Bethany Dawson
Sun, March 26, 2023
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Ramesses II
Third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt
Some of the 2,000 ram heads discovered in Egypt.Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
More than 2,000 mummified ram heads have been discovered in Egypt.
Archaeologists at the King Ramses II Temple of Abydos found the mummified remains.
They also discovered mummified dogs, wild goats, cows, deer and an ostrich.
More than 2,000 mummified ram heads and a palatial Old Kingdom structure have been uncovered by archaeologists at the King Ramses II Temple of Abydos.
The finds, located roughly 270 miles south of Cairo, come from a period of over 1,000 years, from the Sixth Dynasty to the Heroic Age, making some of the discoveries over 4,300 years old.
One of the ancient ram heads discoveredEgyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
In addition to the ancient ram's head, archaeologists from the University of New York also discovered a group of mummified dogs, wild goats, cows, deer and an ostrich.- ADVERTISEMENT -
The mummified remains are believed to have been left at the site to honor Ramses II about 1,000 years after his death, the Egyptian Ministry for Tourism and Antiquities said.
It is thought that the rams and other animals would have been used as offerings during worship of the rams in Abydus during the Bipidus period, Dr Sameh Iskandar, head of the mission added in a statement.
View of a new area uncovered by a team from New York University- Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW) at the temple of Ramesses II in Abydos, Sohag Governorate, Egypt, in this handout image released on March 25, 2023.The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities/Handout via REUTERS
In addition to the wealth of animal remains, the archaeological team also uncovered a "huge building" with walls roughly five meters thick from the Old Kingdom's sixth dynasty.
The structure contained a number of statues, tree remains, leather shoes, clothing, and papyri.
The discovery could help "reestablish the sense of the ancient landscape of Abydos before the construction of the Ramses II temple," Iskandar said, per Reuters.
Ancient zodiac paintings on Egyptian temple see the light of day after 2,200 years
Owen Jarus
Thu, March 23, 2023
This zodiac sign depicts Sagittarius. While the zodiac signs at Esna were known before cleaning was done the work allows them to be seen more clearly. Here we see a centaur with a scorpion's tail aiming a bow and arrow.
Gorgeous zodiac paintings decorating the roof and walls of the 2,200-year-old Temple of Esna in southern Egypt have been revealed during a restoration project that's clearing away two millennia's worth of grime, soot and bird poop, researchers announced March 20.
Restorers painstakingly cleaned the zodiac artworks, many of which were painted onto the temple's ceiling. Other restored images include depictions of the planets Jupiter, Saturn and Mars, as well as images of stars and constellations used by the ancient Egyptians to help measure time, researchers said in a statement. The team also conserved ancient images of snakes, crocodiles and hybrid creatures, such as a snake with a ram's head.
While the existence of the zodiac and some of the other images at the temple were already known to researchers, the cleaning and conservation have allowed the artwork to be seen in more detail. The restoration work also revealed previously unknown inscriptions, team co-leader Christian Leitz, an Egyptology professor at the University of Tübingen in Germany, told Live Science in an email.
Related: Roman 'zodiac' coin with cancer sign unearthed in Israel
This zodiac sign depicts Scorpio. With the cleaning and restoration the colors of the signs are more visible.. Here we see a scorpion with claws at the front, eight legs, and a sharp stinger at the end of it's tail.
Ancient zodiac
"The zodiac itself is part of Babylonian astronomy and does not appear in Egypt until Ptolemaic times," Leitz said in the statement. The Ptolemies were a dynasty of rulers descended from one of Alexander the Great's generals, who ruled Egypt between 304 B.C. and 30 B.C, Leitz said. It may have been the ancient Greeks who introduced the zodiac to Egypt.
After its introduction, the zodiac became popular in ancient Egypt. "The zodiac was used to decorate private tombs and sarcophagi and was of great importance in astrological texts, such as horoscopes found inscribed on pottery sherds," Daniel von Recklinghausen, a researcher at the University of Tübingen, said in the statement. While few ancient Egyptian temples had zodiacs depicted on them, a well-known example is a temple at Dendera, which has the zodiac along with images of five of the planets, Leitz told Live Science.
Images of hybrid animals were revealed in better detail during the cleaning and restoration work. Here we see a bird-like creature with four wings, a dog-like head, and a snake for a tail. There are also two winged serpents flying about and one snake-like creature at the bottom.
The zodiac used at Esna is similar to the zodiac used today, Leitz told Live Science. "There is no difference apart from some depictions of the signs," he noted.
