Portal:Ancient Egypt
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For at least ten thousand years, the Nile valley has been the site of one of the most influential civilizations in the world which developed a vast array of diverse structures which we refer to as Ancient Egyptian architecture. The architectural monuments, which include the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Great Sphinx of Giza, are among the largest and most famous buildings in the world. Due to the scarcity of lumber, the two predominant building materials used in ancient Egypt were sunbaked mud brick (adobe) and stone, mainly limestone, but also sandstone and granite in considerable quantities.
Mask of Tutankhamun's mummy, the popular icon for ancient Egypt at The Egyptian Museum in Cairo.Nebkheperure Tutankhamun (alternately spelled with Tutenkh-, -amen, -amon), Egyptian twt-ˁnḫ-ı͗mn; *tuwt-ʕankh-yamān (1341 BC – 1323 BC) was a Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty (ruled 1333 BC – 1322 BC in the conventional chronology), during the period of Egyptian history known as the New Kingdom.
- ... that the ancient Egyptian temples of Dakka (pictured), Maharraqa, Wadi es-Sebua, Amada, and Derr were all dismantled in the 1960s and rebuilt elsewhere, to avoid the rising waters of Lake Nasser created by the Aswan Dam?
- ...that the Two Ladies was a euphemism used for the Ancient Egyptian deities Wadjet and Nekhbet, represented on the royal crowns of the merged Upper and Lower Egypt as a cobra and a vulture, respectively?
Professor Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie FRS (3 June 1853 – 28 July 1942), known as Flinders Petrie, was an English Egyptologist and a pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology. He excavated at many of the most important archaeological sites in Egypt such as Abydos and Amarna.
Petrie was encouraged to pursue his interest in archaeology from an early age, and the accurate surveying techniques he learned from his father were put to use in his 1880 survey of the Great Pyramid at Giza, making him the first to investigate properly how they were constructed. On that visit he was appalled by the rate of destruction of monuments and he described Egypt as "a house on fire, so rapid was the destruction" and felt his duty to be that of a "salvage man, to get all I could, as quickly as possible and then, when I was 60, I would sit and write it all down."
Petrie took complete control over his excavations and removed the pressure on the workmen to find treasures quickly but sloppily. Though he was regarded as an amateur and dilettante by more established Egyptologists, his careful attention to detail and investigation of the seriation of pottery allowed him to accurately establish the chronologies of ancient sites. In 1923, Petrie was knighted for his services. Petrie's innovative and careful excavations cataloged in his 97 books revolutionized the study of ancient Egypt and cemented his legacy as the founder of modern Egyptology.
In November 2008, a new pyramid belonging to a 6th dynasty queen Seshseshet was discovered[2] at Saqqara. The pyramid's base is 22 meters square and stands 5 meters in height (originally 14 meters). Discoverer Zahi Hawass' stated that the discovery will enrich our understanding of 6th dynasty pyramids.
The remains of an unidentified Old Kingdom pyramid were rediscovered at Saqqara in June 2008, along with a section of an avenue of sphinxes dating to the Ptolemaic period.
In March 2008, the Temple of Hathor at Dendara reopened after a site-management program. Visitors are welcomed at a new visitor's center, and can see a replica of the famous zodiac ceiling now in the Louvre. The main temple dates from the time of Ptolemy XII in the 1st century BC.
In February 2008, an American archaeological mission from UCLA found an almost intact Neolithic settlement and the remnants of a Graeco-Roman village in the Faiyum. The discovery may change archaeologists' understanding of the dating and sequence of the Faiyum Neolithic period.
In January 2008, a Russian-American archaeological mission discovered a group of well-preserved Graeco-Roman mummies in the Faiyum. Also found were a gilded mask, jewelery, and textile fragments. A facial reconstruction of one female mummy is planned.
In May 2007 the intact tomb of the courtier Henu was discovered at Deir el-Bersha and dates from the late First Intermediate Period. The tomb was accidentally uncovered by a Belgian archaeological team from the Katholieke Leuven University. The tomb contained a collection of wooden models of daily life scenes, a coffin and painted statue of the deceased. The find shows that the necropolis at the site was in use after the end of the Old Kingdom.
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- Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria
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- Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario
- Redpath Museum, McGill University, Montreal
- Egypt
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- Egyptian Museum of Berlin – Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung
- Staatliche Sammlung für Ägyptische Kunst in Munich
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- Ägyptologische Sammlung der Universität Heidelberg
- Kestner-Museum Hannover
- Ägyptisches Museum Leipzig
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