Egyptianized Kingdom of Kush emerged, possibly from Kerma, and regained the region's independence from Egypt.

The linguistic affiliation of the Kerma culture is currently unknown, and membership to both the Nilo-Saharan and Afro-Asiatic language families has been proposed.

Daggers of bone and copper, 1750-1450 BC, Kerma, British Museum

Kerma was evidently a sizable political entity - Egyptian records speak of its rich and populous agricultural regions. Unlike Egypt, Kerma seems to have been highly centralized. It controlled the 1st to 4th Cataracts, which meant its domain was as extensive as ancient Egypt.

The Western Deffufa

Numerous village communities scattered alongside fields of crops made up the bulk of the realm, but there also seems to have been districts where pastoralism (goat, sheep and cattle) and gold processing were important industries. Certain Kerma towns served to centralize agricultural products and direct trade. Analysis of the skulls of thousands of cattle interred in royal Kerma tombs suggest that stock were sometimes brought vast distances, from far districts, presumably as a type of tribute from rural communities on the death of Kerma's monarchs. This parallels the importance of cattle as royal property in other parts of Africa at later times.

Only the centres of Kerma and Sai island seem to have had contained sizable urban populations.

Soknopaiou Nesos: A Mysterious Ancient City in the Desert of Fayum

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BY DIMOSTHENIS VASILOUDIS

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Exploring the Mysteries of Soknopaiou Nesos: An Ancient Oasis Enigma

In the heart of the Egyptian desert, nestled just a few kilometers north of the enchanting Lake Qarun, lies the enigmatic ancient settlement of Soknopaiou Nesos. The name itself carries a sense of mystique, with roots in both ancient Greek and Egyptian mythology. Translated as "the island of Soknopaios," it harks back to a time when gods and mortals coexisted in harmony.

Unraveling the Past

Soknopaiou Nesos, also known as Dimeh es-Seba in Arabic, possibly meaning "Dimeh of the Lions," was not merely a settlement; it was a religious epicenter. At its heart stood a magnificent temple dedicated to Soknopaios, an oracular deity taking the form of a crocodile with a falcon's head. This unique god was a local variation of Sobek, the principal deity of the Faiyum region.

The temenos walls from South East

According to historical evidence, the ambitious land reclamation project that the early Ptolemies spearheaded resulted in the establishment of Soknopaiou Nesos during the third century BCE. However, its fate took a different turn in the mid-3rd century CE, when it was seemingly abandoned. Yet, archaeological revelations tell a different tale. Recent findings hint at a late resurgence of activity within the town, particularly within the precincts of the main temple, spanning from the 4th to the 5th centuries and reaching into the Byzantine era.

A Walk Through the Ages

A grand paved dromos, a ceremonial road that stretched an impressive 400 meters, crisscrosses the archaeological layout of Soknopaiou Nesos to create an oval-shaped picture. This monumental pathway connected the southern entrance of the temple with a grand staircase, effectively dividing the town into an eastern and western quarter. Along its length, statues of lions and possibly two kiosks once stood, bearing witness to the splendid processions that graced this thoroughfare during more than 150 days of annual festivities. As the settlement expanded during the Roman period, the dromos extended southward, leaving behind an enduring legacy of ancient grandeur.

the Hellenistic dromos leading to the temple area (courtesy of Soknopaiou Nesos Project, University of Salento, Italy, photo by B. Bazzani)

The Heart of the Mystery

The most striking archaeological feature is undoubtedly the colossal light-grey mud-brick temenos in the north-western corner. Here, walls reach staggering heights of up to 15 meters, forming an irregular rectangular plan. Inside this enclosure, several structures, constructed predominantly from mud bricks and occasionally stone masonry, remain discernible.

General plan of the city

At the heart of this temenos lies the primary temple, housing not only Soknopaios but also the synnaoi theoi, including Isis Nepherses and Soknopiais. This temple, comprising two interconnected sanctuaries aligned with the dromos, stood as a religious focal point. The southern sanctuary, built with brown limestone and mud bricks, is remarkably well-preserved and believed to be the earliest temple, dating back to the Hellenistic period. In contrast, the northern sanctuary, constructed with regular yellow limestone blocks, likely dates to the late Ptolemaic or early Roman period, eventually becoming the sanctuary for divine worship.

Legacy of Ages

Soknopaiou Nesos holds even more surprises within its ancient embrace. A monumental contra-temple, initially constructed in the 1st century CE and later refurbished in the 2nd century, adds a layer of intrigue. An architectural marvel, a 1:20 scale model of the contratemple, was discovered within its confines.

The temple area and houses in 2014 (courtesy of Soknopaiou Nesos Project, University of Salento, Italy, photo by B. Bazzani)

Beyond the temenos, numerous mud-brick structures, including priests' residences, workshops, administrative buildings, small temples, and chapels, offer a glimpse into the daily life and rituals of the inhabitants. Moreover, scattered outside the temenos to the north, east, and west, more buildings constructed from mud bricks and local stones bear witness to a complex and vibrant ancient community.

Soknopaiou Nesos from Assasin’s Creed Origins

In Conclusion

Soknopaiou Nesos, with its rich history and intriguing archaeological remains, stands as a testament to the enduring allure of the past. It beckons to us from across the ages, inviting historians and archaeologists alike to continue their quest for answers within its enigmatic embrace. As we delve deeper into its mysteries, we gain a greater understanding of the ancient world, its beliefs, and its connection to the gods who once watched over this desert oasis.

References:

• Soknopaiou Nesos Project, University of Salento, Italy

• B. Bazzani, Photo Archives

• Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities

The Process of the Egyptian Language and its Writing Systems (Video)

Follow the history of the Egyptian Language in this video created by Costas Melas, from the 4rth millennium until today. Archaic Egyptian, Old Egyptian, Middle Egyptian, Late Egyptian, Demotic, Coptic, Writing Systea, Hieroglyphic, Hieratic, Demotic and Coptic.

Djoser Pyramid Re-Opens to Public After 14 Years of Renovation Work

According to the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, Egypt’s first pyramid and the first stone pyramid in the world – belonging to the dynasty 3 king Djoser – has reopened to the public following 14 years of renovation work.

People enter the Pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara outside Cairo.

Oliver Weiken/Picture Alliance / Getty

The opening of the pyramid, a beloved and popular tourist site around 35 km from Cairo, was attended by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and Khaled El Enany, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities.

