A New Study: The Great Sphinx of Giza may have been blown into shape by the wind
The theory, occasionally raised by others, that the Great Sphinx of Giza may have been a lion-shaped natural landform that the ancient Egyptians modified to form the stone-faced feline has been investigated.
A team of New York University scientists replicated conditions that existed 4,500 years ago—when the Sphinx was built—to show how wind moved against rock formations in possibly first shaping one of the most recognizable statues in the world.
Geologist Farouk El-Baz postulated in a 1981 Smithsonian Magazine article that, unlike the pyramids, the sphinx was not built entirely by the ancient Egyptians, but rather that the rock’s celestial facelift was applied by ancient stonemasons after desert winds sculpted the structure’s general shape.
Now, scientists from New York University have tested that theory by creating miniature, lion-like landforms from clay using fluid dynamics and discovered that it’s possible that the shape of the rock inspired Egyptians to create the sphinx. Their work has been accepted by the journal Physical Review Fluids.
“Our findings offer a possible ‘origin story’ for how Sphinx-like formations can come about from erosion,” explains Leif Ristroph, an associate professor at New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences and the senior author of the study, which has been accepted for publication in the journal Physical Review Fluids. “Our laboratory experiments showed that surprisingly Sphinx-like shapes can, in fact, come from materials being eroded by fast flows.”
An illustration of the Sphinx weathering process.
The work centered on replicating yardangs—unusual rock formations found in deserts resulting from wind-blown dust and sand—and exploring how the Great Sphinx could have originated as a yardang that was subsequently detailed by humans into the form of the widely recognized statue.
To do so, Ristroph and his colleagues in NYU’s Applied Mathematics Laboratory took mounds of soft clay with harder, less erodible material embedded inside—mimicking the terrain in northeastern Egypt, where the Great Sphinx sits.
They then washed these formations with a fast-flowing stream of water—to replicate wind—that carved and reshaped them, eventually reaching a Sphinx-like formation.
The harder or more resistant material became the “head” of the lion and many other features—such as an undercut “neck,” “paws” laid out in front on the ground, and arched “back”—developed.
“Our results provide a simple origin theory for how Sphinx-like formations can come about from erosion,” observes Ristroph. “There are, in fact, yardangs in existence today that look like seated or lying animals, lending support to our conclusions.”
“The work may also be useful to geologists as it reveals factors that affect rock formations—namely, that they are not homogeneous or uniform in composition,” he adds.
“The unexpected shapes come from how the flows are diverted around the harder or less-erodible parts.”
Archaeologists Uncover Upper Part Colossal Statue of Ramses II
The joint Egyptian-American Archaeological Mission unearthed the upper part of the colossal statue of Ramses II (Ramesses), the lower part of which was found in 1930, during excavations at Hermopolis Magna in Egypt’s Minya Governorate.
Ramesses the Great, also known as Ramesses II, was one of ancient Egypt’s most powerful and celebrated pharaohs. He reigned for around 66 years during the 19th dynasty of the New Kingdom period (circa 1279–1213 BCE).
Ramesses II is renowned for his military campaigns, architectural achievements, and the many monumental structures he commissioned, including the famous temples at Abu Simbel and the Ramesseum. He is often remembered as a great builder and a skilled diplomat.
Today, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced that archaeologists had discovered the upper half of a full-body Ramses II statue dating back more than 3,200 years to his rule in Ancient Egypt’s 19th Dynasty.
Dr. Basem Jihad of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities and Dr. Yovona Trnka of the University of Colorado have been leading the exploration in the Minya governorate’s El-Ashmunein region (the ancient Hermopolis Magna, located northwest of the modern city of Mallawi and about 30 kilometers north of Amarna).
Archaeological studies showed that the 3.8-meter-high limestone bust, newly discovered in the southern Egyptian province of Minya, matches the lower part of a statue of the Egyptian pharaoh uncovered in 1930, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Mostafa Waziri said in a statement.
Almost a hundred years after the lower part was found, they found the upper part of a statue of Ramesses II.
The relic depicts Ramses II wearing a double-crowned headdress with a royal cobra on it. Waziri stated that the top of the pillar on the back of the statue bears hieroglyphic inscriptions of titles honoring the king as well as texts indicating the statue’s construction date.
In advance of additional research and the ultimate reconstruction of the ensemble in its entirety, cleaning and conservation efforts on the statue have already commenced.
The whole statue combining the two parts will be seven meters high, according to the statement.
World’s First Pregnant Ancient Egyptian Mummy has been Discovered
Experts from the Polish Academy of Sciences aim to research all mummies in museums as part of the Warsaw Mummy Project. As part of this project, researchers worked to discover more about the woman thought to be in her 20s.
