Exhibition: More re Tutankhamun in Austria and the U.S.

Suite 101 (Stan Parchin)

Tutankhamun and the World of the Pharaohs, presently at Vienna, Austria's Ethnological Museum (March 9-September 28, 2008), is indeed coming to the United States.

Under the title Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs, the ticketed exhibition, organized by the Michael C. Carlos Museum of Emory University, will first appear at the Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center in Georgia from November 15, 2008 to May 22, 2009. It will then take up residence at the Indianapolis Children's Museum from June to October 2009.

Al Ahram Weekly (Nevine El-Aref)

Over the past five years, Hawass told Al-Ahram Weekly, the SCA has earned almost $350 million from 23 exhibitions sent abroad. This falls within the framework of the policy developed by the SCA to sending archaeological exhibitions abroad and at the same time give Egypt added worldwide publicity.

Culture Minister Farouk Hosni stated that the money earned from these exhibitions went towards the restoration and preservation of Egypt's monuments as well as building new museums to protect its heritage. He added that the income had also provided a great opportunity to show the many faces of Egypt -- past, present and future.

Hawass pointed out that Egypt was not alone in profiting from the travelling exhibitions; so were the host countries and museums. Egypt will receive about $35 million for the Tutankhamun tour of the United Sates and England, which will share in the huge budget allocated to construct the Grand Egyptian Museum overlooking the Pyramids of Giza.

He pointed out that the Tutankhamun exhibition had also visited Basel in Switzerland and Bonn in Germany, where it earned $6 million, before embarking on its two-year tour of four American states, from each of which it earned $9 million.

"This money is not even a drop of water in the bucket of cash needed to build this museum," Hawass said. "It is costing billions of dollars."

See the above pages for more.

Erich von Däniken vs. All of Archaeology

Introspection of a Struggling Mad Scientist

When you see something that mystifies and intrigues you, the best response is to investigate and learn more. The worst response is to simply make up a story and sell it to the public as a matter of fact.

Keep those points in mind.

I used to believe that ancient peoples must have encountered space aliens because I had a very limited idea of what was 'normal' among archaeological findings. I didn't know anything about the everyday cultures of people who lived thousands of years ago, what their interests were, nor was I familiar with their artwork. I was an utter layman who didn't know what to expect, nor what not to expect.

So, of course I believed the man who said that certain archaeological finds were 'unexplainable' unless one assumes that extraterrestrials were involved. This man is Erich von Däniken, author of Chariots of the Gods?, and he has been confusing other utter laymen for the past few decades.

How is he confusing them?

Daily Photo - The tomb of Ahmose, Son of Ibana at El Kab

Remnants of Pharaonic temple and Roman church drowned in the Nile in Aswan

Egypt State Information Service

Part of Khnum Temple in Elephantine Island to the second side of "Cataract" Hotel in Aswan city was discovered 40 meters deep under the Nile water, Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) Secretary General Zahi Hawwas said Thursday 3/4/2008.

The Egyptian archaeological mission also unearthed part of a church and two granite columns, Hawwas said during a cultural salon at the Cairo Opera House.

Hawwas said that the Egyptian archaeological mission, formed by Culture Minister Farouq Hosni to excavate tombs in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, would soon announce the discovery of a new tomb in the coming excavation season.

He estimates that there are no less than 63 royal tombs still buried in the area.

In the reign of the black pharaohs

Al Ahram Weekly (Mohamed El-Hebeishy)

Our great grandfathers called it Ta-Seti, Land of the Bow. They were referring to the area south of the First Cataract at Aswan, and the reason behind the name was the unparalleled skill its inhabitants demonstrated when using the bow as a method of arm. Those excellent bowmen were actually the Kushites.

At first, Egyptians, as back as the First Dynasty, would send expeditions to the area in pursuit of slaves as well as the exploration of new sites where copper and gold could be mined. Egyptian influence grew and by the Middle Kingdom, a series of strongholds and fortresses controlled the Nile at the Second Cataract. Their influence over the area grew further through the New Kingdom; Pharaoh Tuthmoses III marched as far south as the Fifth Cataract. But change is a question of time, and by the end of the New Kingdom, Kush began to rise.

