The Egyptian Museum in Cairo is Home to some of the most exquisite artifacts in existence, yet many of these wonders have never been seen outside Egypt. Now, for the first time, world-famous Egyptologist Zahi Hawass takes readers on a tour of these long-lost antiquities and shares the adventures that led to their discoveries. Readers will marvel at the astonishing stories behind these dazzling treasures -- from the leg-endary unearthing of the tomb of boy king Tutankhamun, who ruled Egypt more than 3,000 years ago, to the modern-day photographer who discovered a royal burial shaft when he tripped over it while setting up his tripod. Many of the fabulous antiquities featured here were left to languish in storerooms all over the country and only recently were rediscovered. Hawass provides invaluable insights into what they meant to ancient Egyptians and what they now signify to us in the 21st century. Featuring exquisite photographs and enlightening commentary, Hidden Treasures of Ancient Egypt will delight Egyptophiles and history buffs and shed new light on some of the great mysteries of this ancient civilization. Book jacket.

The Egyptian Museum in Cairo, the greatest repository of ancient Egyptian artifacts in the world, receives hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. But many of its treasures, long kept in basement storerooms or in magazines at archaeological sites around the country, or recently discovered at ongoing excavations, have never been seen by the general public. To celebrate the centenary of the Museum, many of these unknown pieces of exquisite beauty or great historical importance--and often both--have been brought out of the darkness to form a unique exhibition in a very appropriate setting: a converted section of the great basement storerooms of the Museum. With some 250 artifacts from the earliest beginnings of pharaonic culture to its latest flowerings, the exhibition spans the whole of ancient Egyptian history, and the one hundred masterpieces beautifully photographed for this volume represent the whole range of the exhibition: the Predynastic Period, the Old Kingdom, the First Intermediate Period, the Middle Kingdom, the Second Intermediate Period, the New Kingdom, the Third Intermediate Period, and the Late Period. This handsome book will serve as a prized memento for visitors to the exhibition and as a window onto it for Egyptophiles everywhere.

An in-depth study of artifacts in the Mathạf al-Misṛī (known in America as the the Egyptian Museum in Cairo).

An exciting archeological exploration of ancient Egypt that examines the potential for discovering the remaining “lost” tombs of the pharaohs. Tombs, mummies, and funerary items make up a significant portion of the archeological remains that survive ancient Egypt and have come to define the popular perception of Egyptology. Despite the many sensational discoveries in the last century, such as the tomb of Tutankhamun, the tombs of some of the most famous individuals in the ancient world—Imhotep, Nefertiti, Alexander the Great, and Cleopatra—have not yet been found. Archeologist Chris Naunton examines the famous pharaohs, their achievements, the bling they might have been buried with, the circumstances in which they were buried, and why those circumstances may have prevented archeologists from finding these tombs. In Searching for the Lost Tombs of Egypt, Naunton sheds light on the lives of these ancient Egyptians and makes an exciting case for the potential discovery of these lost tombs.

As archaeologist Howard Carter cut his way into an underground chamber on November 26, 1922, he was overcome with excitement. When Carter finally peered through the tiny hole he had made, he could not believe his eyes. What incredible treasures would he find inside King Tutankhamen’s tomb? And how had the tomb remained undiscovered for more than 3,000 years?

The extraordinary manuscripts of Timbuktu: invaluable historical documents, objects of tremendous beauty, and a testament to a great center of learning and civilization. For centuries, trading caravans made epic journeys across the Saharan sands to reach the markets of the legendary city of Timbuktu, where they traded salt, gold, slaves, textiles—and books. By the mid-fifteenth century, Timbuktu had become a major center of Islamic literary culture and scholarship. The city's libraries were repositories of all the world's learning, housing not only works by Arab and Islamic writers but also volumes from the classical Greek and Roman worlds and studies by contemporary scholars. The astonishing manuscripts of Timbuktu form the lavish visual heart of this book. Beautifully graphic, occasionally decorated, these exquisite artifacts reveal great craftsmanship as well as learning. All were written in the Arabic script, but not all are in Arabic, for they also feature a range of local African languages. Aside from scholarly works, the surviving manuscripts include a wealth of correspondence between rulers, advisers, and merchants on subjects as various as taxation, commerce, marriage, divorce, adoption, breastfeeding, and prostitution, providing a vivid insight into the ordinary life and values of the day.