Exhibition: Pharaohs for all ages

Al Ahram Weekly (Nevine El-Aref)

Last week, residents of Indianapolis fell under the spell of the art and history of ancient Egyptians as the "Tutankhamun, The Golden King and The Great Pharaohs" exhibition opened its doors to the public. Streets, kiosks, restaurants and hotel forefronts were decorated with huge Egyptian and US flags, as well as posters of some of the stunning objects featured in the exhibition -- among them the exquisite gold canopic coffinette of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, a limestone head of the monotheistic ruler Akhenaten, a marble statue of Queen Hatshepsut, and a colossal seated statue of Pharaoh Sobekhotep of the Middle Kingdom.

At the forefront of the Children's Museum of Indianapolis (CMI), where the exhibition is taking place, stands a colossal replica statue of the necropolis deity Anubis greeting visitors as they pass through an ancient Egyptian-style gate guarded by two athletic-looking bodyguards wearing the ancient nemes head dress and a short white gown tied at the waist with a coloured belt decorated with lotus flowers.

After crossing the museum garden, which is decorated with gypsum replicas of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, visitors are taken back in time to the life, death, faith and afterlife of those innovative Pharaohs of ancient Egypt.

Strains of oriental music filled the evening air of the CMI's reception hall, where women and men, girls and boys dressed as Pharaohs, courtiers, servants, priests and deities roam about guiding visitors to the different sections of the "Tutankhamun, the Golden King and the Great Pharaohs" exhibition.

"Now, come, travel back in time. See where and how these rulers lived," beckons the deep voice of Hollywood's Indiana Jones, aka Harrison Ford, while a two-minute video accompanies the narrative. When the screens go quiet, massive double limestone-coloured doors, edged by a pair of carved columns decorated with lotus flowers, swing open into a labyrinth of seven galleries displaying 130 splendid ancient Egyptian artefacts from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, many of which have never left home before. These objects focus on the splendour of the Egyptian Pharaohs, their function in the earthly and divine worlds, and what kingship meant to the Egyptian people. Fifty of the pieces are from Pharaoh Tutankhamun's tomb while the rest feature the treasures of his ancestor rulers from the pyramid builders' era through the Late Period.

See the above page for the full story.

Sahara Journal volume 20

Sahara Journal

Contents of volume 20 (published June 2009) 224 pages, 305 black and white illustrations, 37 colour plates


Papers

Rudolph Kuper: A Paradise off Rules?

Savino di Lernia and Marina Gallinaro: The Rock Art of the Acacus Mountains (SW Libya), between originals and copies (abstract)

Azhari Mustafa Sadig: Preliminary Observation on the Neolithic Settlement Patterns in Central Sudan (abstract)

Heiko Riemer: A potsherd from northwest of Abu Minqar and the dispersal of Sheikh Muftah pottery in the Western Desert of Egypt (abstract)

Maria Carmela Gatto, Morgan De Dapper, Merel Eyckerman, Rainer Gerisch, Hannah Joris, Claire Newton and Stan Hendrickx: Landscape reconstruction of the Predynastic site at Nag el-Qarmila (Upper Egypt)
(abstract)

Adriana Scarpa Falce: Borou Sud 06, quadri di un’esposizione (conca di Ouri, Tibesti nord-orientale, Ciad) (abstract)

A. José Farrujia de la Rosa, Werner Pichler and Alain Rodrigue: The colonization of the Canary Islands and the Libyco-Berber and Latino-Canarian scripts (abstract)

Ulrich W. Hallier et Brigitte C. Hallier: L’ « époque des Chasseurs Anciens » dans la Tassili-n-Ajjer (Algérie du Sud) (abstract)



Sections

Amenti / Ament / Amentet

Jean Daniel Degreef: The Jebel Uweinat relief of Mentuhotep II: a jubilee scene?

Julien d’Huy: New evidence for a closeness between the Abu Râ’s shelter (Eastern Sahara) and Egyptian beliefs

Giancarlo Negro: Segnalazione di nuovi siti d’arte rupestre nel Great Sand Sea egiziano – Seconda parte

Lorenzo De Cola, Maria Emilia Peroschi e Flavio Cambieri: Osservazioni su un dipinto in ocra rossa nel Deserto Occidentale egiziano

Marta Guzzafame, Francesco Marino and Nicola Pugno: The Libyan Desert Silica Glass as a product of meteoritic impact: A new chemical-mechanical characterization


Documenti rupestri / Documents of rock art / Documents rupestres

Stan Hendrickx and Maria Carmela Gatto
A Rediscovered Late Predynastic-Early Dynastic royal scene from Gharb Aswan (Upper Egypt)

Fabio Maestrucci e Gianna Giannelli
Amakamak, il riparo degli uomini-sciacallo (Tassili-n-Ajjer settentrionale, Algeria)

Aldo Boccazzi e Donatella Calati
Tre siti d’arte rupestre del Tibesti nord-orientale

Alec Campbell and David Coulson
Afar II

Maarten van Hoek
Egyptian temple petroglyphs

Brigitte C. Hallier
The warriors of Wadi Oumashi (western central Tassili-n-Ajjer, South Algeria)

Ulrich W. Hallier et Brigitte C. Hallier
Grossesse et naissance au Néolithique (et pensées sur l’évolution de l’art rupestre)
(Sefar et Tin Tazarift, Plateau de Tamrit, Tassili n’Ajjer, Algérie du Sud)

Mark Borda
Survey of an unnamed plain in Egypt’s Western Desert


Documenti preistorici /Prehistoric documents /Documents préhistoriques

Jean-Loïc Le Quellec, Bertrand Poissonnier et Alexandre Livingstone-Smith
Une nouvelle meule ornée au Messak (Libye)

François Soleilhavoup et Roland Foessel
Un objet à produire des sons dans le Chalcolithique de Mauritanie

Alain Rodrigue
Alain Rodrigue
Découverte fortuite d’une céramique campaniforme près de Sidi Cherkaoui (Gharb, Maroc)

Friedrich Berger
An area with aligned stones in the Western Desert of Egypt

Monumenti preislamici / Pre-Islamic Monuments / Monuments préislamiques

Fiorenza Ferretti
Una“tomba reale” nel wadi In Aramas (Libia, Messak)


Scritture / Writings / Écritures

Werner Pichler and Jean-Loïc Le Quellec
Considerations on the sign≈ and the problem of its interpretation in Tifinagh inscriptions

New gallery at the Oriental Museum, Durham, UK

Oriental Museum

The Oriental Museum in Durham (part of the University of Durham) has opened a new gallery featuring Egyptian art.

Opened on the 10th July 2009, the display includes both familiar objects and items that have never previously been on display.

There is some brief information about the Egyptian collections on the museum's website.

The Ancient Egyptian collections at Durham Univerisity are some of the finest in the UK and include a number of world famous and unique objects.

Since 2008 the main Eygptian gallery at the Oriental Museum has been closed to allow for a major tour of Japan. The tour has now returned to Durham and we have used this opportunity to create a completely new gallery designed to showcase the highlights of this important collection.

The new gallery opens to the public for the first time this July. Even if you are a regular visitor to the Oriental Museum there will be plenty to see as the new gallery includes objects never seen on display in the UK before.

The university is apparently happy with the above-mentioned exhibition's tour of Japan.

Commodity Online

A 12-month touring exhibition in Japan displaying a range of ancient Egyptian artefacts - including a number of gold pieces - has been deemed a success for one UK University.

Durham University's Oriental Museum sent the exhibition on a tour that resulted in the collection being seen by nearly 200,000 Japanese visitors, the Journal reports.

Among the items on display were a number of tiny gold amulets, unique ancient jewellery and a gilded gold and painted mummy face mask.

The museum earned £60,000 in revenue that has been put into redecorating its Egyptian gallery, which will reopen to the public after a two-year closure tomorrow (July 10th) with an array of old and new exhibits.

"Closing the gallery and undertaking the tour of Japan has given us the time and funding to undertake vital conservation on delicate objects, which we are now able to display to the public for the first time," commented museum curator Craig Barclay.

See the above page for the full story.

Daily Photo by Tony Marson

Tel el-Amarna

This photo captures the basic fact of the ancient town today that
there's almost nothing left to see in the landscape. A remarkable thought.
But archaeologists have brought the town back to life on paper.
To find out more about the site have a look at the excellent Amarna Project website.


Copyright Anthony Marson, with my thanks

Kom Firin report

British Museum

The report on the 2008 expedition to Kom Firin (season 7) by Dr Neal Spencer is now available to download in PDF format (nearly 10kb) at the above page. The report is descriptive and, apart from the excellent cover photographs is not accompanied by photographs or illustrations. The main sections look at the Ramesside complex and the Citadel.

One of the fascinating sections, which comes right at the end, is a discussion of the faunal remains:

Louise Bertini undertook analysis of all of the faunal bone recovered between 2002 and 2008; the following represents a brief summary of some of her key conclusions. The faunal material, consisting of 3705 bone fragments, was in good condition for a Nile Delta site. All bone fragments were examined, with information being recorded for each on its taxon, element, portion, side, age, evidence for butchery marks, being worked, gnawed, burn marks, and breakage patterns. Fish bones were not part of the study, though the majority appear to be Nile Catfish (Synodontis and Clarias), followed by Nile Perch (Lates niloticus) and Tilapia.

Pigs are by far the most commonly identified species at Kom Firin, making up 44.1% of the total number of identified specimens. The ratio of pigs to sheep/goat is 4:1 and the ratio of pigs to cattle is: 6:1. These are very peculiar ratios, as a more typical pig to sheep goat ratio is between 1:1 and 1.5:1. This may reflect lower status occupation levels, for example of Third Intermediate Period occupation over the abandoned Ramesside temple, or in the dense occupation area in the northeast area of the enclosure (where pig to sheep/goat ratios reached 10:1). Cattle bones were also found, particularly in the Third Intermediate Period occupation levels above the Ramesside temple, but also from within the temple itself, perhaps reflecting the ancient offering cult. Equid remains (donkeys and horses) were also found with some frequency (262 fragments).

For more information about the site see:
The British Museum Kom Firin page
A full set of Project Reports on the BM website
Notes about the recording system used on komfirin.org
A couple of additional photographs on www.komfirin.org

Científicos checos estudian momias con tomografía computarizada

Radio Praha (Kateřina Oratorová)

Thanks to Amigos de la Egiptologia for this link. I had a look to see if they covered the same story in their English language section but couldn't find it. With photographs.

Rough Translation of the first part:

Would you think it is impossible to combine medicine with Egyptology? Well, you would be wrong. As part of a science project recently launched in the Czech Republic, these two disciplines come together to provide new insights to historians and doctors. It has been the dream of historians for centuries to be able to study the mummies of Ancient Egypt without affecting their integrity. Now the dream is becoming a reality in the Czech Republic. Náprstek Museum of Prague and the Municipal Museum of Moravská Třebová have recently launched a project that uses the latest medical technologies in the study of mummified bodies. In the first phase, ten Egyptian mummies underwent CT scans, which can be studied without harming the body. Doctors have taken thousands of images that are now being analyzed, said the medic Lubica Oktábcová. "Each mummy was divided into segments, each 0.5 millimeters thick, and all these segments were photographed. So you can imagine how many pictures we took. In total, we made 3,000 pictures, which are currently being examined, "said Oktábcová. The aim of this study is to find out details about the origin of the mummies and the type of life and the probable causes of death for people whose bodies were brought to the Egyptian preservation techniques. The project is a continuation of work pioneered in the 70s.

¿Creen que es imposible unir la medicina con la egiptología? Pues, están equivocados. En el marco de un proyecto científico inaugurado hace poco en la República Checa, estas dos disciplinas se dan la mano para brindar nuevos conocimientos a historiadores y médicos.

Estudiar las momias del Antiguo Egipto sin afectar su integridad ha sido el sueño de todo historiador durante siglos. Ahora el sueño se vuelve realidad en la República Checa.

El Museo Náprstek, de Praga, y el Museo Municipal de Moravská Třebová han lanzado hace poco un proyecto que aprovecha las últimas tecnologías médicas en el estudio de los cuerpos momificados.

En la primera fase del proyecto, diez momias egipcias fueron sometidas a la tomografía computarizada, que permite estudiar los cuerpos sin dañarlos. Los médicos han sacado miles de imágenes que ahora se están analizando, explicó la médica Lubica Oktábcová.

“Cada momia fue dividida en segmentos, cada uno de 0,5 milímetros de grosor, y todos estos segmentos fueron fotografiados. Así que pueden imaginar cuántas imágenes sacamos. En total, hicimos unas 3.000 fotografías, que actualmente se están estudiando”, sostuvo Oktábcová.

El objetivo del estudio es descubrir detalles sobre la procedencia de las momias, así como el tipo de vida y las probables causas de muerte de las personas cuyos cadáveres fueron sometidos a las técnicas de conservación egipcias.

El proyecto es una continuación del trabajo realizado en los años 70 por el científico checo Evžen Strouhal, quien utilizaba en sus investigaciones la radiología.

Durante los últimos 40 años las tecnologías médicas han avanzado bastante. Así que los científicos de hoy disponen de muchos más detalles. Además del esqueleto, pueden estudiar restos de tejidos o, por ejemplo, los objetos escondidos entre las capas de la momia.

More re ongoing discoveries at Cairo Museum

Egypt State Information Service

Minister of Culture Farouq Hosni said a new trove has been found at the western area of the Egyptian Museum. The new find was discovered while workers were carrying out renovation works. Three days prior, the workers discovered another trove which included rare artifacts.

Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Dr. Zahi Hawas said the new trove included nine artifacts, an offering table of limestone, stone with hieroglyphic inscriptions and a cobra that dates back to the Ramses Dynasty.

Items from Durham visit Japan

JournalLive

THE Japan tour saw a mummy from Durham University’s Oriental Museum undertake the longest journey in his 2,300-year history.

The mummy, thought to be a priest aged 50 to 60 from Akhmim, has probably been in the North East since the 19th Century. X-rays have shown it has an artificial lower arm and hand. Conservators worked on the mummy to prepare him for the year-long tour of Japan.

Also taken down and packed was a 3,000-year-old Egyptian granite obelisk from the Duke of Northumberland’s collection.

See the above page for a few more details.

Daily Photo by Anthony Marson

Edfu

Thanks to Tony Marson for sending me a batch of photos some time ago, which re-appeared like a genie in my Inbox recently. Here's one to add to Bob's Edfu series - a lovely shot of one of the sections of the monument being professionally cleaned.


Copyright Anthony Marson, with my thanks

Mummy Murder Mystery Deepens After Scans

sky.com (David Crabtree)

With photograph of scan.

Amazing new pictures have been released of attempts to unravel a 1,700-year-old murder mystery.

But even state-of-the-art 21st century techniques have been foiled by the case.

Three Egyptian mummies from Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery were scanned in a quest for more information on the circumstances surrounding their deaths.

Museum staff wanted to learn more about a 'metallic' object in the neck of a Graeco-Roman mummy, discovered on x-rays in 1995, with suggestions it may have been an arrow-head.

Instead, the scans have revealed the object is in fact one of three or four fragments - probably metal - lodged in the base of the skull.

So the mystery remains.

The scans were arranged by Bob Loynes, previously an orthopaedic consultant at Mid-Staffs Hospital, and a keen Egyptologist.

In the past, it has been necessary to unwrap mummies to carry out investigations, but this risky process can now be avoided.

Mr Loynes said: "The opportunity to help with the further investigation of these mummies was a very exciting one for me.

"The CT Scans have shown amazing details, which have produced as many questions as they have given answers."

Scans of the second mummy, that of Padimut, priest of the goddess Mut and probably of the 21st Dynasty (1085-935 BC), showed evidence of high quality mummification - including removal of the brain and plates in front of the eyes.

See the above page for the full story.

Hawass on breaking the monopoloy on foreign discoveries in Egypt

Amigos de la Egiptologia
Source: adn.es

Rough translation:

Egypt has ended the traditional monopoly of foreign experts on archaeological excavations in the country and has managed to promote their own archaeologists, working in twenty missions today. Zahi Hawass, the president of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (CSA), added that until recently "were the only foreigners involved in the excavation of the remains Islamic, Coptic and Pharaonic. Now we have 17 missions (archaeological), plus three others who work with me," Hawas was speaking to reporters after inaugurating a symposium on the work in the field of Egyptian experts. At the headquarters of the Supreme Council of Antiquities archaeologists, researchers and students gathered for two days to discuss the work being carried out on archaeological sites, and to thank and reward the expertise and professionalism of those workers who are retiring. Hawas said that another function of the CSA is "to send abroad to students and recent graduates to learn with the best experts in the antiques world to know and work in the excavations of Egypt."

