Live data from Hacker News

Sealed tomb filled with paintings and inscriptions discovered in Egypt

labrujulaverde.com

81–90 of 92 posts

Re: Sealed tomb filled with paintings and inscriptions discovered in Egypt

#81

Asked gpt to see if it could discern Egyptian hieroglyphs from the image of the tomb wall... https://i.postimg.cc/Pdw7sw-0W/image.png The "possible standing figure" on the right seems plausible. Be interested in seeing what the actual painstaking restoration eventually reveals.

It's easier to just use your eyes, isn't it? The photo in the article is here: https://cdn.labrujulaverde.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2026/07... There are two standing figures to the right (correctly identified by ChatGPT), and at least two kneeling figures with upraised arms stacked toward the left (ChatGPT puts the bottom figure's arms inside the "legs" of its bunny-shaped green circle). Scroll down in the article to…

Mine was simply an exercise to see what gpt's vision would come up with vs. the expert analysis.

Re: Sealed tomb filled with paintings and inscriptions discovered in Egypt

#83
post #72
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most cemeteries in Europe have been destroyed to make space for urbanisation. The underground of Paris is full of bones from those cemetaries (catacombs of Paris). It's fairly common as outside of a few aristocratic families, people keep a very short memory of their ancestry. I have a very vague knowledge of who my ancestors were back to the mid XIX century and nothing prior. Hard to have any emotional attachment to…

I've spent some time on genealogy, and really beyond grandparents and maybe great grandparents it's mostly curiosity and for the interesting stories, and I only care about the graves to the extent that it makes solving the puzzles easier. It's not like there is anyone alive in my family who knew older ancestors of mine than my great grandparents. For my part I've only ever seen even my dads grave once, and feel no ne…

It's a bit of a paradox: burial rites are among the earliest and most fundamental elements of any society we know of; but long-term maintenance of burial sites has always been a challenge. That's probably because, after all the fanfare to honour the dead (which is mostly a way to minimize immediate social disruption), everyone eventually moves on.

Re: Sealed tomb filled with paintings and inscriptions discovered in Egypt

#84

I was in Egypt in 2011, a couple months after the big riots. I was advised not to go and went anyway. It was well worth it. I went to the Great Pyramid at ten or eleven one morning and there were maybe a dozen people in the entire area. I went inside it completely alone, and the guard let me lie down inside the sarcophagus in the King's Chamber. I don't have a word for what the energy was like in there. Palpable to s…

What made you want to lie down in a sarcophagus? Weren’t you afraid of any ancient bacteria from the mummy?

> Weren’t you afraid of any ancient bacteria from the mummy?

I don't think we're certain that the sarcophagus ever contained a mummy.

Re: Sealed tomb filled with paintings and inscriptions discovered in Egypt

#85
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Her family had been in Egypt for 250 years, that's a long time for genetic admixture. Otoh, Continuing the tradition established by previous Egyptian dynasties, the Ptolemies engaged in inbreeding including sibling marriage, with many of the pharaohs being married to their siblings and often co-ruling with them. Ptolemy I Soter (305–282 BC) [... 20 people ...] Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator (51–30 BC) https://en.wikip…

The part about sibling marriage is just so weird to read nowadays. When did humanity first figure out that inbreeding might be a bad idea?

> When did humanity first figure out that inbreeding might be a bad idea?

I suspect it was prior to recorded history.

Re: Sealed tomb filled with paintings and inscriptions discovered in Egypt

#86
post #83
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've spent some time on genealogy, and really beyond grandparents and maybe great grandparents it's mostly curiosity and for the interesting stories, and I only care about the graves to the extent that it makes solving the puzzles easier. It's not like there is anyone alive in my family who knew older ancestors of mine than my great grandparents. For my part I've only ever seen even my dads grave once, and feel no ne…

It's a bit of a paradox: burial rites are among the earliest and most fundamental elements of any society we know of; but long-term maintenance of burial sites has always been a challenge. That's probably because, after all the fanfare to honour the dead (which is mostly a way to minimize immediate social disruption), everyone eventually moves on .

When my dad died, the funeral mattered to me. But the grave does not. Of course to some it does, but it doesn't take long before everyone it mattered to are dead too. I think it's fine to keep graves for those who cares, but that shouldn't really obligate society to keep them around very long.

Re: Sealed tomb filled with paintings and inscriptions discovered in Egypt

#87
post #13
post #3

[flagged]

[flagged]

Please, must we introduce contemporary political flamebait in a story about ... archeology? We're trying for curious conversation here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Sealed tomb filled with paintings and inscriptions discovered in Egypt

#88
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you doubt that it's true, do a bit of research and find out if it's so. Here's one source[0], there are others. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mummy_brown

There's a difference between eating and using them as paint, though.

Everything on earth is made of the dead severaal times over.

Re: Sealed tomb filled with paintings and inscriptions discovered in Egypt

#89
post #49
post #28

The value of exploring tombs for the purpose of illuminating ancient cultures is inestimable. It seems humans have always been happy desecrating burial sites if not for treasure then to prove dominance over another tribe or nation. Of course some exploitation is beyond permissible. Back in the 18th and 19th centuries there was an artist's pigment called Mummy Brown. It was sold for many decades, a rich, transparent b…

It’s not actually a rule that every HN thread has to start out with negative bullshit. You can just think it’s cool they found a new tomb!

Colonial horror stories with subtile racist undertones. Only white people could do such evils and become acteurs in history. Exceptionally evil, superior you could even say and the only ones locked into a story of repentantce in topdown anti colonial revolution.

Everyone is heartily sick of this, no explanation power and thus not helping anyone to overcome anything. The Rosamunde Pilcher, of looking at history.

Re: Sealed tomb filled with paintings and inscriptions discovered in Egypt

#90
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What made you want to lie down in a sarcophagus? Weren’t you afraid of any ancient bacteria from the mummy?

> Weren’t you afraid of any ancient bacteria from the mummy? I don't think we're certain that the sarcophagus ever contained a mummy.

Yea, could've been a daddy, maybe just some person who didn't have kids. Who's to say.
Post reply on HN