The ultimate book on King Tut and his tomb--the most exciting archaeological find the world has ever known.
The fabulous treasures of Tutankhamun have fascinated the public since their discovery by Howard Carter in 1922. Many books have been written about the boy king and his tomb, but this volume by world-renowned Egyptologist Zahi Hawass provides the reader with a unique perspective on this extraordinary archaeological find. Images by pioneering photographer Sandro Vannini offer distinctive views of almost 200 of the spectacular artifacts found at the burial site.
"King Tutankhamun" uses carefully selected objects to illustrate the entire ten years of painstaking excavation and documentation carried out by Carter and his team. Organized to follow the chambers of the tomb in the order in which they were excavated, it illuminates the site's most magnificent artifacts.
An experienced field archaeologist who has made many important discoveries himself, Dr. Hawass imbues the text with his own unique voice, imagining how exploration of the tomb must have felt for Carter and providing invaluable information about the objects. Sandro Vannini's photographs are extraordinary as well, allowing the objects to be seen in even more detail than is possible with the naked eye. 324 color illustrations, including 26 foldouts.

A brilliant introduction to Egyptology, this book describes the mysterious story of the lost pharaohs. Lowered into a crevice thirty feet deep by the Priests of the Necropolis, the mummies of the lost pharaohs were undisturbed for three thousand years. Their discovery and its incredible impact on the field of Egyptology form just one episode of this fascinating book, which also covers the construction of the pyramids, the City of the Dead, and many other topics. Leonard Cottrell, author of numerous BBC radio documentaries on ancient Egypt, offers the general reader a story that is both entertaining and factual, ably conveying the romance and mystery which draw so many to the study of ancient Egypt.

Written by the late keeper of Egyptian and Assyrian antiquities in the British MuseumRa - Sun God - Almighty, Immortal and Invisible. Osiris - God of Resurrection Isis and HorusCreation, Judgement and Resurrection concepts

In this book, Sabine R. Huebner explores the world of the protagonists of the New Testament and the early Christians using the rich papyrological evidence from Roman Egypt. This gives us unparalleled insights into the everyday lives of the non-elite population in an area quite similar to neighboring Judaea-Palestine. What were the daily concerns and difficulties experienced by a carpenter's family or by a shepherd looking after his flocks? How did the average man or woman experience a Roman census? What obstacles did women living in a patriarchal society face in private, in public, and in the early Church? Given the flight of Jesus' family into Egypt, how mobile were the lower classes, what was their understanding of geography, and what costs and dangers were associated with travel? This volume gives a better understanding of the structural, social, and cultural conditions under which figures from the New Testament lived.

This student-friendly introduction to the archaeology of ancient Egypt guides readers from the Paleolithic to the Greco-Roman periods, and has now been updated to include recent discoveries and new illustrations. Superbly illustrated with photographs, maps, and site plans, with additional illustrations in this new edition Organized into 11 chapters, covering: the history of Egyptology and Egyptian archaeology; prehistoric and pharaonic chronology and the ancient Egyptian language; geography, resources, and environment; and seven chapters organized chronologically and devoted to specific archaeological sites and evidence Includes sections on salient topics such as the constructing the Great Pyramid at Giza and the process of mummification

In this important and timely publication, top international scholars present current research and developments about the art, archaeology, and history of the ancient city of Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage site located in Syria. Palmyra became tragic headline news in 2015, when it was overtaken by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), which destroyed many of its monuments and artifacts. The essays in this book include new scholarship on Palmyra's origins and evolution as well as developments from both before and after its damage by ISIS, providing new information that will be relevant to current and future generations of art historians and archaeologists. The book also includes a moving tribute by Waleed Khaled al-Asa'ad to his father, Khaled al-Asa'ad, the Syrian archaeologist and head of antiquities at Palmyra, who was brutally murdered by ISIS in 2015 for defending the site.