Egipto ha terminado con el tradicional monopolio de los expertos extranjeros en las excavaciones arqueológicas del país y ha logrado promocionar a sus propios arqueólogos, que trabajan en veinte misiones en la actualidad. Así lo manifestó hoy en El Cairo el presidente del Consejo Supremo de Antigüedades (CSA), Zahi Hawas, quien recordó que hasta hace poco "los extranjeros eran los únicos involucrados en las excavaciones de los restos islámicos, coptos y faraónicos".

"Ahora tenemos 17 misiones (arqueológicas), además de otras tres que trabajan conmigo", dijo Hawas a los periodistas después de inaugurar un simposio sobre la labor en este campo de los expertos egipcios.

En la sede del Consejo Supremo de Antigüedades se reunieron hoy arqueólogos, investigadores y estudiantes para analizar durante dos días el trabajo que se lleva a cabo en los sitios arqueológicos, además de para agradecer y premiar la profesionalidad de aquellos expertos y trabajadores que se jubilan.

Hawas explicó que otra de las funciones del CSA es "enviar al extranjero a los estudiantes y a los recién licenciados para que aprendan con los mejores expertos del mundo a conocer las antigüedades y el trabajo en las excavaciones de Egipto".

See the above page for more (including comments in response).

High-tech imaging reveals hidden past in ancient texts

Physorg

It might simply look like a smudge, but even the slightest stain on the ancient writing surface of papyrus could obscure a revelation of a past civilization. Now, with the advent of high-tech imaging, some of those secrets could reveal fascinating insights into everyday life of early Egyptian, Greek and Roman societies.

For the last four weeks, a team of national researchers and scholars examined dozens of papyri among the thousands of papyrological pieces in the University of Michigan collection. Using multi-spectral imaging, the Ancient Textual Imaging Group—led by acclaimed papyrology expert Stephen Bay of Brigham Young University—examined ancient text written on papyrus that had become illegible because they are stained, discolored and faded. Recording through a range of filters, the technology captures high-resolution color images, making clear the layers of text hidden beneath words and letters written on levels of papyrus.

The Ancient Textual Imaging Group, based at Brigham Young, is conducting a two-year venture to record illegible papyrus documents from historically significant U.S.-based collections. The project is supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Throughout July, scholars and students at the Papyrological Institute, hosted by U-M, will examine the newly recorded images, aiming to piece together a picture of a world that until now has been hidden. Findings from the newly enhanced images of the papyri will be released as early as August.

"These new images give us insight into the writing and life of generations existing two, maybe three generations before the readable text was written," said Arthur Verhoogt, U-M associate professor of papyrology and Greek studies.

See the above page for the full story.

Exhibition: Wild About Egypt

Coningsby Gallery
Jackie Garner Egypt Project

Thanks to Jackie Garner for the invitation ot the Coningsby Gallery to see her exhibiton of paintings exploring wildlife in ancient Egyptian art. The exhibition includes original watercolours, acrylics and pastels as well as limited edition prints and greetings cards.

The exhibition is open to the public from Sunday 12th July to Friday 17th July from 10am to 7pm, and on Saturday 18th July frm 10am to 1pm (private view only on 14th July 6pm to 9pm).

The Conginsby Gallery is at 30 Tottenham Street, W11 4RJ, telephone 020 7636 0164.

Unfortunately I am going to be away throughout that week but if anyone else is going and wishes to review the exhibition I would be glad to post it here.

Daily Photo by Bob Partridge

Last of the photographs from Edfu. It has been terrific to see such a great selection form one site.

Edfu

Copyright Bob Partridge,
Editor of Ancient Egypt Magazine, with my thanks

Another cache found in the Egyptian Museum

The Egyptian Gazette

I'm not sure whether this is the same cache referred to a couple of days ago or a new one. Some of the details seem similar but there is additional information.

Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed another cache near the Western gate of the National Museum in Cairo, Culture Minister Farouq Hosni said yesterday.

Zahi Hawass, the secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said that the cache contained a table made of limestone, a fragment of a slab with hieroglyphic inscriptions, some stones, and the base of a pharaonic pillar, which date back to the pharaonic period around 1,300 years BC.

"This type of slab was quite widespread during the era of the Pharaohs, who used it to mark a special occasion,” Hawass said. “The slab shows the head of a cobra," Hawass said, adding that foreign archaeologists were in the habit of burying antiquities they had considered 'useless' in the Museum's garden. The antiquities will be analysed, said Hawass, who has been supervising a project for giving a facelift to the Museum.

The project, which is near completion, includes upgrading the museum and adding new, showrooms, meeting rooms, a library, a bookshop and a cafeteria.

Interview with Kara Cooney

You Tube

Late Late Show Craig Ferguson interview with Egyptologist Kara Cooney.

Berlin’s Neues Museum Announces Grand Re-Opening

Travel Video News

After more than 60 years in ruins, the Neues Museum (New Museum) on Berlin’s Museum Island is scheduled to re-open its doors on October 16, 2009. The re-opening completes the decade long, 200 million Euro restoration project, marking the third major milestone in the overall restoration of the five renowned museums that make up the UNESCO world heritage site, Museum Island.

The Neues Museum will once again house the archaeological collections of the Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection, the Museum of Pre- and Early History, as well as works from the Collection of Classical Antiquities. The most prominent feature of the exhibit, the bust of Egyptian Queen Nefertiti, described as “the world’s most beautiful woman,” will be centrally and prominently displayed in the north cupola of the building. The bust was first exhibited at the Neues Museum in 1924 and evacuated from the structure in 1939. Additional artifacts including the burial chambers of Metjen, Merib and Manofer will also be available to view as free-standing elements.

See the above page for more.

Lyon’s sumptuous Textile Museum is a feast for the eyes

Digital Journal

Includes Pharaonic Egyptian and Coptic textiles.

This wonderful museum owns over 2 million examples of fine textiles, from silk to synthetics, and from 25 centuries Before Christ until today. They come from all over the world and represent one of the two biggest textile collections in existence.

The City of Lyon has long been associated with textile production, and its silk industry became a part of the city’s life-blood at the beginning of the 1800’s with the introduction of newer and faster methods of production invented during the industrial revolution.

The Textile Museum was opened to the public in 1864, and its administration was later taken over by Lyon’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry, who moved it to its present location in 1946. The building used to be the Governor of Lyon’s residence.

There is every kind of textile possible to be seen in its exhibitions, silk, of course, but also Pharaonic Egyptian, Oriental,Coptic, Persian and Byzantines to mention just a few.

TAG 2009, Durham University 17th - 19th December, Call for papers

Just in case there are any theoretical Egyptologists out there:

Session title: Living on the edge: scrutinising suburbs

Session Abstract:

‘Suburban (adj) - of or characteristic of a suburb: suburban life. contemptibly dull and ordinary: Elizabeth despised Anne’s house-proudness as deeply suburban’ (OED).

Where there are cities and towns, there are suburbs. The modern, Western connotations of the word ‘suburban’, however, mask the realities and diversity of suburban experiences across time and space. This session invites papers which present thoughts on and evidence for the material realities of ‘life on the edge’ of settlements from all periods and all parts of the globe. For example, what is a suburb? Who lived and/or worked in suburbs and how and why did they do so? Is there evidence for social and economic differentiation or distinction? Do a suburbs have a distinct archaeological signature or an internally dynamic ‘identity’ in comparison to town and country? What role did the suburbs play in the functioning of settlements? What does a decline in suburban settlement indicate? Detailed study of the development of suburbs, on the edges of urban sites, can present an index of economic growth as well as of aspirations and investment by individuals and institutions. Who was responsible for suburban growth? Can we make inferences about control, subversion, exploitation, inclusion and exclusion in urban societies? Some of these questions break new ground; others have been considered before. This thematic session aims to explore some of the universals and differences in the (sub)urban experience, and to bring together urban archaeologists studying different places, periods and types of evidence from varied theoretical perspectives in debate which is, hopefully, far from ‘contemptibly dull’.

We are please to invite proposals for papers which should include your name, institution, paper title and an abstract of 200 words. Please be reminded that your abstract should specify your contribution to archaeological theory.

The deadline for proposed papers is 30th September 2009. Please submit your proposal to both the session organisers.

Organisers:
Dr Abby Antrobus, Suffolk County Council Archaeological Services abby.antrobus@suffolk.gov.uk
Andrew Agate, University College London, a.agate@ucl.ac.uk

Daily Photo by Bob Partridge

Temple of Edfu

Copyright Bob Partridge,
Editor of Ancient Egypt Magazine, with my thanks

UN nuclear agency helps unlock secrets of mummies

IAEA

Was King Tut really murdered? Did the Great Pharoah Ramesses II die from a disease of the spine? The answers to these age-old mysteries are locked inside Egyptian mummies. Today, they are being unravelled through the modern science of "paleoradiology".

Paleoradiology uses nuclear technologies such as X-rays, computed tomography (CT), and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to study artefacts, skeletons, mummies and fossils. Many museums worldwide use the nuclear technologies to discover otherwise hidden details that piece together historic puzzles.

Dr. Rethy Chhem, Director of the IAEA Division of Human Health, has read more than 150,000 skeleton studies in clinical practice and is an expert on the use of paleoradiology. He says the science is a key that gives radiologists insights into former lives of mummies, uncovering details such as the sex, age of death and illnesses.

Dr. Chhem cites the case the Pharoah Ramesses II in which x-rays helped solve historical questions. One question asked through the ages was whether Ramesses II really had ankylosing spondylitis, an arthritic disease inflicting the spine. The x-rays revealed that Ramesses did not have a disease of the spine, Dr. Chhem says, noting that this fits well with his biography describing him as a great warrior.

X-ray technology has been around since 1896, and CT since 1979. Advances since then make the technologies increasingly exact, and quick. Newer prototypes of computed tomography can give additional insights, including both about the well-being and nutrition of ancient mummies.

See the above page for the full story.

More re return of Mummy to Stonyhurst College, Yorks, UK

Lancashire Telegraph

A 2,500-YEAR-OLD Egyptian mummy has been returned to Stonyhurst College after more than 30 years.

The remains of the unidentified young boy, aged five or six, left the Clitheroe Catholic boarding school in the 1970s for testing at Man-chester University and the mummy was later placed in an exhibition.

Stonyhurst College has now installed special facilities to preserve the mummy and it has been allowed to return to its former home.

The mummy, which belongs to the college, at Hurst Green was discovered by a Jesuit missionary and archaeologist in 1850.

The missionary is believed to have worked at, or had links to, the traditional Jesuit school and donated the mummy on its discovery.

It has been part of Manchester Museum’s world- famous collection of Egyptian artefacts and, over the last 30 years, a series of forensic science investigat-ions, including scans and X-rays, have been carried out to learn more about the boy’s health and living conditions.

See the above page for the full story.

Forthcoming: Early Christian Books in Egypt Roger S. Bagnall

What's New in Papyrology

For the past hundred years, much has been written about the early editions of Christian texts discovered in the region that was once Roman Egypt. Scholars have cited these papyrus manuscripts--containing the Bible and other Christian works--as evidence of Christianity's presence in that historic area during the first three centuries AD. In Early Christian Books in Egypt, distinguished papyrologist Roger Bagnall shows that a great deal of this discussion and scholarship has been misdirected, biased, and at odds with the realities of the ancient world. Providing a detailed picture of the social, economic, and intellectual climate in which these manuscripts were written and circulated, he reveals that the number of Christian books from this period is likely fewer than previously believed.

Bagnall explains why papyrus manuscripts have routinely been dated too early, how the role of Christians in the history of the codex has been misrepresented, and how the place of books in ancient society has been misunderstood.

The above page includes a link to the first chapter, in PDF format, and a table of contents.

News from the Petrie Museum, London, UK

Friends of the Petrie

Thanks to Jan Picton, Friends of the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology for an update about the Museum, as follows:

The 'Excavating Egypt' exhibition is back from the US. Our most iconic items are home again at the Petrie and what a joy it is to see them. The little Nubian servant girl, the Bes spoon, the bead-net dress.... and many others. If you've forgotten what they looked like, come and see for yourselves. We also received fresh copies of the wonderful exhibition catalogue and they are for sale in the shop.

Many of the objects loaned for the exhibition were conserved by Renee Stein at the Michael C Carlos Museum at Emory University, Atlanta - for example the wonderful little pair statue of an unknown couple now have clean noses, and 'blinky' has regained an eye. We were shown the results during Peter Lacovara's talk at the AGM. Peter curated the exhibition for the American tour and he reported record attendance at all venues.

Full details of the AGM will be reported in the next Magazine, but
briefly:

- We reported the departure of Carolyn Perry as Museum Manager. However, Carolyn will maintain her links with the museum as she joins the Friends' committee.

- During Carolyn's period in office the museum has been repainted, air-conditioning installed, we have gained a new permanent private entrance with video-phone entry and, most importantly, our own high-tech teaching room in what was the study area outside the museum. All of these are major improvements instigated by Carolyn's tenacity and negotiating skills! The improvements are even more welcome as:

- UCL has been unable to raise the necessary funds to continue with the Institute for Cultural Heritage as originally proposed and the site will now go to an income generating department. A feasibility study is underway to see if the Petrie can still be incorporated into the new building but in a smaller space - the decision should be made by the end of the summer.

- The Friends have received two very generous legacies of ten thousand pounds each from Felicity Kerr and Frank Birch. Both legacies will be used for suitable commemorative projects.

- As always, Friends' supported conservation continues in the museum - including an exciting internship which should result in many of our organic objects being conserved. Full details in the Mag.

We enjoyed a great Summer Party on a wonderful sunny summer evening. The room looked empty as everyone tried to stay on the balcony!

It is somewhat devestating that the finance has not been raised to move the Petrie Musem into new premises worthy of its quality, scope and the sheer quantity of its wonderful objects.

Book Review: The Illustrated Guide to the Coptic Museum and Churches of Old Cairo

The Illustrated Guide to the Coptic Museum and Churches of Old Cairo by Gawdat Gabra, The American University in Cairo Press, 2007

A lovely book. As well as being a gallery by gallery guide to the museum, with some fine photographs, it is a very useful introduction to Coptic art and heritage even if you're not visiting the Coptic Museum or the churches of old Cairo.

The Coptic Museum was damaged in the 1992 earthquake and had to be closed for a long period, only re-opening in 2006. This glossy and well written guide was brought out to serve as an authoritative guide to the contents of the museum. Because the galleries are organized by category of objects each chapter of the guide effectively introduces the reader to a new class of objects and their implications. Details of individual items are used to discuss the themes.

The Introduction explains the origins of the word "Copt" and looks at how the term has been used in the past and how it is used today. A quite short but excellent history of Coptic Christianity is provided, detailing the impacts of different peoples, rulers and religions on the urban and rural Copts. This is followed by an extremely handy chronological listing of the main dates of note, which forms something of a narrative in its own right and is a useful reference. A history of the Coptic Museum is the next chapter. As with other great museums in Egypt, it has a fascinating past and the chapter looks at the impact of individuals like Maspero and Marcus Simaila on the recognition of Coptic heritage and the development of the museum.

The next section of the book is organized gallery by gallery, starting with a plan of the ground floor. The first gallery is dedicated to masterpieces divided into three different themes which are repeated in the remaining galleries. Photographs and descriptions are provided of three examples. From then on the galleries are arranged into different themes. For example, gallery 3 focuses on relief sculpture, gallery 4 on the legacy of ancient Egypt as exemplified in objects with the looped cross (ankh), gallery 5-9 on early monasticism - and so on. In each case there is a good introductory text and this is followed by descriptions of objects which help to elaborate the ideas expressed. There are 26 galleries in all, so there is a lot of information to be gained.

The final chapter looks at the churches of Old Cairo. These are covered in brief, but are accompanied by plans and photographs.

Finally there is a useful Glossary, a list of further reading, a list of illustrations and an index.

If you are interested in Coptic heritage this book is an excellent introduction and has some gorgeous photographs.

Daily Photo by Bob Partridge

Temple of Edfu

Copyright Bob Partridge,
Editor of Ancient Egypt Magazine, with my thanks

Monuments discovered in Egyptian Museum

Egypt State Information Service

Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni said Saturday 4/7/2009 that during working in the project of developing the Egyptian Museum, a monument cache was discovered near the western door's stair in the western part of the Egyptian Museum in el-Tahrir.

The Minister said the cache is part of four other parts of a broken inscription that contain limestone hieroglyphic writing. It was divided into two parts with some hieroglyphic signs.

Dr. Zahi Hawass, the Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said that he believed that these monuments were buried in the past in this place through the Egyptian Museum archeologists when they were transferring the monuments from the archeological sites to the museum for storage.

Hawass pointed out that the Museum archeologists were examining the ancient monuments to bury the artificial pieces but these genuine ones were buried by mistake.

Exhibition: Tutankhamun in San Francisco

Santa Cruz Sentinel (Tina Baine)

In 1978, at age 23, I stood anxiously waiting in a long line outside the Los Angeles County Museum for my chance to see relics from King Tut's tomb. It certainly wasn't common in the 1970s for artifacts to generate concert-ticket-length queues, let alone record-breaking museum attendance. But King Tut was a cultural phenomenon like no other. From 1976-79, nearly 8 million Americans viewed "The Treasures of Tutankhamun" during sold-out tours at each museum it appeared -- including the de Young in San Francisco. Passions ignited for all things Egyptian -- especially the boy king himself -- unleashing a consumer phenomenon that included jewelry, clothing, dance moves, songs and even hairstyles.

