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Arts & Artisans

Artisans If you are poor, serve a man of worth, That all your conduct may be well with the god.-- Ptahhotep Skilled craftsmen were responsible for creating and decorating temples, and the tombs and houses of the wealthy. They enjoyed many privileges, among them, the possibility of a proper burial.

Childhood

Childhood Ancient Egyptians, like modern Egyptians, loved children, and took good care of them. Mothers nursed their babies for three or four years. Little ones were carried by their mothers in a soft sling, so that they felt her body's warmth and her presence always. There are many images of

Definitions

Agriculturalists: People who rely upon crops they have planted and tended to themselves, rather than relying on gathering alone. Apartment: The named used by archeologists to describe the living space that belonged to one family. Each longhouse is made up of several apartments. Artifacts: Anything

Education

Education  Going to school was a privilege and only children of the upper classes received a formal education. Reading and writing, the skills of a scribe, were the most prized forms of learning, and were seen as the key to a successful career in the king's service. Girls did not attend

Egyptian Gods

Images of Gods Ancient Egyptian gods could manifest themselves in human form, like the god Ptah, or as animals, like the sacred bulls, or as a combination of human and animal, like the Hawk-headed Horus, or the Ibis-headed Thoth. Most of the sacred images from the Age of the Pyramids have not

Egyptian Hieroglyphs

Explore the Site

Besides post moulds, there are two main features made by Iroquoian peoples and found by archaeologists inside longhouses. These are fire pits or hearths, and storage pits. Below is an example of a floor plan of an Ontario Iroquoian longhouse. In this plan, the post moulds, hearths and storage pits

Farming

Farming  Ancient Egyptians saw their country as "Two Lands". Kemet, the Black Land, was the name given to the fertile area near the river, and Deshret, the Red Land, referred to the desert. The ancient Egyptians believed that their country had once been two separate states: the Delta in

Goddesses & Gods

Glossary of Goddesses and Gods Some images of ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses show them as if they were humans. Ptah of Memphis, for example, is usually shown as a man wrapped in mummy clothes, his hands outside the wrappings, grasping scepters. But other gods, such as Horus, Thoth and Sakhmet,

Infant Mortality

Infant Mortality Childbirth is a dangerous time for mothers and for babies. In Ancient Egypt, maternal and infant mortality were high. This is not because Egypt was more dangerous than other countries. For most of human history, between twenty and fifty percent of babies have not lived through

Kings

Kings During the Age of the Pyramids, the King was a semi-divine figure, an embryo god, identified as "Son of the Sun". Despite this, at least one king was assassinated, and the Ancient Egyptians felt comfortable to tell stories about their rulers. King Khufu and the Magicians is one of

Land

  Land If you plough, and there's growth in the field, And god lets it prosper in your hand, Do not boast at your neighbour's side, One has great respect for the silent man.-- Ptahhotep It is certain that the great mass of people in Ancient Egypt worked on the land. These people grew

Layer Four- Fill from the top part of the privy, thrown into level off the hole

Here is what was found in layer 4- a crown cap closures on soda pop bottles, which dates from after 1892 in the US.  This means that the date for Canada would be slightly later, because it would take some time for the technology to travel north to Canada. Although not as popular now as they were

Layer One- Sod and topsoil layer

Pharmaceutical or medicine bottles were common in the 19th and 20th centuries until it was no longer legal to sell "medicines" without a licence. People, especially women due to the large number of "medicines" devoted to relieving "female problems," were becoming

Layer Profile- Munsell Site (A Fictional Historic Excavation)

The Munsell site is a fictional historic site created by the ROM, and located in Toronto. Let's assume the original Munsell home is still standing. Historic research from primary sources, (records written when the Munsell family were still living on the site) show that the house was built in

Layer Three- Mixed occupation and fill layer

Here is what was found in layer 3-  a piece of flow blue, transferware ceramic, which dates from around the mid 1830s.  Transferware was less expensive than imported, hand painted Chinese porcelain, and the affordability of flow blue items were attractive for many Victorian middle class families.

Life in Ancient Egypt

Aristocrats A man of means-what is he like? Your name is good, you are not maligned, Your body is sleek, your face benign.-- Ptahhotep Old Kingdom Egyptian aristocracy consisted of local rulers and high officials. Their wealth came from their landholdings. Many would have been relatives of the

Make your own Mummy

Make Your Own Mummy! For this project you will need: Plasticene Plaster of paris bandages Paint (acrylic will work best-- BUT it doesn't wash off, so be careful) Paintbrushes Scissors The right attitude Step 1 Take a lump of plasticene or modeling clay and work it between your hands until it

Map of Ancient Egypt

Map of Ancient Egypt 

Marriage and Adulthood

Marriage and Adulthood Were there ceremonies to mark the end of childhood? Young boys seem to have been initiated into manhood through a circumcision ceremony. There is no mention of a similar ceremony for girls, but menarche may have been celebrated at women-only parties which would not be

Merchants

Merchants There are images in Old Kingdom tombs of people at markets, buying and selling. Commerce was carried on by barter: everything had to be traded for something of equal value. Weighing, measuring and counting were very important. Were there shopkeepers, people who make their living in trade?

Miscellaneous

    Hieroglyphic Alphabet  

Mortuary Chapels

Mortuary Chapels Mortuary Chapels were built for King's Wives, members of the royal family, and others who could afford them. Some of the craftsmen working on the Great Pyramids constructed their own chapels, imitating the buildings of the noble, working on a scale fit for dolls. Chapels were

Mounds of Creation

Mounds of Creation Mounds of Creation were one of were many kinds of temples in the Age of the Pyramids. Some, such as the sanctuary of Khnum at Elephantine, or the Sacred Precinct at Nekhen, were ancient places where rocks and stones marked out a sacred site. In several towns, a special Mound of

Mummification

Natural Mummies North Africa is very hot and dry. The Sahara would stretch right across from near the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea if not for the Nile River. The Nile has allowed people to live in Egypt and develop a great civilization. The dark rich soil deposited by the annual flood, the

My name is Pete (PT1) Sanderling

My name is Pete Sanderling. Can you guess why? The coloured flag was put on my leg by a scientist to learn more about how I live.  You might call me a frequent flyer because I travel so much. I spend my winters as far south as South America and my summers in Canada's arctic. 

