A 5,000-year-old wooden boat used by the pharaohs is discovered by French archaeologists
French archaeologists have discovered a 5,000-year-old wooden boat in an expedition in Egypt, it has emerged. The significant discovery was made in Abu Rawash, west of Cairo, the antiquities ministry in Egypt said.
Mohammed Ibrahim, the antiquities minister, said: ‘It goes back to the era of Pharaoh Den, one of the First Dynasty kings’.
The six-metre long and 1.5-metre wide pharaonic solar boat ‘is in good condition,’ he added.
Discovery: French archaeologists have discovered a 5,000-year-old pharaonic solar boat in an expedition in Egypt, it has emerged
Its planks are now undergoing renovation before it is put on display in a museum.
The pharaohs believed that solar boats, buried close to them at death, would transport them in the afterlife.
According to Middle East Online, the boat’s wooden sheets were transported to the planned National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation where they will be restored.
Once the museum is finished, it is expected they will be put on display at some point next year.
The group of French archaeologists were working for the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology (IFAO).
Significant: The discovery was made in Abu Rawash, west of Cairo
Stunning: An archaeologist is seen working on the skeleton of the newly discovered wooden boat. The pharaohs believed that solar boats, buried close to them at death, would transport them to the afterlife
The group first started its excavation work in Abu Rawash in the early 1900s.
In 1954 an Egyptian archaeologist discovered what may be the Pharaoh Khufu’s 43-metre solar ship, made of cedar, in a Giza pyramid.
The 4,500-year-old intact vessel is on display near the pyramid.
It is one of the oldest, largest, and best-preserved vessels from antiquity and has been identified as the world’s oldest intact ship.
It is known as a ‘solar barge’, a ritual vessel to carry the resurrected king with the sun god Ra across the heavens.
Experts claim material from Tutankhamun’s dagger may have come from outer space
A gold-hilted dagger found in the tomb of King Tut surprised archaeologists when they discovered that it was made of a material forged in outer space. Now, two new studies are painting conflicting pictures of the origins of the mysterious weapon, which may have been wielded by arguably the most famous ancient Egyptian pharaoh.
A dagger made from meteors was found in the tomb of King Tut.
One of those studies on the dagger, made of iron from meteors, suggests it was manufactured in Anatolia (modern-day Turkey), while the other study indicates its Earthly origins are still a mystery.
At the time King Tutankhamun reigned (1333 B.C. to 1323 B.C.), iron smelting had not been invented yet, meaning the metal was a rare and precious commodity that often came from meteors.
In one of the new studies, published Feb. 11 in the journal Meteoritics & Planetary Science, researchers describe how an adhesive used on the dagger’s gold hilt was likely made of lime plaster, a material that was used in Anatolia at the time Tutankhamun reigned. This lime plaster, however, was not widely used in Egypt at that time, the researchers wrote.
Additionally, historical records found at the site of Amarna, in Egypt, show that Tushratta, the king of Mitanni in Anatolia, gifted at least one iron dagger to Amenhotep III (who reigned from about 1390 B.C. to 1352 B.C.), the grandfather of Tutankhamun, the researchers noted.
The team also found that the “iron blade was made by low-temperature heat forging at less than 950 °C [1,742 degrees Fahrenheit],” since a mineral called troilite and formations of iron-nickel crystals known as “widmanstätten patterns” could be seen on the dagger, the researchers wrote in the journal article.
This image shows results from the chemical analysis of both sides of the dagger’s blade.
A different viewpoint
However, in another study, published in the book “Iron from Tutankhamun’s Tomb” (American University in Cairo Press, 2022), researchers found that “it is currently impossible to arrive at a reliable conclusion as to the origin of Tutankhamun’s iron objects or the craftsmen and materials involved,” the research team wrote.
Those study authors noted that the “rock crystal” of the blade’s pommel is similar to artefacts widely used in the Aegean area, while the pommel’s “typically Egyptian shape suggests either manufacture in Egypt or foreign production for an Egyptian market,” the research team wrote. “As a result, no clear overall picture on the origin of the dagger’s handle and blade” can be made.