This rich and magisterial work traces Palestine's millennia-old heritage, uncovering cultures and societies of astounding depth and complexity that stretch back to the very beginnings of recorded history. Starting with the earliest references in Egyptian and Assyrian texts, Nur Masalha explores how Palestine and its Palestinian identity have evolved over thousands of years, from the Bronze Age to the present day. Drawing on a rich body of sources and the latest archaeological evidence, Masalha shows how Palestine's multicultural past has been distorted and mythologised by Biblical lore and the Israel-Palestinian conflict. In the process, Masalha reveals that the concept of Palestine, contrary to accepted belief, is not a modern invention or one constructed in opposition to Israel, but rooted firmly in ancient past. Palestine represents the authoritative account of the country's history.

Published in the year 2005, Everyday Life In Ancient Egypt is a valuable contribution to the field of Ancient Egyptian History.

In this iconoclastic and provocative work, leading scholars Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman draw on recent archaeological research to present a dramatically revised portrait of ancient Israel and its neighbors. They argue that crucial evidence (or a telling lack of evidence) at digs in Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon suggests that many of the most famous stories in the Bible -- the wanderings of the patriarchs, the Exodus from Egypt, Joshua's conquest of Canaan, and David and Solomon's vast empire -- reflect the world of the later authors rather than actual historical facts.

Challenging the fundamentalist readings of the scriptures and marshaling the latest archaeological evidence to support its new vision of ancient Israel, The Bible Unearthed offers a fascinating and controversial perspective on when and why the Bible was written and why it possesses such great spiritual and emotional power today.

The Material World of Ancient Egypt examines the objects and artifacts, the representations in art, and the examples of documentation that together reveal the day-to-day physical substance of life in ancient Egypt. This book investigates how people dressed, what they ate, the houses they built, the games they played, and the tools they used, among many other aspects of daily life, paying great attention to the change and development of each area within the conservative Egyptian society. More than any other ancient civilization, the ancient Egyptians have left us with a wealth of evidence about their daily lives in the form of perishable objects, from leather sandals to feather fans, detailed depictions of trades and crafts on the walls of tombs, and a wide range of documentary evidence from temple inventories to personal laundry lists. Drawing on these diverse sources and richly illustrating his account with nearly one hundred images, William H. Peck illuminates the culture of the ancient Egyptians from the standpoint of the basic materials they employed to make life possible and perhaps even enjoyable.

This book examines the interplay between astronomy and dynastic power in the course of ancient Egyptian history, focusing on the fundamental role of astronomy in the creation of the pyramids and the monumental temple and burial complexes. Bringing to bear the analytical tools of archaeoastronomy, a set of techniques and methods that enable modern scholars to better understand the thought, religion, and science of early civilizations, Giulio Magli provides in-depth analyses of the pyramid complexes at Giza, Abusir, Saqqara, and Dahshur, as well as of the Early Dynastic necropolis at Abydos and the magnificent new Kingdom Theban temples. Using a variety of data retrieved from study of the sky and measurements of the buildings, he reconstructs the visual, symbolic, and spiritual world of the ancient Egyptians and thereby establishes an intimate relationship among celestial cycles, topography, and architecture. He also shows how they were deployed in the ideology of the pharaoh's power in the course of Egyptian history.

In 1930 five young archaeologists embarked on an expedition to Egypt to investigate the site of Tell el Amarna, city of Akhenaten and Nefertiti. In this book Mary Chubb recalls her initiation into the world of Egyptology and the discoveries that she and her team made. It is an account of life on an excavation and includes a portrayal of the excavation's director, John Pendlebury.

Did a volcano part the Red Sea? Have scientists found Eve? Was the pharaoh of the Oppression a woman? Did the Jordan River really cease flowing the day Jericho fell?

A brilliant author, scientist, and adventurer who has been called "the real Indiana Jones," Dr. Charles Pellegrino takes us on a remarkable journey from the Nile to the Tigris-Euphrates rivers -- crossing time, legend, and ancient lands to explore the unsolved mysteries of the Old Testament. Return to Sodom and Gomorrah is an epic saga of discovery that interweaves science, history, and suspense --the first book ever to bring archaeologists, scientists and theologians together to examine the same evidence. In this enthralling revelatory adventure, Pellegrino introduces us to dedicated pioneers like Benjamin Mazar, Leonard Woolley, and T. E. Lawrence, who retraced the steps of Moses to demystify the Exodus and the Flood. In the process, he enables us to view ancient relics in an extraordinary new light -- as both fascinating windows on the past and vivid signposts to the future.