Historians have universally agreed that King Alara unified Upper Nubia around 780 BC, declaring Napata (near Jabal Barrkal, Karima, North Sudan) the capital. The job was completed by his successor King Kashata when Lower Nubia joined the crown. Nubia had been united and Kashata claimed for himself the title Pharaoh. But that was not the end of it; following suit was Pharaoh Piye, better known in history as Pharaoh Piankhy, conqueror of Thebes and founder of Egypt's 25th Dynasty, the dynasty of the Black Pharaohs.

Sennedjem on Osirisnet

Osirisnet.net (French)
Osirisnet.net (English)

Thanks very much to Thierry Benderitter for the news that the tomb of Sennedjem is now being featured in 3-D VRML on Osirisnet (see the last of the three pages):

Every person interested in Ancient Egypt has heard and read about the tomb of the craftsman Senndjem, at Deir el-Medina. Many of you may even have visited it, as it is one of the very few (still) opened to the public.

Despite its small size, this monument is richer than one might think.

We offer to you an in-depth visit of this tomb. And you will even be able to walk in it in a virtual 3D VRML reconstruction.

The photograph on this page is the copyright of Thierry Benderitter, Osirisnet 2008.

Exhibition: More re The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs (U.S.)

Thanks very much to Stan Parchin for the information that the exhibition The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs (the first U.S. stop of which is in Atlanta) has the same exhibits as the one recently shown in Vienna. The title has changed, but the contents are the same.

And there's some additional coverage on Egypt Daily Star News:

The exhibition, also to include the latest scientific research about King Tut, will contain artifacts from the 4th Dynasty into the Late Period (about 2600 BC to 660 BC). They come from sources including temples and royal tombs. Many have never before been seen in the US.

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, exhibit officials said.

The exhibition also will include the largest image of King Tut ever found — a three-meter statue that originally may have stood at Tutankhamun's mortuary temple and retains much of its original paint. One of the four gold and precious-stone-inlaid coffinettes that contained his mummified internal organs also will be exhibited.

Snapshot - Nubian monuments

Al Ahram Weekly (Mohamed El-Hebeishy)

ABU SIMBEL, Philae and Kalabsha are temples which come to mind whenever Nubian monuments are mentioned, but is that all the High Dam threatened to flood? Mohamed El Hebeishy finds out.

Once the campaign to rescue the monuments in Nubia kick-started, 22 missions from all four corners of the globe relentlessly began excavating the area. It was a feverish race against a foe you can't beat -- time. By all standards breakthrough results were achieved in record time. Some temples were moved a few kilometres from their original sites while others went overseas. The Temple of Debod is currently located in the Mountains Park, Madrid, while the Temple of Dendur can be visited while touring the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Travel: The Sinai Desert

Al Ahram Weekly (Amira El-Naqeeb)

Since the sweltering heat hasn't started yet, I asked myself what would be better than a desert safari. Since I couldn't think of anything better, I tracked down one of the most interesting trips, with an irresistible bargain.

Dahab was my target. We started our trip at eight in the morning. We were heading towards Al-Arda canyon, or the double canyon, as they call it. Both names valid, it lies 90km away from Dahab. The name Arda refers to a plant there, the only place in Sinai where it can be found. The plant changes colour during the summer into blue, sometimes grey, and is known amongst the Bedouins as a herbal medicine that cures asthma.

We arrived in the canyon around 9am. We were four: I, Lindsey and Tom, from England, and our guide Tamer Abdel-Alim. We started walking up the canyon; quite an easy hike. I was engaged in a conversation with Tom, and I did not notice any difficulty. It was as if my legs had a mind of their own, going up and down very smoothly. By the time the first part of the canyon had finished, the going up part, I did not even notice. I romped about for 10 minutes, inhaling as much fresh air as my lungs could take. The second part of the canyon was going down, and that is why it is called the double canyon. Going down was another story. "You look very adventurous, so I didn't want to tell you what was ahead," Abdel-Alim said teasingly.

