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The article offers archaeology news briefs around the globe. Topics include a survey by Sahar Saleem of Cairo University unwrapping mummy of Amenhotep I in Egypt by Leonardo López Luján at the Templo Mayor in Tenochtitlan, Aztecs, or Mexica unveiling wooden artifacts such as ear flares, nose and finger rings, and weapons; and Gerhard Weber of the University of Vienna unveiled 30,000-year-old stone sculpture known as the Venus of Willendorf on the banks of the Danube Rive, Austria.

The article offers information on a project called Ancient Panel Paintings: Examination, Analysis, and Research (APPEAR) that was launched by J. Paul Getty Museum antiquities conservator Marie Svoboda to study mummy portraits using noninvasive techniques. Topics covered include the visual elements of the paintings, the materials and methods used to create them, and the economic factors that might have motivated artists' choices.

The article offers information on the top ten archaeological discoveries of 2020. Topics discussed include archaeologists have unearthed nearly 60 vividly painted wooden coffins containing the mummified remains of individuals; biogeochemist Richard Evershed of the University of Bristol has been trying to find a way to accurately radiocarbon date ceramic artifacts and Viking DNA offers insights into the Vikings' genetic diversity and travel habits.

The article discusses discoveries made in archaeology during 2018, including the making of bread by Natufians approximately 14,400 years old in the Black Desert, Jordan prior to the origin of agriculture. Topics, including the discovery of the bacterium Yersinia (Y.) pestis in Bronze Age in Samara, Russia, frescoes in the extinct city of Pompeii, Italy and a funeral parlor of mummies in Saqqara, Egypt, are discussed.

The article discusses the practice of animal mummification in ancient Egypt. The author notes that the use of animal mummies as votive offerings was most prevalent during the Third Intermediate Period, a turbulent time in ancient Egyptian history when the pharaonic system collapsed. Particular focus is paid to a collection of animal mummies housed at the Brooklyn Museum in New York. Comments by Egyptology curator Edward Bleiberg are presented.

The article discusses the discovery of an unlooted ancient tomb in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. Archaeologists from the University of Basel in Switzerland, including Susanne Bickel, discovered the site in January 2011 during protests in Cairo, Egypt and excavated it in 2012. The tomb featured heiroglyphs identifying the mummy inside as a woman named Nehemes-Bastet, who was buried during the Third Intermediate Period between 945-715 B.C., suggesting that the burial chamber was reused after being constructed during the Eighteenth Dynasty. Other topics include a wooden stele found in the tomb, the simplicity of the burial for a wealthy woman, and Nehemes-Bastet's role as a priestess-musician of chantress.

The article discusses how the U.S. researcher Victor Mair became involved in an ethnic conflict in China following the discovery of naturally mummified human remains in Tarim Basin. Topics include the controversy the discoveries created in the Xinjiang region of China, such as the ancestral claim on the mummies, and an in-depth overview of Mair's involvement in the fight to win approval from the Chinese government to allow research on the mummies.

The article focuses on how the analysis of a mummy with a computed tomography scanner is revealing information about the life of Egyptian priestess-musicians. The article discusses how the mummy belonging to the Oriental Institute Museum's collection in Chicago, Illinois, was scanned and how the results are on display at the museum's exhibition "The Life of Meresamun: A Temple Singer in Ancient Egypt."

The article reports on the reexamination of the mummy called "Unknown Man E" over 100 years since he was first discovered. Found in 1886, Unknown Man E was an object of intense speculation; he was found improperly mummified in the Valley of the Kings, wrapped in a sheep skin with his head thrown back in agony. Archaeologist Bob Brier examined the mummy and postulates that the remains belong to Prince Pentewere, a son of Ramesses III who tried to overthrow his father. INSET: The Harem Conspiracy.

Describes the mummies in the crypts beneath the Capuchin monastery in Palermo, Sicily in Italy. Key features of Palermo catacombs; Historical background of the catacombs; Information on how the mummies were preserved; Details of,the method used to preserve the remains of Rosalia Lombardo, one of the best-preserved mummies.

Presents an investigation of the mummy, which may be that of Rameses I, in the conservation laboratory at Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Description of the mummy; Caches where many royal mummies were recovered; Analysis of the x-ray images and computer aided testing scans of the skull of the mummy.

Focuses on a collection of Egyptian mummies and artifacts acquired by the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University from the Niagara Falls Museum. Range of artifacts included in the collection; Findings on the examination of mummies acquired; Restoration work made on the damaged coffin of Iawttayesheret, a lady-in-waiting to the Nubian princesses during the 25th Dynasty; Analysis on the real identity of a royal mummy without a coffin. INSET: GENERAL OSSIPUMPHNOFERU.

Illustrates recreating the mummification process of ancient Egyptians, through an experiment in Maryland. Personal account from Herodotus, the Greek historian and traveler; Materials used by ancient Egyptians and modern archaeologists; Steps in the mummification process.

