An excavation team said it had uncovered artifacts which indicate that an ancient Bronze-Age kingdom in northern Syria had strong international trade relations with Nile river dynasties. Peter Pfalzner, head of a joint German-Syrian archeology team, said that gifts (including a gold and lapis bracelet, a sheet of gold with a depiction of a palm tree, a small crystal jar, and a stone statue of a hippopotamus of Egyptian origin) originating from the Nile Valley and Mesopotamia were discovered in burial chambers at the ruins of a once royal city near what is now the Syrian city of Aleppo.

In a press statement, Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), said that the newly discovered settlement is 1km long from north to south and 250m wide from east to west. The Secretary General added that archaeological evidence at the site indicates that the settlement inhabitants were part of an administrative centre – and engaged in baking on a massive scale.

Egyptian experts have begun to explore the depths of Lake Qarun south of Cairo using remote sensing radars in search of sunken artefacts.

Howard Carter spent years documenting the thousands of artefacts from Tutankhamun's tomb. Now, thanks to the efforts of an Oxford archaeologist, this remarkable archive of pictures and notes can be viewed online.

The remains of a 3,000 year old temple dating from the reign of ancient Egyptian pharaoh Rameses II have been unearthed in the excavations in Upper Egypt's Ehnasia archaeological area. Inside the remains of this temple, excavators uncovered ten cartouches of Ramesses II and beneath them a relief saying that the ruler had built this temple for himself in Ehnasia.

Archaeologists in Jerusalem have unearthed the most ancient written document ever found in the Holy City – a tiny fragment of a letter thought to be addressed to Akhenaten. The fragment is believed to be a contemporary of the 380 tablets discovered in the 19th century at Amarna in Akhenaten’s archives.

The two colourful tombs belong to a father and his son from the 6th Dynasty and were found west of the Step Pyramid in Saqqara district. The father was carrying the titles of the Chief Clerk of the King and the supervisor of missions and also held many honorary titles, Hawas said, adding the wood-made coffin of the father was buried in a 20m-deep well that was found under the false door. The most important thing found in the well was a 30cm-long limestone-made Obelisk, a symbol of the worship of 'Ra'.

Culture Minister Farouk Hosni on Sunday issued a list of new regulations to be adopted by his ministry in line with guidelines laid out in the recently approved Egyptian Antiquity Protection Law. The new directives include guidelines for defining what constitutes an "antiquity" per se; determining ownership of antiquities; regulating archeological excavations; and specifying how antiquities should be inventoried, preserved and restored. Other regulations touch on tourism management at sites featuring antiquities and at Egyptian museums.

Egyptian archaeologists who have completed excavations on the unfinished ancient tunnel in the tomb of Seti I believe it was meant to connect a 3,300-year-old pharaoh's tomb with a secret burial site. The tunnel has now been completely cleared and archaeologists discovered ancient figurines, shards of pottery and instructions left by the architect for the workmen.