Scholars react
Live Science contacted several scholars not affiliated with either study to get their reactions.
Albert Jambon, a researcher at Sorbonne University in France who has conducted extensive research on artefacts made of meteor iron, was unconvinced by the findings that placed the manufacture of the dagger in Anatolia.
Jambon disputed the claim that the lime plaster was used as an adhesive. He noted that in the 1920s, limestone powder was used for the cleaning of some Tutankhamun artefacts and that the chemical tests used in the study detected this cleaning solution, not an adhesive.
Additionally, “the hilt and the blade are two separate parts” and could have been manufactured in different places, Jambon said in an email.
Marian Feldman, W.H. Collins Vickers chair in archaeology at Johns Hopkins University, said that if the team’s findings that the dagger was manufactured in Anatolia are correct, it “would be important confirmation that some of the luxurious objects found in Tutankhamen’s tomb were diplomatic gifts from abroad,” Feldman wrote in an email. More research is needed to confirm those findings, Feldman added.
35 Ancient Pyramids Discovered in Sudan Necropolis
Archaeologists excavating a site in Sudan have discovered 35 pyramids revealing fascinating links between the bygone Kingdom of Kush that once existed there and ancient Egypt.
The pyramids, which date back around 2,000 years, are smaller than most Egyptian examples with the largest being 22 feet in width and the smallest, likely constructed for the burial of a child, being just 30 inches.
The site in Sedeinga, northern Sudan, was part of the ancient kingdom of Kush which shared a border with Egypt and, later on, the Roman Empire.
Discovery: The skeleton of a child buried with necklaces around its neck was unearthed amid a complex of 35 pyramids discovered in Sudan
Some of the pyramids were discovered in the dig in Sedeinga in northern Sudan. Unusually some had a circle built inside them with cross-braces connecting the circle to the corners of the pyramid
Treasures: An amulet of the Egyptian god Bes who was often associated with children and pregnant mothers (left) and archaeologist Vincent Francigny shows with a steal, a stone slab used to keep records (right)
One factor that has surprised the team was how densely concentrated the pyramids were. In a single area of 5,381 square feet, roughly the size of a basketball court, they found 13 pyramids.
Sadly the condition of the pyramids has suffered from the presence of a camel caravan route and the long passage of time and none of the top sections remains intact.
Capstones, depicting either a bird or a lotus flower on top of a solar orb, have originally been placed at the top of the pyramids. Graves were discovered beside the pyramids in tomb chambers which were often found to have held more than one body.
Packed: One feature that surprised the team was how densely concentrated the pyramids were. In a single area of 5,381 square feet, roughly the size of a basketball court, they found 13 pyramids
Treasures: An offering table discovered at the site inscribed with ancient Meroitic writing (left) and a capstone which would have sat on the top of a pyramid-shaped like a lotus flower above a solar orb (right)
Sadly these graves had all been plundered, possibly many hundreds of years ago, however, the archaeologists did find skeletal remains and some artefacts. The archaeological team believes the building of pyramids at Sedeinga continued for centuries and was strongly influenced by Egyptian funerary architecture.
Vincent Francigny, a research associate with the American Museum of Natural History in New York, told LiveScience: ‘The density of the pyramids is huge.
‘Because it lasted for hundreds of years they built more, more, more pyramids and after centuries they started to fill all the spaces that were still available in the necropolis.
‘They reached a point where it was so filled with people and graves that they had to reuse the oldest one.’
Some of the pyramids were found to have been built with cross-braces connecting the corners to an inner circle. Interestingly only one pyramid outside of Sedeinga is known to have been built in this way.
Mr Francigny believes that when pyramid building came into fashion at Sedeinga it could have been combined with a local circle-building tradition called tumulus construction, resulting in pyramids with circles within them.
He added: ‘What we found this year is very intriguing. A grave of a child and it was covered by only a kind of circle, almost complete, of brick.’