Names

Names Names went in and out of fashion in Ancient Egypt, even as they do in modern times. (For example, Florence was not used as a woman's name until Mr. and Mrs. Nightingale decided to call their little girl after the city in Italy. Kim was a very rare name in the English-speaking world

Natural Environment

  Environment Ancient Egyptians saw their country as "Two Lands". Kemet, the Black Land, was the name given to the fertile area near the river, and Deshret, the Red Land, referred to the desert. The ancient Egyptians believed that their country had once been two separate states: the

Palette of Narmer

People

The People of Ancient Egypt Who were the people of Ancient Egypt? What did they look like? What evidence can we get from archaeology and anthropology? Can Ancient Egyptian statues and paintings tell us what people really looked like in the Age of the Pyramids? The ancient population of Egypt has

Plants and Animals of the Nile

  Plants and Animals of the Nile The ancient inhabitants of the Nile were closely aware of their physical surroundings, especially the other living things in the valley. Egyptian art is filled with wonderful pictures of the animals and plants that the Ancient people knew and loved. Because of the

Priest

Priests During the Age of the Pyramids, many high officials, scribes, and craftsmen held titles that expressed a connection between the tomb owner and a temple or the cult of a god. Few people, however, were full-time ritual practitioners; one month in ten seems to have been the usual length of

Priestly Titles

Priestly Titles Whatever we know about particular people in the Age of the Pyramids, we usually know from the inscriptions in their tombs. It was rare for a person to write something that we would recognized as a biography, with details of education and life events, but most tomb-owners would list

Primary Sources of Information about the Age of the Pyramids

The Age of Pyramids  We know more about the Ancient Egyptians than any other ancient civilization. Scribes of the Old Empire Tombs are major primary sources of information about Ancient Egypt. The Ancient Egyptians believed that death was not the end; there was an afterlife. This afterlife would

Pyramid Texts

  Pyramid Texts The Pyramid Texts are the oldest collection of religious writings in the world. The oldest copies we have are about four thousand four hundred years old, but most scholars believe that the prayers themselves are much older. They may have existed in spoken and sung forms since early

Religion

Amulets Amulets are very much like lucky charms. They are personal ornaments, worn by the living, or placed on the bodies of the dead to bring the blessings of particular deities. Because of their shapes, or colours, or the materials of which they were made, amulets were believed to help to protect

Royal Mortuary Temples

Royal Mortuary Temples Royal Mortuary Temples were associated with pyramids. In them, the king was worshiped while he was alive and after he was dead. The ceremonies in these temples may have given worship to the king so that he could direct this worship to the gods. The royal mortuary cults were

Royalty and the Court

Who is Who? A-C Aa-akhti:  Third Dynasty. Chief Architect and Royal Governor. Aa-akhti was wealthy and powerful. He was able to command a fine artist to carve decorations for his mortuary chapel. An image of Aa-akhti himself, dressed in an unusual long kilt, and surrounded by clear and lively

Scribes and Bureaucrats

Scribes and Bureaucrats Few skills were more important in Egypt than the ability to read and write. No illiterate could hold high office. Knowledge of reading, writing and arithmetic made the scribe a person of importance, one who watched while others sweated in the sun. Scribes gave the orders

Secondary Sources

The Palermo Stone Originally, this large stone contained a record of the activities of the kings of Egypt from the First Dynasty to the beginning of the Fifth. The height of the Nile's annual inundation, festivals, gifts from the king to the gods, and wars were recorded. Compiled during the

Servants

Servants Considerable numbers of people made their living as washermen and women, porters, maids, weavers and cooks. The tombs of the rich and famous are filled with images of servants, often named, who accompany their mistress or master into the next life.  Porters are often depicted very

Social Structure

Social Structure At first glance, ancient Egyptian society seems highly structured and rigidly stratified, particularly in the Old Kingdom. Ptahhotep, the wise Vizier who lived about 2414-2375 BCE, put it this way: If you are in the antechamber, Stand and sit as fits your rank, Which was assigned

Soldiers

Soldiers The military may have constituted a social class of their own, with sons often following their fathers into the army. Son often followed father into the army. Opportunity, good luck, and courage could help a soldier rise in wealth and prestige. Because Kings were also war-leaders, a good

Sun Temples

Sun Temples Sun Temples were built during the Fifty Dynasty to honour the god Re. They are evidence for the growth in importance of this god. Though all the Sun Temples are in ruins now, enough remains of their decoration to show that the beauty of the natural world was celebrated in these places.

Temples

Temples Archaeology is essential to our attempts to understand ancient temples and the religion that once animated them. Because temples were often built with beautiful stone and fine columns of red granite from Aswan, most have been dismantled and the building materials recycled. Mud-bricks which

Textiles

Textiles All ancient Egyptians, rich or poor, male or female, wore linen clothing.. The lists of offerings in tombs almost always mentions linen as something that the deceased would need in the next world. There are many steps required to make linen from flax. Great skill was required to turn the

Timmy (TM1), the Ruddy Turnstone

I am a shorebird known as a Ruddy Turnstone. Like many shorebirds species our numbers are starting to show a serious decline. ROM researchers are studying turnstones and other shorebirds so we can learn more about the problems they are facing and protect them. I have been given the name Timmy,