By Khelisha Sevani Pyramids Tutankamun River Nile The Valley of the Kings tombs Mummies

Pyramids Over 130 pyramids have been discovered in Egypt. Ancient Egyptian pyramids are the most well known pyramid structures. The earliest known Egyptian pyramids are found at Saqqara, northwest of Memphis. Nearly all Egyptian Pyramids are located on the west bank of the Nile. home

River Nile The River Nile is in Ancient Egypt. The River Nile is a big River. In Ancient Egypt people call it the river. It is also very long. The Egyptian people used to and still now worship the River Nile. People use the river for having a bath or drinking. The River Nile floods every once a year. The River Nile flows into the Mediterranean. The river Nile is the longest river in the world home

The Valley of the Kings The Valley of the Kings is actually two valleys containing the tombs of pharaohs from the New Kingdom dating from approximately 1550 BC to 1070 BC. The time period ranges from the Eighteenth to the Twentieth dynasties. Only five royal tombs have been uncovered in the western valley. The eastern valley holds many more tombs, including the most famous tomb in the valley, King Tut's tomb designated KV62. Between the two valleys, a total of 63 tombs have been discovered.KV62 home

Mummies It was very important to ancient Egyptian religious beliefs that the human body was preserved. A method of artificial preservation, called mummification was developed by the ancient Egyptians. Mummification was a complicated and lengthy process which lasted up to 70 days. 1. The body was washed and purified. 2. Organs were removed. Only the heart remained. 3. The body was filled with stuffing. 4. The body was dried by covering it with a substance called natron*. This substance absorbed all the moisture from the body. 5. After days the stuffing was removed and replaced with linen or sawdust. 6. The body was wrapped in strands of linen and covered in a sheet called a shroud. 7. The body was placed in a stone coffin called a sarcophagus. The mummy was now ready for its journey to the afterlife. home

Tutankhamun Tutankhamun may have married one of his half-sisters. It is thought that Tutankhamun's father was Akhenaten. Akhenaten was married to Nefertiti, who bore him six daughters. Akhenaten also had a lesser wife, Kira, who is believed to have given birth to Tutankhamun. It is thought that Tutankhamun married Ankhesenpaaten, one of the daughters of Akhenaten and Nefertiti. Confused? Tutankhamun was born Tutankhamen. Akhenaten, Tutankhamun's father, wanted Egyptians to worship one god, the Sun God Aten, instead of the multitude of gods they already worshipped and the main deity Amun. The "Aten" at the end of Tutankhamen and Akhenaten's names refers to this (Akhenaten means "servant of the Aten" and Tutankhamen means "Living image of Aten"). Akhenaten's changes weren't too popular, so when Tutankhamen was in charge, he changed things back to how they were, reopening the various closed temples around the country, and changing his name to Tutankhamun. Incidentally, Akhenaten's original name before he started making changes was Amenhotep IV. home

Tombs A tomb is an enclosed space for the repository of the remains of the dead. Traditionally tombs have been located in caves, underground, or in structures designed specifically for the purpose of containing the remains of deceased human beings and, often, their possessions, loved ones, or, as at the tomb known as `The Great Death Pit' at the city of Ur, one's servants. The Natufian Grave in Israel, which dates from c. 12,000 BCE, contained the remains of a man buried with his dog. Tombs have always been considered the homes of the dead and every tomb ever constructed was built with this concept in mind. The tomb is the final resting place of a dead person whose soul, however, would live on in another realm. Personal artifacts or pets were often interred with the deceased because it was thought they would be needed in the afterlife. home