This colorful piece from ancient Egypt is actually only a fragment of what would have been a larger funerary mask, meant to adorn a mummy in preparation for the afterlife. The fragment depicts typical funerary iconography and adornment, including chest pectorals and a type of broad necklace called a wesekh collar (meaning ‘breadth’ or ‘width’),...

While the wooden boat model pictured here might seem like something created as a toy or a builder’s model, for the ancient Egyptians it actually was an important piece of religious and funerary equipment. Water played an important role in the ancient Egyptian’s daily lives, since the Nile River acted as a sort of ancient...

This pendant might look like it is a small, decorative trinket, but it had great religious and magical meaning to the ancient Egyptian who wore it. Depicting Sakhmet, the lion headed warrior goddess, it belongs to a group of objects called amulets that were meant to protect the owner through the use of apotropaic magic....