Djoser pyramid’s renovation work cost around US$ 6.6 million (almost 103 million EGP) but many experts and Egyptologists agree that it was much needed as the structure had been deteriorating over the years, namely its facades, due to the harsh climate.

Tourists take pictures at the burial chamber and sarcophagus of King Djoser inside the standing step pyramid of Saqqara, south of Cairo, Egypt March 5, 2020.

Mohamed Abd El Ghany / Reuters

However, it was the pyramid’s interior which was considered in the worst state, having born the brunt of the destructive 1992 earthquake in Egypt.

Accordingly, the restoration work oversaw internal and external restoration, with special focus given to clearing the pathway inside the 4,600-year-old pyramid as well as restoring the stone sarcophagus in which the ancient ruler would have been buried in.

Top view of the burial chamber and sarcophagus of King Djoser inside the standing step pyramid of Saqqara, south of Cairo, Egypt March 5, 2020.

Mohamed Abd El Ghany / Reuters

Prior to the pyramid of Djoser, Egyptian rulers were interred in above ground funerary structures which were usually rectangular; they were called ‘mastabas’ and they were located above the burial pit. Thus, this structure, often likened to a ‘stairway of to heaven’, is considered an architectural innovation and stepping stone which eventually lead to the creation of the ‘true’ triangular pyramids which can be witnessed in Saqqara and at the Giza plateau.

Currently, the pyramid can be visited with prices set at 100 EGP (US$ 6.39) for foreigners and 50 (US$ 3.20) for foreign students. For Egyptians and Arab tourists, the tickets are 40 EGP (US$ 2.56) and 20 (US$ 1.28) for students.

The monument, which was designed by famed and deified architect Imhotep in ancient Egypt, is registered in the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1979.

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The Scientific Explanation of the 'Pharaoh's Curse'

100-year-old folklore and pop culture have perpetuated the myth that opening a mummy's tomb leads to certain death.

Movie mummies are known for two things: fabulous riches and a nasty curse that brings treasure hunters to a bad end. But Hollywood didn't invent the curse concept.

The "mummy's curse" first enjoyed worldwide acclaim after the 1922 discovery of King Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor, Egypt.

When Howard Carter opened a small hole to peer inside the tomb at treasures hidden for 3,000 years, he also unleashed a global passion for ancient Egypt.

Tut's glittering treasures made great headlines—especially following the opening of the burial chamber on February 16, 1923—and so did sensationalistic accounts of the subsequent death of expedition sponsor Lord Carnarvon.

In reality, Carnarvon died of blood poisoning, and only six of the 26 people present when the tomb was opened died within a decade. Carter, surely any curse's prime target, lived until 1939, almost 20 years after the tomb's opening.

But while the pharaoh's curse may lack bite, it hasn't lost the ability to fascinate audiences—which may be how it originated in the first place.

Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon at the door of the burial chamber. Photo by Harry Burton (1879-1940)

Birth of the Curse

The late Egyptologist Dominic Montserrat conducted a comprehensive search and concluded that the concept began with a strange "striptease" in 19th-century London.

"My work shows quite clearly that the mummy's curse concept predates Carnarvon's Tutankhamen discovery and his death by a hundred years," Montserrat told the Independent (U.K.) in an interview some years before his own death.

Montserrat believed that a lively stage show in which real Egyptian mummies were unwrapped inspired first one writer, and subsequently several others, to pen tales of mummy revenge.

The thread was even picked up by Little Women author Louisa May Alcott in her nearly unknown volume Lost in a Pyramid; or, The Mummy's Curse.

"My research has not only confirmed that there is, of course, no ancient Egyptian origin of the mummy's curse concept, but, more importantly, it also reveals that it didn't originate in the 1923 press publicity about the discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb either," Montserrat stressed to the Independent.

But Salima Ikram, an Egyptologist at the American University in Cairo and a National Geographic Society grantee, believes the curse concept did exist in ancient Egypt as part of a primitive security system.

She notes that some mastaba (early non-pyramid tomb) walls in Giza and Saqqara were actually inscribed with "curses" meant to terrify those who would desecrate or rob the royal resting place.

"They tend to threaten desecrators with divine retribution by the council of the gods," Ikram said. "Or a death by crocodiles, or lions, or scorpions, or snakes."

Tomb Toxin Threat?

In recent years, some have suggested that the pharaoh's curse was biological in nature.

Could sealed tombs house pathogens that can be dangerous or even deadly to those who open them after thousands of years—especially people like Lord Carnarvon with weakened immune systems?

The mausoleums house not only the dead bodies of humans and animals but foods to provision them for the afterlife.

Lab studies have shown some ancient mummies carried mold, including Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus flavus, which can cause congestion or bleeding in the lungs. Lung-assaulting bacteria such as Pseudomonas and Staphylococcus may also grow on tomb walls.

These substances may make tombs sound dangerous, but scientists seem to agree that they are not.

F. DeWolfe Miller, professor of epidemiology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, concurs with Howard Carter's original opinion: Given the local conditions, Lord Carnarvon was probably safer inside Tut's tomb than outside.

"Upper Egypt in the 1920s was hardly what you'd call sanitary," Miller said. "The idea that an underground tomb, after 3,000 years, would have some kind of bizarre microorganism in it that's going to kill somebody six weeks later and make it look exactly like [blood poisoning] is very hard to believe."

In fact, Miller said, he knows of no archaeologist—or a single tourist, for that matter—who has experienced any afflictions caused by tomb toxins.

But like the movie mummies who invoke the malediction, the legend of the mummy's curse seems destined never to die.

BY BRIAN HANDWERK, National Geographic

New Scans of the Great Pyramid Confirm Major Discovery Inside

New scans revealed unprecedented details about the internal structure of the Great Pyramid of Giza. The so-called Big Void inside the Pyramid is now measured at 40 meters in length. Its contents remain a profound mystery. 

Two years ago, a group of scientists from around the world used revolutionary technology to study the Great Pyramid of Giza in unprecedented detail. Experts were hoping to discover new details that may lead to our better understanding of how the pyramid was built and its purpose. The group of scientists scanned the pyramid looking for previously unknown chambers.

Although we have still not discovered what tools and technologies its ancient builders used, we have found that the pyramid is far more mysterious than we’ve ever imagined, hidden within its chambers and rooms that we thought never existed.

