History

Egypt begins restoring ancient boat near pyramids

An Egyptian and Japanese team of scientists use a pulley system to lift the first of 41 16-ton limestone slabs to reveal fragments of the ancient ship of King Khufu next to the Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt, Thursday, 23 June, 2011. Archaeologists have begun the excavation process of a 4,500-year-old wooden boat encased underground next to the Great Pyramid of Giza, Egyptologists announced Thursday. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
21 Feb 2012
CAIRO — Archaeologists on Monday began restoration on a 4,500-year-old wooden boat found next to the pyramids, one of Egypt's main tourist attractions. The boat is one of two that were buried next to the Pharaoh Khufu, spokesmen...
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Minister: 2% of artifacts stolen during security vacuum

20 Feb 2012
Two percent of historical artifacts held in government storehouses were stolen during the period of lax security that followed the 25 January revolution, Minister of Antiquities Mohamed Ibrahim Ali said Monday. In a meeting with...
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Chicago's Field Museum opens rare, brief exhibit of mummies from Egypt, Peru

A well preserved ancient Egyptian mummy lies inside a limestone sarcophagus in 2009.  
19 Feb 2012
CHICAGO — Chicago's Field Museum has opened a rare display of mummies from its own collection. Many of them haven't been seen by the public since the World's Columbian Exposition, held in the city in 1893. The exhibit is...
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Radwa Ashour on the train of images of the Egyptian revolution

"Narrating the Arab Spring" conference is taking place at Cairo University from 18 to 20 February.
19 Feb 2012
“I will speak Arabic.” Those were Radwa Ashour’s first words for the keynote speech in the “Narrating the Arab Spring” conference, which started on Saturday at Cairo University, and will be held held over the...
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Egypt’s Museums: A look into the 'GEM,' Part I

Egyptian Museum reopened for tourists, Tahrir Square, Cairo, 21 February, 2011.
17 Feb 2012
On 10 January, almost 20 years since the idea was first conceived, Antiquities Minister Mohamed Ibrahim Ali announced that the third and final phase of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) is finally underway. Based on an open tender, a...
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Egypt's mummies divulge secrets in modern Scotland

World cultures keeper Henrietta Lidchi poses for a photograph looking at a coffin of Ankhhor during a media viewing of the 'Fascinating Mummies' exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, Scotland February 10, 2012.
15 Feb 2012
Modern technology reveals the secrets kept for thousands of years by Egyptian mummies in a major exhibition at Scotland's National Museum. Scientists used advanced scanning techniques on the mummified corpses of a young woman and a...
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A new kind of documentary

In February 2011, software developer Yasmin Elayat and video journalist Jigar Mehta decided to put together a “crowd-sourced documentary film” entitled "18DaysInEgypt," which would harness the myriad media produced over the course of the 18 days to tell the story of the 25 January revolution.
09 Feb 2012
Nearly a year since Hosni Mubarak’s resignation, the phrase “18 Days in Egypt” has become very familiar, with some variation of it serving as the title of maybe a dozen small documentary film projects. But "18 Days...
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Almost 3,000-year-old tomb of female singer found in Egypt

Temple of Karnak which is considered one of the most important Pharaonic monuments
16 Jan 2012
Swiss archaeologists have discovered the tomb of a female singer dating back almost 3,000 years in Egypt's Valley of the Kings, Antiquities Minister Mohamed Ibrahim Ali said Sunday. The rare find was made accidentally by a team from...
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Ancient Coptic city discovered in New Valley

Roman era basilica
30 Nov 2011
A Supreme Council of Antiquities mission has discovered a Coptic city dating back to the fourth century. The city is located in the Ain al-Sabil area of the New Valley Governorate. In the middle of the city, a basilica church was found,...
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Dead Sea Scrolls, free at last

The digitization of the Dead Sea Scrolls by the Israeli Antiquities Authority and Google marks the pinnacle of open access, though completing the process of digitization will take years. 
10 Nov 2011
The Dead Sea Scrolls were fated to a controversial place in history. After being secreted away in a cave, supposedly by an ancient monastic Jewish community, they lay hidden for nearly 2000 years until being discovered in 1947 — just...
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