Portal:Ancient Egypt/Ancient Egypt news/Archives

2010

• February 2010: A colossal head of Amenhotep III is discovered.
• February 2010: King Tutankhamun's parents were identified using genetic samples. Based on the test results, he is the son of the skeletal remains found in KV55, (who is now thought "most probably" to be Akhenaten) and whose mother was identified as The Younger Lady mummy who was found in KV35.

2008-9

• In November 2008, a new pyramid belonging to a 6th dynasty queen Seshseshet was discovered[1] 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, jewelry, and textile fragments. A facial reconstruction of one female mummy is planned.

2007

• 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.
• On November 4th, 2007, the body of the pharaoh Tutankhamun was placed in a climate-controlled glass case inside his tomb. The move will protect the body from decay caused by rising humidity levels from tomb visitors. Tutankhamun's face is now visible to the public; the body is covered in a linen shroud.
• In September 2007, Zahi Hawass announced that a number of clay pots and baskets bearing royal seals were rediscovered in the treasury of the tomb of the pharaoh Tutankhamun. Archaeologist Howard Carter had discovered, but not opened, them when the tomb was first found in 1922.
• In June 2007 it was announced that Hatshepsut's mummy had been identified, decisive evidence coming from a molar found in a wooden box that was inscribed with her name, originally found in 1881 among a cache of royal mummies hidden away for safekeeping in a near-by temple. The tooth has been conclusively proven to have been removed from the mummy's mouth, fitting exactly an empty socket in the mummy's jawbone.

2006

• A 125–ton statue of Rameses II was moved in August, 2006, from a congested square in downtown Cairo to a more serene home near the Great Pyramids in a bid to save it from corrosive pollution. Around it there will be built the new Grand Egyptian Museum.
• On February 8, 2006, the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities announced the discovery of a previously unknown and intact tomb in the Valley of the Kings. The discovery was the first new tomb to be revealed in the Valley since the discovery of KV62, the tomb of Tutankhamun, by Howard Carter in 1922. The actual date on which the discovery was made has not yet been revealed.
• A new temple has been discovered at Heliopolis (ancient Iunu), near modern Cairo. An Egyptian-German team has uncovered the remains of a sun-temple dating back to the time of Ramesses II.
• French diving archaeologists believe they have discovered the foundation of the ancient lighthouse of Pharos in Alexandria, the seventh Wonders of the World.