Two years a paper published in Nature announced that a massive void was discovered within the Great Pyramid of Giza, just above the famous Grand Gallery. Measuring at least 30 meters / 100ft. in length, this discovery constituted the first major discovery made at the Great Pyramid of Giza since the 19th century.

The Scan Pyramid project began in October of 2015. The project has seen experts from France, Japan, and Egypt participate in one of the largest studies of the pyramid ever attempted.

ScanPyramids, as the project is called, is a cross-disciplinary multinational archeological mission that uses state-of-the-art, non-destructive methods to scan various monuments for hidden cavities, chambers, or structures. This is achieved by using infra-red thermography and muons tomography.

Muon tomography essentially uses cosmic ray muons to produce three-dimensional images of volumes using information stored in the Coulomb scattering of the muons. Muons can penetrate much more deeply than x-rays, reason why experts use muon tomography to image through much thicker material than x-ray based tomography.

In other words, muon radiography will help detect differences in density inside the Pyramid providing experts with an internal image of the ancient monument.

Scan Pyramids: Confirming a major discovery

Two years after the historic discovery made by ScanPyramids, researchers have now revealed a new video announcing that the large void within the Great Pyramid of Giza has been confirmed by a series of new scans taken from different points inside the pyramid, including scans made from the so-called relieving chambers that are located just above the so-called King’s Chamber.

Three different methods of muography were used, each independent of the other, and each was corroborated by in-depth computer simulations.

First, Nagoya University used plates containing a chemical film sensitive to muons. Another Japanese team from the KEK Institute transported and reassembled a very sophisticated device–piece by piece–inside the Queen’s Chamber; it was an electronic instrument that uses different technologies to detect the muons.

The third group of researchers from France installed equipment outside of the pyramid. They installed “telescopes” fitted with gas detectors and pointed them towards the pyramid.

In 2016, the devices from the ScanPyramids project revealed the existence of a cavity situated behind the chevrons of the north face, but without being able to determine its exact architectural shape.

A screengrab of the confirmed discovery of the Great Pyramid’s corridor. Image Credit: HIP Institute/ ScanPyramids / Vimeo.

In 2017, 2018, and 2019, new plates were placed on the descending corridors and the niches of the so-called Al-Mamun tunnel. All of the scans reconfirmed the existence of the cavity, located between 17 and 23 meters above ground level. This corridor is at least 5 meters long. It is horizontal and probably slopes upwards. Where it leads remains a mystery.

However, experts were able to rule out the theory of the corridor leading down, parallel to the descending corridor.

The new video also offers fresh data confirming the results first published in 2017. Perhaps the greatest discovery was the existence of the so-called void.

The Mysterious void is located just above the Grand Gallery, no more than 15 meters above it. Its minimum length has been reestimated thanks to the new scans to 40 meters in one single section. Its slope, however, remains debatable.

The new scans saw experts install new devices inside the Grand Gallery to observe the “Big Void” from several angles. Nagoya University placed several devices along the Grand Gallery. Other devices were installed in the King’s Chamber and the relieving chambers above it.

A cross-section of the Great Pyramid of Giza showing the location of the Big Void. Image Credit: HIP Institute/ ScanPyramids / Vimeo.

Unsurprisingly, the Big Void was again observed from these new measuring points, confirming and refining the results published in 2017.

The devices placed above the King’s Chamber inside the Pyramid revealed new clues about the structure. The researchers have revealed that their latest scans revealed no anomalies present between the arches, the relieving chamber, and the pyramid’s summit.

In 2018, the ScanPyramids scientists moved their devices into the unfinished underground chamber of the Great Pyramid to understand the parts of the pyramid located above the underground chamber. This new muon data capture is ongoing, and experts hope to reveal new clues about the pyramid.

The ScanPyramid project will continue, and new data will most likely be revealed later in 2021.

By Ivan Petrievic, Curiosmos

The 'Boundary Stelae of Akhenaten': Meaning of Pharaoh's Texts and his Message for the 'Cult of Aten'

The 'Boundary Stelae of Akhenaten' that oversees his city, ancient Amarna: What is the meaning of Pharaoh's Texts and What kind of message did he left for the 'Cult of Aten'?

The Boundary Stelae of Akhenaten are a group of royal monuments in Upper Egypt. They are carved into the cliffs surrounding the area of Akhetaten, or the Horizon of Aten, which demarcates the limits of the site. The Pharaoh Akhenaten commissioned the construction of Akhetaten in year five of his reign during the New Kingdom. It served as a sacred space for the god Aten in an uninhabited location roughly halfway between Memphis and Thebes at today's Tell El-Amarna. The boundary stelae include the foundation decree of Akhetaten along with later additions to the text, which delineate the boundaries and describe the purpose of the site and its founding by the Pharaoh. Total of sixteen stelae have been discovered around the area. According to Barry Kemp, the Pharaoh Akhenaten did not “conceive of Akhetaten as a city, but as a tract of sacred land”.

Purpose of the Stelae

Sixteen boundary stelae have so far been discovered at Tell El-Amarna. The boundary stelae of Akhenaten were carved in locations around the city of Akhetaten that was built by the pharaoh Akhenaten to his god Aten. Their purpose is to demarcate the boundaries of the holy site of Aten, but also to inform people about the intentions of the pharaoh and the nature of the site as a holy place for Aten. The boundary stelae are a major source of information about the religious reforms of Akhenaten, as they include the full titulary of the god Aten and other clues about the cult practiced in Akhetaten. The stelae are royal monuments commissioned by the pharaoh and thus contain an inherent bias that favors the king's undertakings and condemns those who opposed his reforms. They are nonetheless important historical artefacts and are very useful to historians.

Reconstruction of the original appearance of Boundary Stela N, AMARNA PROJECT

Earlier Proclamation

Stelae K, M, and X on the east side of the Nile contain what Davies termed the Earlier Proclamation. All three stelae contain both vertical and horizontal lines of text. Stela K is the best preserved and was made to replace Stela M which was damaged early on, thus necessitating a replacement. Both Stela K and Stela M are located in the southern side of the site and the text in their horizontal lines reads from left to right, away from the center of the site. Stela X is located in the northern side of the site and it is a mirror image of stelae K and M in that its horizontal lines read from right to left, also away from the center. The inscription on the stelae K, M, and X is dated to the fifth regnal year of Akhenaten in day 13 of the season of Peret. They include the full title of the god Aten, as well as titles of the king Akhenaten and the king's wife Nefertiti. The stelae also describe the founding of the site by the pharaoh, reasons for choosing it, the proposed layout of the site, instructions regarding the burials of the royal family and certain notables, and instructions for the maintenance of the cult of Aten. The Earlier Proclamation also includes a promise from Akhenaten to build various temples and other structures to the god Aten in the location. The latter part of the text is fragmentary and has inspired a variety of interpretations.

