What remains of Ancient Egypt?

How do we know so much about Ancient Egypt?

A photo of the Sphinx in front of the pyramids. — Image caption,
The Great Sphinx and the pyramids of Giza.

The Ancient Egyptian civilisation lasted for around 3000 years.

We know about Ancient Egypt from:

tombs (special places where people were buried after they died)
pyramids (a huge, triangular-shaped structure used as a tomb for pharaohs)
artefacts (object made or used by people long ago that helps us learn about how they lived) left behind.

Studying these items is called Egyptology and the people who study them are called Egyptologists.

A photo of Tutankhamun's inner coffin in a museum in Cairo. — Image caption,
Tutankhamun's inner sarcophagus, in a museum in Cairo, Egypt.

An Egyptologist is an archaeologist who specialises in Ancient Egypt.

Tombs, pyramids and the Valley of the Kings show us how Pharaohs and important people lived and were buried.

Statues, the Sphinx (a statue with the body of a lion and the head of a human) and temples like Karnak tell us about their gods and daily life.

Mummies (wrapped and preserved bodies of the dead) show how they treated the dead and what they believed about the afterlife. Pharaohs, the rulers of Ancient Egypt, were considered important to the gods, and turning them into mummies kept them looking lifelike.

Important words

Important words on what remains in Ancient Egypt.

Keyword	Definition
Archaeologist	A person who studies the past.
Artefacts	Object made or used by people long ago that helps us learn about how they lived.
Egyptologist	A person who studies Ancient Egypt.
Egyptology	The study of Ancient Egypt’s people, buildings and objects.
Hieroglyphs	Pictures and symbols used by Ancient Egyptians for writing.
Inscriptions	Words carved into stone or something hard.
Pyramid	A huge, triangular-shaped structure used as a tomb for pharaohs.
Sphinx	A statue with the body of a lion and the head of a human. Some statues also give the sphinx the wings of a bird.
Tombs	Special places where people were buried after they died.
Translate	To change writing from one language into another.

Watch: What remains of Ancient Egypt?

Watch the video to learn more about what remains of Ancient Egypt.

To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.

This video can not be played

Slideshow: What Ancient Egyptian ruins can we see today?

Click through the slideshow to learn more about some of the Ancient Egyptian ruins we can still see today.

Skip image gallery

Image caption,
The largest Egyptian pyramid ever built was Pharaoh Khufu’s Great Pyramid of Giza, over 4,500 years ago. It is the tallest pyramid that you can see in this picture. It is made from over two million stone blocks.
Image caption,
The Valley of the Kings was a royal burial ground. Many pharaohs, including Tutankhamun, were buried here, along with other important people.
Image caption,
Karnak was the largest temple complex found in Ancient Egypt. It had many temples, halls, and statues all in one big area. It was built for the god Amun.
Image caption,
A sphinx is a mythical creature with the body of a lion and the head of a human. This is the Great Sphinx of Giza. It is chiselled from limestone and has the face of Pharaoh Khafre.

The Rosetta Stone

Ancient Egyptians wrote using hieroglyphs (pictures and symbols used by Ancient Egyptians for writing).

People stopped using them soon after the end of the 4th century AD.

For over 1,400 years no one could read what was written.

In 1799, a soldier in the French army found a large stone in Egypt.

This stone is called the Rosetta Stone.

The Rosetta Stone is over one metre high and more than 2000 years old.

It is part of a bigger stone slab and has a message carved into it.

The Stone helped scholars translate hieroglyphs for the first time.

They looked at the inscriptions (words carved into stone or something hard) on the stone which are in Ancient Greek, a language people could already read, demotic and hieroglyphs.

A close up photo of the Rosetta Stone. — Image caption,
A close up view of the Rosetta Stone showing two of the three inscriptions with hieroglyphs above and demotic (an Ancient Egyptian script) below.

The Rosetta Stone and other Egyptian artefacts were captured by the British Army and brought back to London.

It has been on display at the British Museum since 1802.

Artefacts in the UK

A photo of the Egyptology room in the British Museum with visitors looking at mummies and sarcophagus's. — Image caption,
The Egyptology room in the British Museum.

The UK we have some of the biggest collections of Ancient Egyptian artefacts in the world.

The British Museum in London has the largest collection of Egyptian objects outside of Egypt.

However, not all of these objects were willingly donated to the museum. Many were taken by British explorers and soldiers during the 19th and 20th centuries, when Britain ruled a large Empire.

Think like a historian

A thought bubble saying 'Thinking points'.

Have a look at the thinking points below and think about your answer to the questions. You could even write it down on a piece of paper or discuss it with somebody else if you want to.