12 Most Incredible Finds of Ancient Egypt.

Egypt is a treasure trove for archaeologists, with an abundance of ancient artifacts still waiting to be discovered. As one of the most significant civilizations of the old world, the ancient Egyptians left behind an impressive legacy. Some of the most exceptional archaeological findings in all of human history come from Egypt. You'll see plenty of them in this video. Archaeologists from Poland excavating the ruins of Old Dongola in Sudan confirmed in March 2023 that they've made a significant discovery of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics inscribed on sandstone blocks. Old Dongola was the capital of the Nubian Kingdom of Markuria, situated in northern Sudan on the eastern bank of the River Nile. The kingdom emerged during the 5th century CE after the collapse of the Nubian Kingdom of Kush and was at its peak during the 9th to 11th century. It extended from the area along the Nile from the Third Cataract to parts of northern Cordofan. The recent excavation has revealed over 100 blocks of white sandstone inscribed with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics dating back to the 25th Dynasty of Egypt, also known as the Nubian Dynasty. These blocks were originally part of a structure, possibly a temple, built in the first half of the 1st millennium BCE, which is the earliest example of human activity identified on the site. The discovery is significant because it pushes back the known history of Old Dongola by over a thousand years. As this is an active archaeological site, there might be more to come from it. The Kurta rock art, a series of engraved images of birds, animals, and some human figures, was discovered in 2005 on sandstone cliffs that border the east side of the Egyptian Upper Nile Valley floodplain. According to an analysis of grains of sediment blown into the rocks from the banks of the Nile, the art is a minimum of 15,000 years old. A technique called Optically Stimulated Luminescence, or OSL, dating was used to determine the age of the carvings, which was confirmed in 2011. It's possible the art could be even older because the carvings display signs of having already weathered before becoming covered in sediment. 17,000 years isn't a bad estimate, and it could even be closer to 19,000 years. This study confirms the Kurta rock art to be the first known Pleistocene art in North Africa. We're lucky there was still enough archaeological evidence at the site to make such an accurate assessment because sediment wouldn't normally remain in situ for so long. It only did so here because it was covered by a thick layer of sandstone debris. Archaeologists working at the ancient Temple of Budo in the Khafre-el-Sheikh governorate, Egypt, made a significant new discovery in November 2022. A team from the Supreme Council of Antiquities has uncovered the remains of a colonnaded hall after completing the excavation work. Dr. Mostafa Waziri, the Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, called the discovery an important contribution to understanding the architectural design of the temple. The site covers 11 acres and is surrounded by a large brick wall. While it was probably founded during the New Kingdom, it flourished during the Seyte period. The hippo-style hall, which contains three partially preserved papyrus-shaped columns, is located at the southwest end of the temple, and the ruins may date back to the Seyte period. Further discoveries were also made at the site. The team found a limestone slab depicting a bird-headed deity wearing a white crown, possibly associated with either the goddess Nekhbet or goddess Mut. Additionally, the excavation uncovered a limestone crypt that was possibly used for storing votive statuettes. Excavation work is ongoing, with the hope of uncovering more evidence about this area and its influence on Egyptian culture. A collaborative archaeological mission between Spain and Egypt has discovered a group of tombs from the Persian, Roman, and Coptic periods in the Upper Egyptian government of Menya. The team, comprising the University of Barcelona and the Egyptian Supreme Council of Archaeology, excavated 22 tombs in total at the Al-Banasa archaeological site, also known as the Oxyrhynchus. The discovery of unspoiled tombs is of significance as the Al-Banasa site was first excavated in 1897 and has been ransacked by looters over the past century. With numerous artifacts that ended up on the black market later identified as originating from the site. Six funerary complexes were discovered dating from the Roman and Persian periods, while 16 individual tombs belonging to the Coptic Byzantine period, which reflects the cultural shift to Coptic Christianity from ancient Egyptian religion until the Muslim conquest of Egypt in the 