Ancient Wonders

In The Murder of King Tut, James Patterson and Martin Dugard discovered through masses of suggestions- X-rays, Carter’s files, and myths related during the ages- to appear at their own account of King Tut’s life and death. The result is an amazing true crime tale of intrigue, passion and treason, that casts fresh light on the oldest mystery of all.  The book The Murder of King Tut is told in three parts: Howard Carter’s long search and eventual discovery of the tomb in 1922; James Patterson’s...Read Full Story

Tomb paintings from the Valley of the Kings We’ve all heard the story. The “Curse of the Pharaohs” is a strong belief that anyone who should disturb a mummy or a Pharaoh’s tomb will be cursed. This commonly known belief was  intended to preserve the sanctity of these tombs in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings , rather than to deter grave robbers. But in the past century, the curse has turned into a grave warning, particularly in the case of King Tut’s tomb. Some people choose to believe the curse...Read Full Story

Months after mummy claim, DNA still lags CAIRO, Egypt - Months after Egypt boldly announced that archaeologists had identified a mummy as the most powerful queen of her time, scientists in a museum basement are still analyzing DNA from the bald, 3,500-year-old corpse to try to back up the claim aired on TVProgress is slow. So far, results indicate the linen-wrapped mummy is most likely, but not conclusively, the female pharaoh Queen Hatshepsut, who ruled for 20 years in the 15th century B.C...Read Full Story

OBBeC Applied Biosystems, an Applera Corporation business, is collborating with the Discovery Channel and Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities to establish the first laboratory in Egypt dedicated to testing ancient DNA samples. The laboratory, which is located in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, began testing samples from ancient royal mummies from the 18th Dynasty in April as part of a project to identify the mummy of Hatshepsut, Egypt’s most famous female pharaoh.The initial findings...Read Full Story

A team of Egyptian and European archaeologists has discovered two large statues of an ancient pharaoh who ruled Egypt some 3,400 years ago, the country's archaeology chief said Thursday. The two statues of Amenhotep III were found while the excavation team was clearing out a temple dedicated to him on the west bank of the Nile in the southern city of Luxor, according to a statement by Zahi Hawass, head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. Hawass said one statue is made of black granite and...Read Full Story