The American frenzy for ancient Egypt wasn't unique to the '70s, however. In 1922, English archaeologist Howard Carter launched the first wave of Tutmania when he originally discovered the long-forgotten tomb of King Tut. For the next decade, photographs of the objects that emerged had a wide ranging influence on America, from product advertisements cigarettes and soap, to automobiles the Scarab, to Hollywood movies "The Mummy", to art and architecture Art Deco.

Last week, I avoided the long lines I experienced 30 years ago by attending the press preview of "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs"at the de Young Museum. I photographed the refreshment tables featuring pyramid-shaped vanilla yogurt on crackers, and cream cheese-stuffed dates looking very much like tiny coffins.

I listened to various dignitaries, including the famed Egyptian scholar/explorer Zahi Hawass, discuss the importance of the exhibit to San Francisco and Egypt, since proceeds from the exhibit will go not only to the museum, but also back to Egypt to further its efforts to excavate and preserve antiquities. According to Hawass, Egypt never saw a dime from the 1970s U.S. tour. And I lingered over each item in the exhibit itself.

Now that I've seen this amazing exhibit and done a bit of reading, I'd like to take a stab at answering that nagging question: Why is the West so fascinated by the world of the pharaohs?

See the above page for the full story.

Photos of Meroe

Sudanwatch blog

Lovely photographs by Sudanese photographer Vit Hassan of Meroitic Nubia. Thanks Kat.

Daily Photo by Bob Partridge

Temple of Edfu

Copyright Bob Partridge,
Editor of Ancient Egypt Magazine, with my thanks

Quick update from Gurob

Bloomsbury Academy

Thanks to Lucia Gahlin for highlighting the following news from Gurob (with photo):

Ian Shaw, Director of the Gurob Harem Palace Project (GHPP) in Egypt.

Following another successful season at Medinet el-Gurob in April Ian updates us:

We continued to work on the first comprehensive map of this large New Kingdom palace, town and multi-period necropolis, using the latest GIS software. We re-excavated areas of the town site, revealing traces of at least one kiln possibly used for working glass during the New Kingdom. Among the more unusual surface finds this season were a faience scaraboid of a duck with its head reversed; a fragment of a late 18th-Dynasty blue glass vessel with feathered design in yellow, black and white; a small tile decorated with a fish in cream and brown glaze (pictured here) similar to those found at Amarna; two ‘lady on a bed’ figurines; and two fragments of shabtis (one in faience and one of Nile silt clay).

If you would like to find out more about this fascinating project or make a donation to it, or perhaps arrange to make an exclusive visit to the site during the 2010 season, contact Ian Shaw (ishaw@liv.ac.uk) or Jan Picton (j.picton@ucl.ac.uk).

Report on the Mummies’ Trip to the Hospital

Talking Pyramids (Vincent Brown)

With photos.

Brooklyn Museum’s trip to the hospital with four of their mummies yesterday was an event not to be missed. Many of us all over the world were able to ‘tune in’ via popular social networks such as Flickr and Twitter.

Shelley Bernstein, Brooklyn Museum’s technology geek, delivered a running commentary with photos as the four mummies were taken from the museum to the North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset.
Tina determines the best route
The innovative use of the micro-blogging platform Twitter not only allowed many to follow the event step by step, but also allowed others to jump in and add their own two cents worth.

As Tina puzzled over a fold-out street map to determine what the best route was that should be taken, one observer Ian suggested Shelly help Tina by using the GoogleMaps application on her iPhone instead. Apparently Tina wanted a real map so Shelley checked the current state of the traffic on the iPhone instead.

Here’s one of her tweets:

brooklynmuseum: Figuring out good route to bring mummies into hospital #mummyCT

In no time at all word had spread all over the world as more people came on to Twitter to follow the event. Others were able to do so because all of messages, or ‘tweets’ as they are known as, had the keyword “#mummyCT” added to them. Others wanting to engage also used that keyword, or ‘hashtag’.

See the above page for the full report from Vincent.

New Book: The Oxford Handbook of Papyrology

What's New In Papyrology

By Roger Bagnall

Description
Thousands of texts, written over a period of three thousand years on papyri and potsherds, in Egyptian, Greek, Latin, Aramaic, Hebrew, Persian, and other languages, have transformed our knowledge of many aspects of life in the ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern worlds. The Oxford Handbook of Papyrology provides an introduction to the world of these ancient documents and literary texts, ranging from the raw materials of writing to the languages used, from the history of papyrology to its future, and from practical help in reading papyri to frank opinions about the nature of the work of papyrologists. This volume, the first major reference work on papyrology written in English, takes account of the important changes experienced by the discipline within especially the last thirty years.

See the above page for the full story.

Egyptologist Christine Lilyquist retires from the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Egypt Then and Now

Stan Parchin has provided details on Ben's site about the career of Christine Lilyquist, who has just retired from the Met.

Christine Lilyquist, Lila Acheson Wallace Research Curator in Egyptology at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, retired after 38 years of extraordinary service at Manhattan’s prestigious Fifth Avenue institution.

Lilyquist received her B.A. in English Literature from Pomona College (1962). The California native subsequently earned her M.A. (1965) and Ph.D. (1971) in ancient Egyptian and Near Eastern art and archaeology from New York University’s world-renowned Institute of Fine Arts.

In 1970, Lilyquist was appointed The Met’s Assistant Curator of Egyptian Art. Promoted to Curator in 1974, she greatly heightened public interest in ancient Egyptian civilization through her systematic modernization of the museum’s first-floor northern galleries. Lilyquist’s introduction of study rooms made many of the museum’s previously hidden artifacts visible to the public for the first time. Illuminated tables explained to visitors the intricacies of Egyptian history, art and culture.

See the above page for the full story.

Photo: Mosaic in the New Library of Alexandria

drhawass.com

Here's the caption but go to the above page to see the photograph - well worth seeing.

This fragment of a mosaic floor, showing a dog alongside an overturned bronze jug, was found during the construction of the New Library of Alexandria. It is now part of the library’s museum. The mosaic is extremely detailed; the dog’s red collar can clearly be seen and the artist has carefully modelled the reflection of light on the bronze jug. It likely dates to the Second Century BC

Exhibition: 'Excavating Egypt' shatters art museum records

LexGo (Mary Meehan)

With nearly 13,000 visitors, the exhibit Excavating Egypt buried previous attendance records at The Art Museum at the University of Kentucky and could help attract funding for other blockbuster exhibits.

The exhibit, which ran March 22 to June 14, drew four times as many visitors as the most recent major exhibit at the museum.

Some 500 and 700 people routinely came to the museum on Fridays, when admission was free, said the museum's director, Kathy Walsh-Piper.

The exhibit offered an intimate glimpse into life in ancient Egypt, with 221 ranging from exotic golden funeral masks to a stone rat trap. It was the most extensive display of Egyptian objects ever to come to Central Kentucky.

See the above page for the full story.

Understanding Egyptian art

Luxor News Blog (Jane Akshar)

Thanks very much to lovely Jane for posting an essay about the conventions of 2 dimensional Egyptian art. She gave it to one of her guests to review before she submitted it for her Egyptology course. The guest said that she found it really helpful to read before she visited the tombs so Jane thought that she would give a section of it a wider audience. Here's a very short extract, but see the above page for the entire essay.

It is important when looking at Egyptian wall paintings to remember what we are looking at. This is not some pretty picture to cheer up a tomb but it had a vital and significant purpose . To provide for the deceased in the after life. The artist could not experiment or he might destroy the whole purpose of what he was trying to achieve. Art as, defined by European standards , did not exist, the decoration of the tomb had a specific function and, as such, artistic considerations were not important. According to Aldred (1980 p15) the artist “… represented not what could be seen transiently, but what he expected to exist for perpetuity, symbols rather than images”.

This does not mean the tombs are devoid of beauty but rather should be viewed with an unprejudiced eye. The tomb craftsman used two dimensional art to fully represent what he was trying to show. It was ‘fit for purpose’; indeed it was more than that as some of the small vignettes are testimony to skill to the largely unknown craftsman. Indeed “to represent was, in a way, to create” (Robins 1997 p12) so they needed to represent the clearest picture of the object or figure, so it was instantly recognisable.

Exhibition review: Tutankhamun in Indianapolis

IBJ (Lou Harry)

The current show, organized by National Geographic, Arts and Exhibitions International, and AEG Exhibitions, with cooperation from the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, features more than 100 artifactss, drawn from Tut’s tomb itself and other sites. And, ass in other cities, it is likely to provoke rage in many critics, historians and art aficionados. As with top TV shows, Broadway blockbusters, and top-40 songs, the snobbish question arises: Can something this popular be of real value?

My answer after visiting the show is, of course. Because when you get past all the politics (there’s a lot associated with this show and with archeological shows in general), there remain the objects themselves: a wide array of glorious items in pristine condition. The gold of the Funeral Mask of Psusennes I shines ethereally. The colors of the Collar of Neferuptah are rich and vibrant.

There’s also the rush of history they bring—the big-picture feeling of the sands of time slipping through our fingers. More powerful, for me, than the golden treasures was the Colossal Statue of Arkenaten, with its missing limbs and damaged torso seeming like the perfect metaphor for our attempts to hang onto history as the elements (and our baser instincts) wear it away.

The cinematic tone to the entryway and the star-appeal of Harrison Ford assisting with the audio narration (which I highly recommend using) both enhance and diminish the experience. At times, I yearned for the silence that must have met archeologist Howard Carter when, after years of searching, he first entered Tut’s chamber of wonders. (For the record, I attended on a sparsely populated media day, before the ticketed crowds arrived. Your noise level will no doubt be higher.)

See the above page for the full story.

Update - GlyphStudy Hieroglyph Courses 2009

A quick reminder that if you are intersted in learning hieroglyphs, free of charge, you can do so with the GlyphStudy group which is kicking off a new set of mutual-help courses this month. Here's the latest email from wonderful Karen at GlyphStudy:

Just a reminder that we are going to start our 2009 sections soon and you should sign up if you are interested. 3 new study sections starting this July, one for Hoch, one for Allen, and one for Collier and Manley's introduction to Hieroglyphs. This is an amazing opportunity, we have had two new moderators sign on for duty ( : so take advantage of this opportunity while it is available. Our group should be stronger than ever.

Each group will have its own homework posting site on Yahoogroups, and the section moderator's will send those out after you sign up as a participant for a given section.

IF YOU ARE NOT CURRENTLY SUBSCRIBED TO GLYPHSTUDY, YOU WILL NEED TO RESUBSCRIBE
and to do that contact Karen at kmotc@swbell.net

I would love to hear from all of you and hear how your studies are progressing, do tell me if you are returning this summer or if you are no longer studying but still following the list and hoping to return.

As usual, all discussion will take place on our main GlyphStudy discussion list.

Here are the 3 sections, please make note of the required textbooks, and the email addresses for your moderators, so you can contact them to request admission to a section. If you have any questions feel free to post the section moderators,
Bob Manske or Angela Mann, or for general inquiries, Karen at kmotc@swbell.net

For the homework group invites--make sure to check your spam folders if you don't receive an invitation within one week of signing up for a section

best,
Karen your mod

DETAILS ABOUT EACH OF OUR NEW SECTIONS BELOW...


#1. Hoch 2009 section: using

Middle Egyptian Grammar (SSEA Publication) (Plastic Comb)by James Hoch This text runs $49 at Amazon USA but you can receive a discount if you order from Oxbow books directly. To receive the discount you will need to mention AEL (the discount is through our old parent group AncientEgyptianLanguage and not GlyphStudy-so say AEL)
http://www.oxbowbooks.com/ChooseCurrency.cfm/ESA/|bookinfo.cfm|ID|54772

The Hoch group will start on July 12th, the first homework will be due on July 26th.

You will need to have the book in hand to work with the course. You will not need to purchase Hoch's sign list. I will have study guides available and have also started to develop a web-site where things like vocabulary lists, grammar summaries, sign lists, and the like will be maintained in addition to the study guides and collation materials that will also be available on GlyphStudy.

Anyone who is interested in the Hoch group should send an e-mail to me at
manske_r @ yahoo . com (delete the spaces around the @ sign and the period - otherwise it won't reach me) stating your interest in taking the course.

Put "HOCH" in the subject line, that will be helpful.

I'll use the return address to send the formal invitation to you to join the group.

Some of you have already expressed your interest - and I will try to get invitations to you, but to insure that I do, please send a note to me at the address listed above.

**********************************

#2 Collier and Manley 2009 section

You will need to purchase a copy of How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs: A Step-by-Step Guide to Teach Yourself, Revised Edition by Mark Collier and Bill Manley. These are reasonably priced at Amazon and you can even acquire a used or remainder copy through Amazon Sellers at a discount

I will be using the 2004 reprint of Collier & Manley's 'How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs: A step by-Step Guide to teach yourself '. If you have an edition prior to 2003, you may find that it has a few errors in it (particularly in the answers to the exercises!) - but I don't think you should find this a significant problem.

Collier and Manley is a beginner's book - it introduces you to hieroglyhs.

It concentrates on funerary inscriptions; it uses stelae from the British Museum for examples and exercises.

By the end of the book you should be able to visit Egypt (or a museum) and read the basic inscriptions.

I started with Collier and Manley and, as I was hopeless with languages, and found it a very good introduction.

A rough estimate to complete the course is 18 months.

The study group will start on the 12th July with the reading of Chapter 1.

The first homework will be due 26th July.

Timetables, details of where and how to post homework, etc. will be published in the next couple of weeks.

I hope that everyone will do all the exercises -starting with all the exercises for chapter 1 in one go, but spreading the exercises out over more than one week after that.

If there is anyone who would liketo join, please send me an email to
manna1@btopenworld.com putting 'C&M 2009' in the subject box.


********************************************

#3 Allen 2009 section

You will need to purchase a copy of James P. Allen's Middle Egyptian: An introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs.

I will be using the 2004 print of James P. Allen's 'Middle Egyptian - An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs'. However, the date of your copy should not matter.

A 2009 Allen Group will start on the 12th July with the reading of chapter 1 (you will not need to submit homework for this chapter).

Timetables, details of where and how to post homework, etc will be published in the next couple of weeks. I will be running this group on a similar basis to previous Allen groups - there will be a week to read a chapter and the first homework for the chapter will be due at the end of the following week. After the first three lessons we will slow down the pace and increase the reading time to two weeks, and even three weeks reading for the final chapters of the book.

The exercises will be spread over several weeks; each of you will receive an allocated 2/3 exercises each week, so that each exercise should be completed by at least three people.

If you would like to join this Group, please send me an email to manna1@btopenworld.com - putting Allen 2009 in the subject box.

Hawass talking about Mark Lehner

drhawass.com

With photographs.

My great friend Mark Lehner has been working at Giza for the past thirty years. During this time he has written many scholarly articles and published important books on the pyramids. He is one of the most respected Egyptologists in the world and a professor at the University of Chicago.

I first met Mark at a party in 1974. He was in Egypt studying Anthropology for a year at the American University in Cairo. He was a quiet man, but we got talking and he told me that he was interested in Egyptology, so I invited him to my office at the pyramids to talk. At this time I was a young archaeologist, only twenty-seven years old. As we got to know each other, Mark told me that he had come to Egypt from North Dakota with a scholarship from the Cayce Foundation. Edgar Cayce was a famous American psychic who would enter trances and diagnose illnesses; he would then suggest prescriptions to cure these illnesses. One day, in a trance, Cayce announced that in a previous life he had lived in Atlantis, and that when the island sank he took the technology of the Atlanteans to Egypt where he buried the records of his people in a box below the right paw of the sphinx. This room became known as the Hall of Records. I did not share Mark’s beliefs, but I still respected him and we became friends.

In 1975 Hugh Lynn Cayce, Edgar Cayce’s son, came to Egypt and Mark introduced us. He and more than 300 supporters went to meditate in the Great Pyramid, and, although I and other archaeologists gave them lectures on the history of the pyramids and the sphinx, we did not manage to change their minds. Mark, however, had learnt a lot about the history and archaeology of Giza by this time and was starting to question his beliefs.

See the above page for the full story.

Daily Photo by Rick Menges

Standing figure of an ibis
Wood, silver, gold, and rock crystal
Brooklyn Museum

Details of the ibis, including a video about it, can be found on
a dedicated page on the Brooklyn Museum website.

Copyright Rick Menges, with my thanks

Ancient military town dating back to 26th Dynasty discovered in Ismailiya

drhawass.com

With photos

Minister of Culture, Farouk Hosni, announced today that a Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) archaeological mission in Ismailia Governorate has revealed the remains of a military town, dated to the 26th Dynasty (ca. 664-625 B.C.), at the site of Tell Dafna, between El-Manzala lake and the Suez canal, about 15km northeast of the city of western Qantara.

