Archeology Egypt

Egypt's Old Kingdom was one of the most prosperous and powerful empires of the ancient world. With trading routes through the Mediterranean and control over large areas of northern Africa, its peace and prosperity allowed an unprecedented flowering of arts and technology. Its era saw the assembly of the first large stone structure and the stepped pyramid of Djoser at Sakkara, as well as the construction of the Sphinx and the three great pyramids at Giza.

Researchers have found a complex of slabs and stones in the Sahara that might be the oldest known monument built with astronomical considerations in mind--far older than England's Stonehenge. It was constructed by nomadic cattle herders as much as 7,000 years ago in southern Egypt, and probably was intended for rituals rather than astronomical observations, archeologist J. McKim Malville of the University of Colorado at Boulder reports in today's issue of the journal Nature.

Using magnetic sensors and computers, Egyptian experts have located and mapped an important Pharaonic city in the Nile Delta, officials said Tuesday. Ahmed Gouda Husain of the Geophysical Research Center said the experts have been able to create detailed images of Qantir, which was a capital of one of Egypt's most famous kings, Ramses II. Ramses II, a pharaoh in the so-called New Kingdom era, ruled Egypt from 1304 to 1237 BC.

Clay tablets uncovered in Egypt from the tomb of a king named Scorpion may represent the earliest known writing by humankind, an archeologist said Tuesday. If confirmed, the discovery would rank among the greatest ever in the search for the origins of the written word. But the subject the tablets mostly deal with may be of no surprise at all. It's taxes.

Professional archeologists said Wednesday that they had discovered the sunken remains of Napoleon Bonaparte's fleet, destroyed Aug. 1, 1798, by Britain's Admiral Nelson. Archeologist Franck Goddio of Underwater Archeology and Discovery Ltd. said the remains were found in the Eastern Harbor of Alexandria in Egypt. Goddio had previously found the submerged royal city of Cleopatra and the Ptolemies in the same harbor.

A granite sphinx with the head of Cleopatra's father emerged Wednesday from the choppy waters of Alexandria harbor after 1,600 years underwater. Divers led by French marine archeologist Franck Goddio winched the superbly preserved sphinx, bolted into a steel frame, onto the deck of the research vessel Princess Dudu.

The Sphinx is at least 45 centuries old, but the last few years have been tough ones. First, there was a disastrous restoration project in the early 1980s in which many of its ancient stones were discarded and its north side was shored up with a layer of concrete 9 feet thick in spots. It later was found that, besides being ugly, the salt-laden concrete harmed the Sphinx's limestone core.

Standing on the corniche of this elegant but faded city, it is easy to visualize an ancient panorama: To the left, built on a small island in the harbor past the Temple of Poseidon, was the palace of the Ptolemaic queen, Cleopatra, who became known as history's most famous seductress. To the right was the Timonium, the royal lodge at the end of a jetty where Roman general Marc Antony withdrew in remorse after throwing away an empire in his obsessive love of Cleopatra.

Experts said that ancient ruins in Egypt's Western Desert, uncovered by a Greek archeologist who believes they are part of Alexander the Great's tomb, seem to date from several centuries after the conqueror's death in 323 BC. Archeologist Liana Souvaltzi said last week that she had discovered three stone tablets that showed Alexander was buried in the Siwa oasis. But the Greek government said it had seen no proof.

A Greek archeological team believes it has found the 2,300-year-old tomb of Alexander the Great in the sands of Egypt's Western Desert near Siwa. If the find is confirmed, it will resolve the centuries-old question of what happened to Alexander, who conquered most of the ancient world from Greece to India before he died at 33. The archeologists disclosed late last week they had discovered two limestone plaques near what appeared to be a large tomb.