7th century. The Roman tombs, built from limestone, were found with the lids missing, suggesting they were likely robbed during antiquity. The Coptic-era tombs are rectangular in shape and contain burials covered with decorative shrouds. This is the most significant discovery here since the 1897 expedition found thousands of Greek papyri, all of which are now in England. The Botanical Garden of Thutmose III, located within the Temple of Amun-Re and created in the time of the New Kingdom 3,400 years ago, is a unique structure even by ancient Egyptian standards. It is composed of three rooms, including two antechambers and a large sanctuary, with the large sanctuary being the actual botanical garden. Accessible only through a calcite door high off the ground, which can be reached through a staircase, the antechamber leading to the garden was unusually wide and required four pillars to hold up the ceiling. Sculptures of sphinxes flanked the outer pillars facing north, and the walls were adorned with intricate carvings and designs depicting the king and gods performing rituals and celebrations. The sanctuary contained eight nooks carved into the wall, where divine statues were placed, including a granite statue of Thutmose III. The walls of the sanctuary featured detailed carvings of various plants and animals collected by Thutmose III, who expanded the boundaries of Egypt and amassed a collection of rare species. The carvings depicted these animals and botanical collections and were used by the pharaoh's artists to illustrate the scenic beauty of the garden back when it was teeming with life. The British Museum currently houses a large double statue of the pharaoh Horemheb and his wife Amenia. The artifact was discovered at an unknown time in an unknown place, and the identity of the sitters in the sculpture remained equally unknown for many years. The statue was acquired by the British Museum in 1839 from the Anastasi collection. The original provenance of the statue was uncertain, with Thebes or Saqqara suggested as possible sites. However, the latter was deemed more likely based on the origins of a group of similar double statues and the areas where Anastasi acquired most of his collection from. The identities of Horemheb and Amenia were confirmed in 2009 when a multinational team of excavators found a missing piece from the statue in Horemheb and Amenia's burial chamber, specifically three clasped hands. A plaster cast was made of the clasped hands and was a perfect match for the missing part of the double statue. The statue depicts the husband and wife sitting on a throne with lion's legs, both wearing long tunics and wigs popular in 18th-dynasty Egypt. The double statue is unique in that it shows the wife clasping her husband's hand with both of hers. Bebit el-Hagar is a historical village and archaeological site in Lower Egypt that contains the ruins of an ancient Egyptian temple dedicated to the goddess Isis called Iseon. The location is situated in the Garbia Governorate along the Dymieta branch of the Nile, close to Sebenitos and Mansoura. It was part of the Gnome of Sebenitos in ancient times. The site was mentioned in Egyptian texts as early as the New Kingdom. Isis was associated with the region of Sebenitos as early as the 5th Dynasty, and her cult may have originated there. However, major monuments dedicated to her weren't constructed until the 30th Dynasty when her temples in Philae and Bebit el-Hagar were built. These two temples were parallel, with Philae serving as the primary cult center in Upper Egypt and Bebit el-Hagar as its lower Egyptian counterpart. Construction of the Iseon started during the reign of Nectanebo II and was completed during the reign of Ptolemy III. Unlike most Egyptian temples that were constructed with limestone or sandstone, the temple at Bebit el-Hagar was entirely built with granite. That makes the fact that it appears to have been deliberately destroyed even stranger, as it would have been hard to do so. Learning how to weave fabric to make clothes was an important step forward for human civilization, and it's a step that we took a very long time ago. The best way to demonstrate that is to show you the Tarkin dress, which is the oldest woven garment in the world. The dress was found inside a tomb in 1912 by the famous Egyptologist William Flinders Petrie as he excavated an ancient Egyptian cemetery in Tarkin. The tomb was built during Egypt's First Dynasty era of 5,200 years ago, so Petrie assumed the dress was the same age. It took the invention of carbon dating tests to prove him right, but his assumption was correct. The tests proved that the dress is somewhere between 5,200 and 5,400 years old. Aside from being the oldest known woven garment, it's also the world's oldest known dress of any