With a click of his computer mouse, Peter Janosi, a lecturer at the Institute of Egyptology in Vienna, analyses ancient statues and decodes hieroglyphs unearthed in the distant Giza Necropolis. From the comfort of his study in Norwich, England, Colin Newton, a retired television repairman, explores rare Giza maps and expedition diaries in an effort to catalogue all Old Kingdom tombs. Meanwhile, Laurel Flentye, an Egyptologist who specialises in art and archaeology, downloads excavation photos and roams inside subterranean chambers, zooming in on relief decorations in tombs around the Sphinx and Great Pyramid from her Cairo home. They are virtual explorers, travelling through time and space via an online, interactive collection of one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world -- the Old Kingdom Giza Necropolis, with its royal tombs, pyramids, temples, and other Egyptian monuments circa 2500 BC.
The site of a 1,600-year-old metropolis 200 miles south of Cairo, in Egypt, that was first identified by satellites has been confirmed by new excavations. The discovery is the result of a larger project to map as much of ancient Egypt's archaeological sites, or "tells," as possible before they are looted, destroyed or covered by modern development.
"It is the biggest site discovered so far. Based on the coins and pottery we found, it appears to be a massive regional centre that traded with Greece, Turkey and Libya" - Sarah Parcak, project leader, University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Another large city dating to 600 B.C. and a monastery from 400 A.D. are some of the four hundred or so sites that Parcak has located during her work with the satellites; The oldest of which dates back more than 5,000 years.
"There are thousands of settlements that Egyptians don't even know are there. Nothing will ever destroy the Pyramids or the Temple of Luxor, but these huge settlement sites where we get a lot of information are being threatened. And that's how we find out how people lived" - Sarah Parcak
A tomb of an Egyptian courtier who lived about 4,000 years ago was discovered by Belgian archaeologists, Egypt's culture ministry has said. The team from Leuven Catholic University accidentally found the tomb, one of the best preserved of its time. They were excavating a later burial site at the Deir al-Barsha necropolis near the Nile Valley town of Minya, 225 km south of Cairo. The tomb belonged to Henu, an estate manager and high-ranking official during the first intermediate period, which lasted from 2181 to 2050 BC and was a time of political chaos in ancient Egypt.
Egyptian officials Tuesday welcomed the return of an ancient Pharaoh's hairs that were nearly sold on the Internet by a French postal worker with a vow that foreigners would never again examine royal mummies.
"The matter is finished and I thank French authorities for having done what was necessary" Farouk Hosni, culture minister.
Ancient Phallic Stones Uncovered Some 16 phallic stones have been uncovered in Gedeb Woreda, Gedo Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples State, the Zonal Trade and Industry Department said. The discovery of the stelae adds to attractions in the area for tourists to come and marvel at, especially in connection with the Ethiopian Millennium celebrations, it said.
The relics of St Joan of Arc are not the remains of the fifteenth-century French heroine after all, according to European experts who have analysed the sacred scraps. Instead, they say the relics are a forgery, made from the remains of an Egyptian mummy. Joan was burned at the stake in 1431 in Rouen, Normandy. The relics were discovered in 1867 in a jar in the attic of a Paris pharmacy, with the inscription "Remains found under the stake of Joan of Arc, virgin of Orleans". They were recognized by the Church, and are now housed in a museum in Chinon that belongs to the Archdiocese of Tours.
Strands of hair from the head of the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II came home to Egypt on Monday after the son of a French laboratory worker tried to sell them on the Internet, the state news agency MENA said. An Egyptian archaeological mission had flown to Paris to bring home the strands, apparently taken from the mummy of Ramses when it went to France for treatment in the 1970s. The seller had said he obtained the relics from his deceased father, who worked in the laboratory entrusted with analysing and restoring the mummy. He had offered to provide certificates of authenticity to buyers.
"It is well known that the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids; they regarded these structures as a national project for ancient Egypt" - Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities.
Hawass filed an official complaint to the Egyptian attorney general of Egypt against a Cairo high school for teaching the students that it was the Israelites who built the pyramids. Hawass, prominent figure in Egyptian culture and around the Arab world, criticized the school curriculum for "insisting that the Jews built the pyramids and highlighting the fact that those who refused to partake in the building were physically tortured."
The longstanding debate over who built the five pyramids of Giza, West of Cairo, was rekindled at the first official visit of an Israeli delegation to Egypt, in 1977.
A mud brick tomb dating back more than 4,000 years has been discovered near Egypt's most ancient pyramid in the Saqqara complex south of Cairo, antiquities official announced Monday. The tomb, which was found by an Egyptian-Australian mission, belonged to Ka-Hay, who kept divine records, and his wife. Excavators found five wooden statues depicting the tomb's owner and his wife in a niche at the tomb's forefront. Among the wooden figures was a unique double statue of a seated Ka-Hay and his wife The tomb, which also features two offering tables and a wooden false door, was found near the famous Step Pyramid of King Djoser - believed to be Egypt's oldest pyramid - in the necropolis of King Teti, a funerary area containing scores of burial chambers, false doors that ancient Egyptians said the souls of the dead would use to leave their tombs, and temples. The necropolis where the mud brick tomb was found is built alongside the collapsed pyramid of Teti, who ruled during ancient Egypt's 6th dynasty, more than 4,300 years ago. The Ka-Hay tomb dates back to the late 5th or early 6th dynasty.
A team of Latvian specialists exploring Egypt's ancient pyramids have rediscovered a forgotten column from the Djoser Pyramid in Saqqara, Egypt. The column had been taken to a Berlin Museum, but went missing from its collection during World War II bombing. A team of Latvian specialists exploring Egypt's ancient pyramids have rediscovered a forgotten column from the Djoser Pyramid in Saqqara, Egypt. The column had been taken to a Berlin Museum, but went missing from its collection during World War II bombing.