A copper-alloy bowl was found in the tomb holding this skeleton (left).Sedeinga, in Sudan, sits near the River Nile which flows up into Egypt (right)One tomb held over 1,500 beads as well as Nile spiral shells which appeared to be the remains of one or more necklaces. Researchers were able to re-assemble them showing what they may have looked like (left) An almost complete bowl decorated with a frieze that resembles double axes with stars in between them
Among the artefacts discovered were depictions of Egyptian gods including Bes who is associated with children and pregnant mothers. One of the most interesting finds was an offering table depicting the jackal-headed god Anubis and a goddess believed to be Isis.
A dedication to a woman named ‘Aba-la,’ which researchers believe may be a nickname for ‘grandmother,’ was inscribed with ancient Meroitic writing – a script derived from Egyptian hieroglyphs.
Archaeologists discover a 2,600-year-old castle on Egypt’s border
A former military castle that experts think served as a gate to Egypt’s eastern border protecting it from the Persians 2,600 years ago has been unearthed. Discovered in North Sinai, the fortress is believed to date to 664-610 BC in the Psamtik era – the last before the Persian invasion in 525 BC.
Photos released from the dig reveal a number of items including metal arrowheads, stone daggers and figurines.
The building was discovered by an Egyptian archaeological mission and has been dated to almost three millennia ago, a hundred years before the Persians invaded Egypt.
An Egyptian archaeological mission has discovered remnants of a military castle (pictured) that dates back to the Psamtik era from 664-610 BC in North Sinai province.
According to Mr Hussein, it has encountered serious attacks that destroyed most of its buildings.
The remnants indicated two castles on the site and it’s thought the main castle which has 16 towers was built on the structure of unfinished construction.
During the excavation work, some rooms for the soldiers who were tasked with securing the castle were found.
Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, said in a statement: ‘The mud brick-constructed castle that belonged to the 26th dynasty is the oldest historically,’
He added that the 85-meter-long southern wall of the castle was built on a structure of another unfinished castle.
Discovered in North Sinai, the fortress is believed to date to 664-610 – the Psamtik era – the last before the Persian invasion in 525 BC. The photo above shows metal arrowheads discovered at the castle’s excavation site in Sinai
The remnants of two castles were found and it’s thought the main castle with 16 towers was built on the structure of an unfinished construction that came before. The above pictures released by Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities shows aerial views of the excavation
In a post on Facebook by the Ministry of Antiquities, the government agency said that it had located a tower previously standing on the northeast corner and the remains of the South-East Corner Tower, as well as parts of a southern wall.
‘So far, the excavation works are completed to discover the remains of architectural installations inside the castle,’ the post said.
‘This is the historic castle that the mission revealed on its eastern wall in 2008 and was built on the ruins of this castle another castle that has been previously revealed on the site.’
The Psamtik era which lasted from 664-610 BC was also known as the 26th dynasty, after which a battle led by Persian King Cambyses II defeated Psamtik III‘s army at the Battle of Pelusium, a city on Egypt’s eastern frontier.
Photos released from the dig revealed a number of items including metal arrowheads, stone daggers and figurines (pictured). The castle was discovered by an Egyptian archaeological mission and has been dated to almost three millennia ago
The castle stood a hundred years before the Persian invasion of Egypt in 525BC and could have acted as the main gate guarding the country’s eastern border. Stone daggers (pictured) and figurines were also revealed in the dig at North Sinai
The excavation indicated two castles on the same site with the later castle which has 16 towers was built on an unfinished construction. The occupation of Egypt, which began in 525 BC extended the Persian Empire, shown in purple above from what is now Turkey to Afghanistan
After only six months on the throne, Psamtik II went into battle with the Persian invasion led by King Cambyses II.
The Persians crossed Sinai with assistance from the Arabs, where the battle ensued at Pelusium.
The Egyptian military withdrew to Memphis, the traditional capital near Cairo and Cambyses besieged the Sinai and captured it, seizing Psamtik III.
The former king was initially well treated, but he was later executed for conspiracy against the Persians.