The northeast Delta held a special position in Egypt; the area acted as a major centre for trade with the east, and was also the location of an ancient military and trade route known as the Ways of Horus, which connected Egypt with the East. The area was used as a strategic position by the Late Period kings (ca. 747-525 B.C), especially those of the 26th Dynasty, in order to defend the eastern borders of Egypt from invaders.

Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the SCA, stated that King Ramesses II of the 19th Dynasty (ca. 1279-1212 BC) chose the site of Tell Dafna to erect a fortress or fortified town at Egypt’s eastern border in order to repulse Egypt’s enemies. The newly discovered fortress shows that King Psmatik I (ca. 664-610 BC) also built fortifications here.

Dr. Mohamed Abdel Maksoud, Head of the Central Department of Lower Egyptian Antiquities and the director of the mission, said that the newly discovered fortress covers an area of about 380×625m, while the enclosure wall is about 13m in width. It is considered to be the largest fortress discovered in the eastern Delta.

The mission also discovered a large mudbrick temple, consisting of three halls. There is also a group of storage magazines at the eastern and western sides of the temple. A small mudbrick palace was also discovered at the northeast side of the temple, consisting of eight rooms.

Furthermore, the mission discovered a group of drainage networks for rain water inside the ancient structures, consisting of pottery tunnels that end with a group of pottery vessels buried vertically in the sand to a depth of about three meters.

Egypt State Information Service

Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni said an archeological mission discovered the remnants of an ancient military town in the governorate of Ismailiya.

The discovered military town dates back to the 26th Dynasty (664-625 BC).

It was found in Tel Defna between Al-Manzala Lake and the Suez Canal.

The area had been chosen by king Rameses II to avoid attacks from the eastern borders.

In addition, the area was used as crossing point by trade convoys coming from east . The discovered military city belongs to king Ibsemalik I.

Tomb of Horemheb open

Luxor News Blog

Thanks very much to lovely Jane Akshar for posting that the tomb of Horemheb (KV57) has been re-opened in the Valley of the Kings. I have always wanted to see it. Luxor is looking very tempting this winter!

Jane also reports that it looks as though excavations will be beginning again at KV55.

Egyptian mummy returns to Stonyhurst

ICN

A 2,500 year old Egyptian mummy, discovered by a Jesuit missionary and archaeologist in 1850, has returned to Stonyhurst College in Lancashire.

Since the 1970s the remains of the unidentified young boy, aged five or six, have been cared for at Manchester Museum.

It has been part of the museum’s world famous collection of Egyptian artefacts and, over the last 30 years, a series of forensic science investigations including scans and x-rays have been carried out, to learn more about the boy’s health and living conditions.

Now Stonyhurst College has the necessary facilities in place for conservation of the mummy, so it has recently returned to its former home.

The mummy has created a lot of interest with the pupils.

The relic will now be part of a display in the Long Room, which is dedicated to the study of science, the natural world and human anthropology.

See the above page for more.

Help requested from Osirisnet

Osirisnet

Thierry Benderitter has emailed to let newsletter subscribers know that the server hosting Osirisnet crashed a few days ago. They have done our best to restore all the data. but if you find missing pages or images, corrupted data, or dead links, please let the Osirisnet team know:
osirisnet@osirisnet.net

Common Plants of the Western Desert of Egypt

Common Plants of the Western Desert

Introduction

Western Desert is a harsh environment for plant growth. The hot summer (sometimes above 50°C) and the extreme daily temperature fluctuations in winter (from above 30°C in the day to below zero at night) contribute to this. Of course, rainwater is extremely rare item there. Heavier downpour may occur only once in decades. Nevertheless, when it does occur, the rainwater quickly penetrates the permeable sand to a depth beyond the root zone. The seeds of only few plants succeed in germinating under such conditions.

In large tectonic depressions, oases were formed where artesian water reach the surface. Over a long history of human settlement the local biota was severely affected by humans. Inside oases, land was transformed into cultivated fields and orchards. As the result, it is difficult to ascertain what natural vegetation had been there before human interference. After reaching the surface and irrigating agricultural land, the water drains to lowest level of the oasis floor, where it forms pools or lakes. Because of high evaporation, this water becomes highly saline. Wetlands and salt marches that form around pools and lakes are rich in vegetation and, together with cultivated fields and often stabilised sand dunes, are the main features of inhabited land.

In Egypt, about 700 plant species commonly occur. According to the most recent analysis (Boulos 1999 - 2005), the total number of vascular plant species in Egypt is 2075. Substantial part of this diversity is confined to wettest regions - Mediterranean, Sinai Peninsula, and Gebel Elba, a mountain range that supports Acacia woodland. While not counting its northern Mediterranean fringe, Western Desert is the poorest regions in the country in terms of plant diversity.

More re Belfast mummy Takabuti

NewsLetter

Takabuti – a mummy from the 7th century BC – was brought back to its home inside the Ulster Museum on Monday as part of the preparations for the building's re-opening later in the year.

The mummy has been given a new spot in the newly-refurbished museum – which has been closed for almost three years – as a centrepiece of a display exploring life and death in ancient Egypt.

As well as discovering Takabuti's secrets, visitors will learn more about the process of mummification, the gods worshipped by the ancient Egyptians and some of their customs and practices.

The mummy – probably the best-known object featured in the museum – is one of the first major items to be returned as curators begin putting together all the exhibitions in time for an autumn re-opening.

Over the next few months, thousands of items will be making their return trip to the museum.

See the above page for the full story.

La madre de Tutankhamon podría ser Beneretmut, la hermana pequeña de Nefertiti

Teleprensa

A theory that the mother of Tutankhamun could be the younger sister of Nefertiti, Beneretmut.

La I Jornada de Egiptología en Almería, organizada por la Asociación de Amigos de la Alcazaba, concluyó con la tesis de que la madre del faraón Tutankhamon podría ser Beneretmut, la hermana pequeña de Nefertiti. Esta fue una de las conclusiones más importantes a las que se llegó en esta actividad, que se celebró ayer en el Museo Arqueológico de Almería, y que se realizó gracias a la colaboración de la Consejería de Cultura, de la Asociación Andaluza de Egiptología (ASADE) y del propio Museo Arqueológico de Almería.

La conferencia sobre la identidad de los padres de Tutankhamon fue impartida por Juan de la Torre Suárez, presidente de ASADE y miembro de la Asociación Internacional de Egiptólogos. Así, bajo el título "¿Quién era la madre de Tutankhamon?", De la Torre repasó quiénes podrían ser las madres de un faraón del que se tienen muy pocos datos, y que murió a los 19 años.

El presidente de ASADE partió del hecho que el padre de Tuntanhamon fue Ajenaton. A partir de esta tesis fue descartando a las posibles madres, como a la reina Nefertiti, esposa de Ajenaton, ya que no tuvo hijos varones. De la Torre también declinó las hipótesis de que pudiera ser la esposa secundaria Kiya, que sólo aparece en las representaciones con sus hijas, o a la hija mayor de Ajenaton y Nefertiti, que no tenía la edad necesaria para quedarse embaraza.

See the above page for the full story.

Met Vets Grab Buyouts

ArtInfo

The art world has gotten slammed by the recession and the Metropolitan Museum of Art is not immune.

Ninety-six members of the Met’s staff accepted an offer of voluntary retirement, part of a wider staff reduction that also will cut employees by layoff and attrition and bring the payroll down by 357 positions, to 2,200. The museum’s Met Matters biweekly newsletter, which is sent to staff, names those who took buyouts. Many had served the museum for decades, and all had been there for at least 15 years and were older than 55.

The list includes Christine Lilyquist, curator in Egyptology, 38 years and Susan Allen, associate research curator, Egyptian art, 16 years.

Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections Vol 1/3

UAIR
UAIR (subscriptions)

The latest issue of the boisterously named Journal of Egyptian Interconnections is now available.

Contents:

"A Cuneiform Legal Presence in 'The Report of Wenamun'?" By James Elliott Campbell;

"Applying a Multi-Analytical Approach to the Investigation of Ancient Egyptian Influence in Nubian Communities: The Socio-Cultural Implications of Chemical Variation in Ceramic Styles"
By Julia Carrano, Stuart T. Smith, George Herbst, Gary H. Girty, Carl J. Carrano, Jeffrey R. Ferguson;

"The Aamu of Shu in the Tomb of Khnumhotep II at Beni Hasan" By Janice Kamrin;

"A Devastated Foreign Landscape Depicted in Luxor Temple" By Danielle Phelps;

Recent books, reviews, and upcoming conferences.

TV: Egyptologist pulls together threads woven through ancient civilizations

UCLA Today

In 2560 BC, the ancient Egyptians built the Giza Pyramid. Nearly 2,700 years later and some 7,700 miles away, the Aztecs erected a similarly imposing pyramid.

A coincidence? Or the result of secret contact between two disparate cultures? Evidence, perhaps, of the intervention of aliens?

Kara-Cooney-b and w-portrait.si“Believe me, I’ve heard it all,” said Kara Cooney, laughing. Formerly with the Getty Research Institute, she recently joined the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Culture and the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology.

But where others may break into the theme song for “The Twilight Zone,” the Egyptologist goes one step beyond and offers a more rational viewpoint. In a new six-part series scheduled to air this summer on the Discovery Channel, Cooney lays out reasonable explanations for parallels in religious and burial traditions and settlement patterns across a range of cultures with no documented previous contact with each other.

In "Out of Egypt," she expertly traces themes and variations on six traditions across 12 cultures and 10 countries. In addition to the proliferation of pyramids, Cooney looks at the prevalence of the belief in the devil, intermixing of religion and violence, burial traditions, use of religious relics and certain social repercussions of city life.

See the above page for more.

Did Hebron disappear?

aish.com ( Rabbi Leibel Reznick)

Cites the "Amarna letters".

We do not have to bother speculating whether or not Hebron existed in the Late Bronze-Early Iron Age. There is very conclusive evidence that it did.

One of the more famous set of ancient inscriptions is known as the Egyptian Amarna Letters. They came to light through the peculiar serendipity that lies behind many archaeological finds. In 1887, an Egyptian woman was digging for compost near the city of El-Amarna, 190 miles south of Cairo. In the earth, she discovered some 350 small clay tablets with curious, wedge-shaped writing on them. Hoping to sell them for a tidy sum, she brought the tablets to several antiquities dealers, only to be told they were worthless fakes. Many of the tablets were destroyed, yet a few specimens came to the attention of E.A. Wallis Budge of the British Museum. Almost immediately, he recognized them as genuine tablets written in Akkadian cuneiform, the language of Babylon, the lingua franca of the 14th century BCE. They turned out to be missives sent from various vassal kings to the 14th century BCE pharaohs Amenhotep III and Akhenaten along with copies of the pharaohs' responses. Amenhotep III and Akhenaten were Late Bronze Age pharaohs.

Culture Minister approves program to train museum staff

Egypt State Information Service

Culture Minister Farouk Hosni gave the go-ahead for a program to train museum secretaries and antiquities inspectors nationwide.

The project, in tandem with UNESCO, aims to train young archaeologists, said Zahi Hawwas, the Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities.

Hawwas added that a museum is currently being established in cooperation with the UNESCO to provide training for all museum staff.

"A project for training is also being implemented at the Coptic Museum in cooperation with the Germans," he added.

Daily Photo by Rick Menges

Amarna princess

Brooklyn Museum

Copyright Rick Menges, with my thanks

Update re hunt for Cleopatra

Dominican Today

The attorney-turned-archaeologist Kathleen Martinez, who’s proud to proclaim that her work is part of a larger effort by a Dominican-Egyptian team, today said that her search for Cleopatra’s tomb continues and is convinced she’ll soon find it.

She said her search in the region, kilometers west of the ancient port city of Alexandria, has lasted four years in 4 to 5-month periods, and in addition to the Egyptian queen, expects to find at her side the mummified body 50 of her lover, Marc Antony. “Important evidence of a royal tomb was found and I affirm that it’s the tomb of Cleopatra and Marc Anthony.

Martinez also affirms that given the scope and sheer numbers of tombs, her team has found Egypt’s largest cemetery. “It’s the largest cemetery found in Egypt, with its artifacts, a series of 40 to 45 tombs cut into the bedrock 35 meters deep, with tunnels and passageways.”

The archaeologist, interviewed by Huchi Lora on Channel 11, said the digs had to be recently suspended given the extreme summer temperatures and more so from the dangerous conditions they bring about. “The appearance of snakes and scorpions to the surface in the summer season, with 40 plus centigrade temperatures, makes it impossible and risky to continue the excavation.”

See the above page for the full story.

Profit, not learning, drives 'Tutankhamun'

SFGate (Kenneth Baker)

With photos.

Among people with a professional interest in the arts, "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs," which opens today at the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, will merely deepen the tarnish on the reputation of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Although FAMSF curator Renee Dreyfus has swapped out four objects presented at other venues for four of her own choosing, the show in bulk comes here prepackaged by National Geographic and Arts and Exhibitions International, a subsidiary of corporate impresario AEG Worldwide, which also owns the San Francisco Examiner.

Critics have hammered every art museum that has hosted "Tutankhamun." (A parallel exhibition, "Tutankhamun, the Golden King and the Great Pharaohs" - same size, same sources, same organizers - opens today at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis.) But here, as elsewhere - except Dallas, where attendance fell about 40 percent short of projections - a vast audience probably will eat it up, even at $27.50 a head for general admission.

Why?

Therein lies a mystery to eclipse the unanswered questions represented by many of the objects on view.

See the above page for full details.

Eight artefacts returned by Switzerland

Egypt State Information Service

Egypt will receive on 26/6/2009 eight archaeological artifacts that were smuggled outside the country in 2002, said an expert in a released statement on Thursday 25/6/2009.

The antiquities have been stolen from the storehouse of Cairo University in Maadi district, a Cairo suburb, said Dr Zahi Hawwas, the Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA).

The eight pieces, dating back to the pre-history era, include stone utensils, he added.

The story started when a Swiss bought these artifacts from an antiquities dealer in the United States in 2005. When he came to know that they were stolen from Egypt he contacted the Egyptian embassy in Bern and expressed his willingness to give them back to Egypt.

Book Review: Philae and the End of Ancient Egyptian Religio

Bryn Mawr Classical Review (Reviewed by Robert B. Gozzoli)

J. H. F. Dijkstra, Philae and the End of Ancient Egyptian Religion: A Regional Study of Religious Transformation (298-642 CE). Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta, 173. Leuven: Peeters, 2008.

The book under analysis here is the revised PhD dissertation of the author, originally submitted in 2005 at the University of Groningen, under the title of Religious Encounters on the Southern Egyptian Frontier in Late Antiquity (p. x).1 For readers such as myself, an Egyptologist by formation with a small background in Coptic studies, this book is certainly a welcome contribution for it is a comprehensive analysis of the religious and social developments at Philae and in the First Cataract zone. The chronological boundaries are defined by the withdrawal of Egypt's southern border to Elephantine in 298 AD by Diocletian and the Arab conquest of Egypt. Within this scope, various sources are analysed and comprehensively studied in order to give a picture of how ancient Egyptian religion and the ''new'' religion merged in daily life. The book is set up by these initial questions: "What happened to the cults at Philae in the Late Antiquity? And what was the role played by Christianity on the island? Was Philae an exceptional case?" (p. 14).

For Philae, one of the few established dates for the fate of ancient Egyptian religion is 537 CE, as Justinian ordered the closure of the temples. Dijkstra offers two relevant texts. The first is the petition written by Diodorus in Antinoopolis on behalf of the councilors of Omboi against a man nicknamed as the 'Eater of Raw Meat' (ὠμοφάγος), the so called Blemmyan incident (circa 567 CE). The accused man is blamed for neglecting the taught Christian doctrine and renewing pagan sanctuaries of Philae with the help of the Blemmyes.2 The second text is Procopius' Persian Wars, which states that the temple of Isis was finally closed in 535-537 CE (pp. 11-14), following Emperor Justinian's order. Dijkstra's sees the two documents not necessarily contradicting each other, for Procopius is describing imperial policies while the petition reflects a particular moment of local history. Dijkstra's main thesis is that the negative picture of a rising Christianity fighting against the old religion is fundamentally erroneous, as the ancient Egyptian cults were already dying by themselves, without external intervention.3

Setting his book on such terms, Dijkstra structures it in three parts: Part I is about the developments of Christianity in the First Cataract region during the fourth century CE; Part II is about the survival of the ancient Egyptian cults; and the final part is about Christianity in the region during the sixth century CE.

While the first and second chapters of Part I (pp. 45-119) deal with published historical sources such as the Appion petition and the Patermouthis archive, both of which provide a glimpse of the life of the Christian Community during the fifth century CE, the most interesting and fundamental part is the summary of archaeological fieldwork at Elephantine which makes the third chapter (pp. 85-118).