Later Proclamation

What Davies termed the Later Proclamation was carved on stelae J, N, P, Q, R, S, U, and V on the eastern side of the Nile, and on stelae A, B, and F on the western side. The inscription of the Later Proclamation is dated to year six of Akhenaten's reign in the day 13 of the season of Peret, which corresponds with the one year anniversary of the Earlier Proclamation, and includes a “renewal of the oath” that appeared in the Earlier Proclamation regarding the location and permanence of the site. with some modifications to include more land, especially a swath of agricultural land in the cultivation on the western side of the river. Titulary of the god Aten is also given, along with a repetition of much of the Earlier Proclamation. The Later Proclamation includes a description of events that took place after the inscription of the Earlier Proclamation, such as a journey of the pharaoh to the southeastern crag of the site. The Later Proclamation also mentions six principal boundary stelae that delimit the site.

Map of Boundary Stelae, AMARNA PROJECT

Repetition of the Oath and the Colophon

Early in the year eight of Akhenaten's reign, in the season of Peret, a repetition of the oath of Akhenaten regarding the site is added to the stelae furnished with the Later Proclamation, and later that same year, in the season of Akhet, another text, termed the “Colophon” by Davies, is added to stelae A and B. The Colophon contains a reaffirmation of the borders and Aten's ownership of the site.

Translation of the 1st Proclamation:

‘On this day, when One (Pharaoh Akhenaten) was in Akhetaten, His Majesty [appeared] on the great chariot of electrum... Setting [off] on a good road [toward] Akhetaten, His place of creation, which He made for Himself that He might set within it every day... There was presented a great offering to the Father, The Aten, consisting of bread, beer, long- and short-horned cattle, calves, fowl, wine, fruits, incense, all kinds of fresh green plants, and everything good, in front of the mountain of Akhetaten...’
The king addresses his gathered courtiers:

‘As the Aten is beheld, the Aten desires that there be made for him [...] as a monument with an eternal and everlasting name. Now, it is the Aten, my father, who advised me concerning it, [namely] Akhetaten. No official has ever advised me concerning it, not any of the people who are in the entire land has ever advised me concerning it, to suggest making Akhetaten in this distant place. It was the Aten, my fath[er, who advised me] concerning it, so that it might be made for Him as Akhetaten... Behold, it is Pharaoh who has discovered it: not being the property of a god, not being the property of a goddess, not being the property of a ruler, not being the property of a female ruler, not being the property of any people to lay claim to it....’

‘I shall make Akhetaten for the Aten, my father, in this place. I shall not make Akhetaten for him to the south of it, to the north of it, to the west of it, to the east of it. I shall not expand beyond the southern stela of Akhetaten toward the south, nor shall I expand beyond the northern stela of Akhetaten toward the north, in order to make Akhetaten for him there. Nor shall I make (it) for him on the western side of Akhetaten, but I shall make Akhetaten for the Aten, my father, on the east of Akhetaten, the place which He Himself made to be enclosed for Him by the mountain...’

‘I shall make the “House of the Aten” for the Aten, my father, in Akhetaten in this place. I shall make the “Mansion of the Aten” for the Aten, my father, in Akhetaten in this place. I shall make the Sun Temple of the [Great King's] Wife [Nefernefruaten-Nefertiti] for the Aten, my father, in Akhetaten in this place. I shall make the “House of Rejoicing” for the Aten, my father, in the “Island of the Aten, Distinguished in Jubilees” in Akhetaten in this place... I shall make for myself the apartments of Pharaoh, I shall make the apartments of the Great King's Wife in Akhetaten in this place.’

‘Let a tomb be made for me in the eastern mountain of Akhetaten. Let my burial be made in it, in the millions of jubilees which the Aten, my father, has decreed for me. Let the burial of the Great King's Wife, Nefertiti, be made in it, in the millions of yea[rs which the Aten, my father, decreed for her. Let the burial of] the King's Daughter, Meritaten, [be made] in it, in these millions of years. If I die in any town downstream, to the south, to the west, to the east in these millions of years, let me be brought back, that I may be buried in Akhetaten. If the Great King's Wife, Nefertiti, dies in any town downstream, to the south, to the west, to the east in these millions of years, let her be brought back, that she may be buried in Akhetaten. If the King's Daughter, Meritaten, dies in any town downstream, to the south, to the west, to the east in the millions of years, let her be brought back, that she may be buried in Akhetaten. Let a cemetery for the Mnevis Bull [be made] in the eastern mountain of Akhetaten, that he may be buried in it. Let the tombs of the Chief of Seers, of the God's Fathers of the [Aten.......] be made in the eastern mountain of Akhetaten, that they may be buried in it. Let [the tombs] of the priests of the [Aten] be [made in the eastern mountain of Akhetaten] that they may b[e bur]ied in it’.

The 'False Doors' of the Egyptian Tombs: A Threshold between the Worlds of the Living and the Dead

A false door, or recessed niche, is an artistic representation of a door which does not function like a real door. They can be carved in a wall or painted on it. They are a common architectural element in the tombs of ancient Egypt, but appeared possibly earlier in some Pre-Nuragic Sardinian tombs. Later they also occur in Etruscan tombs and in the time of ancient Rome they were used in the interiors of both houses and tombs.

Mesopotamian origin

Egyptian architecture was influenced by Mesopotamian precedents, as it adopted elements of Mesopotamian Temple and civic architecture. These exchanges were part of Egypt-Mesopotamia relations since the 4th millennium BC.

Naked devotee offering libations to a temple of Inanna, c. 2500 BCE. Ur, Mesopotamia.

Recessed niches were characteristic of Mesopotamian Temple architecture, and were adopted in Egyptian architecture, especially for the design of false doors in Mastaba tombs, during the First Dynasty and the Second Dynasty, from the time of the Naqada III period (circa 3000 BC). It is unknown if the transfer of this design was the result of Mesopotamian workmen in Egypt, or if temple designs appearing on imported Mesopotamian seals may have been a sufficient source of inspiration for Egyptian architects.