Tutankhamun puts the boy king's short life into context by describing and explaining the complexities of life in Ancient Egypt. Covering the work of earlier Egyptologists, it details the actual discovery and original expedition, drawing on the personal archives of Howard Carter himself. On 26 November 1922, Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun. The world was entranced. Never before had a tomb been found in such a perfect condition, with all the richness of its contents still intact. The stories that have since grown up around the discovery of the tomb and of the boy king who lay undisturbed for over 3,000 years have become legendary and continue to fire imaginations around the world. This book tells those stories, and uncovers the reality behind them.

The links between archaeology and the Bible have fascinated generations of archaeologists and biblical scholars who seek documentation of events narrated in the Bible. The British Museum's collections include numerous inscribed objects, scripts and pictorial reliefs which provide such evidence. There is, for example, a Babylonian clay tablet which records Nebuchadnezzar's siege of Jerusalem in 597 BC, as narrated in the book of Jeremiah. For this book the author has selected over seventy such 'documents', mainly from Western Asia, with some examples included from Greece, Egypt and Asia Minor, dating from the period of the Patriarchs to the New Testament times, c. 2000 BC to c. AD 100. He transliterates and translates the ancient texts, which include Cuneiform, Aramaic and Hebrew, and discusses the contribution they make to our knowledge of the culture and history of biblical times. Each object is illustrated in black and white.

The Pyramids on the Giza Plateau represent perhaps the most famous archaeological site in the world, capturing on tomb walls frozen moments from almost every aspect of life in ancient Egypt. This book, by one of the foremost experts on the history of Giza, explores new approaches to "cataloging" the site, highlighting efforts at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and Harvard University. The site experienced its first "golden age" as the burial place of three pharaohs of the Egyptian Old Kingdom (Dynasty 4, ca. 2640-2510 BCE). A second golden age came almost five millennia later, when the first modern excavators applied their newly devised archaeological craft to the Giza Plateau. Now, with the advent of many new technologies in the twenty-first century, the Giza Necropolis is available in two, three, and even four dimensions. Children and specialized scholars alike may study the material culture of this ancient civilization from afar, often with greater access than could be achieved in person. However, these new approaches do raise questions: Does 3-D modeling and animation truly improve scholarly comprehension and interpretation? Can interacting with animations still be called scholarship? Where is the border between academic knowledge and mere entertainment? Through specific case studies and an in-depth history of this important project, Peter Der Manuelian provides an excellent model for other digital visualization initiatives. He also offers more general philosophical reflection on the nature of visualization in archaeology and speculates about emerging technologies and how they may be useful in the future.

The Assyrian Empire was the first state to achieve durable domination of the Ancient Near East, enduring some seven centuries and, eventually, controlling most of the region. Yet, we know little about how this empire emerged from a relatively minor polity in the Tigris region and how it managed to consolidate its power over conquered territories. Textual sources, often biased, provide a relatively limited source of information. In this study, Bleda S. During examines the rich archaeological data of the early Assyrian Empire that have been obtained over the past decades, together with the textual evidence. The archaeological data enable us to reconstruct the remarkably heterogeneous and dynamic impact of the Assyrian Empire on dominated territories. They also facilitate the reconstruction of the various ways in which people participated in this empire, and what might have motivated them to do so. Finally, During's study shows how imperial repertoires first developed in the Middle Assyrian period were central to the success of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.

The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt (1076-664 BCE) has been characterised previously by political and social changes based upon the introduction of Libyan social and cultural influences. In this book, James Bennett analyses the concepts of 'transition' and 'continuity' within the cultural and societal environment of Egypt during the Third Intermediate Period and provides an up-to-date synthesis of current research on the settlement archaeology of the period. This is done through the assessment of settlement patterns and their development, the built environment of the settlements, and their associated material culture. Through this analysis, Bennett identifies several interconnected themes within the culture and society of the Twenty-First to Twenty-Fifth Dynasties. They are closely related to the political and economic powers of different regions, the nucleation of settlements and people, self-sufficiency at a collective and individual level, defence, both physical and spiritual, regionality in terms of settlement development and material culture, and elite emulation through everyday objects.