I can't even describe what going down was like, but let me try.

New book: The Eternal Light of Egypt

Egypt Daily Star News

Hall 44 of the Egyptian Museum saw an unusual buzz of activity last week as intellectuals and art lovers gathered for the launch of AUC Press’s new publication “The Eternal Light of Egypt,” a photographic journey by talented artist Sarite Sanders.

To accompany the launch, the walls of the hall were covered with large prints of Sanders’ photos as seen in her book: black and white pictures of Egyptian monuments covered the specially crafted partitions.

Unlike the conventional pictures of the Sphinx, Horus and Ramses II, Sanders’ perspective captures these ancient icons in a fresh way. The light and dark contrasts are “magical and mysterious,” says Mark Linz, director of the AUC Press.

Ancient Egypt Magazine April/May 2008

Ancient Egypt Magazine

Thanks to Bob Partridge for details of the latest issue of Ancient Egypt Magazine:

The April/May 2008 issue of “Ancient Egypt” magazine (published in the U.K.) will be available next week (this advance notice is because I will be in Egypt when it is actually out). This issue is also available as an electronic version which can be found at the web site www.ancientegyptmagazine.com This may be useful for anyone with a broadband connection who may have difficulty in getting hold of a paper copy of the magazine, or who might want to see a copy before subscribing.

Contents of this issue include:

News from Egypt: The magazine’s Egypt Correspondent, Dr. Ayman Wahby Taher, brings the latest news from Egypt which includes a report on the dramatic cleaning of the soot-blackened ceiling of the roof of the temple of Hathor at Dendera, some Middle Kingdom coffins found at Luxor, a special exhibition at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo on the work of the German Archaeological institute and an update on yet more discoveries at Karnak.

The People of Amarna: In the second of a series of articles, Professor Barry Kemp looks at the physical remains of the ordinary people who lived at Amarna and what they can tell us about life in the city of Akhenaten and Nefertiti.

The Funerary Goods of the Lady Henutmer. Ingeborg Waanders looks at the surviving funerary goods from a 21st Dynasty burial, now scattered around different Egyptian collections.

Tutankhamun’s Treasures in London AND Vienna: A brief look at some of the objects now on display in two special Exhibitions.

A Kushite Statue in Southampton: Hilary Wilson tells how a forgotten ancient masterpiece was discovered in a museum storeroom in Southampton, and Mark Walker investigates the possibility of a connection between the statue and Major General Gordon of Khartoum.

The Search for Imhotep A report by Ian Mathieson on the findings of the Saqqara Geophysical Project and the discovery of some 3rd Dynasty tombs. Could one of them be the long sought after tomb of Imhotep?

Howard Carter’s Watercolours of Birds: Jaromir Malek looks at some of the remarkable paintings made by Howard Carter and now in the Griffith Institute in Oxford.

Revealing the Secrets of the Mummies: Vicky Gashe shows how by carefully and scientifically examining the preserved bodies of the ancient Egyptians, that much can be revealed about how they lived and died.

Per Mesut: For younger readers: This issue Hilary Wilson looks at ladders.

Book Reviews:

The Beautiful Burial in Roman Egypt: Art, Identity and Funerary Religion, by Christina Riggs.

Cleopatra, Last Queen of Egypt, by Joyce Tyldesley.

Mirage: Napoleon’s Scientists and the Unveiling of Egypt, by Nina Burleigh.

The City of the Sharp Nosed Fish: Greek lives in Roman Egypt, by Peter Parsons.

The Thames and Hudson Dictionary of Ancient Egypt, by Toby Wilkinson.

The Prehistory of Egypt: from the First Egyptians to the First Pharaohs, by Beatrix Midant-Renes.

The Complete Valley of the Kings, by Nicholas Reeves and Richard H. Wilkinson.

The Complete Pyramids, by Mark Lehner.

The Timeline History of Ancient Egypt, by Shereen Ratnagar.