Ancient Egypt

The ancient Egyptians believed that the false door was a threshold between the worlds of the living and the dead and through which a deity or the spirit of the deceased could enter and exit.

The false door was usually the focus of a tomb's offering chapel, where family members could place offerings for the deceased on a special offering slab placed in front of the door.

Most false doors are found on the west wall of a funerary chapel or offering chamber because the Ancient Egyptians associated the west with the land of the dead. In many mastabas, both husband and wife buried within have their own false door.

A typical false door to an Egyptian tomb. The deceased is shown above the central niche in front of a table of offerings, and inscriptions listing offerings for the deceased are carved along the side panels.

Structure

A false door usually is carved from a single block of stone or plank of wood, and it was not meant to function as a normal door. Located in the center of the door is a flat panel, or niche, around which several pairs of door jambs are arranged—some convey the illusion of depth and a series of frames, a foyer, or a passageway. A semi-cylindrical drum, carved directly above the central panel, was used in imitation of the reed-mat that was used to close real doors.

The door is framed with a series of moldings and lintels as well, and an offering scene depicting the deceased in front of a table of offerings usually is carved above the center of the door. Sometimes, the owners of the tomb had statues carved in their image placed into the central niche of the false door.

Historical development

The configuration of the false door, with its nested series of doorjambs, is derived from the niched palace façade and its related slab stela, which became a common architectural motif in the early Dynastic period. The false door was used first in the mastabas of the Third Dynasty of the Old Kingdom (c. 27th century BC) and its use became nearly universal in tombs of the fourth through sixth dynasties. During the nearly one hundred and fifty years spanning the reigns of the sixth Dynasty pharaohs Pepi I, Merenre, and Pepi II, the false door motif went through a sequential series of changes affecting the layout of the panels, allowing historians to date tombs based on which style of false door was used.

After the First Intermediate Period, the popularity of the false doors diminished, being replaced by stelae as the primary surfaces for writing funerary inscriptions.

Representations of false doors also appeared on Middle Kingdom coffins such as the Coffin of Nakhtkhnum (MET 15.2.2a, b) dating to late Dynasty 12 (ca. 1850–1750 BC). Here, the false door is represented by two wooden doors that are secured with door bolts, bracketed on both sides by architectural niching - recalling earlier niched temple and palace façades such as the enclosure wall that surrounds the mortuary complex of king Djoser of the Third Dynasty. In a similar manner to the Old Kingdom false doors, representations of false doors on Middle Kingdom coffins facilitated the movement of the deceased's spirit between the afterlife and the world of the living.

Left-hand side of the Coffin of Nakhtkhnum showing the Middle Kingdom equivalent of the Old Kingdom False Door..

Inscriptions

The side panels usually are covered in inscriptions naming the deceased along with their titles, and a series of standardized offering formulas. These texts extol the virtues of the deceased and express positive wishes for the afterlife.

For example, the false door of Ankhires reads:

The scribe of the house of the god's documents, the stolist of Anubis, follower of the great one, follower of Tjentet, Ankhires.

The lintel reads:

His eldest son it was, the lector priest Medunefer, who made this for him.

The left and right outer jambs read:

An offering which the king and which Anubis,
who dwells in the divine tent-shrine, give for burial in the west,
having grown old most perfectly.

His eldest son it was, the lector priest Medunefer,
who acted on his behalf when he was buried in the necropolis.
The scribe of the house of the god's documents, Ankhires.

The Extraordinary Egyptian 'Offering Table of Defdji' that Resembles an Aircraft Control Panel!

What was the use of the extraordinary egyptian 'offering table of Defdji' that resembles a control table of a modern aeroplane?

The round ‘offering table of Defdji’ is a rarity, the majority of offering tables being rectangular. Sometimes the table comes in the shape of the hieroglyph for ‘offering’ - ‘hetep’ in Egyptian – a reed mat with a loaf of bread on it. This round offering table of Defdji’s is extraordinarily detailed. Defdji was an official possessing prominent titles: ‘Acquaintance of the King, Highly Revered by the Great God, Unique Friend, Great One of the Upper Egypt.’

The offering table is made of white alabaster and is 13 cm thick. The hetep sign has been placed in raised relief, horizontally across the middle. Above the sign there are two dishes, and underneath two little vases and a jug in a bowl. The whole surface is divided into little compartments, each of which features the name of a dish, a drink, or a purifying agent. There are over ninety products in total.

In the top panel seven shallow cavities have been made, each intended to hold a special, consecrated oil. With these seven different oils the cult statue of the deceased was anointed. They are precisely named: from right to left they are ‘festive ointment’, ‘laudation oil’, ‘balm’, ‘nekhenem oil’, ‘Tuawet oil’, ‘top quality cedar oil’ and ‘top quality Libyan oil’. To the right of each little cup it is clearly stated again for whom it is destined: ‘for Defdji’.

It dates back to 2,200 BC and it belongs to Leiden Museum of Antiquities (Rijksmuseum van Ouheden), Netherlands.

The 'Ka-aper': A 4,500-Years-Old Unique Wooden Statue of the Egyptian Antiquity

The number of wooden statues that survived from ancient Egypt is very small, compared to their stone counterparts. The reasons behind this are that the quality of local wood was poor. High-quality wood, such as cedar, had to be imported from places like Lebanon. Another reason is that wood does not survive the as well as stone. Many wooden statues probably disintegrated through time.

The statue of Ka'aper was found in excellent condition in his tomb (called a mastaba) within the Saqqara necropolis. It dates to the 5th dynasty of the Old Kingdom, circa 2500 BCE.

This beautiful piece was made for the priest-reader, Ka-aper. It was originally plastered and painted. He is represented in a striding pose, with his left foot forward, and holding a staff (now substituted with a copy) in his left hand. His right would have probably held a cylinder. The level of realism with which the subject is represented is impressive, and contrasts with the extreme idealism in which kings and members of the royal family were depicted.

Ka-aper is shown as a corpulent man, probably reflecting his affluent status. His eyes are inlaid with calcite, rock crystal and black stone, outlined with copper, in imitation of eye make-up. These exquisite eyes and the portrait-like facial features add to the life-like quality of this statue, that when the workmen in Mariette’s excavations discovered it they thought it resembled the mayor of their village so much, that the statue was coined “Sheikh el-Balad” (mayor), a name by which this statue is still known today, even by non-Egyptians.

