Fragments of Ancient Egyptian Book Found

LEUVEN, BELGIUM—According to a New York Times report, a team of researchers led by Harco Willems of the University of Leuven examined high-resolution images of 4,000-year-old wood fragments recovered from a burial shaft in the necropolis at Deir el-Bersha, and detected texts from the ancient guide to the underworld known as the Book of Two Ways. This copy of the Book of Two Ways was etched into the cedar coffin of a woman named Ankh, who may have been related to a provincial official, and is thought to date to the Middle Kingdom reign of Mentuhotep II (ca. 2051–2030 B.C.), making it about 40 years older than other known copies. Such an illustrated guidebook, Willems explained, would have offered directions and spells necessary to navigate challenges met in the underworld, whether a soul chose to travel by land or by water, in order to reach the realm of Osiris, the god of death, and become linked for eternity to the creator, Ra. To read about excavations of a type of Egyptian cargo ship that was documented by the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, go to "As Told By Herodotus."