Who Travels Sees More: Artists, Architects and Archaeologists Discover Egypt and the Near East, Edited, by Dianne Fortenberry

Plus other Regular Features that include:

Egyptology Society details for the UK and many overseas and full listing of forthcoming lectures and events in the UK from April to June 2008 and some advance dates and details for forthcoming Conferences and exhibitions.

Future articles will include

Was Tutankhamun Murdered? A UK doctors review of the evidence from the recent CT scans of the Mummy and some interesting new findings and observations.

Sherds, Clay and Clean Water: Henning Franzmeier looks at how the ancient Egyptians well technology ensured a clean water supply.

Amarna: Barry Kemp, Director of the Amarna Trust, in the third in a series of articles, looks at the design and evolution of the city of Akhenaten and Nefertiti and at the grand and humble buildings erected there.

The use of Leopard Skin in ancient Egypt: Magda van Ryneveld describes the special use of the pelt from leopards, which adorned priests, nobility and the kings of Egypt.

Ancient Egyptian Eye Paint: Christine Humber looks at the use of eye paint for to try to determine if its use was medicinal, ritual or simply cosmetic.

Statues of Tutankhamun: Everyone is familiar with the famous images of the boy king found in his tomb, but, as AE reveals, Tutankhamun erected many statues, although most were to be usurped by later kings and are recognisable, only because we can recognise his features.

The Old Kingdom Necropolis at Abusir: Miroslav Verner tells of decades of work at the major pyramid site by a Czech Team and of some of the important discoveries made there.

City of the cat goddess Bastet: Daniella Rosenow examines the site of Bubastis, the great cult centre of the cat goddess Bastet, with its temples and tombs.

Travel: Why rough it all the way?

Al Ahram Weekly

A CAMP in the desert would at first trigger an association of roughness and even discomfort. That might be true in most cases but when it comes to Meroe Camp, the analogy is reversed completely.

Located a couple of kilometres east of Meroe's Northern Cemetery, Meroe Camp is situated on a relatively high plateau overlooking the vicinity. A landscape of orange coloured sand dotted with lavish green Acacia trees and the ancient Meroe Pyramids, is simply breathtaking to say the least. One of the most appreciated moments of indulgence during my stay in the camp was to sit in the terrace of the main, and only, building while watching the sunlight bid the day goodbye.

The camp consists of 10 tents furnished with essential needs yet with an authentic style, and an appreciated level of comfort.

Daily Photo - More from the tomb of Paheri, El Kab

Still back-dating!

I've added some more backdates, which I've simply posted under today's date for convenience. I've yet to check Google Alerts, so there may well be another batch tomorrow. Bear with me - I'm getting there!

All the best
Andie

Fifty years of Czech Egytpology

The Prague Post (Ondřej Bouda)

The history of the country’s accomplishments in the field of Egyptology hits an important milestone this year as the Czech Institute of Egyptology turns 50. The birthday of the institute, located in Prague, will be celebrated with a series of exhibitions in Egypt as well as in the Czech Republic. President Václav Klaus will open one exhibit in Cairo April 7. Two others are also planned for Prague, one at Liechtenstein Palace April 17, and the other this fall at the Náprstek Museum of Asian, African and American Cultures. The institute is also publishing several books about its five decades of achievements.

One of the greatest accomplishments is the institute’s participation in the UNESCO effort to save ancient Egyptian monuments in Nubia during the 1960s after the Egyptian government asked the international community for help when the construction of the Aswan High Dam threatened to flood priceless artifacts. As a reward for those efforts, the Egyptian government granted Czechoslovak Egyptologists one of the largest concessions for excavations ever issued, and for the past 40 years local scientists have made several important discoveries in the Abusir necropolis located some 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of Cairo.

More re opening of Arish National Museum

Al Ahram Weekly (Nevine El-Aref)

Five years after building started and many more years since its inception, the temple- shaped, honey-coloured Arish National Museum stood poised last Sunday for its official inauguration by Mrs Suzanne Mubarak. The long-awaited museum has been erected on the very spot at the eastern end of Arish where the Egyptian flag was raised following the Israeli withdrawal from this part of Sinai in 1979.

Mrs Mubarak expressed her pleasure at sharing the inauguration with the women of Arish as they celebrated Egyptian Women's Day.