Today, the famous statue of Ka'aper is held at The Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Egypt. Many other gorgeous examples of Egyptian art can be found at the world-famous institution.

The 'Seated Scribe' - A Famous Work of Ancient Egyptian Art

The sculpture of the Seated Scribe or Squatting Scribe is a famous work of ancient Egyptian art. It represents a figure of a seated scribe at work. The sculpture was discovered at Saqqara, north of the alley of sphinxes leading to the Serapeum of Saqqara, in 1850 and dated to the period of the Old Kingdom, from either the 5th Dynasty, c. 2450–2325 BCE or the 4th Dynasty, 2620–2500 BCE. It is now in the Louvre Museum in Paris.

It is a painted limestone statue, the eyes inlaid with rock crystal, magnesite (magnesium carbonate), copper-arsenic alloy, and nipples made of wood.

This painted limestone sculpture represents a man in a seated position, presumably a scribe. The figure is dressed in a white kilt stretched to its knees. It is holding a half rolled papyrus. Perhaps the most striking part aspect of the figure is its face. Its realistic features stand in contrast to perhaps more rigid and somewhat less detailed body. Hands, fingers, and fingernails of the sculpture are delicately modeled. The hands are in writing position.

Special attention was devoted to the eyes of the sculpture. They are modeled in rich detail out of pieces of red-veined white magnesite which were elaborately inlaid with pieces of polished truncated rock crystal. The back side of the crystal was covered with a layer of organic material which at the same time gives the blue colour to the iris and serves as an adhesive. Two copper clips hold each eye in place. The eyebrows are marked with fine lines of dark organic paint.

The scribe has a soft and slightly overweight body, suggesting he is well off and does not need to do any sort of physical labor. He sits in a cross-legged position that would have been his normal posture at work. His facial expression is alert and attentive, gazing out to the viewer as though he is waiting for them to start speaking. He has a ready-made papyrus scroll laid out on his lap but the reed-brush used to write is missing. Both his hands are positioned on his lap. His right hand is pointing towards the paper as if he has already started to write while watching others speak. He stares calmly at the viewer with his black outlined eyes.

The sculpture of the seated scribe was discovered in Saqqara on 19 November 1850, to the north of the Serapeum's line of sphinxes by French archeologist Auguste Mariette. The precise location remains unknown, as the document describing these excavations was published posthumously and the original excavation journal has been lost.

Egyptian Archaeologists Accidentally Discover 250 Ancient Rock-Cut Tombs

Some of the burials found at the Al-Hamidiyah necropolis date back 4,200 years

The rock-cut tombs are carved into different levels of a mountain face at the site. (Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities)

An archaeological survey crew accidentally discovered some 250 rock-cut tombs at the Al-Hamidiyah necropolis near Sohag, Egypt. The graves range in age from the end of the Old Kingdom around 2200 B.C. to the end of the Ptolemaic period in 30 B.C., according to Nevine El-Aref of Ahram Online.

Several styles of tombs and burial wells are carved into different levels of a mountain face at the site, says Mustafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, in a statement from the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. The necropolis is located in southern Egypt, on the West Bank of the Nile River.

One of the burials includes a sloping tomb with a false door and a hallway leading to a gallery with a shaft. The door is inscribed with hieroglyphs depicting the resident of the tomb slaughtering sacrifices while mourners make offerings to the deceased.

“Given their small size compared with the tombs reserved for royalty, which are of large sizes, these tombs may have been allocated to the common people,” historian Bassam al-Shamaa tells Ahmed Gomaa of Al-Monitor. “This provides more details about the daily life of ordinary people at the time.”

Archaeologists conducting excavation work at the necropolis discovered numerous pottery shards and intact pots. Some of the pieces were used in daily life, while others, known as votive miniatures, were crafted for funerary purposes, says Mohamed Abdel-Badiaa, head of the Central Department of Antiquities for Upper Egypt, in the statement.

Finds made at the site include pottery fragments and animal bones. (Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities)

The team also found remnants of a round metal mirror, human and animal bones, small alabaster pots, amphorae fragments dated to Egypt’s Late Period (c. 664 to 332 B.C.), and pieces of limestone funerary plates dated to the Sixth Dynasty (c. 2345 to 2181 B.C.).

Badiaa and his colleagues expect to find more rock-cut tombs at the site as excavations continue. Per the statement, they have already documented more than 300 tombs in the area, which was centrally located near the ancient cities of Aswan and Abido.

Use of the burial site spans more than 2,000 years, beginning in the Old Kingdom period, which included Pharaoh Khufu, builder of the Great Pyramid of Giza. The last interments likely occurred around the time of Cleopatra’s death in 30 B.C., which marked the end of the Ptolemaic dynasty.

The Al-Hamidiyah necropolis is believed to have been the final resting place for leaders and officials of the city of Akhmim, one of the most important administrative centers in ancient Egypt, reports Jesse Holth for ARTnews. Akhmim was home to the cult of Min, a god of fertility and sexuality who was also associated with the desert, according to Ancient Egypt Online.

Finds made at the site may pave the way for future discoveries at oft-overlooked archaeological sites, Badiaa tells Al-Monitor.

“Egypt has many antiquities sites, but light must be shed on other unknown areas,” he adds. “[Excavations] should not be limited to famous archaeological areas such as Saqqara or Luxor.”

By David Kindy, SMITHSONIANMAG.COM

Three Egyptologists Use Assassin's Creed Origins To Teach History

Assassin’s Creed Origins’ rendition of Ptolemaic Egypt is one of the most accurate interactive representations of the period, so much so that Egyptologist Dr. Chris Naunton referred to it as “the best visualization of ancient Egypt.” Naunton’s remark came during the first episode of “Playing in the Past” a six-part series dedicated to looking at Egyptian history through the lens of Assassin’s Creed Origins. The series is broadcast on Twitch, where Naunton was joined by a PhD student at Southampton University, Gemma Renshaw, and associate professor of history at Missouri University of Science and Technology, Dr. Kate Sheppard.

The Giza Pyramid Complex, also called the Giza Necropolis, the site on the Giza Plateau.

Together, the three Egyptologists took viewers through a tour of Thebes. Naunton began by comparing photos from his travels to vistas in the game before taking up the reins himself and moving throughout the world on his own.

The world of Assassin’s Creed Origins was already the focus of the post-launch Discovery Tour by Assassin’s Creed – Ancient Egypt, which turns Ptolemaic Egypt into a living museum complete with guided tours. To find out what experts in the field think about Origins’ depiction of Egypt and why they decided to livestream their lectures, we spoke with Renshaw, Sheppard, and Naunton.