See the above page for the entire review.

Mummy returns to Belfast display

BBC News, Northern Ireland ()

The Egyptian mummy - a source of fascination for children since she came to Belfast in 1834 - had been in storage as the Ulster Museum went through a major refurbishment over a period of nearly three years.

But she has returned to her home at the corner of Belfast's Botanic Park and will be ready to receive visitors when the new-look museum opens in October.

The mummy has always been a major draw for the museum.

But curators dismissed as "urban myth" a popular story that the mummy once contracted a bad case of nits from the children of Belfast and ended up under glass to protect herself.

"She dates from 660 BC and was the daughter of a priest living in Thebes in the Valley of the Kings," said Dr Jim McGreevy, head curator at National Museums Northern Ireland.

Secrets of daily life among the great pyramids of Giza

Columbus Dispatch (Doug Caruso)

The Egyptians who built the giant pyramids on the Giza Plateau 4,500 years ago ate dense bread, choice cuts of meat and preserved fish.

They slept in military-style barracks and belonged to work gangs with names such as the "Drunkards of Menkaure."

Archaeologist Mark Lehner knows these details because he spent the past two decades digging them up from their lost city.

Nearby are the pyramids and the Great Sphinx, icons most people associate with Egyptian archaeology. But Lehner likens those to what someone might find someday if they dig up the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

"What would you know about their diet or the economy or a crisis in the economy or how much they changed in 300 years since George Washington unless you dig the outlying parts of D.C.?" he asked.

His team's treasures -- grain mills, animal bones and pieces of clay seals -- are found in bakeries, barracks and the homes of scribes.

See the above page for the full story.

Travel: Discover Siwa Oasis

The Press and Journal (Emily Beament)

THERE’S more to Egypt than the Pyramids of Giza – the only surviving wonder of the ancient world – and a trip deep into the western desert reveals one of its lesser known treasures.

A three-hour drive south from the coastal town of Marsa Matruh, and 350 miles south-west of bustling Cairo, Siwa Oasis is a dust-coloured settlement surrounded by date palms and olive groves which appears to have changed little in centuries.

But the “oasis of a million palm trees” is more than a patch of green in the middle of an expanse of sandy desert.

It boasts several ancient ruins, including the Temple of the Oracle consulted by Alexander the Great and its own “mountain of the dead”, with tombs dating back to Roman and ancient Egyptian times.

Climbing that mountain, Gebel al-Mawta, gives a great view of the surrounding town, and there’s a chance to see inside and gain a glimpse of wall paintings which have been preserved for centuries.

Constant excavations have stripped away layers of the mountain, and the remains of bones are scattered around the entrances to what is left of the tombs themselves.

Less ancient, but equally ruined, is the strange old town of Shali, in the centre of Siwa, a multi-layered pile of what look like melted buildings.

And they are: three days of heavy rain in 1926 melted the salt blocks that form much of the building material and forced the townspeople to rebuild in the surrounding area.

The palm trees which give the city its name and character are so important to the area that they cannot be chopped down to make way for new development – so houses are built around them.

As a result, our hotel had several trees protruding through the dining-room and up into the terrace, where they cast a welcome shadow from the sun and provided a handy source of freshly picked dates.

Meals could be enjoyed Western-style at a table with chairs or Bedouin-style on cushions around low tables, and the food was typically north African, with hummus, feta, olives and baba ganoush just some of the options.

See the above page for the full story.

Travel: Q&A re two women traveling in Cairo

The Record

Q. My 30-year-old daughter and a woman friend are travel- ling to Cairo in July. Any safety concerns they should be aware of? Also, any suggestions on places to stay? She says she can get a room for $15 -- how safe is that?

A. Generally speaking, Cairo is a safe city, especially in heavily touristed areas. Women should take the same precautions they would when visiting any urban area: Don't walk alone at night, leave flashy jewelry at home, don't go off with strangers, have the hotel summon taxis, etc.

See the above for the rest of the advice.

Travel: St Catherine's Monastery, Sinai

Billings Gazette (Elizabeth McNamer)

St. Catherine's Monastery is an Orthodox monastery on the Sinai peninsula at the foot of Mount Sinai in Egypt.

It is one of the oldest Christian monasteries in the world.

The Book of Exodus tells the story of the Israelites making a journey under Moses out of Egypt across the Red Sea through the Sinai desert to the Promised Land. It took 40 years.

We are told that Moses ascended a mountain in the desert, where he received the Ten Commandments. Where that mountain is, nobody knows. But massive Mount Horeb dominates the area (its highest peak is called Mount Sinai), and this has long been held to be Moses' mountain.
At its foot, Moses is supposed to have first experienced God in a burning bush.

"God called to him from within the bush, 'Moses! Moses!' And Moses said, 'Here I am.' 'Do not come any closer,' God said.

" 'Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.' Then he said, 'I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.' At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God."

Jews, Christians and Muslims revere Mount Horeb as the place where God handed down the law.

Christian hermits began to gather around this mount in the wilderness in the middle of the third century.

Many of them lived in caves or built small huts and spent their days in prayer and silence. Often, they were attacked and killed by the Bedouin tribes.

When St. Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine, journeyed to the Holy Land in the early fourth century, she ordered a chapel to be built there. It soon became a popular place of pilgrimage.

Egeria, a Spanish nun, writes about it in her diary: "There is a fine garden and plenty of water."

In 557, Emperor Justinian built a magnificent church and surrounded it by a large wall to protect the monks. Their cells were built along the inner side of the wall.

When Mohammed came on the scene in the seventh century, the monastery was allowed to go on its course. A document signed by the Prophet Mohammed himself, the Actiname (Holy Testament), exempted the Christian monks of St. Catherine's from the usual taxes and military service and commanded that Muslims provide the community with every help.

The monastery now houses a mosque.

When the Byzantine Emperor Leo ordered all icons destroyed in the seventh century, St. Catherine's was so remote that the icons there survived. The magnificent collection of early icons - more than 2,000 of them - can still be seen there today.

When Napoleon conquered Egypt in 1798, he placed St. Catherine's under his protection.

See the above page for the full story.

Exhibition: Indiana unveils Tutankhamun treasures

Inside Indiana Business

Over 130 treasures from the tomb of the “Boy King” and other important rulers from 2,000 years of ancient Egyptian history will be on exhibit at The Children's Museum. The exhibit will feature striking objects from some of the most important rulers throughout 2,000 years of ancient Egyptian history, from the 4th Dynasty into the Late Period (about 2600 B.C. – 660 B.C.), many of which have never visited the United States.

Four galleries devoted to King Tut will correspond to the four rooms of his nearly intact tomb where the treasures were discovered by British explorer Howard Carter in 1922. Legendary artifacts from the antechamber, the annex, the treasury and the burial chamber will include Tutankhamun’s golden sandals, jewelry, furniture, weaponry and statuary. This blockbuster exhibit will also feature the largest image of King Tut ever found — a 10-foot statue that may have originally stood at his mortuary temple and retains much of its original paint, one of four gold and precious-stone-inlaid canopic jars and CT scans of Tut’s mummy.

See the above page for more details.

Cairo Museum slideshow

WLFI

Note: To view the slideshow, click Play. There are 44 photos in this gallery, although links to the first 18 are shown.

The Egyptian Museum in Cairo houses thousands of items and thousands of years of history. From statues to mummies it is “the” place to see the artifacts of ancient Egypt…including the treasures discovered in Tut’s tomb.

Video: David Rohl in the Eastern Desert

My Space

Video by David Rohl of the Eastern Desert Survey trip. There's no voice-over or explanatin. it consists of romantic music, pretty sunsets, footage of four wheel drives, rock art and survey members.

Nice to see that excellent Pan Arab Tours are getting a good plug!

Just over four minutes long.

Thanks to the Friends of the Petrie for a great evening

I enjoyed the summer party held by the Friends of the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology on Friday night, and it was great to catch up with so many old friends and to meet some new ones. Thanks to Jan Picton for inviting me to take up position behind the bar.

Behind the bar I was definitely the thorn between two wonderful roses - thanks very much to both John and John for keeping me so wonderfully entertained! It was also great to see Lucia, Jean (with whom I was at the Gilf a couple of years ago on a terrific trip), Tass (it was fabulous to see you again) and some of the gang from the Bloomsbury Summer School. A very happy hello too to people who are new to me - Lara, who gave me some brilliant catering tips, Carol, with whom I chatted about Coptic studies whilst filling canapes, Sarah who has a way of carrying tables into elevators which defies description and Abeida (sorry about the guess-spelling) who has a wonderful and completely addictive laugh. I shan't be missing another partyheld by the Friends of the Petrie again!

Daily Photo by Rick Menges

Head from a female sphinx
Middle Kingdom

Brooklyn Museum

There are details and a video about this lovely item on
a dedicated page on the Brooklyn Museum's website

Copyright Rick Menges, with my thanks

More re discoveries at Saqqara

drhawass.com

Minister of Culture, Farouk Hosni, announced today that Egyptian archaeologists, performing routine conservation work at the southern side of Saqqara’s step pyramid (2687-2668 BC), have stumbled upon what is believed to be a deep hole full of the remains of animals and birds. The mission has also found that the hole’s floor is covered with a layer of plaster.

Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), has stated that the mission unearthed a large quantity of golden fragments during their restoration work at the southern tomb of Djoser’s pyramid. These may have been used by the ancient Egyptians of the Late Period to decorate wooden sarcophagi or to cover carttonage. Thirty granite blocks were also discovered, each weighing five tons. These blocks, Dr. Hawass explained, belonged to the granite sarcophagus that once housed Djoser’s wooden sarcophagus - the final resting place of the king’s mummy.

While cleaning the internal corridors of the pyramid, the mission has also found limestone blocks bearing the names of King Djoser's daughters, as well as wooden instruments, remains of wooden statues, bone fragments, the remains of a mummy, and different sizes of clay vessels.

Learning Middle Egyptian with GlyphStudy

Talking Pyramids (Vincent Brown)

Thanks very much to Vincent for this excellent summary of the current state of play with the GlyphStudy Middle Egyptian group. I've been away and had somewhat lost track of what was due to happen when:

The Yahoo group GlyphStudy is running three new Middle Egyptian study groups, each starting in July. One of the groups will be using James Hoch’s Middle Egyptian Grammar, another will use James Allen’s Middle Egyptian: An introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, and the third group will be using How to Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs: A Step-by-Step Guide to Teach Yourself, Revised Edition by Mark Collier and Bill Manley

The three groups are open to anyone who wishes to participate, the only requirement is that you have the text book for that course and that you sign up for a Yahoo account and subscribe to GlyphStudy. Yahoo accounts are free and so is the subscription to GlyphStudy.

See Vincent's post, above, for the details.

The Mysterious Osiris Shaft of Giza

drhawass.com

With photos.

In 1945, the Egyptian archaeologist Abdel Moneim Abu Bakr came across a water-filled shaft inside a small tunnel that runs north-south under the causeway of Khafre at Giza. He explored it sufficiently to learn that it incorporated a number of chambers, but he never excavated or published it. For many years, the shaft had served as a swimming hole and as a source of drinking water for local workmen - it was filled with groundwater to such a high level that no archaeologist was able to excavate it.

The shaft's purpose remained a mystery, although many New Age enthusiasts learned of the it and spread rumors that it hid a secret network of tunnels leading to the Great Pyramid or perhaps to the Sphinx. In the summer of 1999, I decided that it was time to take on the challenge of excavating this shaft to determine its true function and put the speculation to rest.

It was a great challenge to reduce the water level in the shaft to a point where we could work inside. The high water table in the area was the source of the problem. We asked an engineer named Esmail Osman to bring in the machinery needed to pump the water out. Working inside the shaft while the equipment was running was one of the greatest challenges of my life as an archaeologist. The constant noise made it difficult to think, and the machinery was so loud that I almost lost my hearing! We were very worried that pumping out the water would destabilize the shaft, possibly causing it to collapse. I insisted that plaster strips marked with the date be placed across even the smallest crack in the walls. If the cracks began to expand, the plaster would break, and we would know to begin structural interventions right away.

What we discovered as we pumped out the water and excavated the shaft was truly amazing.

See the above page for more.

Saving the Serapeum

drhawass.com

With photographs.

The Saqqara plateau served as a burial site to the ancient Egyptians for over three thousand years. It is home to pyramids, private tombs and temples, and is even the burial place of sacred animals. The most famous of the animals buried at Saqqara were the Apis bulls. For over a thousand years these bulls were laid to rest in the darkness of the Serapeum, a massive gallery of tunnels and niches carved into the rock below Saqqara.

The story of the discovery of the Serapeum is as exciting as any Hollywood movie. The Greek writer Strabo, who lived in the First Century BC, described a road of lonely windswept sphinxes, some half submerged in the sand, stretching out across Saqqara to a temple of the god Serapis. Nearly two thousand years later a young man named Auguste Mariette was sent to Egypt by the Louvre to buy manuscripts for the museum’s collection. On a visit to Saqqara he noticed a sphinx emerging from the sand. Suddenly the words of Strabo entered his mind and he realised that if he followed the row of sphinxes he would find the long lost Serapeum. At that moment he decided to ignore his instructions from the French Government and, quietly, and almost secretly, begin his excavations. As work continued he discovered Greek statues marking the path. Then, after having informed the French government of his discovery, he asked for the funds to continue his important work.

His request was successful and for four years his team continued to excavate, uncovering more of the secrets of the Serapeum as they worked. The row of sphinxes led to the remains of two pylons. In turn, these had originally led to a temple, of which virtually nothing now remained. However, they found that one of the chambers in the temple led to a vast subterranean vault. Here Mariette knew that he would find the sacred tombs of the Apis bulls.

From the ancient evidence we know that there was only ever one Apis bull at a time and that each bull was associated with the king when alive and with the god Osiris after death. In the Ptolemaic Period the cult of the Apis was combined with that of a variety of Greek gods; it was then known as the cult of Serapis. The mothers of the Apis bulls were also viewed as gods; these were associated with Isis and buried in North Saqqara.

The bulls were buried at the Serapeum for over one thousand years, from the Eighteenth Dynasty to the Ptolemaic Period, amid great mourning and ceremony. During this long period of time there were three major stages of architectural development.

See the above page for the full story.

Saving the West Bank temples in Luxor

Luxor News Blog (Jane Akshar)

Good news about the problems of the rising of the water table and destruction of the monuments. The problems is that with the building of the Aswan Dam water is now available to the farmer all year round. The temples were built taking into account they would be flooded 3 months of the year and bone dry for the other 9 months. The farmer would have one crop a year, he would sow his seed as the waters of the inundation receded and the yearly crop would grow and be harvested.

Now water is available all year round. The farmer flood irrigates his field and can crop 2 to 3 times a year. This has risen the water table and the temple foundations how sit in water all year round. This is decaying the stone and sand stone becomes sand again.

See the above page for Jane's complete post.

200 years of the Description de l'Egypte

Al Ahram Weekly (David Tresilian)

THE MAGNIFICENT setting of the église du D¤me at Les Invalides in Paris is the backdrop for a small exhibition, running until September 2009, designed to celebrate the bicentenary of the publication of the first volumes of the Description de l'Egypte, the famous account of Egypt drawn up by French scientists during the military campaign mounted by Napoleon Bonaparte in the country from 1798 to 1801.

Occupying a space to the left of the main entrance to the church, which was built by Jules Hardouin-Mansart in the late 17th century to glorify the rule of Louis XIV, the exhibition has been placed only a few metres from Napoleon's tomb. The latter, a five- metre high structure in red quartzite, has occupied the open crypt beneath the dome since the French emperor's remains were installed in the church in 1840, and it is surrounded by the names of some of his more outstanding victories, among them at the battles of Marengo, Austerlitz and Wagram, as well as, in 1798, over the Egyptian mamlukes at the Battle of the Pyramids.

As the notes to the exhibition point out, there is something fitting about the location chosen, if only because of Napoleon's personal involvement in the production and publication of the Description de l'Egypte. Originally commissioned in 1802 by Napoleon himself, who saw the work as a fitting memorial to his military expedition in Egypt and wanted it to appear in 1809 to mark the tenth anniversary of his rule, the complete work did not appear until 20 years later when a second edition was completed in 1829, though the first volumes did appear on time and bear the date 1809.

A vast work of description and illustration undertaken by some 160 scholars taken to Egypt by Napoleon in 1798 together with his military forces, the Description consists of nine folio volumes of text, together with a large-format introductory volume. The text volumes contain some 7,000 pages of material by 43 authors on every aspect of Egypt, ancient and modern. Added to this are a further dozen volumes of illustrations, which contain some 836 sheets of engraved illustrations, 60 or so in colour, and required the work of 200 engravers and 62 illustrators, 46 of whom made drawings in Egypt as part of the original military expedition.

See the above page for the full story.