The first mummified bones of an ancient Egyptian pregnant woman dating back over 2,000 years have been found in Thebes. According to scans of the body, she died at the age of 28 weeks pregnant.
The team found the remains of a fetus, estimated to be 26 to 30 weeks old, inside the woman using a combination of CT scans and X-rays. The first time a pregnant mummy has been discovered.
According to the authors of a paper published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, the body of the woman who died 2,000 years ago was carefully wrapped in fabrics and left with a rich collection of amulets to see her into the afterlife.
The team can’t say why the fetus was left inside the woman and not mummified separately, but it could be because it was too young to have a name and needed to travel to the afterlife inside its mother.
Study lead author Dr. Wojciech Ejsmond said this was the ‘first discovery of a pregnant embalmed body,’ adding: ‘There is no other so well preserved ancient body of a pregnant woman.
The body was wrapped in fine fabrics and laid to rest with a set of amulets representing Horus’ four sons, which the team believes indicate she was a powerful figure in Thebes.
The head and CT scans the mummy. The first remains of an ancient Egyptian mummified pregnant woman have been discovered in Thebes, dating back more than 2,000 years, the corpse was 28 weeks into her pregnancy when she died.
According to the study writers, the mummy was discovered in royal tombs in Thebes, Upper Egypt, and came from the elite of the Theban culture.
The woman was transported to Warsaw, Poland, in 1826, at the time of some of the most famous Egyptian Valley of the Kings findings, and is now on display at the National Museum in Warsaw.
‘This mummy provides new possibilities for pregnancy studies in ancient times, which can be compared with and related to current cases,’ study authors wrote.
‘Furthermore, this specimen sheds a light on an unresearched aspect of ancient Egyptian burial customs and interpretations of pregnancy in the context of ancient Egyptian religion.’
‘For Egyptologists, this is a fascinating discovery because we know little about perinatal health and childhood in ancient Egypt,’ Dr. Ejsmond added.
‘Physicians can study, for example, the intestinal content of the fetus to gather information on the development of the immune system in ancient times.’
The fetus was mummified alongside its mother in the lower part of the lesser pelvis and partly in the lower part of the greater pelvis. It was not, however, removed from its original location.
“Arcade” of ancient mancala game boards found in Kenya
Veronica Waweru, an archaeologist from Yale University, has discovered an “arcade” of rock-cut mancala game boards in Kenya’s highlands.
During a trip to the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in central Kenya, Yale’s Veronica Waweru noticed rows of shallow pits drilled into rock where she believes ancient people played a version of the game Mancala, a two-player, strategy-based board game still played across the world today.
Mancala, meaning “to move”, is a turn-based strategy game where the objective is to capture more gaming pieces than the opponent.
Early variations of the game have been found in Aksumite settlements throughout parts of Eastern Africa from the 8th century AD, in addition to sites from Ancient Egypt and the Roman Period.
According to the Savannah African Art Museum, the earliest example of a mancala board dates to between 5870 ± 240 BC, which was found at the Neolithic site of ʿAin Ghazal in Jordan.
The recent discovery was made following a tip-off about tourists removing prehistoric hand axes from a site within a private wildlife conservancy.
Upon investigating further, Waweru discovered an “arcade” of ancient mancala game boards carved directly into a rock ledge.
Determining the age of the game boards proves challenging since they are carved into rocks that are 400 million years old and lack any organic material suitable for dating.
Waweru said: “It’s a valley full of these game boards like an ancient arcade. Given the erosion of some of the boards, I believe that people were playing games there a very long time ago.”
Waweru also notes that the site contains 19 burial cairns built by herding communities that inhabited the region 5,000 years ago.
Moreover, there are indications of knife sharpening on the rock surface around the game boards, implying that these individuals likely engaged in feasting and butchery activities onsite.
Waweru and her research team have applied for funding to further study the site, which is located along the equator in Kenya’s central highlands.
Ancient Egyptian Woman Diagnosed With Rheumatoid Arthritis
A joint Italian-Polish archaeological mission uncovered during their work at the Sheikh Mohammed site in Aswan the skeletal remains of a young woman who suffered rheumatoid arthritis.
Ancient Egyptian woman’s skeleton unearthed in Aswan. Photos courtesy of the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
The mission is part of the Aswan-Kom Ombo Archaeological Project (AKAP).
A study on the skeleton published in the International Journal of Paleopathology showed the woman whose skeleton has been discovered suffered one of the earliest cases of Rheumatoid Arthritis in ancient Egypt.
