A year-by-year chronicle from the Rosetta Stone to the Valley of the Golden Mummies. Here is the story of Ancient Egypt as it unfolded to the world at large: a magnificent succession of brilliant discoveries and dazzling finds. Ancient Egypt: The Great Discoveries highlights everything important and exciting in Egyptian archaeology from 1799--the year of Napoleon's Great Expedition and the first scientific survey of Egypt--to the excavation of the golden mummies at the Bahariya Oasis in 1999. Some finds are world famous--the Rosetta Stone, the tomb of Ramesses the Great's consort Nefertari, King Cheops' royal ships. Others, neglected or little known, will be a revelation: the Ferlini Treasure with its superb gold finds, or the jewels of Egyptian princesses unearthed at Dahshur. All these discoveries are brought to life by exhaustively researched extracts from the notebooks, diaries, and published accounts of the excavators themselves, as well as by archival images and full-color photographs. Some of the most exciting finds come from the last few decades. Research by Donald Redford at Thebes has unearthed the hidden remnants of Akhenaten's Great Temple, now being reconstructed on computer. Geoffrey Martin's work at Saqqara has yielded up the tombs of Maya and Horemheb, Tutankhamun's treasurer and general. Kent Weeks is exploring the extraordinary tomb of the sons of Ramesses II, the largest ever found in Egypt. Jean-Yves Empereur has retrieved from the harbor at Alexandria part of the ancient Pharos, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. These and other spectacular recent finds are fully described and displayed. Panoramic in scope, the book covers all periods of Egyptian civilization, from Predynastic to Graeco-Roman, and all areas of the country, from the Delta to Nubia. It serves equally well as an illustrated history of discovery, a showcase of the greatest finds, and a superb volume for home reference. 350 illustrations, 120 in color.

Nicholas Reeves is Honorary Fellow of the Oriental Museum, University of Durham, and Honorary Research Fellow at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London.