Hacker News with Generative AI: Ancient Egypt

Depictions of the Milky Way found in ancient Egyptian imagery (phys.org)
An interest in understanding the role that the Milky Way played in Egyptian culture and religion has led University of Portsmouth Associate Professor of Astrophysics, Dr. Or Graur to uncover what he thinks may be the ancient Egyptian visual depiction of the Milky Way.

Astronomy, History, Ancient Egypt, Culture

98 points by wglb 22 days ago | 42 comments

Egyptologist in Paris Discovers Secret Messages on the Luxor Obelisk (gizmodo.com)
In 1830, the viceroy of Egypt gifted France a 3,300-year-old Egyptian obelisk—a carved stone pillar with a pyramidal top.

Egyptology, History, Ancient Egypt, Archaeology, Paris

21 points by rntn 29 days ago | 0 comments

Tutankhamun's Meteoric Iron Dagger (wikipedia.org)
Tutankhamun's meteoric iron dagger, also known as Tutankhamun's iron dagger and King Tut's dagger, is an iron-bladed dagger from the tomb of the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun (reigned c. 1334–1325 BC). As the blade composition and homogeneity closely correlate with meteorite composition and homogeneity, the material for the blade is determined to have originated by way of a meteoritic landing. The dagger is currently displayed at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

Ancient Egypt, Archeology, History, Metallurgy

5 points by thunderbong 67 days ago | 0 comments

The Meter, Golden Ratio, Pyramids, and Cubits, Oh My (iforgeiron.com)
One of our readers, John Frewen-Lord, speculates that the metre may be the modern version of a measure that was familiar to the Pharaohs.

History, Measurement, Ancient Egypt, Architecture

39 points by indigodaddy 84 days ago | 28 comments

Excavated: 52 Egyptian Mummies. Over a Dozen Had Mysterious Golden Tongues (popularmechanics.com)
Archaeologists discovered more than a dozen mummies older than 2,000 years with tongues made from golden amulets.

Archaeology, Ancient Egypt, History, Mummies, Gold

66 points by bookofjoe 109 days ago | 34 comments

An astronomical view of Ancient Egyptian star clocks (2021) (arcgis.com)

Ancient Egypt, Astronomy, History, Archaeology

43 points by SiempreViernes 123 days ago | 12 comments

Egyptian Fractions (2023) (surrey.ac.uk)
The ancient Egyptians only used fractions of the form 1/n so any other fraction had to be represented as a sum of such unit fractions and, furthermore, all the unit fractions were different!

Mathematics, History, Ancient Egypt

10 points by aragonite 160 days ago | 1 comments

Archaeologists found an ancient Egyptian observatory (arstechnica.com)
A few years ago, Egyptian archaeologists discovered what they thought were the ruins of an ancient Egyptian temple dating back to the sixth century BCE. Subsequent finds at the site indicate that the structure was actually an astronomical observatory, deemed the first and largest such structure yet found, according to Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

Archaeology, Ancient Egypt, Astronomy

86 points by LinuxBender 227 days ago | 81 comments

Was Egypt's first pyramid built with hydraulics? The theory may hold water (sciencenews.org)

Ancient Egypt, Pyramids, History, Science, Archaeology

6 points by rolph 290 days ago | 0 comments

Study suggests Egyptians used hydraulic lifts to build Pyramid of Djoser (arstechnica.com)

Ancient Egypt, Archaeology, History, Engineering

4 points by Archelaos 290 days ago | 0 comments

Ancient Egyptian scribes and specific skeletal occupational risk markers (nature.com)

Ancient Egypt, Occupational Health, Archaeology, Skeletal Analysis

6 points by bookofjoe 327 days ago | 0 comments

A buried ancient Egyptian port reveals connections between distant civilizations (smithsonianmag.com)