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.

Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni announced today that an archaeological team from the Vitelli Papyrological Institute of the University of Florence has discovered a talatat block from an Amarna Period monument reused in the construction of a Christian church at the site of Sheikh ‘Ibada (Antinoopolis). The block is carved in sunk relief with the image of a queen of the Amarna Period wearing the vulture headdress. Dr. Rosario Pintaudi, the mission’s director, believes that the queen depicted could be Nefertiti.

The Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaton’s voluptuous body shape and elongated head and neck, recorded in ancient depictions of the male ruler, have long perplexed historians. Irwin Braverman, a professor of dermatology and an expert on visual diagnosis at the Yale University School of Medicine, is offering a theory on the characteristics, which are not found in representations of other pharaohs: Akhenaton may have suffered from two genetic disorders that affect body shape.

The pharoah's female form was due to a genetic mutation that caused his body to convert an excessive number of its male hormones to female hormones, Dr. Irwin Braverman was due to tell a conference on the deaths of historic figures. U.S. Egyptologist Donald B. Redford backed Dr. Braverman's belief that Akhenaten had Marfan syndrome, a genetic disorder marked by lengthened features, including fingers and the face.

Yet another report about the living conditions of workers of Tell el-Amarna: Studies on the remains of ordinary ancient Egyptians in a cemetery in Tell el-Amarna showed that many of them suffered from anemia, fractured bones, stunted growth and high juvenile mortality rates, according to professors Barry Kemp and Jerome Rose, who led the research.

Hawass argues on ground of newly made CT scans that the mummy found in KV55 is that of Akhenaten.

The Amarna Princess, Bolton Museum's statuette at the centre of a forgery scam, could be exhibited in the town again. After Judge William Morris ruled it should not be destroyed, it is possible that the Amarna Princess could be put on display once more in the town - this time in an exhibition telling her own remarkable story.

Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme council of Antiquities(ESCA) Zahi Hawwas slammed statements by British Professor Barry Kemp and Professor Jerry Rose, of the University of Arkansas, USA, distorting the history of pharaonic King Akhenaten and the construction of his city in Amarna.

Evidence of the brutal lives endured by some ancient Egyptians to build the monuments of the Pharaohs has been uncovered by archaeologists. Skeletal remains from a lost city in the middle of Egypt suggest many ordinary people died in their teenage years and lived a punishing lifestyle. Many suffered from spinal injuries, poor nutrition and stunted growth.The remains were found at Amarna, a new capital built on the orders of the Pharaoh Akhenaten, 3,500 years ago.

A team led by a Cardiff University archaeologist has reconstructed a 3,000-year-old glass furnace at Amarna, showing that Ancient Egyptian glassmaking methods were much more advanced than previously thought.