More re discovery that Lady Hor is actually a man

Newsday (Erik Badia)

With a photograph of the upper section of the mummy.

Egyptologists from the Brooklyn Museum and doctors from North Shore University Hospital learned Tuesday through a CT scan that a 2,500-year-old mummy previously thought to be a woman - and named Lady Hor - actually was a man.

Dr. Jesse Chusid said that while the mummy's body wrap of linen covered in plaster, called cartonnage, bore the shape of a woman, the body within had the anatomy of a man.

When Lady Hor's image appeared on the screen, "we knew almost immediately that it was not a woman," Chusid said. "You can actually see there are the pelvic organs of a male."

The discovery was made after Chusid, a radiologist, and Dr. Amgad Makaryus, director of cardiac CT and MRI at the Manhasset hospital, performed a 64-slice computed tomography, or CT scan, on the mummy.

The revelation was startling for those from the Brooklyn Museum, as the mummy for decades was believed to be female.

"The re-gendering is a big deal to us," said Edward Bleiberg, the museum's curator of Egyptian art. He explained that the lack of a traditional male beard on the cartonnage had led him and other Egyptologists to believe that he was a she.

Exhibition: Sculpture Portraits of Nefertiti at Hermitage

Russia IC

The State Hermitage Museum opened the exhibtion “The Beautiful Has Come. Portrait Masterpieces from Egyptian Museum in Berlin” on 23 June.

The exhibits displayed at the exhibition were taken away from Germany during World War Two and were kept in the State Hermitage Museum till 1958, when they were returned to the Egyptian Museum in Berlin.

The highlights of the exposition are three sculptured heads created in the mid 14th century BC in the studio of Thutmose: Head of Young Nefertiti (sandstone, colouring); Head of Nefertiti in Middle Age (granodiorite), and Head of Tsarevna, Daughter of Akhenaten and Nefertiti (sandstone), as well as Head of Amasis (greywacke), created in the mid 6th century BC.

Exhibition: More re Tutankhamun in San Francisco

SF Examiner (Steven Winn)

Tutankhamun in the present day

Gold, gold and more gold. Ornate jewelry studded with jewels and desert glass. Alabaster and faience. Delicate perfume vases and charming model boats. Game boards and thrones. Footstools and figurines. The mummy of Tut himself, sealed inside three nested coffins, which were in turn tucked inside four gorgeously etched and gilded wooden shrines. Affirmed by some 5,398 objects in all, the legend of the Golden King, the Egyptian Boy King, was born.

Today, the better part of a century later, it’s hard to overestimate the impact of Carter’s discovery. In launching a global fascination with Tutankhamun, and by extension with the grand arc of ancient Egyptian civilization, this great find ignited imaginations everywhere. It led to everything from serious scholarship to hieroglyphic-print miniskirts, a fresh appreciation of Egyptian artistry to the 1937 Three Stooges short “We Want Our Mummy.” It gave us CAT scans of Tut’s remains and a backstory for “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

Never mind the pop-culture myths and madness about a curse of King Tut that have flourished through the years. Tut’s great, unexpected gift to the modern world is a renewed reverence for history itself; a hunger to comprehend the web of social, economic and spiritual belief systems that evolved and endured for centuries; and an awestruck sense of connection to a distant and fully formed world.

It all began with the marvels that Carter uncovered and, in a period of 10 years, revealed to the public. From the breathless early press reports to the blockbuster exhibition of Tut artifacts that toured North America in the late 1970s, luxury and splendor were the predominant draws. San Franciscans lined up in record-breaking numbers to see the famous gold coffin and death mask that headlined “The Treasures of Tutankhamun” in that show’s 1979 run at the de Young Museum.

But there was always much more to the story and meaning of King Tut than those 55 objects could convey. Now, exactly 30 years later, in a resonant and adroitly timed second act, “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs” arrives at the de Young to advance and deepen this beguiling Egyptian narrative.

And Tutankhamun in the past

SF Examiner (Steven Winn)

Thirty years ago, when the first major collection of King Tut artifacts conquered North America, San Francisco was the touring show’s gold standard. The 1,367,000 visitors who thronged the de Young Museum from June to October 1979 set the attendance record for the seven U.S. cities graced by “The Treasures of Tutankhamun.”

People stood in line all night for advance tickets, as if the show were a museum-world version of “Star Wars.” Miniature gold coffins and Egyptian-look jewelry sold out in shops around town. Faux pharaonic dress and tomb-decor parties flourished. KFRC gave Steve Martin’s goofy-funky “King Tut” song plenty of airplay.

But the “Tutmania” that swept the Bay Area that summer almost didn’t happen.

Excluded from the original touring schedule, San Francisco put on a last-ditch, full-court press to bring the exhibition to Golden Gate Park. A delegation headed by arts patrons Cyril Magnin and Walter Newman, and Fine Arts Museums director Ian White, flew to Cairo to plead The City’s case.

The San Franciscans had several things to offer. One was money — a major donation to the Cairo Egyptian Antiquities Museum. The other was an Egyptian frieze the de Young was about to buy from a Parisian dealer. After learning that it had first been taken from Egypt illegally by the British Museum, White promised to return the frieze to Cairo. With a handshake from Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, the deal to bring Tut to San Francisco was done.

That ’79 show was a watershed event. For both serious and casual art lovers, it was the first in a wave of blockbuster exhibits that would transform the museum-going experience in the decades to come. Unprecedented popular attention, timed ticket sales, gusher gift shop sales and a flood of new members all became part of the way art museums connected to the public, raised revenue and funded new ventures. Subsequent huge shows devoted to Picasso, Monet or the collection of St. Petersburg’s Hermitage Museum had the ancient Egyptian Boy King to thank as an advance man.

Travel: "Intermediate Map" of Egypt for drivers

Zawya

Thanks to Ben Morales-Correa for posting the above news item on this Egypt Then and Now blog.

NAVTEQ, the leading global provider of digital map, traffic and location data for in-vehicle, portable, wireless and enterprise solutions, has announced release of its first map for Egypt. With this Intermediate Map of Egypt, drivers will have access to approximately 50,000 km of roads and more than 42,000 POIs referenced to the map to enhance the functionality of navigation systems.

Egypt has a very complex road network, strong tourism industry and is one of the region’s most populous nations, with an estimated population of 78.3 million inhabitants. The Intermediate Map of Egypt has been designed to meet the evolving needs of the growing user base.

Intermediate Maps are a separate class of map data provided by NAVTEQ to support customers who are interested in introducing LBS and navigation applications in emerging markets.

“With the recent announcement that the Egyptian government has lifted its ban on GPS mobile phones and navigation systems, we expect to see rapid growth in demand for navigation and LBS solutions” stated Frank Pauli, Vice President EMEA Map and Content Products, NAVTEQ. “The availability of an Intermediate Map for Egypt will deliver a significant competitive advantage to NAVTEQ customers as it allows easy and fast integration with a variety of applications and solutions.”

One man's view of Zahi Hawass

SF Examiner (Steven Winn)

It’s never a good idea to keep Zahi Hawass waiting.

“You’re three minutes late,” the celebrated Egyptian archaeologist told a group of San Francisco visitors one very warm April morning at Saqqara, an ancient burial city site dominated by the world’s oldest pyramid (circa 2700 B.C.).

Hawass was standing in full Egyptian sunlight, shielded only by one of the battered, sweat-stained leather hats that have become his trademark costume pieces in public and on numerous History Channel, Discovery Channel and National Geographic TV special appearances. Hawass didn’t smile as he led his guests to the opening of a nearby cave. He rarely does.

Inside the cave, Hawass pointed out a touchingly beautiful wall carving that he believes represents a young Tutankhamun with his wet nurse, Maya, their faces close together and arms intertwined.

“Look at this beautiful young boy,” Hawass said, his steely gaze widening and his voice taking on a cadence both tender and urgent. “He looks about the age of 9. Look at his face. The cobra is in the forehead, protecting him, and Maya is putting her hand out to him in love and affection, like a mother and child. And look — he’s holding the sign of the ahkh [the hieroglyphic character for eternal life]. It’s amazing.”

That was an altogether fitting introduction to Hawass, 62, who has marshaled his passion for the ancient Egyptian world into a one-man force to promote, preserve and protect his native country’s cultural treasures. As secretary general of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, a lofty title perfectly suited to his outsized personality, Hawass combines no-nonsense determination, a deep knowledge of his subject and a canny flair for attention-getting publicity and its attendant revenue streams.

If he sometimes comes off as a kind of self-styled archaeological “rocks star,” enamored with the Emmy Award and photograph of himself with Celine Dion that adorn his Cairo office, the sense of purposeful mission is unmistakable. Everything he does — the TV gigs; the current Tutankhamun show he co-curated with David P. Silverman; the audaciously bold, press-baiting claims of forthcoming discoveries that will “reveal the mysteries” of millennia past — serves an ambitious, far-sighted agenda.

See the above page for the full story.

Exhibition: Mubarak sends greeting message to Egypt's "Sunken Treasures Exhibition" in Japan

Egypt State Information Service

President Hosni Mubarak sent a message of greetings to "Egypt's Sunken Treasures Exhibition" to be opened by Egyptian ambassador to Japan Walid Abdel-Naser in Yokohama city.

In his message, Mubarak hoped that the exhibition would help the Japanese people get more acquainted with the Egyptian civilization, along with boosting Egyptian-Japanese ties in the various fields, Ambassador Abdel-Naser said in statements.

The exhibition will coincide with celebrations marking the 150 th anniversary of the opening Yokohama Port and the 130 th anniversary of publishing the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

The opening ceremony of the exhibition, to be held from June 27 through September 23, will be attended by Yokohama Mayor Hiroshi Nakada.

It is organized by the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), the Asahi Shumbun newspaper, Japan's TBS television network and the Egyptian embassy in Tokyo and its information and tourism offices.

The exhibition includes 489 pieces salvaged from the Mediterranean Sea in Alexandria.

The artifacts include some gigantic stone statues each up to 5 meters tall and weighing 6 tons.The pieces, dating back to different historical periods, focuses on the Ptolemaic Dynasty (305-30 BCE).
They were fished out by Egyptian archeologists in association with a European Institute of Submarine Archeology mission working in Alexandria since the early 1990s.

The Egyptian embassy in Tokyo will organize an Egyptian tourist week in Yokohama city from June 30 through July 5 on the sidelines of the exhibition.

Exhibition video: Egypt Comes to Indy

WishTV

King Tut and all the magic of the Pharaohs of Egypt will go on display Saturday at the Indianapolis Children's Museum.

On Thursday, 24-Hour News 8 will air a documentary that may surprise you and the high definition images will impress. Not only will you see the monuments and tombs, but News 8 also wanted to give you a taste of a modern city in an ancient land.

Click on the video player to watch the complete story.

Trivia: Eating ancient Egyptian

Marinij.com

A bit of trivia. The British Museum always has a special menu to complement its standard offerings to tie in with its key exhibition at any one time. In the U.S. the de Young Museum is offering a special menu for Tutankhamun:

For the Tut exhibit, look for a pyramid of greens, a Red Sea fish stew, chicken tagine, lamb and beef kefta and toasted lentil soup on the menu.

And if you fancy giving it a bash yourself click here for a recipe for obelisk breadsticks from the Washington Post.

If the idea of cooking ancient Egyptian type food appeals, the British Museum sells a book on cooking in ancient Egyptian style: Food Fit For Pharaohs by Michelle Berriedale-Johnson.

Finally, if you don't want to eat it or cook it but would like to know more about ancient Egyptian food and drink, you might like to look at Egyptian Food and Drink by Hilary Wilson (Shire Egyptology), available from various online retailers.

New Book: The Pharaohs

The University of Manchester
The Pharaohs by Dr Joyce Tyldesley, Quercus History

Egypt was the best place to live in the ancient world, according to ‘The Pharaohs’, a new book that gives a full but straightforward and colourful account of life there from 3100 BC to 30 BC.
Isis, Queen of the Gods

“The River Nile flooded every year, making the land very fertile, so there was always food,” author Dr Joyce Tyldesley explains.

“The peasants were worked hard but they didn’t have a bad life. Women had better rights than other civilizations – they could own property, live alone, raise children by themselves. The elite lived luxurious lives; they had country estates complete with bathrooms, and well-decorated tombs.

“The ancient Egyptians pitied people who lived in other lands.”

They had some problems – low level diseases such as bilharzia (a worm that lives in the gut, making the host feel unwell if not seriously ill) and respiratory problems from breathing in sand and fire smoke from cooking and lighting were common. Many women died in childbirth.

And the Pharaohs themselves, despite being semi divine, the country’s high priest, leader of the army and head of the civil service, faced many thorny political battles to lead or even just survive. At least two were murdered by ambitious wives and sons, one prostituted his daughter and another was proclaimed a heretic and his reign erased from official history.

See the above page for the full story.

Daily Photo by Rick Menges

12-ton granite Sphinx of Ramesses II
from the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

Copyright: Rick Menges. With my thanks.

Archaeological discovery in Saqqara

Egypt State Information Service

Culture Minister Farouk Hosni said on 23/6/2009 that a group of Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed a number of ushabtis - an ushabti is a funerary figurine placed in a tomb as a substitute for the deceased, should he/she be called upon to do manual labor in the afterlife - and remains of animal bones and birds inside a hole near the Pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara.

The Supreme Council of Antiquities team was originally rehabilitating the southern front of the step pyramid when they came upon this crevice, said SCA Secretary General Zahi Hawwas in a statement issued Tuesday. They also found a layer of cement inside the hole, Hawwas added.

Golden shells were discovered in the southern tomb, the SCA official said, believing ancient Egyptians could have used them to decorate wooden caskets or to place on top of car tonnages (material composing Egyptian funerary masks). Hawwas said that the SCA group unearthed 30 granite blocs that, put together,

Samir Abdel-Raouf, the head of the team, said they found adobe bricks bearing the names of Djoser's daughters and his different titles along the corridor, noting that all pieces are now being renovated to form a coffin in which the wooden casket is placed with the mummy of King Djoser inside.

Egyptian Archaeologists Discover 3,500-Year-Old Tomb

Al Ahram Weekly

(With photo)

During excavation work at the Tombs of the Nobles on Luxor's West Bank an Egyptian archaeological mission has stumbled upon what it believes is the tomb of Amen-Em-Epet, Supervisor of Hunters during the reign of the monotheistic Pharaoh Akhnaten, reports Nevine El-Aref

The rock hewn 18th Dynasty tomb consists of an open courtyard and two halls, one square, the other rectangular. It has a deep shaft where the mission unearthed the remains of mummies, funerary seals and fragments of pottery vessels. In the court, says Mustafa Waziri, director-general of Luxor's West Bank inspectorate, another shaft was discovered containing a well preserved mummy that may belong to the tomb's owner.

The walls of the tomb had been covered with a black substance, and it had clearly been reused on a number of occasions. Yet when a section of the wall was cleaned, says Waziri, it revealed beautiful decorations.

Bloomberg

Egyptian archaeologists digging in a necropolis at Luxor where the Pharaohs buried their dead have found a tomb dating back 3,500 years ago that belonged to an official known as the Supervisor of Hunters.

The tomb of the supervisor, known as Amun-em-Opet in ancient Egyptian, dates back to the so-called 18th dynasty of Egyptian Pharaohs between 1570-1315 B.C., the Cairo-based Culture Ministry said in an e-mailed statement today. The west bank necropolis where it was found is called Dra Abu el-Naga.

Two other undecorated tombs were also found northwest of the tomb of Amun-em-Opet in which the names of the Supervisor of the Cattle of Amun and the Royal Messenger and Supervisor of the Palace were found, the statement said.

eTurboNews (Hazel Heyer)

An Egyptian archaeological mission led by Dr. Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), discovered an 18th Dynasty tomb (1570-1315 BC) in the necropolis of Dra Abu el-Naga, on Luxor's west bank. Hawass said the newly discovered tomb belongs to the supervisor of the hunters Amun-em-Opet, and the tomb dates to shortly before the reign of King Akhenaten (1372-1355 BC).

Hawass added that the entrances to two further undecorated tombs have also been found to the northwest of the burial ground.Seven funerary seals bearing the name of Amenhotep-Ben-Nefer, the shepherd of the cattle of Amun, were found in the courtyard of the first tomb; while seals bearing the name of Eke, the royal messenger and supervisor/ care-taker of the palace were found in the courtyard of the second. Furthermore, fragmented remains of unidentified mummies have also been found, as well as a collection of Ushabti figures made of burned clay and faience.

The artifacts of life

USC News (Carl Marziali)

USC’s first pilgrims to a temple of high-energy physics will be seeking answers to worldly questions about ancient commerce.

Archaeologist Lynn Swartz Dodd of USC College and her students are taking trade artifacts from Egypt to the Argonne National Laboratory’s Advanced Photon Source, home of the most powerful X-rays in the country.

The group may be the first from USC to secure precious “beam time” at the celebrated particle accelerator, according to Gene Bickers, vice provost for undergraduate programs. The researchers will spend a week in July at the sprawling complex near Chicago.

