The “Prosthetic Toe of Tabaket-en-Mut,” commonly called the Cairo Toe or Cairo Wooden Toe, is one of the oldest known functional prosthetic body parts in the world. The Cairo Toe is a wooden and leather prosthetic big toe discovered on the mummy of an Egyptian noblewoman named Tabaket-en-Mut, likely the daughter of a priest. Although...
In the late 19th century, when Cairo’s streets were a swirl of dust, donkeys, perfumed coffee, and antiquities hawkers. It was among these souqs (markets) which Sir Flinders Petrie, the legendary British Egyptologist, acquired a small, rough-hewn limestone head, scarcely 10–12 cm high. These markets were, at the time, half curiosity-shop and half archaeological gamble,...
A usekh collar (from the Egyptian wskh, meaning “broad” or “wide”) is a wide, multi-rowed necklace that spreads across the shoulders and chest and worn as a striking symbol of beauty, status, and splendour in Ancient Egypt. While many such collars were originally made from fresh flowers and other perishable materials, examples like this were...
There is something curiously moving about leather; the way it warms to the touch, takes on a soft lustre with age, and carries the faint memory of its maker. And so, amid the gilded splendour of the new Grand Egyptian Museum, it is not the golden mask nor the bejewelled sandals that capture the breath...
This elegant gold signet bears the young king’s throne name, Nebkheperure, identifying him as the earthly manifestation of the sun-god Ra. Each tiny sign, crisply cut into the oval bezel, would have impressed the royal name into clay or wax, sealing decrees with divine authority. When you look closer, one sees the sun disc of...
Among the most personal treasures found within the Tomb of Tutankhamun, were his sandals; over eighty pairs of them, discovered neatly stored in a wooden trunk and immortalised in Harry Burton (1879-1940)’s evocative black-and-white photographs. As expected, several pairs were in remarkably delicate condition, and yet, through painstaking modern restoration, their splendour lives again. Some...
Each year, on the last night of October, the western world observes Halloween; a festival of flickering lights and shadows, when children dress up in both whimsy and ghoulish costume, and the dead are remembered with sweets, stories, and laughter. Its name derives from All Hallows’ Eve, the vigil before All Saints’ Day, yet its...
In the village of Deir el‑Medina, on the West Bank of ancient Thebes, archaeologists in the early 20th century uncovered something curious: broken pieces of pottery, known as ostraca, inscribed with a tale of a ghost and a high priest. One shard, now held in Turin’s Museo Egizio (S.6619), was discovered in 1905 by Ernesto...
This finely carved diorite fragment once formed a full depiction Amun within a triad statue depicting him alongside his consort, the goddess Mut, and King Seti I. The composition would almost certainly have shown the king standing between the divine pair, as was customary in Ancient Egyptian art. In such triads, the pharaoh’s position between...
This gold band, once part of the neck of a silver vessel, offers a tantalising glimpse into the ritual and mythological world of Ancient Egypt during the reign of Ramesses II or shortly thereafter (circa 1279–1213 B.C.). Found at Tell Basta (ancient Bubastis) within the Temple of Bastet, the fragment bears rich symbolic decoration despite...