kind. Textiles like this are highly perishable, so the fact that the dress has survived for so long is a near miracle. It doesn't quite prove that weaving was invented in Egypt, but it's a possibility we have to consider. The Osirion is a megalithic structure located at Abydos, behind the temple of Seti I in Egypt. Its original purpose is still unknown, but it's thought to be part of Seti's funeral complex, possibly designed to resemble an 18th-dynasty valley of the king's tomb. The Osirion features a stone-paved island in the center, chambers in both wings, and a water basin around the island, which was likely used as a well. Access was via a long stone-lined passage. The Osirion is unique in Egypt due to its massive blocks, numerous trilithons, extraordinarily narrow and regular joints, and lack of round pillars. With the exception of the valley temple in Giza, archaeologists Flinders Petrie and Margaret Murray discovered the Osirion during their excavation of the site in 1902 and 1903. The Osirion was originally built at a lower level than the foundations of the temple of Seti I. Despite controversy about its true age, Peter J. Brand's 1998 dissertation on Seti, which emphasizes the numerous cartouches of Seti found inscribed at the site, suggests that it can be dated confidently to Seti's reign. The Dacher boats are a collection of funeral boats from ancient Egypt that were discovered near the tomb of the 12th dynasty pharaoh, Senesret III. Initial reports of their discovery said there were six boats, but later reports state that there were only ever five. The boats were found in 1894 and 1895 by French archaeologist Jacques de Morgan during excavations in the Plain of Dacher. Currently, the locations of only four of the boats are known. The Carnegie Boat and the Chicago Boat are in the United States, located in the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh and the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, respectively. The Red Boat and the White Boat were originally displayed in the Cairo Museum, but were later relocated to the Charm-el-Chic Museum. Each boat is around 30 feet long and made of cedar wood with white decks and green or yellow holes. They're thought to have been used to carry the body of Senesret III down the Nile and then transported to his pyramid by sledges. The sledges were found buried next to the boats during excavations. The Seated Scribe, sometimes referred to as the Squatting Scribe, is one of the most remarkable pieces of ancient Egyptian art ever recovered. The strikingly lifelike sculpture is another discovery from Saqqara, but was found there in the Avenue of Sphinxes that leads to the Serapeum of Saqqara in 1850. Egyptologists have been able to date the piece to the time of either the 5th or 4th dynasties of the Old Kingdom, making it somewhere between 4,400 and 4,600 years old. As is implied by the name, the delicately painted limestone statue depicts a seated scribe at work. The eyes of the statue are the most lifelike aspect of it and are made from rock crystal and magnesite. In a curious detail, the nipples of the statue are made from wood. We don't know whether the person depicted in the sculpture is real or imagined, but the semicircular base of the piece implies that it was once fitted to a larger piece of rock, which may have included a name, a title, or both. The thin lips and broad chest of the sculpture have drawn comparisons to Perhernifer, a high official who was alive at around the right time and is recorded in other works of art, but the resemblance isn't so striking that we can be sure it's him. Howard Carter's team obtained many fine items from the Tomb of Tutankhamun when they opened it in 1922, including King Tut's death mask. Some of those artifacts are more famous than others, though, and one of them that you might not have heard about before is the Lotus Chalice, which is also sometimes known as the Wishing Cup. Experts believe that it was created during the king's reign or that it may have been made specifically to be buried with him, in which case it was made somewhere between 1332 and 1323 BCE. Impressively, the entire chalice is carved from a single piece of alabaster. Several inscriptions are engraved into its surface, including a dedication to the memory of Tutankhamun, which reads, May you live, may you spend millions of years, you who love Thebes, sitting with your face to the north wind, with your eyes beholding happiness. The same inscription was carved into the gravestone of Howard Carter himself when he passed away. The one-of-a-kind chalice is now on display inside the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Subscribe to the channel and turn on notifications, and you'll be the first to know when a new video comes out. Thank you for watching!