Artifacts

Ancient Egypt is renowned for its rich and diverse collection of artifacts, which provide valuable insights into the civilization’s history, culture, and daily life. These are just a few examples of the vast array of artifacts that have been unearthed in Ancient Egypt. They provide invaluable insights into the beliefs, practices, and achievements of this remarkable civilization.

Heset Ewer of Ahmose I

Heset Ewer of Ahmose I

Hes-ewers were used for pouring ritual libations. It is not known how it came to be in the tomb of Psusennes I in Tanis on the east bank of the Nile in Lower Egypt. Ahmose fought against the Hyksos, and it is possible that it came from a monument of his reign in the eastern...

Old Kingdom Mummy: The “Sleeper” of Abydos

This remarkably preserved Old Kingdom mummy offers a rare insight into early Egyptian burial practice, revealing a period when the body was arranged not in rigid formality, but in carefully composed repose. Through its posture, materials, and craftsmanship, it preserves a fleeting moment of ancient ritual, belief, and human care. He was laid down as...

Mummy of Irthorru

Irthorru was a man who once rose each day not to fields or markets, but to the presence of a god. Living in Akhmim near Thebes around c. 600 B.C., Irthorru belonged to Egypt’s quiet elite; not a king, not a warrior, but a priest entrusted with one of the most intimate sacred duties imaginable;...

Mummy of Bashiri

The Mummy of Bashiri is one of the most arresting survivals of Ancient Egyptian funerary art, not because of what has been revealed, but because of what has been deliberately left untouched. Now displayed in the Musée du Louvre, the mummy dates to the Ptolemaic Period, roughly the late fourth to first centuries B.C., a...

The Honouring of Horemheb

This finely carved limestone relief once adorned the tomb chapel of Horemheb, at a time when he was still a general serving under Tutankhamun. It records a moment of high ceremonial theatre, showcasing Horemheb’s huldiging, or formal honouring, for military and diplomatic success. At the centre, attendants place heavy gold collars around Horemheb’s neck. This...

Statuette of Isis suckling Harpocrates

Statuette of Isis suckling Harpocrates

Seated figure of Isis suckling Harpocrates (identifiable with the so-called ‘Isis lactans’ motif). The goddess is wearing a hathoric crown, consisting of a solar disc with horns resting on a stylised uraeiform modius. She is wearing a tripartite wig decorated with incised vertical streaks and with a stylised vulture headdress. The goddess is wearing an...

The First Old Kingdom Genome Study: The Genetic Roots of Ancient Egypt

This article below is a summary for a novice reader to grasp, for the full study, read here. The Genome of NUE001, an Old Kingdom Egyptian from Nuwayrat For centuries, the story of Ancient Egypt has been reconstructed from stone, art, and text. Temples, tombs, reliefs, and inscriptions have long been our primary witnesses. In...

The Coffin of Bakenmut

Crafted from sycamore fig wood, a timber long associated in Ancient Egypt with rebirth and divine protection, this coffin was carefully gessoed and painted, allowing its richly symbolic decoration to gleam with colour and meaning. Measuring 208 × 68 cm, its surface becomes a canvas for theology, memory, and hope for eternal renewal. The coffin...

Ram Amulet

Carved from deep-hued jasper, this finely worked ram’s head amulet embodies the divine authority of Amun, the supreme god favoured by the Kushite rulers of Ancient Egypt’s 25th Dynasty. For the kings of Nubia, Amun was not merely a patron deity but the very source of royal legitimacy, worshipped above all at Napata and the...

Kneeling Woman from Senenmut’s Tomb

This limestone relief fragment (Met Museum. 36.3.239) once formed part of a statue niche in the offering chapel of Senenmut, the influential official of the female pharaoh Hatshepsut. The surviving hieroglyphs above a kneeling woman most likely identify her as “his beloved sister Ahmose,” a reading reinforced by a wooden Osiris figure dedicated to a...