By peering past the corroded metal on the artifacts’ surfaces and deep into their cores, Dodd and her team hope to discover the makeup and structure of the finds, which range from a series of bronze axes and swords to exquisitely forged miniature bronze-gold figurines of unknown age.

The answers may help tell the story of ancient Mediterranean trading life, which largely revolved around palatial centers.

The rulers of such palatial centers sent each other loads of gifts to “grease the wheels of trade,” Dodd said.

“(The X-ray) is a way in to understand how things operated and how trade politics, resources, moved in the ancient world. It’s a story of power and money.”

The X-ray analysis should provide clues to some basic questions. How were the figurines made? Was the technology behind the swords and axes tightly controlled or did multiple centers have access to it? If one palace owned a technology, could archaeologists try to measure its influence and wealth by searching for artifacts made the same way at other dig sites?

Unlike traditional sampling methods, X-ray analysis will not destroy or disturb the artifacts.

See the above page for the full story.

Razing the City of the Dead to breathe new life into Cairo

The National (Matt Bradley)

The Egyptian government is studying plans to move the historic Cairo cemetery of Arafa – a neighbourhood in which residents include both the living and the dead – to a location outside the Egyptian capital.

The proposed plan would turn 6,000 hectares of cemetery known as the City of the Dead, which is used as informal housing by tens of thousands of people, into a large public park.

While officials from Egypt’s ministry of housing say the plan would answer the capital’s gaping need for green space, critics of the project, particularly the living residents of Arafa who have made their homes on and among centuries-old graves, contend that the city’s plan will deprive them of hundreds of thousands of their living spaces among the dead.

But in a country where monuments to the long deceased loom as large in the public consciousness as they do on the urban skyline, it is the welfare and final wishes of the dead that elicits as much concern as their living neighbours.

“We’ve heard a lot but where are they taking the people? Lots of tombs are still being built and lots of permits are still being given. It would be impossible for them to demolish this area and build a park,” said one elderly woman, who lives with her husband and one of her daughters in a one-room apartment here that adjoins a private mausoleum. Like many of those interviewed, she refused to identify herself for fear of retribution from government officials.

“Of course I would say no. We’ve been living here for years. It’s a quiet and nice area. Why would they want to move us?”

The answer, said Mostafa Kamal Madbouly, the chairman of the general organisation for physical planning in the ministry of housing, utilities and urban development, should be obvious to anyone who has visited Egypt’s capital.

Brooklyn Museum Mummies CT Scan Project on Twitter

Brooklyn Museum on Twitter

Well, all power to them for embracing the latest fads.

Four human mummies from the Brooklyn Museum's renowned Egyptian collection will undergo computed tomography or CT scanning at North Shore University Hospital on Long Island on June 23. Throughout the day, curatorial and conservation staff will be utilizing Twitter, the free social networking and micro-blogging service, to send updates on the proceedings direct to the Brooklyn Museum Twitter feed. Follow @brooklynmuseum on Twitter: http://twitter.com/brooklynmuseum

The Brooklyn Museum collection of ancient Egyptian art, considered one of the finest in the United States, includes mummified remains of several animals and eleven humans. Through the CT scanning, Brooklyn Museum curators hope to learn more about each of the four mummies and the ancient civilization in which they lived. Each mummy underwent a preliminary examination in the Museum's Conservation Laboratory to assess their stability and general condition in order to determine if the CT scan would yield significant additional information.

The Mummies that will undergo CT scanning are a Royal Prince, Count of Thebes, who is more three thousand years old; the Lady Hor on view in her elaborately painted cartonnage since 1993, some two thousand years old; Thothirdes, over 2,500 years and; and a mummy about which little is known, that dates back to the first century C. E.

Contact:
Sally Williams, Public Information Officer, (718) 501-6330,
sally.williams@brooklynmuseum.org
Adam Husted, Media Relations Manager (718) 501-6331,
adam.husted@brooklynmuseum.org

NY hospital test reveals mummy is a man

newsday.com

It turns out one of four ancient Egyptian mummies thought for centuries to be a woman is actually a man.

North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset examined the mummies belonging to the Brooklyn Museum on Tuesday. A CAT scan revealed that one of the mummies, named "Lady Hor," was actually a man.

Researchers conducted the scans with hopes of gaining further knowledge about their identities, cause of death, and ancient funerary practices.

WCAX

Researchers hope to gain further knowledge about their identities, cause of death, and ancient funerary practices.

Egyptian art curator Dr. Edward Bleiberg says the bodies embalmed for burial by the ancient Egyptians have been packed to survive the 18-mile trip during rush hour.

The mummies range in age from more than 3,000 years old to just over 1700 years old.

Bleiberg said a 2007 hospital scan of a mummy showed the man was 30 years older than estimated and had died from an infected gallstone.

Reconstructing the face of Meresamun

Archaeology Magazine (Eti Bonn-Muller)

With photographs/illustrations

She was more than just a pretty face. The ancient Egyptian Meresamun, who lived around 800 B.C., was a working girl, a priestess-musician who served Amun, the preeminent deity of Thebes. Her mummified remains, sealed 2,800 years ago in a skintight coffin of cartonnage (layers of linen and plaster), were examined by researchers at the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute in September 2008 using the latest in CT scanning technology, a "256-slice" machine that produced startlingly vivid images. For months, she has since been the immensely popular subject of the Oriental Institute Museum's exhibition, The Life of Meresamun: A Temple Singer in Ancient Egypt.

Now, the headline-making CT images have helped two individuals--each working separately with 3-D STL (stereolithography) images of Meresamun's skull produced from the scans, but using different techniques--reconstruct Meresamun's face.

Predynastic pottery at Cincinnati Art Museum

examiner.com

Nearly 6,000 years ago; 4,000 years before the birth of Christ; 1,000 years before the first Egyptian ruler came to power over all of Egypt, there were societies living near the Nile. These early cultures are now referred to as being pre-dynastic and the phases or time-periods as Naqada I, II and III, (also spelled Nagada), named for the area of Egypt where many artifacts were found. Nomadic hunters were beginning to settle and cultivate the land and to create functional items suited to a new lifestyle. Added to the use of stone was work in metal, and the crafts of basketry, pottery, weaving, and the tanning of animal hides.

Naqada I was a time when crocodiles and rhinos, giraffes and elephants roamed the land. In this setting an early Egyptian sat down before a fire to create a piece of art we marvel at today. For him, he is merely creating a beaker, possibly for trade, possibly on commission, we cannot know; but for us, finding it so many thousands of years later, it is a trace of history, a glimpse into a past we can only envision through the various clues unintentionally left for us.

On permanent display in the Cincinnati Art Museum is the earthenware beaker fashioned by hand from rich Nile silt by that pre-dynastic Egyptian. The piece was shaped by smoothing together coils of this clay then dried in the sun, the very same activity many of us experienced in elementary school art class. It was given a wash of red ochre, a pigment made from iron rich red clay and one of the first pigments used by humans. It was fired over open flames as the kiln had not yet been invented. The darkened areas were created using a technique that allowed soot to accumulate on the pot's upper surface during the firing.

More free Internet publications from the Oriental Institute

Oriental Institute

Eleven more Egyptological titles are provided online by the OI, and are available exclusively online

MISC. The Culture of Ancient Egypt. By John A. Wilson. Oriental Institute Essay. Phoenix Edition 1956. Kindly note that this title was first published under the title The Burden of Egypt: An Interpretation of Ancient Egyptian Culture (1951).
http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/pubs/catalog/misc/culture.html

MISC. Kingship and the Gods: A Study of Ancient Near Eastern Religion as the Integration of Society and Nature. By Henri Frankfort, with a new Preface by Samuel Noah Kramer. Oriental Institute Essay. 1948
http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/pubs/catalog/misc/kingship.html

MISC. Most Ancient Egypt. By William C. Hayes, edited by Keith C. Seele. 1965
http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/pubs/catalog/misc/most_ancient.html

MISC. Ancient Egyptian Paintings Selected, Copied, and Described, Volume III: Descriptive Text. By Nina M. Davies with the editorial assistance of Alan H. Gardiner. 1936
http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/pubs/catalog/misc/paintings3.html

MISC. Quseir Al-Qadim 1978: Preliminary Report. By D. S. Whitcomb and J. H. Johnson. 1979
http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/pubs/catalog/misc/quseir.html

MISC. When Egypt Ruled the East. By George Steindorff and Keith C.
Seele, revised by Keith C. Seele. 1957
http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/pubs/catalog/misc/when_egypt.html

MISC. Ancient Textiles from Nubia: Meroitic, X-Group, and Christian Fabrics from Ballana and Qustul. By Christa C. Mayer Thurman and Bruce Williams. 1979
http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/pubs/catalog/misc/textiles.html

OIP 3. The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus, Volume 1: Hieroglyphic Transliteration, Translation, and Commentary. By J. H. Breasted.
Oriental Institute Publications 3. 1930
http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/pubs/catalog/oip/oip3.html

OIP 4. The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus, Volume 2: Facsimile Plates and Line for Line Hieroglyphic Transliteration. By J. H. Breasted.
Oriental Institute Publications 4. 1930
http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/pubs/catalog/oip/oip4.html

OIP 17. Paleolithic Man and the Nile-Faiyum Divide in Nubia and Upper
Egypt: A Study of the Region during Pliocene and Pleistocene Times. By K. S. Sandford and W. J. Arkell. Oriental Institute Publications 17, Prehistoric Survey of Egypt and Western Asia II. 1933
http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/pubs/catalog/oip/oip17.html

OIP 34. The Egyptian Coffin Texts 1: Texts of Spells 1-75. By Adriaan de Buck. Oriental Institute Publications 34. 1935
http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/pubs/catalog/oip/oip34.html

Scan for 2000 year old mummy of child

The Age (Richard Macey)

LIKE an expectant father, Michael Turner paced the floor anxiously yesterday.

A few metres away the mummy of an Egyptian child who died, aged about seven 2000 years ago, was undergoing one of the most thorough examinations modern medicine can provide.

For the senior curator at the University of Sydney's Nicholson Museum, the answer to a mystery was about to be revealed.

"Is it a boy?" Mr Turner wondered aloud. "Is it a girl?"

Collected in the 1850s by Sir Charles Nicholson, one of the university's founders, the mummy has been held by the museum for almost 150 years.

The mask covering the face is that of a girl. But a name on papyrus rolls that came with the mummy, thought to be from Thebes, has been translated as Horus. "That's a boy's name," said Mr Turner.

Mummy dealers in the 1800s, he noted, frequently mixed artefacts up for sale, so there was no guarantee that the mask or the name really belonged to the mummy.

ABC News

A 2,000-year-old mystery was solved today when an ancient Egyptian child's mummy was CT-scanned in Sydney in a ground-breaking collision of history and science.

The mummy, named Horus after the ancient Egyptian god, is believed to date from the Graeco-Roman period.

It has been held in the collection of the University of Sydney's Nicholson Museum for nearly one-and-a-half centuries.

Until today, its sex and age have been anyone's guess.

"I'm amazed to actually discover that it is a seven-year-old male," senior curator Michael Turner said.

"For 140 years we thought it was a girl!"

The university holds three mummies, two adults and a child, as well as numerous mummified animals.

While x-rays have long been used to scan mummies, the latest CT imaging technology will reveal much more about the seven-year-old child and his life that has previously remained unknown.

"We can look at the teeth, we can fly through the body to see what is still inside," says Janet Davey, a forensic Egyptologist from the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine.

Exhibition: A Nubian King’s Burial Chamber

NCAAA Museum

This exhibition presents the world’s only fully accurate recreation of a Nubian burial interior.

Created around the legacy of the late 25th Dynasty ruler King Aspelta (600-580 BC) whose excavation records were locally available, the presentation features nearly fifty 2,600-year-old objects from Aspelta’s tomb or times, including such ancient artifacts as pyramid furnishings from the chapel, and jars related to mummification. In the mix are protective amulets, as well as alabaster containers for the scented oils with which the dead were anointed.

In the recreated burial chamber—which has been inscribed with four chapters from the Egyptian Book of the Dead—is a remarkable cast of Aspelta’s huge sarcophagus. Inside it is the King’s outer coffin. Ringing the room are the spell-binding cycle of relief paintings celebrating the daily resurrection of the king. A nearby related auxiliary display focuses on iron-making in ancient Nubia.

examiner.com

The National Center of African American Artists located at 300 Walnut Avenue in Boston's Roxbury section commemorates these black pharaohs. In the only permanent exhibit at the center is the recreated tomb of the Nubian Pharaoh Aspelta. For $4.00 admission you can walk into a tomb housed in a majestic, if dilapidated, mansion in one of Roxbury's prettiest pocket neighborhoods.

The Center also hosts traveling and temporary exhibits, but Aspelta's tomb alone is worth the price of admission.

The Latest Underwater Discoveries

Archaeology Magazine

This is a global look at underwater archaeology but it includes a page entitled "Min of the Desert" (Red Sea, Egypt) re a reconstruction of a ship from the time of Hapshepsut.

In recent years, for-profit underwater salvors have captured the public imagination, garnering breathless headlines announcing their recovery of "treasure" ships. But there's much more to the world of nautical exploration than the giddy promise of gold coins. Every field season, underwater archaeologists make extraordinary discoveries that expand our vision of humanity's past.

On the following pages, we highlight just a few of these ongoing underwater archaeology projects, from the recovery of a sixth-century B.C. Phoenician shipwreck, where excavators found a cargo that included elephant tusks and amber, to work on a 19th-century vessel in Oklahoma's Red River that has given archaeologists their first look at early steamship design.

Exhibition: Out of the vaults

Huliq.com

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto runs an exhibition named 'Out of the Vaults: Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead' until October 18, 2009.

Journey to the afterlife through the mystical Book of the Dead of Amen-em-hat. Books of the Dead are funerary manuscripts created by Ancient Egyptians during their lifetime, containing instructions to help the deceased in the afterlife.

Video - Unearthing ancient tombs

ABC7 Local

Thanks very much to Kat for sending me this link and pointing me to the other videos provided on the site. It is one of ten videos available on the ABC7News Tutankhamun page at the moment.

When Dr. Zahi Hawass became Secretary General of Egyptian Antiquities he realized that all the major discoveries in the Valley of the Kings had been made by archeologists from outside Egypt.

He began training Egyptians in the methods of modern archeology -- cultivating a sense of national pride in the discovery and preservation of Egypt's treasures.

But make no mistake, archeology is backbreaking work. Unearthing and restoring a tomb begins with the careful removal of sand and rocks accumulated over more than 4,000 years.

Hawass: "You know, I'm so happy that I'm excavating now in the Valley of the Kings. First of all, we are working three locations now. The first is behind the tomb of King Tut. And we found an area of how the ancient Egyptian redirected the flood. When the flood comes up to the valley, they redirected then it will not disturb the tomb. And we found in this area, graffiti written year nine of one of the names of the kings, Cartouches of kings, we found scene of Queen giving offering. And now we are working in front of the tomb of King Tut, and actually we are demolishing Mustafa Azir's office. Mustafa is the director of the West Bank and he used all his life to sit in this office. We are demolishing it today because I really do believe that the tomb of Nefertiti is there. Why? This is the tomb of King Tut cave 62, and there in this side cave 55 of Egnahton. And here, the most recent tomb we found of Keya, the mother of Tut Ankh Amun. And the other third site is working in the West Valley, or they call it the Valley of the Monkeys. We are excavating there because there is a tomb of I, and Amenhaten III, and I really do believe that the tomb of the wife of Tut Ankh Amun, Ahnkisinbhatun, or Ankhisinamun, who married I after the death of King Tut should be there, and this why I'm an archaeologist and I did major discoveries in my life."

Sixty-three tombs of ancient Egyptian nobles have been opened in the Valley of the Kings. King Tut's was the 62nd discovered and the only tomb to date not pillaged by grave robbers.

More re Hosni campaign for UNESCO

Al Ahram Weekly (Nevine el-Aref)

It seems that the curse of the Pharaohs has hit Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni's election campaign to direct UNESCO. A week after facing severe criticism from foreign and Egyptian intellectuals following the apology he published in the French newspaper Le Monde regretting his comment last year on burning Israeli books, Hosni has found himself once more in the eye of a storm.

During a visit to Paris to meet with intellectuals and top officials to discuss his UNESCO election campaign Hosni announced that Egypt's National Centre for Translation (NCT) will publish Arabic translations of novels by the Israeli writers David Grossman and Amos Oz.

Exhibition: King tut returns to San Francisco

Inside Bay Area (Pat Craig)

Back in 1979, Tutmania was akin to Beatlemania. That's when the "Tutafacts," 55 items from King Tutankhamun's tomb, toured America with the blessings of the Egyptian authorities.

Other than a brief visit by a handful to Tut items in 1960 to the Palace of the Legion of Honor, it was the first time anything from the 1923 discovery and opening of the tomb of the Boy King Tutankhamun had come to San Francisco.

