Amazing Archaeology
This stone, discovered in Egypt in 1799, helped scholars decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs because it features a single decree written in three scripts: hieroglyphics (ancient Egyptian sacred symbols), Demotic (the cursive Egyptian script for everyday use), and Ancient Greek.
What is the Rosetta Stone?
Fun Fact: Before it was deciphered, no one could read hieroglyphs for over 1,000 years.
This Roman city was buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79.
What is Pompeii?
Fun Fact: Frozen in time many buildings, people, paintings, and even food were preserved under volcanic ash.
Egypt is located on this continent.
What is Africa.
This is a succession of rulers from a single family.
What is a dynasty?
Developed by the Sumerians, this first system of writing used wedge shaped marks made in soft clay.
What is Cuneiform?
This clay army of thousands of life-sized soldiers was buried with China's first emperor.
What is the Terracotta Army?
Fun Fact: Many of the warriors originally had brightly painted armor and clothing.
This mountain city in Peru was built in the Andes Mountains by the Inca.
What is Machu Picchu?
This common seasonal/holiday spice was packed inside the body cavity during mummification to absorb moisture, impart sweet fragrances, and block bacteria.
What is Cinnamon?
Chinese people felt that this stone prevented a body from decaying.
What is Jade?
The oldest known board game is over this many years old.
What is 4,500 years old?
This famous tomb, discovered mostly intact in 1922, belonged to this teenage Egyptian pharaoh.
Who was Tutankhamun (King Tut)?
Fun Fact: King Tut became pharaoh around age nine.
This desert city in Jordan is famous for buildings carved into pink rock.
What is Petra?
Ancient Egyptians thought that intelligence, emotion, and morality was found in this bodily organ.
What is the Heart?
Fun Fact: During ancient Egyptian mummification, the heart was typically left untouched inside the body. Unlike the brain and other internal organs which were removed and discarded or stored separately, the heart was preserved in place.
The Qin dynasty is credited for building this UNECO World Heritage site 2,300 years ago.
What is the Great Wall of China?
This first form of paper was made using a reed plant that grew along the Nile river.
What is Papyrus?
This volcanic eruption accidentally preserved an entire Roman city beneath ash.
What is Pompeii?
Fun Fact: Archaeologists have even found loaves of bread still in ancient ovens.
This people are credited for building many impressive cities in the rainforests of Central America.
Who are the Maya?
This river made ancient Egypt possible.
What is the Nile River?
This traditional form of medicine is an ancient Chinese practice of inserting fine needles through the skin at specific points to treat disease or relieve pain.
What is Acupuncture?
Known today by this popular phrase, this ancient form of justice is known as lex talionis or "the law of retribution"—to make sure punishments fit the crime.
"An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth."
Fun Fact: This is known as the Hammurabi Code, named after an ancient Babylonian king around 1754 BC.
These oldest surviving biblical manuscripts were discovered by a young Bedouin shepherd.
What are the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Fun Fact: He found them after tossing a rock into a cave and hearing a jar break.
This ancient city in Iraq was once home to the famous Hanging Gardens—at least according to ancient writers.
What is Babylon?
Fun Fact: Historians still debate whether the Hanging Gardens actually existed.
This is the process of treating a body to keep it from decaying.
What is Embalming?
This ancient Chinese book is a famous military guide written during the 5th century BCE and credited to the strategist Sun Tzu.
What is the Art of War?
Fun Fact: The book is traditionally known in Chinese as Sunzi Bingfa which translates literally to Master Sun's Art of War (Military Methods/Military Strategy).
This foundational food was highly resilient and thrived in poor, salty soil where wheat failed. It became the literal economic foundation of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, serving as both a staple food and a form of currency.
What is Barley?
Fun Fact: Other Neolithic Founder Crops that kicked off the agricultural revolution were einkorn wheat, emmer wheat, lentils, peas, chickpeas, and bitter vetch, and Flax (used for clothing).