Archive - Ancient Content

Egypt’s Tomb Builders Had Sick Leave at Deir el-Medina

The Egyptian state subsidised sick leave for the craftsmen of Deir el-Medina, and a limestone register lists their excuses

5 hrs ago • Ancient Content

Beer, Socks and Birthdays at a Roman Fort

A request for beer, a parcel of socks and a birthday invitation survive in ink on wooden tablets from a Roman fort

Nov 3 • Ancient Content

Naunakhte Cut Three Children Out of Her Will

A widow of about eighty, a court of fourteen villagers and a papyrus in Oxford that names who inherited and who was cut out

Nov 1 • Ancient Content

October 2026

What Do You Take Me For, Ea-nasir?

A 3,775-year-old clay letter, a merchant’s house at 1 Old Street in Ur and the internet meme that followed

Oct 31 • Ancient Content

Tutankhamun’s Dagger Came From Space

Tests on the blade found in the boy king’s wrappings point to metal that fell from space

Oct 30 • Ancient Content

The Wardrobe in House IX 11

A wooden cupboard left its outline in the ash at house IX 11, and inside lay 24 pendants, 38 coins and a set of lead weights

Oct 29 • Ancient Content

Egypt’s Tomb Builders Staged the First Recorded Strike

In 1157 BC the royal tomb builders of Deir el-Medina sat down behind temples and told officials they were hungry

Oct 28 • Ancient Content

Babylonians Tracked Jupiter With Geometry

Five clay tablets show Babylon’s astronomers using geometry 1,400 years before Oxford

Oct 27 • Ancient Content

The World’s Oldest Recipes

Four Babylonian clay tablets at Yale hold stews from about 1730 BC, and a modern team has cooked them.

Oct 25 • Ancient Content

Kamchatka Stone Points Linked to Tattooing

Wear traces and iron paint on 13,000-year-old stone points from Ushki V, Kamchatka, suggest tattooing, according to two Russian archaeologists.

Oct 23 • Ancient Content

The Room With No Door

Watch Now | A sealed wooden chamber under a man-made mountain in Türkiye, holding a king, his furniture, and the leftovers of his funeral feast.

Oct 22 • Ancient Content

3:04

The Women of Kanesh Ran a Business Empire 4,000 Years Ago

Clay letters from Kültepe show Assyrian women lending silver, running workshops and scolding their husbands

Oct 21 • Ancient Content

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