The Lighthouse of Alexandria, sometimes called the Pharos of Alexandria and a panoramic view of the Hellenistic city.

• Where did the idea for “Playing in the Past” come from? What made you want to stream it to the public?

Chris Naunton: Last summer, I was writing a book for children about Cleopatra, which is going to be called “Cleopatra Tells All,” and I was at the stage where I needed to give the illustrator ideas for what I specifically wanted Alexandria to look like. I wanted to be able to send him stuff saying, “Look, this is what it looked like.”

So I was Googling for images of visualizations of Alexandria, and I knew that there was a guy called Jean-Claude Golvin, a French artist who had painted a load of reconstruction drawings of various places in the ancient world, including in Egypt and Alexandria, but I wasn't finding them. What I was finding were all these things from this videogame called Assassin's Creed Origins.

I kept asking, “What’s this?” “How can I get this?” So eventually I just posted something on Twitter saying, “Look, can somebody tell me how I can get this game?”, because at this point I've discovered there's such a thing as a Discovery Tour, so I don't even have to be able to play the game, I can just walk around.

I can tell it looks amazing, and eventually Gemma just responds – we know each other from Twitter and various other things over the years – and she says, “I've got it, I could show you around if you like.”

At the same time, Kate and I were doing our own podcast together, which was a kind of virtual trip up the Nile from the perspective of historic travelers, Europeans mostly. So when Gemma had offered to show me around, Kate wanted to join in too.

Kate Sheppard: When Gemma responded, I just sort of virtually elbowed my way in, and we all sort of met, and Chris and I were just asking her to show us around all of these places.

Gemma Renshaw: I put it on my Twitch channel. I had never streamed before, but thankfully, I had some assistance from a kind friend of mine. I got it working on Twitch, and then I just streamed it for a bit so that they could see it, and then we could go and look at stuff together, and we sort of talked about things on Twitter. At that point, other people started to show interest.

At first, I just wanted to let Chris look at what he wanted to look at for his book. But there was enough interest from people that I thought, “Why don't we just do another one and invite everyone?” So we did it in September last year, and it wasn't quite the same format that we're doing “Playing in the Past” now.

Deir el Medina tombs.

• How familiar were you with videogames before all of this?

CN: I had a Sega Master System II in the early ‘90s, but that was pretty much the last time I played a videogame, and I just thought this was not for me. I bought an Xbox in the middle of all of this because I was so taken with this whole idea, and I wasn't even sure if I would be able to work the controller, but I still thought, “I want to be able to explore this myself.” Once I'd run around a little bit, I just thought, “this is amazing.”

• At what point did you decide to make this a formal series?

GR: After we did the September run, we decided that we would apply to Southampton University to see if they would give us any funding. And they did! That’s when we called it “Playing in the Past” and really ironed out the idea. Funding means that we can pay other experts to come and be a part of it.

In archaeology, we try to get people to imagine what monuments were like when they don’t exist anymore, but a lot of people can’t do that. Same for things that exist only as ideas or beliefs. Having the opportunity to do things like go into the underworld and show people an interpretation is really useful.

Graphic Reconstruction of the ancient egyptian pyramids in Asassin’s Creed Origins.

On one of my streams, I had a long conversation with someone in chat, and one of the things they said was, “I had no idea that academics liked games.” And I said, “Some of them might not, but some do, and there’s no reason why we can’t connect the two things.” We’ve proven that it can work, and work well.

CN: I’m freelance, so I’m used to there not being much money involved, but I hadn't realized how pleased I was going to be and how cool it would be to be able to say, “This is now a university-funded project.” It’s not just three people who like archaeology and games; people have to recognize now that this is a real thing.

Map of ancient Egypt as shown in Ubisoft’s game.

I'm really proud of it, and being able to visit these places which are so well depicted – I just thought, if I like it, I'm sure there's going to be a lot of people out there that will want to do this too. I think that's been borne out in the numbers we've been getting, and the enthusiasm we've been getting for this, too.

KS: Chris and Gemma are much more public-facing than I am with my students, who are generally 18 to 22 years old. Here at my university, we have a nationally ranked esports team, so many of my students are very into videogames. They love them, and so when we're doing history of science, I was talking about eugenics, and I had loads of students asking if I had ever played Bioshock.

‘Bayek’ approaching the massive temple gates of Memphis in Assassin's Creed Origins.

That’s when I started thinking I really need to get into some of these videogames, because they keep telling me about them, and this is a way I can connect with them. If we get into that mode of “here's how we can connect to people,” then maybe we can at least bring in new people who might be interested. If we as scholars aren't talking to the general public, and we're just talking to this tiny little bubble of people, what's even the point?

• Gemma, you’re a fan of the Assassin’s Creed franchise. Did it help you get interested in history at all?

GR: Yeah! I think I relate quite well to the people who are going to watch the stream, because they can ask me questions about Egypt and history, or they can be about the game, and I might know the answer to that too.

I loved not only the stories, but the database entries that were included going way back to Assassin’s Creed II. I really appreciated how they tried to include history and weave the story around the history in a way that was believable. I think it certainly made me want to find out more about the actual history that was behind it. I have to confess that I didn't really know anything about the Medici family until I played Assassin's Creed II, and then I wanted to learn about them.

Alexander The Great's Tomb in Alexandria with his body embalmed in a coffin filled with honey.

When Assassin's Creed Origins first came out, I didn't play it immediately, but I bought it for myself for Christmas one year, and then played it so much for about two weeks that I didn’t even speak to my roommate.

• How does it feel to virtually explore a real-life location that you know so well?

KS: I think the only bad thing is that it really makes me want to be there. The thing that makes me emotional about it and love it so much are the little details. You look down at the ground, and the stones look the same as they do in real life, and you can imagine yourself being there.

You can almost feel the sun on you, and you can sort of smell it. You just kind of breathe it in, and it's just like, “Ah, OK, I'm back, I'm here” and you can almost get that when you're playing the game, and that's what I love about it.

An artist rendering of life on the Nile river in Assassin's Creed Origins.

CN: I think something we worry about is the level of representation, because there are so many movies that are so inaccurate and misleading. People always assume I love those kinds of movies, but I can barely watch them. Going into Origins, I had already seen enough photos to know that it was going to be great.