Mustafa Waziri, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, underscored the importance of the discovery, which, he said, indicated the only instance of diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis in ancient Egypt on record and one of the oldest cases globally.
Waziri noted that further scientific studies will be conducted on the discovered skeleton, which provides incontrovertible scientific proof that Ancient Egyptians were aware of the existence of cases of rheumatoid arthritis.
“Although a clinical definition of the disease emerged only in the seventeenth century, the recent archaeological evidence suggests that cases of rheumatoid arthritis antedate the seventeenth century,” he pointed out.
Abdel-Monem Said, General Director of Aswan Antiquities, reported that studies on the discovered skeleton have shown that rheumatoid arthritis had affected joints on both sides of the body, from hands and feet to shoulders, elbows, wrists, and ankles. Said added that though the mission has scrutinized written and visual evidence for a clear indication of similar cases, it could not find any record of rheumatoid arthritis in ancient Egypt.
In their published study, the co-directors of the mission, Maria Carmela Gatto of the Polish Academy of Sciences and Antonio Corsi of the University of Bologna, said only 50-60 percent of the skeleton of the woman described in the study was recovered, adding that the examination of the fragmented skeleton showed that multiple joints were affected on both sides of the body, beginning with the hands and feet and moving on to the shoulders, elbow, wrists, and ankles.
The two scientists explained that erosive lesions with smooth edges were found outside the joint surface. These lesions, they explained, would have led to “aches, stiffness, and swelling, all of which would have affected the joints’ ability to carry out daily activities.”
Furthermore, the co-directors of the mission explained in their study that with time, the person’s suffering would have intensified, raising the likelihood of developing other conditions such as heart disease, thus compromising the individual’s life expectancy and quality of life.
On the other hand, paleopathologists Madeleine Mant of the University of Toronto in Ontario and Mindy Pitre of St. Lawrence University in New York, who contributed to the study, said rheumatoid arthritis, which is the most common form of inflammatory arthritis occurring in 0.5–1 percent of the global adult population, typically emerges between the ages of 30 and 50.
They explained that this chronic inflammatory autoimmune condition affects the lining of joints and various body parts, including the skin, eyes, mouth, heart, and lungs.
Given its autoimmune nature, the body’s immune system targets its tissues, resulting in inflammation of the joints as well as pain, disability, and eventual early death, Mant and Pitre noted, adding that while the exact cause of the condition is unknown, factors such as biological sex, smoking, family history, genetics, and exposure to certain bacteria and viruses increase one’s risk of developing the condition.
In addition, the two scientists pointed out that although there are multiple treatment options today, few, if any, would have been available during the Second Intermediate Period in Egypt (c.1800–1500 BCE),
“A clear consensus has yet to be reached on the origin and antiquity of rheumatoid arthritis,” they said in a statement, highlighting that some researchers believe there is enough archaeological and historical evidence to suggest its existence in Afro-Eurasia before the 17th century while others have argued that such evidence remains controversial, suggesting instead that the condition originated in the Americas.
“This new case from Aswan provides strong evidence in support of the former hypothesis,” Mant and Pitre asserted, adding that even though skeletal remains from ancient Egypt had indicated in the late 19th and the early 20th centuries the presence of some of the earliest cases of rheumatoid arthritis, the cases were dismissed on the grounds of imprecise diagnostic criteria.
Since then, examples of possible cases have been described from prehistorical and historical contexts in North America, Europe, and Asia, several of which remain contentious, according to both scientists.
Similarly, Mant and Pitre asserted that scholars have also examined written and pictorial evidence for signs of the condition. They noted that although a lack of textual mention of rheumatoid arthritis in ancient Egypt suggested that the condition in its present form did not exist at the time in Egypt, the recent discovery from Aswan provides clear evidence for the presence of the condition in ancient Egypt.
The AKAP project, which began in 2005, aims to study the health conditions of ancient Egyptians, especially those belonging to the lower strata of society and residing on the outskirts of the ancient Egyptian state, such as in the far south.
The project focuses on archaeological surveys and documentation of prehistoric areas; it is affiliated with the University of Bologna in collaboration with the Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures – Polish Academy of Sciences.
In 2016, the mission discovered the earliest case of vitamin C deficiency in the skeleton of a young child found in a village dated to the Predynastic period (3800–3500 BCE). A study of this case was also published in the International Journal of Paleopathology.
Archaeologists reveal 4,000-year-old rock-cut tomb, artifacts in Saqqara
A team of Egyptian and Japanese archaeologists has unveiled a rock-cut tomb believed to be more than 4,000 years old and a myriad of artifacts spanning different historical periods during its current excavation season in Saqqara Necropolis.
