Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Ancient Egypt

Mummy Found Inside 2,500-Year-Old ‘Empty’ Coffin

The coffin had been listed as empty for nearly 160 years while stored at the University of Sydney’s museum

Cool Finds

Rare Image of Early Female Pharaoh Found in University Collection

After her reign, Hatshepsut was expunged from Egyptian history, but a carving of her likeness has turned up in Swansea University

Tattoos on the Pre-dynastic female mummy from Gebelein.

Earliest Figural Tattoos Discovered on 5,000-Year-Old Mummies

The markings include a bull, a sheep and a mysterious ‘S’ motif

Ask Smithsonian

Is the Fall Equinox the Secret to the Pyramids’ Near-Perfect Alignment?

One engineer says yes

A panel from the newly found tomb

Cool Finds

Tomb of 5th Dynasty Priestess Found in Egypt

The 4,400-year-old burial chamber includes well-preserved wall paintings, including an image of a monkey dancing in front of an orchestra

We’re One Step Closer to Non-Invasively Reading Ancient Papyri Hidden in Mummy Masks

Researchers at the University College of London are working to find a way to read the ancient scraps without destroying the artifacts in the process

Tut and Ankhesenamun

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Could Be Close to Finding the Tomb of King Tut’s Wife

After Tut’s death, Ankhesenamun might have wed the Pharaoh Ay, and there’s a possibility she’s buried near him in the Valley of the Monkeys

The repatriated mummy skull

Trending Today

After More Than 90 Years, Looted Mummy Parts Repatriated to Egypt

The skull and two hands were illegally acquired by a tourist in 1927 and were confiscated from an antiquities dealer

How 21st-Century Technology Is Shedding Light on a 2nd-Century Egyptian Painting

Researchers at UCLA and the National Gallery of Art have pioneered a technology that goes behind the scenes of a centuries-old artistic process

Egyptian excavation workers work on a mummy in a newly discovered tomb in Luxor, Egypt

Cool Finds

In Luxor, Two Tombs Dating Back 3,500 Years Unveil Their Secrets

They include hundreds of statues and one of the best-preserved wall paintings found in the area

Statue of Memnon in the westbank in Luxor, with the community of Qurna in the background.

The Greatest Clash in Egyptian Archaeology May Be Fading, But Anger Lives On

After 200 years, the sad story of Qurna, a so-called ‘village of looters’, is coming to a close

Did a well-known Biblical eclipse really occur? Two physicists set out to investigate.

New Research

How Scientists Identified the Oldest Known Solar Eclipse … Using the Bible

The new research by two physicists adds to astronomical knowledge—and overturns previous Biblical interpretations

3D illustration showing an aerial view of the Khufu pyramid with the new "Big Void."

New Research

How Researchers Uncovered a Massive Void in the Great Pyramid of Giza

The cavity could hold clues to how the pyramids came to be

The mud brick foundation of a 3,200-year-old temple to the pharaoh Rameses II

Remains of Temple to Ramses II Discovered Near Cairo

The recent find was five years in the making

Egyptians bringing in the harvest

New Research

Volcanic Eruptions Could Have Spurred Revolts in Ancient Egypt

A new study comparing eruptions and uprisings looks at how volcanoes meddle with annual Nile floods

A transcription of 95-foot-long inscription written in Luwian has been translated for the first time since its 1878 discovery

Scholar Deciphers 3,200-Year-Old Inscription That Could Shed Light on the “Sea People”

But the Luwian language text’s unproven provenance calls its authenticity into question

Cat's Head, 30 BCE to third century CE

Freer|Sackler: Reopens

Why the Ancient Egyptians Loved Their Kitties

A show opening at the Sackler dramatizes the various meanings that the people of Egypt once associated with cats

Toad bones

Cool Finds

Jar of Headless Toads Found in Bronze Age Tomb

Found in Jerusalem, the little hoppers could have been an afterlife snack or a symbol of rejuvenation

Cool Finds

New Kingdom Goldsmith’s Tomb Discovered in Egypt

The tomb of Amenemhat and his wife Amenhotep includes a statue of the couple, mummies, statues and funerary masks

Napoleon Bonaparte was born on this day in 1769 in Corsica. As a young man at school, one instructor said that he "has always been distinguished for his application in mathematics."

Napoleon’s Lifelong Interest in Science

Napoleon was a Frenchman of his time, which means he was interested in how science could do good–he just took it farther than most

Page 15 of 20