Amarna versus Pompeii
How does an Egyptian city compare with a Roman city? The publication of a splendid new book on Amarna by Professor Barry Kemp prodded me to compare Amarna with a Roman city and the best Roman city to...
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Book Review: Cyrenaica
Cyrenaica Philip Kenrick Silphium Books/Society for Libyan Studies, £19.99 ISBN 978-1900971140 The last guide to this part of Libya was published in 1945, and implored: ‘Please assist the work of...
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Book Review: Living with the Dead
Living with the Dead Nicola Harrington Oxbow, £38.00 ISBN 978-1842174937 A highlight of this nifty little book is its guide to identifying the deceased in a scene on an Ancient Egyptian tomb wall...
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Book Review: The Tomb of Tutankhamun
The Tomb of Tutankhamun The Tomb of Tutankhamun Howard Carter The Folio Society, £75 ‘Wonderful things’ is what Howard Carter described seeing when he peered into the tomb of Tutankhamun for the first...
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CWA travels to Glorious Ethiopia
Exploring the rich heritage of an African empire Oliver Gilkes travelled to the land of the Grand Negus, or king of kings, to explore this vast country’s unique archaeological heritage Ethiopia must...
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Earliest Egyptian Embalmers
The original excavation of Late Neolithic graves at Mostagedda, Egypt, in the 1930s. Funerary wrappings from a Late Neolithic cemetery in Upper Egypt reveal mummification techniques that are 1,500...
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CWA travels to Carthage
Exploring the city that ruled the Mediterranean The famous city of Carthage – centre of sea power in the Mediterranean, birthplace of Hannibal, and backdrop to the tragic love story of Dido and Aeneas...
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Ancient mummy brain
Remains of preservative substances imprinted by lines of the artery around the brain. Imprints left by blood vessels surrounding the brain are visible inside the skull of a 2,000-year-old Egyptian...
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Object Lesson: Giant scarab beetle
What is it? This giant statue of a scarab beetle, dating to c.332-30 BC during the Egyptian Ptolemaic period, is over 1.5m in length, and stands almost 1m tall. This makes it one of the largest known...
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Pharaoh dies in battle
The skeleton of the pharaoh Woseribre Senebkay lies on a table. The king’s body was originally mummified, but robbers ripped the body apart. Pharaoh Senebkay (c.1650–1600 BC) is the earliest Egyptian...
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Object Lesson: mummified cat
What is it? This small wooden coffin contains the mummified remains of a cat and dates to the Ptolemaic period of Ancient Egypt, c.305-30 BC. Animals were highly honoured throughout Egyptian history....
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Restoring Tutankhamun
The golden death mask of Tutankhamun is being restored after its beard became detached during maintenance work in 2014. A member of staff at Cairo Museum, where the famous mask is held, accidentally...
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Ancient Egyptian police and punishment
Stab wounds found on Ancient Egyptian skeletons suggest corporal punishment was used at the New Kingdom site of Amarna. Analysis of bones from the non-elite South Tombs Cemetery show sharp-force...
View ArticleEgyptian medicine
To early Orientalists, they were exotic people who used arcane ritual and repulsive medicines; but in Antiquity, Egyptian doctors were regarded as the epitome of medical excellence. Prof. Rosalie David...
View ArticleChinese coin in Kenya
Excavations on Manda, an island off the coast of Kenya, have revealed a 600-year-old Chinese coin linked to the expedition of Admiral Zheng He, the celebrated Ming Dynasty explorer. Found in a midden...
View ArticleRamming home truths
Discovered by British divers off the coast of Tobruk, Libya, in 1964, the Belgammel Ram would have been fixed to the upper bow of a small Greek or Roman warship to break enemy oars. Now extensive...
View ArticleMeet the mosaic ancestors
Australopithecus sediba had a mixture of primitive and modern anatomical features, and a unique way of walking, newly published research says. The first fossilised remains of the hominid, which lived...
View ArticleInterview: Dr Zahi Hawass in his own words
Egypt's former Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs fell into archaeology by chance, yet it came to dominate his life. Dr Zahi Hawass talks to CWA about how he discovered his passion for his...
View ArticleBook Review: Horemheb: the forgotten pharaoh
Horemheb: The Forgotten Pharaoh Charlotte Booth Amberley, £9.99 ISBN 978-1445610184 Coming to the throne shortly after Akhenaten and Tutankhamun, Horemheb is often overshadowed by his more famous...
View ArticleEgypt’s Archaeology and Revolution
Chris Naunton, Director of the Egypt Exploration Society It is worth reminding ourselves just how thrilling archaeology in Egypt has continued to be, despite the widely held belief that there probably...
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