From the photos the team released, it is clear that the images are much more visible than before the restoration, Juan Antonio Belmonte Avilés, an astronomer at the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC) in Spain who has conducted extensive research on astronomy in ancient Egypt, told Live Science in an email. We will have to wait until more is published until we can tell exactly how much new information the cleaning has provided, said Avilés, who was not involved in the restoration.
related stories
—How old is ancient Egypt?
—Was ancient Egypt a desert?
—What did the ancient Egyptian pyramids look like when they were built?
The team is in the process of analyzing the new inscriptions, Leitz said. The Temple of Esna is located 37 miles (60 kilometers) south of Luxor (ancient Thebes), the statement notes. Hisham El-Leithy, an archaeologist with at the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, is a co-leader of the team, while Ahmed Emam, a conservation expert at the ministry, led the restoration work.
Previously, archaeologists working on the Temple of Esna restoration project unveiled 46 depictions of goddesses from ancient Egypt. The temple is dedicated to the Egyptian deity Khnum, who is associated with fertility and water.
Owen Jarus
Thu, March 23, 2023
This zodiac sign depicts Sagittarius. While the zodiac signs at Esna were known before cleaning was done the work allows them to be seen more clearly. Here we see a centaur with a scorpion's tail aiming a bow and arrow.
Gorgeous zodiac paintings decorating the roof and walls of the 2,200-year-old Temple of Esna in southern Egypt have been revealed during a restoration project that's clearing away two millennia's worth of grime, soot and bird poop, researchers announced March 20.
Restorers painstakingly cleaned the zodiac artworks, many of which were painted onto the temple's ceiling. Other restored images include depictions of the planets Jupiter, Saturn and Mars, as well as images of stars and constellations used by the ancient Egyptians to help measure time, researchers said in a statement. The team also conserved ancient images of snakes, crocodiles and hybrid creatures, such as a snake with a ram's head.
While the existence of the zodiac and some of the other images at the temple were already known to researchers, the cleaning and conservation have allowed the artwork to be seen in more detail. The restoration work also revealed previously unknown inscriptions, team co-leader Christian Leitz, an Egyptology professor at the University of Tübingen in Germany, told Live Science in an email.
Related: Roman 'zodiac' coin with cancer sign unearthed in Israel
This zodiac sign depicts Scorpio. With the cleaning and restoration the colors of the signs are more visible.. Here we see a scorpion with claws at the front, eight legs, and a sharp stinger at the end of it's tail.
Ancient zodiac
"The zodiac itself is part of Babylonian astronomy and does not appear in Egypt until Ptolemaic times," Leitz said in the statement. The Ptolemies were a dynasty of rulers descended from one of Alexander the Great's generals, who ruled Egypt between 304 B.C. and 30 B.C, Leitz said. It may have been the ancient Greeks who introduced the zodiac to Egypt.
After its introduction, the zodiac became popular in ancient Egypt. "The zodiac was used to decorate private tombs and sarcophagi and was of great importance in astrological texts, such as horoscopes found inscribed on pottery sherds," Daniel von Recklinghausen, a researcher at the University of Tübingen, said in the statement. While few ancient Egyptian temples had zodiacs depicted on them, a well-known example is a temple at Dendera, which has the zodiac along with images of five of the planets, Leitz told Live Science.
Images of hybrid animals were revealed in better detail during the cleaning and restoration work. Here we see a bird-like creature with four wings, a dog-like head, and a snake for a tail. There are also two winged serpents flying about and one snake-like creature at the bottom.
The zodiac used at Esna is similar to the zodiac used today, Leitz told Live Science. "There is no difference apart from some depictions of the signs," he noted.
From the photos the team released, it is clear that the images are much more visible than before the restoration, Juan Antonio Belmonte Avilés, an astronomer at the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC) in Spain who has conducted extensive research on astronomy in ancient Egypt, told Live Science in an email. We will have to wait until more is published until we can tell exactly how much new information the cleaning has provided, said Avilés, who was not involved in the restoration.
related stories
—How old is ancient Egypt?
—Was ancient Egypt a desert?
—What did the ancient Egyptian pyramids look like when they were built?
The team is in the process of analyzing the new inscriptions, Leitz said. The Temple of Esna is located 37 miles (60 kilometers) south of Luxor (ancient Thebes), the statement notes. Hisham El-Leithy, an archaeologist with at the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, is a co-leader of the team, while Ahmed Emam, a conservation expert at the ministry, led the restoration work.
Previously, archaeologists working on the Temple of Esna restoration project unveiled 46 depictions of goddesses from ancient Egypt. The temple is dedicated to the Egyptian deity Khnum, who is associated with fertility and water.
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