Early Dynastic Baboon Figurines by Sarah Preece
These are photographs of a set of baboon figurines in the British Museum taken by Sarah Preece. (Sarah is primarily a nature and potrait photographer so she loved these little figures. They are small, maybe just a couple of inches tall, maybe 3″.) The group dates to the 1st or 2nd Dynasty and were found [more…]
By Sarah Preece
Ethnic origin of Ramesses I?
A question from Derek Martin. Is there any evidence that Ramesses I could have could have had a degree of Hyksos ancestry? Ramesses I was born in Avaris, the old Hyksos capital, his father’s name was Seti (the Hyksos chose the Egyptian God Set, because he was closest to their own God Ba’al) and he [more…]
Islamic items from Egypt in the Tareq Ragab Museum, Kuwait. By Barbara O’Neill
The Tareq Ragab Museum, Kuwait opened in 1980 primarily to house a vast private collection of Islamic art and calligraphy. Dar El Cid (Image 1) the exhibition hall of the museum is home to a rare, privately-owned set of David Roberts Lithographs of Egypt, Nubia and the Holy Land. While its focus is [more…]
Tomb of the Overseer of the Treasury Maya, Saqqara, by Kate Gingell
Editor’s Note: The team resp0nsible for the excavation and restoration of the tomb have provided an excellent summary of both Maya and his tomb on the Saqqara.nl website. In the administration of Tutankhamen, Maya was a contemporary of the General Horemheb, who later became Pharaoh, and both were involved in stabilising Egypt following the [more…]
By Kate Gingell
Tomb of Horemheb, Saqqara, by Kate Gingell
Editor’s Note We are most grateful to Kate Gingell for supplying us with a short series of photographs that she took at Saqqara. Her photos from the tomb of Horemheb are lovely. Horemheb was an important army general of the 18th Dynasty who became the last pharaoh of that dynasty, following Tutankhamen and [more…]
By Kate Gingell
Serabit el-Khadim by Francis Lankester
Editor’s note: Serabit el-Khadim, in south-west Sinai, was a turquoise and copper mine exploited from the Predynastic period onwards. Most of the surviving remains, including mining shafts and tunnels, inscriptions carved into the surrounding rocks, stelae and a temple complex date to the Middle and New Kingdoms. The main deity of the [more…]
Question about healthcare facilities
We’ve had a query from andrea@hydeinc, who works in healthcare facility design and would like to know if any healtchare facilities have been identified from Ancient Egypt and how they wre laid out. She is particularly interested in floor plans and what sort of access to daylight and water were provided, with a view to [more…]
By Andrea Hyde
Exhibition spotlight: ‘Before the Pyramids’ at the Oriental Institute
The following short article provides a virtual tour of some of the items on show in the recent exhibition from the Oriental Institute Museum’s 2011 exhibit, Before the Pyramids: The Origins of Egyptian Civilization, at the University of Chicago. [more…]
By Brian Alm
Tombs at Djanet (Tanis) by Francis Lankester
A second set of photographs by Francis Lankester from Djanet, this time capturing the tombs at the site. [more…]
Tomb K64 in the Valley of the Kings – The Story as it Broke
This brief article was written on 15th January when the discovery of Tomb KV64 in the Valley of the Kings was formally announced. Please refer to the Addendum of 18th January for the latest news, which also corrects some of the orginal report. The tomb was announced in Luxor by Mansour Boraik in Luxor and [more…]
Djanet (Tanis) by Francis Lankester
Editor’s Comment: Our thanks to Francis, who wrote the article Who Is King Scorpion?, for the above set of photographs of Djanet ( – hold the cursor over the hieroglyphs to view them) , more commonly known by its Greek name Tanis. Located in the eastern Delta, Tanis was particularly important during the Third [more…]
Paneb – “The All Round Bad Guy”
In Joyce Tyldesley’s Judgment of the Pharaohs, Tyldesley makes several references to an individual at Deir el-Medineh named Paneb, whom she describes evocatively as “the all round bad guy” (2000, p.127). In this short article, I have brought together some of the misdemeanours outlined in a letter known as Papyrus Salt 124 (BM 10055) for a closer look at this colourful character. [more…]
Lecture Review: Dancers, Donkeys, and Dirt: New Discoveries from the Time of the Black Pharaohs from South Asasif, Egypt
Dr Pischikova recently gave a fascinating lecture on the rediscovered Twenty-fifth Dynasty early Kushite tomb of Karakhamun (TT 223) in the South Asasif necropolis, situated in Luxor’s West Bank. The lecture took place on 24th November 2011 in the Friends of the Egypt Centre in Swansea, south Wales (U.K.). [more…]
Help researching Ankhesenamum
I have been an armchair egyptologist for over 50 years. I have two main interests in Egyptology; Ankhesenamum and Tutmania. As a psychologist, I have long been interested in the impact of the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun as a social and cultural phenomenon and as an aspect of popular culture to the present [more…]
Valley of the Kings from the Theban Hills by Heidi Kontkanen
A set of photographs of the Valley of the Kings near Luxor taken in December 2011. These days there is a photography ban in the Valley of the Kings so these were taken from the Theban Hills looking down into the valley. There is a second set to follow in a couple of weeks. There [more…]
Fatimid Rock Crystal in the V&A Museum, London
There are three items on display at present, although the V&A inventory implies that there are other similar objects on display in their collection. They can be found on the ground floor to the left of the central lobby in the Islamic Art section. Multiple views of the large rock crystal ewer have been provided [more…]
By Sarah Preece
Notes on the Goddess Pakhet
In her article on Hatshepsut in the December 2011 edition of the Magazine, Barbara O’Neill mentions the deity Pakhet. The following introduces what little is known about this elusive deity. Pakhet was represented in the form of a woman with a lion’s head (figure 1- click to see the bigger image). She looks very like leonine representations of Sekhmet and Bastet and was often associated with them. [more…]
Bust of Ptolemy I – British Museum
In addition to the usual variety of our photo albums, occasionally I like to add a small album of photos of a single item which can be used as a rescource for those writing about the topic. We know first hand how hard it can be to source images. So the images in this album [more…]
Illustrations from 1849
As a variation from photographs here are some illustrations from the Nineteenth Century: The British Museum. Egyptian Antiquities. Volume 1. Published by M.A.Nattali. 1849. p.259. By George Long. The book is now out of copyright and the scans are my own. The illustrations have a particular charm and elegance to them that readers may [more…]
By Andie
Wanted – Pictures of Dyntasty 0 Scorpion Items
We have a forthcoming article on the Scorpion King and it is proving hard to find pictures of some items without copyright restrictions. If anybody has any suitable photographs we could use, could you please contact me in the next few days. Thanks Kate [more…]
By Kate