The author is an important but controversial figure in the history of Palestinian archaeology. This volume celebrates the centennial of the publication of his excavations at Tel Gezer (1912), conducted under the auspices of the PEF. This excavation was the most ambitious one of its time in the land, yielding important architectural remains and thousands of artefacts, including the well-known Gezer Calendar. The contributions of several eminent scholars reflect on the man and his work, and also report on how his work influenced the understanding of the sites he excavated in Palestine, all of which are currently being re-investigated. It is also richly illustrated with images from the PEF archives. Evaluations of Macalister's work vary tremendously and are reflected here. Many learnt from him, others deplored his methods and record keeping. As one contributor puts it, 'an industrious archaeologist but an awful excavator', and a man who was both admired and intensely disliked: regarded as both a villain and a visionary. But it is generally agreed that he is a figure who cannot be ignored, and anyone interested in Palestinian archaeology will find a great deal to learn from this book.

In 1798, young French general Napoleon Bonaparte entered Egypt with a veteran army and a specialist group of savants-scientists, engineers, and artists-his aim being not just conquest, but the rediscovery of the lost Nile kingdom. A year later, in the ruins of an old fort in the small port of Rosetta, the savants made a startling discovery: a large, flat stone, inscribed in Greek, demotic Egyptian, and ancient hieroglyphics. This was the Rosetta Stone, key to the two-thousand-year mystery of hieroglyphs, and to Egypt itself. Two years later, French forces retreated before the English and Ottoman armies, but would not give up the stone. Caught between the opposing generals at the siege of Alexandria, British special agents went in to find the Rosetta Stone, rescue the French savants, and secure a fragile peace treaty. Discovery at Rosetta uses French, Egyptian, and English eyewitness accounts to tell the complete story of the discovery, decipherment, and capture of the Rosetta Stone, investigating the rivalries and politics of the time, and the fate of the stone today.

If you've ever wanted to learn how to read hieroglyphs, this book is the perfect guide.

This book will teach you all you need to know about deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs, with the help of hundreds of the most commonly used hieroglyphs arranged in easy-to-use tables, with translations, plus examples from monuments, ancient documents and museum exhibits.

Fully illustrated throughout with line drawings, tables and maps, Understanding Hieroglyphs will enthral anyone who craves the satisfaction of actually understanding the writing which adords Egyptian monuments and artefacts - unlocking the secrets of an ancient civilization.

With its unique geographic diversity and abundant archaeological and textual data, the southern Levant is an excellent "laboratory" for studying how Assyrian domination operated. This collection of essays explains how Neo-Assyrian rule influenced the demographics, economy, and culture of the region. A systematic study of Assyrian rule in the west that integrates archaeological and textual perspectives and reconsiders the "Assyrian Peace" paradigm has long been needed. Building on the unparalleled archaeological and textual information available from the Land of Israel and its surroundings, the studies in this book address various aspects of Assyrian rule, including life under Assyrian hegemony and the consequences of the Assyrian conquests. It includes a broad overview of the vast archaeological data from both the provinces and client kingdoms in the Land of Israel in the Assyrian period, as well as a systematic and chronological survey of Assyrian texts that mention the region or sites therein. The contributors employ widely divergent approaches to topics such as the description of Assyrian encroachment in biblical texts, the Judean experience of Assyrian control, the political structure of the Coastal Plain, and the architecture of hospitality, among others. Integrating various sources of information to reconstruct the demography, economy, architecture, and intellectual life of the southern Levant, the articles in this volume are important not only for the study of Assyrian rule but also for research on empires writ large. In addition to the editors, the contributors to this volume include Amitai Baruchi-Unna, Yigal Bloch, Alexander Fantalkin, Wayne Horowitz, David Kertai, Lily Singer-Avitz, and Peter Zilberg.