The Persian empire extended to a vast area that includes modern-day Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and lasted from the 6th century BC to the 20th century AD.
Ancient DNA reveals surprises about how early Africans lived, travelled and interacted
A new analysis of human remains that were buried in African archaeological sites has produced the earliest DNA from the continent, telling a fascinating tale of how early humans lived, travelled and even found their significant others.
Hora Rockshelter in Malawi, where recent excavations uncovered two of the individuals analyzed in a collaborative study of ancient DNA.
An interdisciplinary team of 44 researchers outlined its findings in “Ancient DNA reveals deep population structure in sub-Saharan African foragers.” The paper was published today in Nature and reports findings from ancient DNA from six individuals buried in Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia who lived between 18,000 and 5,000 years ago.
“This more than doubles the antiquity of reported ancient DNA data from sub-Saharan Africa,” said David Reich, a professor at Harvard University and investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute whose lab generated the data in the paper. “The study is particularly exciting as a truly equal collaboration of archaeologists and geneticists.”
The study also reanalyzed published data from 28 individuals buried at sites across the continent, generating new and improved data for 15 of them. The result was an unprecedented dataset of DNA from ancient African foragers — people who hunted, gathered or fished. Their genetic legacy is difficult to reconstruct from present-day people because of the many population movements and mixtures that have occurred in the last few thousand years.
Mt. Hora in Malawi, where recent excavations at Hora Rockshelter uncovered two of the individuals analyzed in a collaborative study of ancient DNA.
Thanks to this data, the researchers were able to outline major demographic shifts that took place between about 80,000 and 20,000 years ago. As far back as about 50,000 years ago, people from different regions of the continent moved and settled in other areas and developed alliances and networks over longer distances to trade, share information and even find reproductive partners. This social network helped them survive and thrive, the researchers wrote.
Elizabeth Sawchuk , an author of the study who is a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Alberta and a research assistant professor at Stony Brook University, said a dramatic cultural change took place during this timeframe, as beads, pigments and other symbolic art became common across Africa. Researchers long assumed that major changes in the archaeological record about 50,000 years ago reflected a shift in social networks and maybe even changes in population size. However, such hypotheses have remained difficult to test.
“We’ve never been able to directly explore these proposed demographic shifts, until now,” she said. “It has been difficult to reconstruct events in our deeper past using the DNA of people living today, and artefacts like stone tools and beads can’t tell us the whole story. Ancient DNA provides direct insight into the people themselves, which was the missing part of the puzzle.”
The Livingstone Museum in Zambia, where some of the skeletal remains in the study are curated.
Mary Prendergast, an author of the paper and associate professor of anthropology at Rice University, said there are arguments that the development and expansion of long-distance trade networks around this time helped humans weather the last Ice Age.
“Humans began relying on each other in new ways,” she said. “And this creativity and innovation might be what allowed people to thrive.”
The researchers were also able to demonstrate that by about 20,000 years ago, people had stopped moving around so much.
“Maybe it was because by that point, previously established social networks allowed for the flow of information and technologies without people having to move,” Sawchuk said.
Prendergast said the study provides a better understanding of how people moved and mingled in this part of Africa. Previously, the earliest African DNA came from what is now Morocco — but the individuals in this study lived as far from there as Bangladesh is from Norway, she noted.
“Our genetic study confirms an archaeological pattern of more local behaviour in eastern Africa over time,” said Jessica Thompson, an assistant professor of anthropology at Yale University, and author of the study and one of the researchers who uncovered the remains. “At first people found reproductive partners from wide geographic and cultural pools. Later, they prioritized partners who lived closer, and who were potentially more culturally similar.”
Ostrich eggshell beads from Mlambalasi Rockshelter in Tanzania, where one of the individuals in the study was buried.
The research team included scholars from Canada, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, the United States, Zambia and many other countries. Critical contributions to the study came from curators and co-authors at African museums who are responsible for protecting and preserving the remains.