Discusses the author's experience in seeing mummies in Egypt. Discovery of mummies found in tombs; Excavation of the site where mummies were found; Descriptions of the masks the mummies wore.

Focuses on the discovery of tombs filled with Chachapoya mummies at a burial site on a rock ledge high above an Andean Lake, in the Peruvian Andes of Peru. How and when discovery was made; History of the Chachapoya people; Description of what was found at site; Reference to some looting at site; Details on site.

Features the caucasoid mummies discovered at the edges of Tarim Basin in China. Estimated ages of the mummies; Types of burial; Physical characteristics of the mummies; Studies on the origin of the caucasoid mummies; Intorduction of chariots into China; Han Kangxin's studies on the human remains in the nortwestern region of Xianjiang; New analytical techniques used in studying the mummies.

Details the Manchester Mummy Project at the University of Manchester in England. Specific aims of the project; Radiological survey of the human mummies; Dentition studies; Information concerning the disease in the mummies; Decision of the Manchester team to autopsy one of the mummies in the collection; Information about the Manchester mummies and other collection of Egyptian mummies stored at Manchester on the International Mummy Data Base.

The article presents the results of an analysis of fossilized excrement called coprolites found inside a partially mummified child belonging to the Hohokam culture. Environmental archaeologist Karl Reinhard discovered that the child was fed a special diet in the final weeks of life that included saguaro cactus flowers and flour made from ground mesquite pods. The possibility that the child received compassionate palliative treatment is also cited.

Focuses on the genealogy of New Kingdom pharaohs in Egypt. Issue of intermarriage between royal brothers and sisters; Analysis of deoxyribonucleic acid from the mummified remains of pharaohs and queens; Other attempts at verifying the identities of the bodies. INSET: Commoners' graves..

The article reports that team of Polish archaeologists in Saqqara have been discovered mummies dating to between 600 B.C. and A.D. 100 and nonsensical hieroglyphic inscription and rough depictions of jackals meant to represent Anubis, the god of death.

The article announces that mummy was excavated by archaeologists at the pre-Columbian pilgrimage site and ceremonial center Pachacamac in Peru.

The article discusses a DNA-sequencing analysis that found the ancient Egyptians mummies Nakht-Ankh and Khnum-Nakh, held at the University of Manchester Museum, were half-brothers.

The article reports on the excavation of a naturally mummified remains of a woman in Zeleny Yar, Russia led by archaeologist Alexander Gusev or the Arctic Research Center, noting that she is the first woman to be identified at the site.

The article presents archaeology news briefs. Excavators at the site of Uxul in Mexico have uncovered the remains of 24 war captives dismembered 1400 years ago. Two mummies belonging to the ancient Wari culture have been found at the Huaca Pucllana ceremonial complex in Lima, Peru. A study of isotopes in human teeth excavated at Easter Island (Rapa Nui) suggests that early people there ate a diet that consisted heavily in rats, chickens and plants.

The article offers 2011 news briefs on archaeological discoveries. A 4th-century men's wool tunic or coat was discovered in Breheimen National Park in Norway. The analysis of hair samples from Egyptian mummies shows that ancient Egyptians used a fatty substance to style hair of mummies for the afterlife. Scientists in England and the U.S. are developing guidelines to protect historic landing sites on the moon from private spaceships and tourists.

The article presents global archaeology news briefs. Topics discussed include a pocketwatch uncovered from a ship wreck in Scotland, a poplar door uncovered in Switzerland, and tattoos found on a female Chiribayan mummy. The author also comments on how artifacts can be pressed further into the ground by water buffalo.

A photograph is presented of an Egyptian mummy of a 35-year-old woman at the Labit Museum in Toulouse, France, along with a report that scientists are going to date tissue samples from her neck.

This article discusses the mummified dogs of Peru. Archaeologist Sonia Guillen at the Mallqui Center in the southern Peruvian city of Ilo is investigating these mummy dogs. Her work is at an ancient cemetery near Ilo, Peru, which holds the remains of thousands of people and 80 dogs buried almost 1,000 years ago. About half of the dogs were wrapped in llamawool blankets. The dogs were interred in individual grave pits. Llama bones and fish skeletons were placed next to their snouts, showing their owners left treats for them to enjoy in the afterlife.

The article presents news briefs related to archaeology around the world. The National Park Service is "reverse excavating" at Aztec Ruins National Monument, backfilling more than 100 rooms at the World Heritage Site. A female counterpart has been discovered at the site near Leipzig where the 8,200-year-old male fertility figurine of the Adonis of Zschernitz was excavated in 2003 ("Move Over Venus," January/ February 2004). The Archaeological Survey of India confirms that the December 26, 2005 tsunami revealed a fourth-century AD temple complex at Mahabalipuram on the south India coast. Test results finally released by the Chinese government confirm that the Bronze Age mummies first discovered in the Tarim Basin in the 1980s are indeed Caucasian. The Korea Land Corporation Museum recently announced its ownership of a clay tablet that seems to date to the era of King Tongchon.