Upon her arrival Mrs Mubarak, along with Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni and Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), embarked on a tour of the museum's sections relating to the history of Arish from predynastic to the Islamic eras. More than 2,000 objects are on display, carefully selected from eight major collections in Egypt: the Egyptian, Coptic and Islamic museums in Cairo, the Recovered Antiquities Museum at the Citadel, the Graeco-Roman Museum in Alexandria, the Sinai Historical Museum in Taba, the Port Said Museum, and the Beni Sweif museological storehouses in Ashmounein. Artefacts unearthed at excavation sites in North Sinai such as the Horus military road site in Qantara East and Tel Basta in the Nile Delta are also on display.

Team determines gender of science center’s mummy

University of Louisville (Kevin Hyde)

A University of Louisville research team recently helped the Louisville Science Center learn more about an old friend — a 2,600-year-old friend.

Actually, the friend, a mummy called Then-Hotep, is more like a family member, having been one of the most popular attractions at the science center and its forerunner, the Natural History Museum, since the early part of the last century. But throughout all of those years, it kept one big secret: Nobody knew its gender.

Until now. Under the leadership of professor Aly Farag, director of the Computer Vision and Imaging Process lab at J.B. Speed School of Engineering, the UofL team applied technological and forensic expertise to verify that Then-Hotep is a female.

The human skull holds many clues to gender, so the team focused on making a faithful reproduction of the mummy’s head, Farag said.

Here’s how the team did it.

Slideshow: The making of COSI's Lost in Egypt

VEOH

Thanks to a post on the Feinknopf blog for the link to the above slideshow:

Brad has only just recently returned from Egypt. Where he had been shooting for 12 days for a exhibition that COSI is putting on in the summer of 2009. While we haven't even begun to start to go through all of the remarkable images that he shot over the course of the assignment. Brad has gone through and pulled out 160 or so images and created a slideshow that we have posted online. To see it simply click here. However due to copyright laws we were unable to load the music selections that had been made to accompany the piece, but we aren't to worried we simply recommend putting on something a little mellow and creating your own soundtrack to accompany the images.

Mummification Museum Lecture - Excavations in front of Karnak temple by Mansour Boraik

Luxor News Blog (Jane Akshar)

Jane has added her latest Mummification Museum lecture notes to her blog, accompanied by photographs taken at the lecture. Many thanks Jane!

The excavation at the front of Karnak has been going on for 2 years and they have been under considerable stress because of the redevelopment in the area. Sometimes they were competing with the Army who wanted to get on with the redevelopment whilst the SCA were trying to excavate. Further excavation will be taking place when some more houses are demolished in the area.

When the started Karnak was surrounded by slums, shops and the stadium and you could not see it from the Nile. The parking area was right in front of the temple, there were guard towers that were unneeded and created the wrong atmosphere.

The original redevelopment plan was based on the knowledge of the temple at that time which in itself was based on an interpretation of a plan in the tomb of Neferhotep TT49. This has proved to be incorrect and the redevelopment plan has been altered as a consequence.

Neglect at the Temple of Seti I, Luxor

Luxor News Blog

Jane has been running a personal campaign to highlight the neglected temple of Seti I in Luxor. She has added two new photographs with a comment about the state of the site.

123 tourist projects at costs of LE 11.5 billion on North Coast

Egypt State Information Service

A total of 123 projects will be carried out to establish resorts with 43,000 tourist rooms on the North Coast, said Matrouh Governor Mohamed El-Shahat.

The projects will create 72,000 job opportunities during the coming three years, Shahat said at a meeting of the board of investment trustees. Some 496 investors applied to clear landmines planted in one million feddans on the North Coast, the governor said.

The landmines were planted in Egypt more than 50 years ago, during World War II.

El Museo Egipcio de Barcelona expone en primicia mundial sarcófagos con 2.700 años

Terrae Antiquae (Jose Luis Santos Fernandez) - in Spanish

El Museo Egipcio de Barcelona expone desde hoy en primicia mundial una muestra con 28 sarcófagos y una momia de 2.700 años de antigüedad pertenecientes a cinco generaciones de sacerdotes-jardineros del templo de Amón, que fueron descubiertos en 1903 en el Valle de las Reinas.