Waseda University and the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) are conducting a joint study at the Saqqara Necropolis. Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities confirmed the finds on Saturday.
In a Facebook post, the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said: “The joint Egyptian-Japanese archaeological mission between the Supreme Council of Archaeology and Waseda University has succeeded in uncovering a rock tomb from the Second Dynasty, a number of architectural elements, burials and archaeological finds in the Saqara region.
“The mission has carried out recording and archaeological documentation of all the archaeological finds found this season.
The discovery “provides invaluable insights into the history of this region,” said Nozomu Kawai, head of the Japanese team.
According to Ahram Online, the discoveries include the remains of a human buried with a colored mask and the burial of a small child, both of which are thought to date back to the Second Dynasty. According to experts, the tomb dates from 2649 to 2150 BC.
The architectural marvel, thought to date back to the Second Dynasty, has intricate designs and provides insight into the craftsmanship of ancient Egyptian builders.
The tomb’s design and the pottery discovered within it are important indicators for understanding its historical context.
An artifact at the burial site in Saqqara, Giza Governorate, Egypt, where a team discovered a Second Dynasty tomb and more artifacts at the Saqqara excavation site.
Other artifacts include a coffin from the 18th Dynasty (1550-1295 BC) containing a well-preserved alabaster vessel. Burials from the Ptolemaic eras were also uncovered.
Two terracotta statues depicting the ancient Egyptian goddess Isis, a deity initially prominent in funerary practices, and the child deity Harpocrates, the god of silence and secrets in the Ptolemaic periods were also discovered.
Among the notable finds are the remains of a human burial with a colored mask.
According to Ahram, the trove of discoveries included various amulets, pottery models, and ostraca, which are pieces of broken pottery with hieratic inscriptions (cursive scripts used in ancient Egypt).
Kawai said that the mission has documented all the discoveries. “We hope to uncover more secrets of the Saqqara archaeological site in the upcoming seasons, further enriching our understanding of this historically significant area,” he stated.
Archaeologists have made a shocking discovery after a re-examination of a mummified teen mom who died in childbirth
Archaeologists have made a shocking discovery after re-examining the mummified remains of a teen mom aged just 14–17 who died in childbirth more than 1,500 years ago.
What makes the find both horrifying and extraordinary at the same time, is one fetus and placenta found in the pelvic area, and another in the chest.
Researchers analyzed the mummified remains of a teenage girl who died during childbirth in ancient Egypt, revealing that the young mother-to-be was in the process of delivering twins when she died. Unfortunately, the labor took a negative turn when the first baby’s head became stuck in the birth canal, resulting in the deaths of both infants and the mother.
In Egypt’s Kharga Oasis, the teen mom was discovered in 1908 at the El Bagawat cemetery. The researchers noted that she had been extensively layered with “a great quantity of salt,” an ancient Egyptian practice known for its desiccating properties that effectively dried out the entire body. The body was dated to the Late Dynasty in ancient Egyptian history, spanning from 404 to 343 BC.
Field notes from the time reveal that she was found with a fetus and placenta between her legs, leading to the conclusion that she had died from obstetric complications.
Using computed tomography (CT) scans of the body, the George Washington University team revisited the mummy after over a century to ascertain precisely what might have gone wrong. The scans revealed the presence of a second fetus within the woman’s chest cavity, indicating that she was carrying twins.
More startling revelations were to come when the researchers noted that the infant placed between the woman’s legs was missing its head. Upon closer examination, they realized that the baby’s head was still lodged in the mother’s pelvis, leading them to suspect that the fetus had become decapitated during the birthing process.
(a) CT scan of mummy. Circle indicates fetal skull, ribs and long bones lodged in chest cavity. (b) The CT scans detected another fetus lodged in the mummy’s chest cavity, displaying long bones, ribs, neural arches, crania, and five hand bones.
The study authors describe this outcome as a case of “traumatic fetal decapitation,” a rare consequence of breech presentations, i.e., feet first during childbirth.
“This is a rare find,” Francine Margolis, one of the study authors, told McClatchy News. “There are several examples of women dying during childbirth in the archaeological record (one was a twin pregnancy). However, there has never been one found in Egypt.”
The second fetus discovered in the woman’s chest cavity raised some mystery.
According to the researchers, it’s possible that the embalmers were not aware of the twin pregnancy and forgot to remove the second fetus before mummification.
According to IFL Science, the unborn twin may have moved from the womb to the chest cavity as the mummy’s diaphragm dissolved.
“This examination of the mother and her children at birth reconfirms how dangerous pregnancy, labor, and delivery was, especially during this time period,” write the study authors.