Presents news briefs related to archaeology around the world. Report that archaeologists in Hawaii who were hired by Wal-Mart Stores are being investigated for alleged desecration of human skeletal remains found at a construction site; Discovery of 42 human skeletons in the closet of a Welsh townhouse that were 3,000 years old; Discovery of a mosaic in Italy during construction in Rome; Report that drug traffickers are camping out in the Maya city of Piedras Negras in Guatemala; Recovery of Bronze Age artifacts off the coast of the United Kingdom; Discovery of tombs containing warriors in Greece; Discovery of three mummies in Egypt; Others.

Focuses on the surprising evidence that prehistoric Europeans mummified their dead. Details on the bodies found at the site of a house at Cladh Hallan on South Uist Island; How the bodies were mummified; Possible connection of the burial of the South Uist mummies with fairly banal.

Recounts the story behind the 2,600 year-old mummy which is said to be the daughter of king Xerxes of Persia, from circa 600 B.C. Criticisms on the legitimacy of the mummy; Description on the mummy; Inscription on the breastplate of the mummy.

The article announces that a mummified kestrel belonging to the Iziko Museums of South Africa in Cape Town, South Africa, which was examined through CT scan, likely choked on its last meal after being force-fed.

The article examines mummies that were found in the Atacama Desert in Chile, dealing with topics including how the oldest mummies from the site date back to 5000 B.C., how the mummies are decaying, even though they are kept in climate-controlled conditions at the Archaeological and Anthropological Museum of San Miguel de Azapa in Arica, Chile, and how mummies are impacted by climate change.

Reports on the discovery of forgotten Egyptian mummies in the museum of Cairo University's department of anatomy where they were sent to be studied 60 years ago. Identities of the remains.

Reports that a bilateral Austrian-Italian commission has ruled that Italy is the rightful owner of an ancient mummified corpse that two German hikers found last fall in the Similaun glacier on the border between the two countries. A description of `Similaun man'; A description of the objects found with the body.

The article reports that a study of linen funerary wrappings in Great Britain's Bolton Museum has confirmed that ancient Egyptians practiced mummification earlier than previously thought. The ingredients used in the wrappings, which included pine resin, aromatic plant extracts, plaint oils, and natural petroleum sources, were similar to those used for embalming during the time of the pharaohs.

The article briefly reports that the remains of a well-preserved mummy identified as a government official from the Chinese Qing Dynasty have been unearthed in Xiangcheng City in central China's Henan Province.

The article focuses on discrepancies between information about Egyptian mummification according to ancient historian Herodotus and reports on mummies reviewed by scholars Andrew Wade and Andrew Nelson at the University of Western Ontario.

The article briefly reports on the discovery of several mummified bodies found at the Bronze Age settlement of Cladh Hallan in South Uist, Scotland.

An introduction is presented to a special section of the journal devoted to the top 10 archaeological discoveries of 2012. Discoveries mentioned include: stucco masks at the Maya city of El Zotz in Guatemala, the earliest evidence of the human use of poison, an Aztec ritual burial found at the Templo Mayor in Mexico City, the identification of a Roman military camp near the town of Hermerskeil in southwestern Germany, the oldest known pottery found at a site in Jiangxi Province in China, and mummies found at a Bronze Age site in Scotland.

The article briefly discusses the use of proteomics by a team of forensic pathologists to determine what caused the death of a 500-year old mummy of a young girl found in Argentina. The team, led by Angelique Corthals, found that the girl probably died from a lung infection caused by tuberculosis.

The article reports that a team of Chilean researchers has proposed a hypothesis on how and why the Chinchorro, a hunting and gathering society that lived in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile about 7,000 to 8,000 years ago, developed a technique for mummifying their dead. The team has suggested that environmental and demographic factors led to the development of mummification practices. Comments by team member Pablo Marquet are presented.

The article discusses a discovery by archaeologists excavating an area in Egypt's Bahariya oasis of 14 tombs dating from 30 B.C. to A.D. 395 when the Roman empire extended into Egypt, including one mummy coffin that contained a woman's portrait.

A response by Carlos Zárate to a letter to the editor about his article "Scaling Inca Peaks" in the July/August 2009 issue is presented.

The article focuses on the artistic reconstruction of an ancient Egyptian mummy's face and U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to the Giza Plateau in June 2009. The article talks about how the president pointed out the similarities in appearance between himself and the hieroglyph "hr." The University of Chicago has produced images of the mummy Meresamun's face.

A letter to the editor is presented in response to the article "Scaling Inca Peaks," in the July/August 2009 issue.