Potiphar Kaliba, director of research at the Malawi Department of Museums and Monuments and an author of the study, noted that some of the skeletons sampled for the study were excavated a half-century ago, yet their DNA is preserved despite hot and humid climates in the tropics.
“This work shows why it’s so important to invest in the stewardship of human remains and archaeological artefacts in African museums,” Kaliba said.
The work also helps address global imbalances in research, Prendergast said.
“There are around 30 times more published ancient DNA sequences from Europe than from Africa,” she said. “Given that Africa harbours the greatest human genetic diversity on the planet, we have much more to learn.”
“By associating archaeological artifacts with ancient DNA, the researchers have created a remarkable framework for exploring the prehistory of humans in Africa,” said Archaeology and Archaeometry program director John Yellen of the U.S. National Science Foundation, one of the funders behind this project. “This insight is charting a new way forward to understanding humanity and our complex shared history.”
Earlier this year, scientists published a study of whole-body CT scans of 137 mummies: ancient Egyptians and Peruvians, ancestral Puebloans of southwest America, and Unangan hunter-gatherers of the Aleutian Islands.
This mummy was once Amenhotep III, King Tut’s grandfather.
They reported signs of atherosclerosis—a dangerous artery hardening that can lead to heart attacks or stroke—in 34 per cent of them. What struck the research team, led by Randall Thompson of Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, Missouri, was that it afflicted mummies from every group. Frank Rühli, head of the Swiss Mummy Project at the University of Zurich, also sees the condition in about 30 to 50 per cent of the adult specimens he studies.
The breadth of these findings suggests that atherosclerosis today may have less to do with modern excesses such as overeating and more with underlying genetic factors that seem present in a certain percentage of humans living almost anywhere in the world. Someday, identifying those genes could lead to new drugs for heart disease.
They’re now finding signs of everything from prostate cancer to malaria in mummies across the globe.
Ancient mummies can provide a wealth of information about the health of early civilizations, which may help us better treat diseases today. But because mummies are both rare and delicate, researchers have been limited in what they could do to them—and therefore what they could learn from them.
Recent improvements of two medical tools—DNA sequencing, which can reveal microbial infections, and CT scanning—are letting paleopathologists diagnose mummies’ causes of death in detail. They’re now finding signs of everything from prostate cancer to malaria in mummies across the globe.
By comparing the ancient forms of those diseases with their contemporary equivalents, researchers can learn how those diseases evolved, what makes them so harmful, and—possibly—how to stop them.
In the case of tuberculosis (TB), which kills upwards of 1.4 million people a year, researchers are using DNA sequencing and CT scans in mummies to understand what conditions TB thrives in and how to treat it.
Work from Haagen Klaus, a biological anthropologist at George Mason University, suggests that, contrary to what some experts think, Europeans might have brought a particularly deadly form of TB to the Americas.
His preliminary DNA data hints that Peruvian remains dating back to the 10th century—before Spanish explorers arrived—might have been infected with a more benign strain of the TB bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis, or a different species altogether, Mycobacterium kansasii. And many studies have shown that the bodies of Central Americans from before and after European contact rarely, if ever, show signs of TB symptoms. Klaus subscribes to the hypothesis that this may be because M. tuberculosis thrives in the presence of iron, and these people ate a low-iron diet with little meat. If true, this insight could point to new drugs that would inhibit M. tuberculosis from taking up an iron.
Researchers use magnetic resonance imaging to see inside mummies, such as this one from ancient Peru.
Researchers use magnetic resonance imaging to see inside mummies, such as this one from ancient Peru.
Other scientists are using DNA sequencing to investigate Chagas disease, an illness caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, which can cause fatal heart failure or swelling of digestive system organs.
The parasite infects roughly 10 million people, mostly in Latin America, and appears to be spreading. Some think that different strains of the parasite affect different organs. So in 2008, when Ana Carolina Vicente and Ana Jansen of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Rio de Janeiro reported their discovery of T. cruzi in the enlarged colon of a 560-year-old mummified body from Brazil, they might have come upon an important clue.
