The National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation is a stunning modern exhibition that depicts the history of Egypt from the earliest times and covers domestic structures; agriculture; bread making using ancient wheat that is larger than our modern strains; surgical implements and techniques, including brain surgery; Coptic Christianity, Jews in Egypt (their presence is more common than you might think across Morocco and Egypt); Islam; childbirth; weaponry; musical instruments; coins; sarcophagi; a chess set; jewellery; animal gods; the ancient Egyptian version of IKEA storage baskets because the ancients didn't have closets; an astrolabe; and a clever time clock before the days of clocks that used a series of steps that cast shadows for every hour of the night. I know you're already asking what happens at night. The Egyptians used a water clock in the shape of an urn that had gradations divided across hours and a method of allowing water to flow from the urn that coincided with the hour marks on the urn. Clever. The Romans and the Egyptians seemed to have it all worked out. I thought a sundial wristwatch would have done the trick.
VIDEO: National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation (Press arrow to play)
Click thumbnail images for larger image
Ancient artefacts that tell the story of Egyptian civilisation.
Your mission should you choose to accept it:
Read the paragraph at the start of this blog post
and see how many items you can identify in these photos and the video.