Blurs

Long before modern gemologists identified its chemical composition, a distinctive yellowish-green gemstone was being extracted from a remote island in the Red Sea, transported across ancient trade routes and treasured in the world of the Egyptian pharaohs. Today, the stone is known as peridot, the transparent gemstone variety of the mineral olivine. Its distinctive colour ranges from yellowish green to a deeper olive green, depending largely on its iron content. Peridot occupies a particularly interesting place in the history of ancient Egyptian gemstones.  Its story combines mineral wealth, royal patronage, dangerous sea voyages and enduring legends about the relationship between precious stones and supernatural protection. The gemstone is often associated with the phrase the gem of the sun, a description reflecting its luminous appearance and traditional associations with light.  However, separating established historical evidence from later folklore is essential when invest...

Ancient Egyptian artwork is revealing an unexpected ingredient list — and modern chemistry is beginning to expose recipes that survived for thousands of years. Walk into an Egyptian tomb and the first thing that catches your eye is colour. Brilliant reds, deep blacks, ochres, blue and green pigments. The images appear deceptively simple. Gods, kings, animals, plants and scenes from daily life are rendered in a relatively limited palette that has remained recognisable for thousands of years. But the colours themselves have a hidden history. They were not simply "paint". They were mixtures. Minerals were ground, plants were processed, organic substances were added, binders were prepared. And some of the ingredients have left behind chemical fingerprints that can still be detected today. Now researchers are using a technique called palaeoproteomics — the analysis of ancient proteins and peptides — to investigate those fingerprints. The results are revealing something surprising....

The Pharaoh's Curse: Coincidence, Ancient Warning, or Something Beyond Explanation? For more than a century, one story has captured the imagination of historians, archaeologists and lovers of the mysterious alike.  It is a tale of hidden tombs, unimaginable treasures, unexplained deaths and an ancient warning said to protect the resting places of Egypt's kings. It has become known simply as the Pharaoh's Curse. To some, it is little more than a sensational newspaper invention designed to sell headlines during the excitement surrounding one of archaeology's greatest discoveries. To others, the remarkable chain of deaths and misfortunes that followed the opening of several Egyptian tombs cannot be dismissed so easily. Whether viewed through the lens of history, science or the supernatural, the legend of the Pharaoh's Curse remains one of the world's most enduring mysteries. The Discovery That Changed Everything Although stories of cursed tombs existed long before ...