Russian archaeologists working at Egypt's Fayoum Oasis have uncovered a number of mummies wearing golden masks, as well as other artifacts of historical value. The Deir Al-Banat necropolis contains burial sites from three periods of Egyptian history - Ancient Egypt, Roman Egypt and Christian Egypt. Apart from traditional Egyptian mummies, scientists have also found several Fayoum mummy portraits from the Roman Egyptian period.

A necropolis consisting of 53 rock-cut tombs dating to the Middle and New Kingdoms and the 22nd Dynasty has been discovered by the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) in the southeastern part of the pyramid field of Illahun.

The findings from a wine jar dated to 5100 B.C. provide concrete evidence of ancient Egyptian organic medicine, which had only been ambiguously referred to in later papyrus documents, said Patrick McGovern of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, one of the researchers. Tests on one of 700 jars buried with Scorpion I in his tomb at Abydos about 3100 B.C. confirmed that the vessel contained wine, according to the paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Archeologists next week will begin excavating three sites in Egypt near the Mediterranean Sea that may contain the tombs of Cleopatra and Mark Anthony. In a statement Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities said the three sites were identified last month during a radar survey of the temple of Taposiris Magna. Excavators have also found a number of deep shafts inside the temple, three of which were possibly used for burials.

The 200-year-old travel diary of an Italian adventurer who explored Egypt and later guided the founders of Egyptology to key sites has been uncovered in Pisa. The journal, accidentally unearthed during research into a groundbreaking historical expedition, was written by a Siena-born doctor, draughtsman and explorer named Alessandro Ricci, who set out for Egypt in 1817.

The find was made in Qantara, 4 kilometers east of the Suez Canal. These temples mark the latest discovery by archaeologists digging up the remains of the city on the military road known as "Way of Horus.". Among the discoveries was the largest mud brick temple found in the Sinai with an area of 70 by 80 meters and fortified with mud walls 3 meters thick. The temple contains four hallways, three stone purification bowls and colorful inscriptions commemorating Ramses I and II.