I had gamer friends who would say “There's this new game coming out. It's called Assassin's Creed Origins. You'd love it,” and I was like, “Yeah, sure, I don’t really do games.” I think that’s probably how most academics would think about it initially, but now I’m committed. It’s made me a gamer in a way; when I’m not in Ancient Egypt, I'm on the forest moon of Endor!

The real jaw-dropping moment for me was running up to the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri, which is the same, minus any of the modern clutter that's there today. They took out the ticket office and the tarmac, but it’s all the same. It does make you want to be there, but I almost want to say it’s a little bit better.

I also want to say that the representation doesn't need to be that good. I'm just running around like a sort of maniac, just running up hills and things and looking down on temples, and there's so much detail in there, I can't believe how amazing it is. We went hours over our planned stream time for our first stream because I just kept wanting to wander.

‘Bayek’ approaching The Great Temple of Ramesses II in Abu Simbel.

• Chris, you mentioned the Temple of Hatshepsut. Is there anything in particular that really impressed you with regard to the historical representation?

CN: For me, it’s the fact that it is very specifically this particular moment at the end of the Ptolemaic period, which is a very interesting time in terms of what Egypt would have looked like. You have the broken paving stones in Alexandria, and it would have just been easier to put in new paving stones, wouldn't it? That sort of level of detail is amazing.

Then you have the monuments, [some of] which are recognizable in a kind of half-state of decay, and others a bit better maintained. There are the brand-new sort of late-Ptolemaic Roman-influenced buildings coming up, and then the people who are clearly foreigners, as well as that mixture of a more traditional Egyptians. You also have a newer kind of Hellenistic Egypt, or even just purely foreign Greek influence. I mean, the ambition to do that is really super-impressive.

‘Bayek’ and his eagle approaching The Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, also known as the Djeser-Djeseru (Ancient Egyptian: "Holy of Holies").

KS: In one of our later streams, we’re looking at ancient crafts. We’re having an expert, Dr. Sarah K. Doherty, come on for it, but we were just chatting with her, and she was talking about how usually, if you see a bread maker, there's going to be a beer maker right nearby because of the yeast. They use similar ingredients, and so they would share, and it would be easier for them both. Then we were in game and walking by a bakery, and, wouldn’t you know, right next to it is a brewery. That part, to me, really stuck out.

GR: One of the things I’m impressed with in all Assassin’s Creed games is the quality of the light. It's really clear that people at Ubisoft have visited all of these places and made an effort to make the places feel different and close to real life. The light in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is so different from the light in Origins, as it should be.

• Your first stream focused on Thebes, an area not available as part of Discovery Tour. Have you used Discovery Tour at all? What are your thoughts on it?

GR: We actually tried to do that in our stream back in September. We tried to take the Step Pyramid tour, but the problem with us doing it that way was that we kind of wanted to talk when the game was talking, so it ended up being a bit difficult. I did let all the people watching the stream know about it so they could do it on their own.

CN: I think Discovery Tour is great, but it was slightly tricky to do it live. To some extent, it's sort of duplicating the kinds of things we could offer in the livestream anyway. I would recommend it to people though, and I loved the pop-ups that would show the genuine real objects which are described in the tours that you can read more about. As if proof were needed that the game is based on good solid research, it's right there.

Thebes city overall silhouette, by Martin Bonev (full representation here).

I was exploring the west bank in Thebes on our stream, and everything is where it should be. If you're familiar with that part of the world [like I am], you don't need to be told where things are, because they're where they should be.

When I watched the stream, I noticed that you almost never brought up the map for navigation purposes. Were you able to just find your way around because you knew were everything was?

CN: Well, I mean, to some extent, yeah. The landscape is as it should be. The roads and hills, and even the topography is more or less accurate. I didn't need a map to find where things were, because they’re all in the right place.

Temple of Luxor by night, by Martin Bonev (full representation here).

• One last question for you all. Obviously, you're all Egyptologists, but since Assassin’s Creed has already been to Egypt, is there another setting you’d like to see it explore?

GR: I have a few. I'm going to say Kingdom of Mali around 13th-16th century AD, Silk Road Mongolia around 12th-13th century AD, or the Khmer Empire, ideally set in around 12th 13th century AD, when Angkor Wat was built. There are so many potential answers to this, and realistically I am likely to play whatever is chosen - but personally I would like to see exploration of some wider world history rather than Western-focused ones. I will, however, give a (dis)honorable mention to the time of Napoleon's invasion of Egypt, up to around 1850. Maybe as a DLC to either Origins or Unity, as it's a time period that Chris, Kate, and I all know quite a bit about. I also think players would be fascinated to visit the places they have in Origins, but with a 19th-century make over.

CN: Mexico at the very end of the Aztec civilization at the time of the Spanish conquistadors. The idea of a monumental civilization being invaded by technologically and militarily superior Europeans echoes the story in Origins. And it would look AMAZING.

KS: I agree with Mexico, or the Inca in Peru. The Mississippian cultures like the Mound Builders and Cahokia, or the American Westward expansion during the gold rush too. It would be an interesting perspective on how terribly white people treated and exploited the peoples and the natural world on the way out.

More of massive graphic reconstructions of Hellenistic Egypt:

Graphic Reconstruction of the Djoser’s Step Pyramid Complex in Saqqara.

Graphic Reconstruction of the Pyramid of Amenemhet III at Hawara.

A mastaba or pr-djt (meaning "house of stability", "house of eternity" or "eternal house" in Ancient Egyptian) is a type of ancient Egyptian tomb in the form of a flat-roofed, rectangular structure with inward sloping sides, constructed out of mudbricks.

These edifices marked the burial sites of many eminent Egyptians during Egypt's Early Dynastic Period and Old Kingdom. In the Old Kingdom epoch, local kings began to be buried in pyramids instead of in mastabas, although non-royal use of mastabas continued for over a thousand years. Egyptologists call these tombs mastaba, from the Arabic word مصطبة (maṣṭaba) "stone bench".

The city of Amarna is an extensive archaeological site that represents the remains of the capital city newly established (1346 BC) and built by the Pharaoh Akhenaten of the late Eighteenth Dynasty, and abandoned shortly after his death (1332 BC).

Cyrene is depicted in Assassin's Creed: Origins to be much closer to Alexandria than it was in reality. It was actually located almost 500 miles west, near the modern-day village of Shahhat in Libya.

By Ubisoft