Latest Zahi Hawass Stories

Egyptian archaeologists, who have been excavating an ancient secret tunnel for the past 3 years, believe it was meant to connect a 3,300-year-old pharaoh's tomb with a secret burial site, the antiquities department announced Wednesday. The Egyptian team, led by antiquities chief Zahi Hawass, had been searching for the tunnel for more than two decades, Faruq Hosni said in a statement. The 570-foot long tunnel in Pharaoh Seti I's tomb in southern Egypt's Valley of the Kings has taken Egyptian...

The New Scientist reported this week that King Tut's mummy might have been sabotaged in order to hide his less than endowed genitalia. Scientists have long speculated the cause of famed King Tutankhamen's death to be because of a bone disorder and a bad case of malaria.  However, a group of German researchers overruled that diagnosis last week by saying the 19-year-old pharaoh suffered from sickle-cell anemia.  Sickle-cell anemia is a genetic abnormality in red blood cells that...

PHILADELPHIA, June 2 /PRNewswire/ -- The world of Cleopatra VII, which has been lost to the sea and sand for nearly 2,000 years, will surface on June 5 when "Cleopatra: The Search for the Last Queen of Egypt" opens its doors to the world for the first time at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia (through January 2, 2011). The new exhibition features nearly 150 artifacts from Cleopatra's time and takes visitors inside the present-day search for the elusive queen, which extends from the...

Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities announced Sunday that archeologists have discovered 57 ancient Egyptian tombs, most of which contain an ornamental painted wooden sarcophagus with a mummy inside. Twelve of the tombs were found to belong to the 18th dynasty which ruled Egypt during the second millennium B.C. Some of the tombs date as far back as 2750 B.C., according to the council. The finding brings to light the ancient Egyptian religions, the council said. Egypt's archaeology chief,...

Exhibition Featuring Artifacts from Ongoing Searches into the Life and Times of Egypt's Legendary Queen Opens June 5 PHILADELPHIA, May 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Installation of the 150 artifacts that will be featured in the world premiere exhibition "Cleopatra: The Search for the Last Queen of Egypt" began today in Philadelphia at The Franklin Institute, including two colossal granite statues from the 4th - 3rd centuries B.C. that weigh almost 10 tons. Opening June 5 and organized by...

Exhibition Featuring Artifacts from Ongoing Searches into the Life and Times of Egypt's Legendary Queen Opens June 5 PHILADELPHIA, May 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Tickets are now on sale for the world premiere exhibition "Cleopatra: The Search for the Last Queen of Egypt," debuting in Philadelphia at The Franklin Institute on June 5. Organized by National Geographic and Arts and Exhibitions International, with cooperation from the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities and the European...

SWANSEA, Wales, March 19 /PRNewswire/ -- David Gill, archaeologist, reflects on the recent return of an Egyptian coffin from the U.S. to Egypt. Early in March 2010 an Egyptian Third Intermediate Period painted wooden coffin was handed over to archaeologist Dr Zahi Hawass at the National Geographic Society in Washington. The coffin had been seized at Miami International Airport in the fall of 2008. It appears that a sharp-eyed customs official was suspicious of the consignment. An...

Archaeologists have discovered an intact sarcophagus of an Egyptian queen inside a 4,000-year-old burial chamber in Saqqara, chief archaeologist Zahi Hawass announced Wednesday. Queen Behenu's chamber, located inside her pyramid, was badly damaged except for two inner walls covered with spells meant to help her travel to the afterlife, Hawass said in a statement. Ancient Egyptians believed that carving religious spells on their royal burial chambers helped them get to heaven by granting...

King Tutankhamun, the young pharaoh that died at the age of 19 in 1324 B.C., suffered from many disorders, but the most likely cause of his death was a severe case of malaria and a degenerative bone disease, according to researchers. Several mummies that were part of the study showed DNA evidence of malaria, but it was King Tut that caught the attention of scientists. To their knowledge this was "the oldest genetic proof of malaria in precisely dated mummies." The advancement in radiological...

SILVER SPRING, Md., Feb. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- World-renowned Egyptologist Zahi Hawass leads an unprecedented forensic investigation into the life and times of King Tut that reveals for the first time the identity of Tut's parents and grandparents, his cause of death and new details of his reign in a two-night world premiere special event, KING TUT UNWRAPPED, airing Sunday, February 21, at 8 PM (ET/PT) and Monday, February 22, at 8 PM (ET/PT). (Logo:...