Friday, April 28, 2006

Czech Egyptologists in Egypt

"The Czech team is one of only a dozen which have been granted permanent status in Egypt. The Abusir excavation site has proved unexpectedly rewarding and Czech archaeologists there have big plans for the future. The head of the team in Abusir professor Miroslav Verner who discovered an unplundered tomb in 1996 is now hoping for greater things - the seat of a former government and a long lost palace: 'In my opinion regardless of everything that has so far been discovered in Abusir there is still a lot of work to be done, for instance, the discovery and exploration of the pyramid town Ba Neferir Kara - a pyramid town which is known from written documents and which surely existed in Abusir. Another archaeological challenge is the Residence from the 3rd millennium BC. The Residence was the seat of the government of that time, the executive branch of the Egyptian top administration. So far no residence of this kind has been discovered but there is a hypothesis that it might have been located in Abusir, possibly in the area of the Lake of Abusir. And I should not forget another great challenge namely the palace of Sahure. So far no royal palace from the old kingdom has been discovered. And again written documents inform us very clearly that such a palace which was named "Extolled is the Beauty of Sahure" must have existed in Abusir - definitely. So that's another important challenge for Czech archaeologists.' The Czech archaeological team headed by prof. Verner has just received a grant which will enable it to continue its work in Abusir for another 7 years. In the meantime, in Prague a new generation of archaeologists is in the making."
See the above website for the full story and further comments by Professor Bares.

Czech archaeologists may uncover royal palace in Egypt
http://tinyurl.com/mbupq (Prague Monitor)
"Czech archaeologists have a chance to uncover a royal palace and a royal government seat from the Pharaohs' era in Abusir, Egypt. Miroslav Verner, long-term head of the Czech archaeological expedition in Egypt, told the Czech Archaeology Abroad conference that the royal buildings were probably situated at the border between the Nile valley and large burial grounds. Czech archaeologists have also uncovered a number of shaft graves in Abusir dating back to 530-525 B.C. One of the large tombs they have studied belonged to admiral Wedjahor-Resne, labelled as 'the traitor of Egypt' over his collaboration with the Persians, said Czech Egyptologist Ladislav Bares. The decorations and a giant sarcophagus in the tomb of an Egyptian priest, which has never been robbed, are unique, along with the burial equipment, including 408 statues of servants, amulets and the Book of the Dead."
See the above page for more details.

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