Previously, they found T. cruzi in a sample of bone remains from 4,500 to 7,000 years ago. Comparing the DNA of different samples of the parasite could reveal more about its evolution and spread, and perhaps influence treatment someday.
Paleopathologists are also taking advantage of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which detects signals from water.
Dry mummies haven’t been perfect for this technique, but recent improvements in MRI might make for better images of soft tissues, such as tongues. Plus, unlike the radiation from CT scanning, MRI has no possible risk of damaging DNA evidence.
Fossil child skull from 2.2 million years ago reveals how humans outsmarted the other great apes
A fossil more than two million years old could help explain why man became so brainy.
The Taung fossil, an early hominid that was discovered in South Africa in 1924, was a significant feature that could shed light on the evolution of intelligence.
The Taung fossil, an early hominid that was discovered in South Africa in 1924, was a significant feature that could shed light on the evolution of intelligence.
Importantly it has a ‘persistent metopic suture’ – an unfused seam – in the frontal bone, which allows a baby’s skull to be pliable in childbirth. In great apes, this closes shortly after birth but in humans, it doesn’t fuse until around two years of age – allowing brain growth.
The unfused seam allows babies to be born with larger brains, and the delay in fusing allows the brain to grow larger in early life, reports Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The Taung fossil has become the ‘type specimen,’ or main model, of the genus Australopithecus africanus.
An australopithecine is any species of the extinct genera Australopithecus or Paranthropus that lived in Africa, walked on two legs and had relatively small brains.
Dr Dean Falk, of Florida State University, said: ‘These findings are significant because they provide a highly plausible explanation as to why the hominin brain might grow larger and more complex.
‘The persistent metopic suture, an advanced trait, probably occurred in conjunction with refining the ability to walk on two legs.
‘The ability to walk upright caused an obstetric dilemma.
‘Childbirth became more difficult because the shape of the birth canal became constricted while the size of the brain increased. The persistent metopic suture contributes to an evolutionary solution to this dilemma.
‘The later fusion was also associated with an evolutionary expansion of the frontal lobes, which is evident from the endocasts of australopithecines such as Taung.’
Large Cache of Embalming Materials Discovered in Egypt
A team of Egyptologists from Charles University in Prague made the discovery in the western part of the ancient Egyptian necropolis of Abusir in the spring of last year when exploring a group of large shaft tombs located there.
The collection of large ceramic vessels, containing residues of various materials used during the mummification ritual, was found in one huge shaft, carefully placed in 14 layers.
The deposit, which dates back to the 6th century B.C., also included some other objects, says Jiří Janák from the Institute of Egyptology, who was one of the members of the research team:
“Among the objects, we found there were other smaller vessels as well as pieces of ashes from a fire that burned somewhere near the place where the person was mummified. We also found remnants of natron, a substance that the Egyptians used to dry the dead body.”
Experts also found residues of resins, oils or myrrh in the amphora-shaped containers. In addition to these, the deposit also contained four so-called canopic jars made of limestone, that were used for storing the viscera removed from the body during the embalming process.
“What we found were empty canopic jars, which had not yet been used. Interestingly, there were inscriptions on them including the name of the owner. That’s what helped us identify the person to whom this deposit belonged.”
So far, experts from the Czech Institute of Egyptology have only opened a part of the nearly 400 sealed vessels.
This year, they are going to continue to analyse the ceramic containers and their contents.
Another part of the team will be examining the adjacent structure right next to the mummification deposit. That will most likely be the tomb of the deposit’s owner, who, according to the inscriptions on the jars, was named Wahibre-mery-Neith.
The team of Czech Egyptologists has been working on the site in Abusir already since the 1960s and has one of the largest archaeological sites loaned by the Egyptians to foreigners, explains archaeologist Veronika Dulíková:
“Imagine an area that’s about two square kilometres in size. We have an amazing concession here with enormous potential.
We estimate that only around ten per cent of the total area has been explored so far.”
The burial site at Abusir has been continuously used throughout the whole of ancient Egypt’s history. Czech experts believe that the new discovery will shed more light on the process of mummification.
