Book of the Dead: The ancient Egyptian guide to the afterlife The “Book of the Dead” is a modern-day name given to a series of ancient Egyptian texts that the Egyptians believed would help the dead navigate the underworld, as well as serve other purposes. Copies of these texts were sometimes buried with the dead.  … Continue reading Book of the Dead: The ancient Egyptian guide to the afterlife →

Stone Age discovery shows Homo sapiens survived in the Kalahari Archaeological evidence in a rock shelter at the edge of the Kalahari Desert, South Africa, is challenging the idea that the origins of our species were linked to coastal environments. “Our findings from this rock shelter show that overly simplified models for the origins of … Continue reading Stone Age discovery shows Homo sapiens survived in the Kalahari →

The mummified face of Pharaoh Seti I hailed for its superior preservation The mummified face of Menmaatre Seti I known as Sety I of the New Kingdom’s Nineteenth Dynasty pleasantly surprised Egyptologists with its superior preservation. His face is regarded as one of the best preserved in the world as well as in Ancient Egypt’s … Continue reading The mummified face of Pharaoh Seti I hailed for its superior preservation →

New Thoughts on Africa’s Bantu Expansion The study used novel computational approaches and linguistic data from more than 400 Bantu languages to reconstruct the historic migration routes. The project was a collaboration between scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and researchers at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. … Continue reading New Thoughts on Africa’s Bantu Expansion →

Temple Dedicated to the Sun God Unearthed in Egypt Archaeologists have unearthed the remains of a 4,500-year-old temple dedicated to the Egyptian sun god Ra at the site of Abu Ghurab, about 12 miles (20 kilometres) south of Cairo.  The temple was built sometime during ancient Egypt’s fifth dynasty (circa 2465 B.C. to 2323 B.C.) … Continue reading Temple Dedicated to the Sun God Unearthed in Egypt →

Neolithic Watermelons May Have Been Valued for Their Seeds The oldest known seeds from a watermelon relative, dating back 6,000 years to the Neolithic period, were found during an archaeological dig in Libya. An investigation of these seeds led by biologist Susanne S. Renner at Washington University in St. Louis reveals some surprises about how … Continue reading Neolithic Watermelons May Have Been Valued for Their Seeds →

The Legendary Emerald Tablet and its Secrets of the Universe The origins of Western alchemy can be traced back to Hellenistic Egypt, in particular to the city of Alexandria. One of the most important characters in the mythology of alchemy is Hermes Trismegistus (Hermes the Thrice-Great). The name of this figure is derived from the … Continue reading The Legendary Emerald Tablet and its Secrets of the Universe →

2,700-year-old ancient Egyptian stroke victim discovered The recent medical inspection of the mummy in Egyptian led to a novel discovery believed to be one of, if not the earliest examples of a stroke in an Egyptian mummy. Upon examination, a research team from the Spanish National Program for Scientific Research, Technology and Innovation concluded that … Continue reading 2,700-year-old ancient Egyptian stroke victim discovered →

Early Human Evolution: Hominin Fossils in “Cradle of Humankind” May Be a Million Years Older Than Thought The Famous Sterkfontein Caves deposit is 1 million years older than previously thought. New dates for the Australopithecus-bearing Sterkfontein Cave deposit place South African hominin fossils at the centre of global paleo research. Nearly four million years of … Continue reading Early Human Evolution: Hominin Fossils in “Cradle of Humankind” May Be a Million Years Older Than Thought →