July/August 2025 Issue

Ancient Egyptians built hundreds of pyramids over the millennia. These monumental structures were exclusively reserved for royal burials—or so scholars have long believed. Recent excavations in the pyramids at the site of Tombos, an Egyptian colony in ancient Nubia, revealed several skeletons interred between 1400 and 650 b.c. The remains of some individuals showed signs of wear and tear likely caused by a lifetime of manual labor. This is hardly a sign of noble birth, suggesting that the Tombos pyramids had a less restrictive entrance policy than previously thought.

Mental gymnastics were emphasized just as much as physical exercise in the ancient Greek colony of Agrigento. The 1st-century b.c. gymnasium at the site contains ample space for workouts, training, and other athletic activities. Recent excavations uncovered a semicircular roofed classroom, the 1st of its kind ever found in a gymnasium complex. Teachers and students would have used this space to hold classes, practice rhetoric, and stage plays as well as intellectual competitions.

The torso of a rare type of Buddha statue was unearthed at Ta Prohm, a monastery built by the Khmer king Jayavarman VII in the late 12th to early 13th century. The sculpture stands about 4 feet tall, is heavily adorned with jewelry, and wears a robe and a veil. The Buddha is depicted with his left arm placed across his chest, a previously unknown position in Khmer statuary. Archaeologists were able to reunite the figure with its head, which was found in 1927.