* Astronomy

A settlement dating back to the time of the pyramid builders was discovered in Egypts western desert, the first find of its kind there, Egypts Supreme Council for Antiquities (SCA) said on Monday.
A joint Egypt-Czech archaeological mission found a city dating to the Old Kingdom (2687-2191 BC) in the Garat Al Abyad region in Bahariya, SCA chief Zahi Hawass said, referring to an isolated oasis 400 kilometres southwest of Cairo.

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The centuries-old search for the mummy of Hatshepsut, the most famous queen to rule ancient Egypt, could end today in a Cairo museum.
Zahi Hawass, Egypt's chief archaeologist, will hold a news conference in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo, to announce the discovery of one of the most powerful female monarchs of the ancient world, hailed by some as the most important find since that of King Tutankhamun.

"Queens, especially the great ones like Nefertiti and Cleopatra, capture our imaginations. But it is perhaps Hatshepsut, who was both king and queen, who is the most fascinating" - Mr Zahi Hawass.

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An ancient site where gold flakes were hand-ground from rare ores has been uncovered by archaeologists working along the banks of the river Nile.
The gold processing facility supplied the precious metal to one of the richest kingdoms of antiquity and the first to arise in the sub-Sahara - the kingdom of Kush, which dominated a 750-mile-long sprawl across what is now northern Sudan.
The civilisation gained prominence in 2000BC and developed political and military might allowing it to flourish for five centuries. The borders of the kingdom were marked by cataracts along the Nile - stretches of rapids and rocky terrain that were unpassable by boat

Archaeologists from the University of Chicago have discovered a gold processing centre along the middle Nile, an installation that produced the precious metal sometime between 2000 and 1500 B.C. The centre, along with a cemetery they discovered, shows that first sub-Saharan kingdom, the kingdom of Kush, controlled a larger area than previously thought. In another year, the area where they are working will be covered with water because of the damming of the Nile.
The team also excavated a cemetery where they uncovered burials with artefacts that suggest the region was part of the Kingdom of Kush, which would have ruled an area much larger than previously believed. Such discoveries show that the kingdom, the first in sub-Saharan Africa to control a territory as much as 750 miles in length.

This work is extremely exciting because it can give us our first look at the economic organization of this very important, but little known ancient African state. Until now, virtually all that we have known about Kush came from the historical records of their Egyptian neighbours, and from limited explorations of monumental architecture at the Ku****e capital city Kerma. The Oriental Institute excavations at Hosh el-Geruf will allow scholars to understand the rural sources of the riches of Kush - Gil Stein, Director of the Oriental Institute.

The University of Chicago expedition is part of an international recovery project underway intended to find artefacts related to Kush and other civilizations that flourished in the area before archaeological sites are covered by a steadily rising Nile. The area is being flooded by Hamdab or Merowe Dam, located at the downstream end of the Fourth Cataract. The lake to be formed by this dam will flood about 100 miles of the Nile Valley in an area that had previously seen no archaeological work.

Source University of Chicago