The ancient Egyptians held a deep reverence for symbolism, balance, and order, and these beliefs extended to their views on procreation and childbirth.
A spell found on ancient papyrus, the Oracular Amuletic Decree, said, “We shall (cause her) to conceive male children and female children. We shall keep her safe from a Horus-birth, from an irregular birth and from giving birth to twins.”
Spells and incantations like this one reveal a cultural aversion to twin births, seeking protection from “irregular birth” and giving birth to twins. The tragic story of this young mother and her unborn twins is a tragic reminder of the difficulties that ancient women faced during childbirth.
Thousands of ignored ‘Nummi Minimi’ Coins Found in the Ancient City of Marea in Egypt
Numismatists from the Faculty of Archaeology at the University of Warsaw have examined thousands of previously ignored small coins (Nummi Minimi) discovered in the ancient city of Marea, located 45 kilometers southwest of Alexandria. Their findings are reshaping the literature’s established understanding of monetary circulation in Egypt at the end of antiquity.
Marea, known as Filoksenite during the Byzantine period was a large port town located to the south-west of Alexandria. In Ancient times it was famous, among other things, for its excellent wine which was sold in all parts of the Mediterranean.
Located on Lake Mariut near Alexandria, it was an important port in the Roman and Byzantine times, and probably existed already in the Ptolemaic times. As it was linked by canals to the Nile and the Mediterranean Sea, also products from Upper Egypt were brought there.
The importance of Marea is evidenced by the four long piers, the longest of which (125 m) was built from strong stone ashlars bound with waterproof mortar. It developed remarkable infrastructure and architecture during the reign of Emperor Justinian, and it became an important place of rest for pilgrims en route to the tomb of Saint Menas, one of the most famous martyrs in Christian history, which is situated in the Egyptian desert.
The Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology UW (University of Warsaw) has been conducting archaeological research in Marea since 2000. The current work is supervised by Professor Tomasz Derda.
Currently, excavations are underway in the extensive bath complex. Excavations also continue in the large basilica built during Justinian’s reign.
Vandal coin. Photo: Warsaw University
A team of numismatists from the Faculty of Archaeology of the University of Warsaw, led by Dr. Piotr Jaworski, examined nearly 8,500 Byzantine and Umayyad coins.
Among them, they discovered several treasures, such as the remains of pouches and thousands of coins lost by the city’s inhabitants and pilgrims who stayed in the city before the last stage of the pilgrim trail to Abu Mena.
‘The importance of the research we conduct in Marea cannot be overestimated, because the material culture of this rich Byzantine city gives an idea about the most important city in the region – Alexandria.
Due to the rapid development of the city in the 19th and 20th centuries, the possibilities of conducting archaeological research there are extremely limited, and the state of research on monetary finds is far from satisfactory,’ says Dr. Piotr Jaworski.
The results of numismatic research conducted in Marea (Filoksenite) are surprising because they paint a picture of monetary circulation in Egypt at the end of antiquity that differs from that known from literature. Most existing publications focus on the coinage of Byzantine Alexandria.
An important exception and basic reference material for Polish numismatists is the body of finds from nearby Abu Mena, compiled by Hans-Christoph Noeske.
Research findings show that before the Umayyad caliphs took power, Egypt seemed to be part of an economic zone extending far beyond the territory of the country and covering large areas of the eastern Mediterranean, and the closest similarity of the monetary circulation model can be found in today’s Israel.
According to the University of Warsaw press release, these important findings were possible primarily due to focusing on the most numerous (approximately 75 percent of the total number of finds), although seemingly least attractive group of coins: those with a diameter of only a few millimeters, called nummi minimi.
Ostrogothic coin. Photo Warsaw University
The majority of “nummi minimi” were stored in bags, numerous remnants of which were discovered at the site. These coins have been largely marginalized in scientific publications until now. However, numismatists from the University of Warsaw decided to examine each specimen, even the smallest and poorly preserved ones.
Thanks to this, they discovered that in the group of “nummi minimi” found in Marea (Filoksenite), coins minted in Carthage by the Vandal kings predominated and, subsequently, after the recovery of Africa from the barbarians, by Justinian.
The researchers also identified Ostrogothic small coins, which – like Vandal coins – began to flow widely into the eastern Mediterranean after the Ostrogothic kingdom was ended by Justinian.
Among the coins found in Marea, a significant percentage are local Egyptian imitations. They include coins inspired by the coinage of the Kingdom of Aksum and imitations of Byzantine coins minted in Alexandria. A surprisingly large number of them are called “blanki,” that is, empty coin discs made of copper or lead that functioned as spare coins.