But people were ready — teased by pictures in countless books, Steve Martin's novelty song tribute to the Pharaoh, and tasteful and tasteless souvenirs (including a T-shirt emblazoned with "Keep your hands off my tuts") — and by the time it was over, more than 8 million people across the country viewed the exhibition.

There is less Tut buzz today for the return of the exhibit, which opens Saturday in San Francisco's de Young Museum, where it played to crazed crowds and long lines three decades ago.

Why there is less buzz can be tied to any number of reasons, primarily that 1973 marked the first major exhibit of Tut artifacts in the United States. In addition, people had much less access to media 30 years ago — today you can get thousands of hits on an Internet search for King Tut. There was no Internet to speak of in 1979, when people had to go to ticket outlets in person and crowd control was less of a science.

Daily Photo by Bob Partridge

Temple of Edfu

Copyright Bob Partridge, Editor of Ancient Egypt Magazine,
with my thanks

Blog update

I am off to Wales for a week or so and will not be able to update the blog. Apologies! I'll post all the backdated news items on my return.

All the best
Andie

Royals in the lab

Al Ahram Weekly (Nevine El-Aref)

It's all go at Al Ahram this week.

A SECOND facility for testing the DNA and the lineage of ancient Egyptian royal mummies is ready to go into operation, Nevine El-Aref reports.

The laboratory is similar to the one set up two years ago at the Egyptian Museum where the mummy of Queen Hatshepsut was identified. The new lab was inaugurated last Sunday in the Faculty of Medicine at Cairo University.

Sally Reda, one of the five scientists who will be working at the laboratory, said that one of the purposes of the facility would be independently to reproduce the results obtained in the first lab. A crucial element of DNA testing, she explained, was that an independent replication of the DNA results of the mummies was different from when applied to living people. "Mummies are very old and very fragile," Reda pointed out. "This necessitates extraction and multiplication before testing."

The DNA samples will be taken from the mummies by entering the same puncture hole from a number of different angles with a bone marrow biopsy needle, a less invasive technique than that used by previous researchers.

At the opening ceremony Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), told reporters that it was of prime importance not to use the same lab to analyse the DNA of living and dead people as there could be confusion over the results.

"I used to be against the DNA tests for mummies as it was carried out by foreigners and the mix of DNA of the dead and the living could lead to incorrect and inaccurate results," Hawass told reporters. "We cannot trust results from one lab, so we have established another to compare both results and get precise data."

See the above for more.

Exhibition: Taking a shot at archaeology

Al Ahram Weekly (Nevine El-Aref)

A photography exhibition highlighting more than a century of archaeological cooperation between Europe and Egypt was inaugurated last Thursday at the Egyptian Museum. Nevine El-Aref went along

From the beginning of the 19th century, archaeology in Egypt has enticed a multitude of European travellers and academics. These pioneers rediscovered the main characteristics of history from the ancient Egyptian to modern eras, and thus contributed to establishing strong scientific links not only between the nations of Europe and Egypt but also between those nations themselves.

To illustrate this early and long lasting common interest and cooperation, the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) and the European Commission in Egypt are holding a two-month- long photography exhibition at the Egyptian Museum entitled: "Europe-Egypt: A long lasting Archaeological Cooperation".

In the temporary exhibition gallery on the museum's first floor, a collection of 40 photographs recreates in images some of the shared projects operated by European and Egyptian researchers. These photographs have been presented for the exhibition by 16 European countries. They are organised around six subjects illustrating the main aspects of European activities in the field of archaeology: background, training, cooperation, excavations, restoration and valorisation.

The exhibition focuses on the main practices prevailing nowadays among Egyptologists.

Pagans, atheists and nature worshippers

Al Ahram Weekly (Jill Kamil)

While walking through Wadi Digla with a group of friends we got to talking about pagans, and found that we were not in agreement, writes Jill Kamil

Wadi Digla is a dried-out river bed lying to the east of the Cairo suburb of Maadi. It was declared a nature reserve some years ago, and is frequented by nature lovers and those who want to take exercise far from the madding crowd. For my group of friends it is also an opportunity to walk together to discuss matters of mutual interest.

On a recent occasion we got to talking about paganism. As an Egyptologist I naturally associate the word "pagan" with polytheism, the worship of many gods before the introduction of the divine or "revealed" religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Characteristic of pagan traditions, I presented, is the presence of a living mythology that explained natural phenomena and religious practice.

However, a friend claimed that paganism referred to atheists and agnostics. A third asked, rhetorically, what of Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism and the Bahaai faith, surely they are not pagan, or are they? When I pursued the conversation with others that evening, I heard the remark that the Old Testament of the Bible (the Hebrew Scriptures) contained references to pagans as those communities surrounding the Hebrews, and they included Babylonians, Canaanites, and Philistines.

In fact, everyone I spoke to seemed to have a different definition of the word "pagan", and at some gatherings, as the argument became more and more heated, I realised that while opinions differed, most of my compatriots remained convinced that their meaning of the word was the correct one.

See the above page for the full story.

Competition for UNESCO heats up

Al Ahram Weekly (Nevine El-Aref)

Culture Minister Farouk Hosni, Egypt's candidate for the post of UNESCO's director- general, was in the spotlight last week as his campaign for the post came under scrutiny in foreign and Egyptian newspapers. Days ahead of the closing of UNESCO leadership nominations a group of well known French and German intellectuals raised objections to his candidacy, pointing to a comment he made last year in parliament. When asked by an MP about the presence of Israeli books in Egyptian libraries, Hosni responded by saying that he would burn such books if any were found.

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Elie Wiesel, director of Holocaust documentary Claude Lanzmann and writer Bernard Henri-Levy used the French newspaper Le Monde to call on the international community to block Hosni's candidacy. They described him as a racist and inciter of hate.

Olaf Zimmermann, chief executive of the German Council of Culture, also announced his concern over Hosni's candidacy. He was quoted in the Times online as saying that "someone who failed to respect the diversity of the world's cultures should not be allowed to turn global cultural and education policy".

Hosni responded in Le Monde with an apology, saying he regretted his comments, which were uttered in the heat of the moment.

See the above page for the full story.

Travel: The Sinai Stones

Al Ahram Weekly (Amira El-Naqeeb)

I've met many mountains and many deserts, yet the South Sinai Mountains -- especially at Saint Catherine -- have a unique power of channelling spirituality. The hike was a tailor-made trek to explore the area of Wadi Jebal, which is known among the Bedouins of St Catherine as the High Mountains area, and lies northwest of Saint Catherine Monastery. The hike involved walking through different valleys and vineyards, as well as visiting some mountains. The area is mostly inhabited by Al-Jebalia tribe, who came to Sinai almost 1,500 years ago.

Ahmed Assem, who is researching human development in Sinai, said that 200 soldiers where summoned to St Catherine by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian (who ruled between 483-565 AD), and were charged with serving and guarding the Monastery of St Catherine. These soldiers, mostly from southeastern Europe, are the ancestors of Al-Jebalia.

The Greek Orthodox monastery enclosing the Chapel of the Burning Bush was built at the site where Moses is supposed to have seen the burning bush; the living bush on the grounds is purportedly the original. The site is sacred to Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Assem suggested that the rocks scattered around the valley are remains of rooms built by Roman monks who sought the spirituality of the mountains to spend their days in prayer and seclusion -- a practice followed by many monks until today.

From Wadi Jebal and Rehibet Nada, and then down to Imesakha trail is the path that Al-Jebalia used to take on foot to Al-Tor city. This route was originally used by Byzantine monks between the fourth and seventh centuries to reach the port in Al-Tor, called Raithu at the time.

See the above page for the full story.

Death of a village

Times Online, UK (James Hilder)

Just outside the Valley of the Kings a set of ancient tombs has created a very modern controversy.

Western archaeologists accuse the Egyptian Government of forcibly displacing thousands of people from a unique local community to open up the site as a new tourist attraction, while the authorities say that the villagers have damaged tombs and stolen mummies.

The village of Qurna, on the outskirts of Luxor, arose more than a century ago when farmers on the banks of the Nile fled seasonal flooding and moved into the shelter of pharaonic tombs that dot the rocky bluffs above the river. People built elaborate houses of mud brick and wood around the caves and, with the advent of tourism, made a living showing visitors their in-house tombs and selling souvenirs.

But five years ago President Mubarak decided that Luxor was becoming a slum, overrun with hawkers and unauthorised buildings that were obscuring and damaging its ancient treasures. He appointed a former army general, Samir Farrag, to clean up Luxor.

“One of the first orders of the President was to transfer the people of Qurna,” said General Farrag, now the city’s governor. So arose the village of New Qurna, a grid of pink and cream concrete terraces farther into the desert, lacking the character of its predecessor but provided with running water, a post office, schools and sewerage for the 3,000 families moved there.

Most families did not go willingly and they complain that the tiny modern houses have broken up traditional, sprawling households and squeezed them into stifling boxes with facilities scarcely better than those of their former primitive homes. “They just wanted us out. There’s no benefit for us to be here,” said Umm Mohammed Tayyeb, a mother of six, who complained that the water ran so infrequently that she had resorted to storing it in large earthenware urns, as she had done in the old village.

See the above page for more.

Exhibition: World of the Pharaohs

Arkansas Arts Centre

Thanks to William Peck for letting me know that the Arkansas Arts Centre website has been updated with details of the upcoming exhibition.

September 25 , 2009 – July 5, 2010

Ancient Egypt and its art continues to inspire the world, just as it has fascinated travelers from all over the globe for millennia. World of the Pharaohs: Treasures of Egypt Revealed explores the long-vanished world of ancient Egypt. On view at the Arkansas Arts Center from September 25, 2009 through July 5, 2010, the exhibition features more than 200 magnificent objects including mummies, a majestic colossus of Ramses the Great, jewelry, statues, intricate art and funerary artifacts. The objects, which span 3,000 years of dynastic history, tell the story of not just how the Egyptians died, but how they lived! A visit to World of the Pharaohs: The Treasures of Egypt Revealed is a rare opportunity to explore the mystery of one of the world’s greatest civilizations.

There is also a dedicated section devoted to the exhibition where tickets can be purchased and objects from the exhibition viewed at:
http://pharaoh.arkarts.com/

The anonymous Egyptologist

Al Ahram Weekly (Zahi Hawass)

Hawass is again defending his position using his Al Ahram Weekly column:

When we announced our discoveries at the temple site of Taposiris Magna near Alexandria four weeks ago, an Egyptologist who chose to remain anonymous began to criticise our work. He said that I was always making sensationalised announcements of my discoveries. I do not understand the reasoning behind his statement, but I suspect that he might be envious.

Martinez and I simply stated that we were currently searching for the tomb of Cleopatra and Mark Antony. We never claimed to have discovered the royal tomb. We informed the media of the results of our ongoing work of the past three years, such as finding an alabaster head of Cleopatra, the headless statue of a king, coins stamped with the face of a queen, a stone mask that could possibly represent the Roman leader, Mark Antony, and a temple foundation deposit proving that the temple was constructed during the reign of Ptolemy IV. We also announced the discoveries that we made as we began excavating tombs outside the temple.

Critics like this anonymous Egyptologist have implied that the repeated media announcements lack any significant new information, making it difficult for the academic community to take the excavation seriously. I believe that in their resentment, these critics are blinded as to what is old and what is new information. Perhaps it is difficult for them to know the difference.

See the above page for the full story.

Fustat pottery

Leiden Journal of Pottery Studies

For those with access to academic libraries the current issue of the Leiden Journal of Pottery Studies (54, 2008) has the following article:

A new ethnoarchaeological documentation project at the Fustat pottery workshops, Egypt (K. Duistermaat and N.C.F. Groot).

The full table of contents is on the above page.

Daily Photo by Bob Partridge

Temple of Edfu

Copyright Bob Partridge, Editor of Ancient Egypt Magazine,
with my thanks

Siwa - An Oasis Like No Other

Egypt Today (Erika Sherk)

There is no place in Egypt like Siwa. Tourists and residents alike are well acquainted with the chi-chi five-star resorts on the North Coast, the chill-out beach camps on the Red Sea and the environmentally-friendly ecolodges everywhere, but while these all have their charms, Siwa is above and beyond in its own category. The ancient, isolated oasis in the middle of the Great Sand Sea attracted Alexander the Great in his day and is now becoming a cherished destination for travelers willing to leave the beaten path and traverse the desert.

Unlike other journeys, where the distance traveled is just a slog with a destination, the ride to Siwa is half the fun. From Cairo it takes about 10 hours by bus. If you’re lucky enough to have your own ride, it can take anywhere from seven to 11 hours. Quite a range, you might say, but there is so much to do on the way. Fling yourself into the sea when the car gets too hot, walk the beautifully kept rows of graves at the Commonwealth War Memorial at El-Alamein and spend a half-hour perusing the market stalls at Marsa Matruh. Then rest easy as the desert landscape speeds past on the highway from Matruh to Siwa (keeping an eye out for unmarked speed bumps), and prepare your eyes for the sudden profusion of green palm trees rising out of the endless sand.

Even if you’re a veteran oasis visitor, Siwa will likely get you excited. It’s nothing like its counterparts in Egypt. This one feels, for the most part, untouched by time. The tiny town, the quiet dirt streets nearly devoid of cars, the Siwan toddlers walking quietly everywhere hand-in-hand and the donkey-driven agriculture are all a wonderful balm to a stressed-out soul. Get ready to drive about 10 kilometers per hour around town to fit the pace.

See the above page for the full story.

Mummy face reconstruction

The Western Star

Christian Corbet knows she died young, although he doesn’t know how she perished.
The forensic artist is working on a mystery nearly 3,000 years old — an Egyptian mummy. The remains are part of the Royal Ontario Museum’s collection of Egyptian artifacts.

She was interred around the 21st dynasty and unearthed in the early 1900s at the site of Deir el Bahri and brought to Canada soon after that.

The University of Western Ontario was asked to do CT scans and laser scans to generate an accurate image of her bones and skull so a model could be generated.

The skull was digitally imaged, and the information put into a computer. It was then modeled in resin and plastic at a special lab in Toronto.

As the forensic artist in residence for the university, Corbet, who lives in Massey Drive, was called upon to reveal what the young woman’s face looked like.

He said the reconstruction isn’t complete without the artistic part of the procedure. For him the artistic portion is what he enjoys and the most exciting part of the process is opening her eyes.

See the above page for more.

Description of the Mummification Museum

Luxor News Blog (Janke Akshar)

This is excellent. Jane was asked by the Director of the Mummification Museum, Mohamed Shet, to help him with the translation into English of a description he had written about the museum. Jane has posted the translations onto her blog, above.

45th Anniversary of the CPE

Serwis Nauka w Polsce

The achievements of the largest and oldest existing prehistoric archaeological expedition, that's backbone is made up of Polish and American archaeologists, was the main theme of a conference in Warsaw. The meeting was arranged by the Pre and protohistory committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN). The Combined Prehistoric Expedition was formed, in 1964, as a form of rescuing Nubian heritage that was endangered by the construction of the Aswan Dam. During its 45 years of existence it has continuously been running excavation works in north-east African countries such as Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia.

CPE gets its name from its international character. The committees aims, besides the main Polish-American body are to engage specialists from a over a dozen countries from three continents. Besides archaeologists, the Expeditions works were supported by experts in scientific fields such as anthropology, geology, biology and even astronomy. The results of the works have been published in many books, and scientific studies.

From the very beginning the Combined Prehistoric Expedition has been tightly connected with PAN's Archaeology and Ethnology Institute. The institute operates as an archaeological mission in Egypt.

The first presentation at the conference was by Dr Jacek Kabaciński. He spoke about the Expeditions history, the way it operates. He proved in his speech, that Nubia despite what previous archaeologists said, was a place of vast development of ancient cultures, and thanks to them ancient Egypt and Sudan evolved. It also turned out that north - eastern Africa was one of the oldest production centers of ceramic pottery, and one of the first places to breed cattle.

Prof. Romuald Schild, a long term director of the Expedition, spoke about the Neolithic cult center made of megaliths in Nabta Playa. This big Ceremonial Center was built 7000 years ago in the southern zone of the Western Dessert in Egypt, near to the Gebel Nabta mountain. The results of the Expeditions surveys proved that in the past, the desserts climate used to be more humid than it is today. The very dry and harsh dessert used to be a savannah that was inhabited by shepherd tribes from the late stone age. They were the people who built the Ceremonial Center, that was a main center of cult.

Off Topic - Archtools

Archtools, UK

Just a quick note to say that I recently bought some archaeological equipment from the Archtools website and the service was great. Online purchasing experiences are extremely variable, and it was a relief to find a site that is not only clearly organized but which delivered my items only a day after I placed my order.

Daily Photo by Bob Partridge

Temple of Edfu

Copyright Bob Partridge, Editor of Ancient Egypt Magazine,
with my thanks