Los sarcófagos, la momia y otros objetos funerarios de alto valor para los egiptólogos, como estelas, estatuillas o escarabeos, fueron descubiertos por el arqueólogo italiano Ernesto Schiaparelli en 1903 y desde entonces han permanecido encerrados en el almacén del Museo Egipcio de Turín, considerado el más importante en arqueología egipcia después del Museo de El Cairo.

El director del Museo Egipcio de Barcelona, Jordi Clos, ha destacado hoy que esta muestra es la más importante que han albergado hasta ahora, ha elogiado la "preciosidad de acabado" de las piezas y ha celebrado que la capital catalana dé a conocer al mundo este tesoro que hasta ahora había permanecido oculto.

Los tesoros sumergidos de Egipto

Egiptologia (Francisco Martín Valentín y Teresa Bedman) - in Spanish

El próximo 16 de abril se abrirá al público, en las salas del Centro Cultural 'Matadero Madrid' de nuestra capital, la Exposición 'Los tesoros sumergidos de Egipto', bajo el patrocinio de la Fundación Hilti y la dirección técnica del arqueólogo submarino Franck Goddio. Se trata de un acontecimiento cultural de interés mundial. Las antiguas ciudades egipcias de Alejandría, Heraklion y Canopus podrán ser conocidas por los visitantes a través de la espléndida exposición de sus magníficos restos hallados bajo el mar por Frank Goddio y su equipo.

El año 2002 se dio a conocer el hallazgo realizado por el equipo de arqueólogos del Instituto Europeo de Arqueología Submarina de Franck Goddio en colaboración con el Consejo Supremo de Antigüedades de Egipto, en la bahía de Abukir consistente en los restos de dos importantes ciudades desaparecidas en el mar hace 1.200 años.

Se trataba de Canopus y una de sus barriadas, llamada Menuthis, y de otra destacada metrópoli conocida en los textos clásicos como Herakleion.

Según la opinión de técnicos de la Universidad de Stanford, estas ciudades fueron destruídas como consecuencia de una serie de terremotos y maremotos que asolaron las costas egipcias a causa del nacimiento de una grieta surgida en la falla marina que iba desde Sicilia hasta El Cairo.

El proceso de su desaparición no debió ser repentino, puesto que sabemos por las fuentes escritas que, al menos, hubo 34 terremotos en la zona del norte de Africa, entre el 320 y el 1303 de C., siendo el más riguroso de ellos el sufrido en el 365. Con el tiempo la costa se fue hundiendo y las ciudades existentes a lo largo de ella se fueron derrumbando y cayendo bajo el empuje de las olas, siendo gradualmente enterradas por el limo que todos los años depositaban las crecidas del Nilo.

See the above page for the rest of this comprehensive post

The Zahi Hawass Prize

guardians.net

Not a late April Fool.

The friends of Zahi Hawass have decided to establish a fellowship at the American University in Cairo (AUC) called “The Zahi Hawass Prize in Egyptology.” The fellowship will be given to a student in the Egyptology department. A committee will be established to set the rules for the fellowship, which will be awarded to the most outstanding student of any nationality. The names of all the donors to the fellowship will be recognized.

This prize will be awarded to the best AUC student, Egyptian or foreigner, every year. The initial funding of this prize by Dr. Joseph Leone, a physician in the United States, began with $ 5,000. Additional contributors include:

Bruce and Carolyn Ludwig, AUC Board of Trustees; $ 10,000
Supporters of Egypt

Margie Fisher, Margie Fisher Foundation, Egyptologist $ 25,000

Nancy Binz $ 10,000

Amr Badr, Abercrombie and Kent, Cairo $ 5,000

Timothy C. Collins, CIB Bank; Ripplewood Holdings $ 100,000

See the above page for more details.

Tourism: 1.5 million Russian tourists visited Egypt in 2007

Egypt State Information Service

Egyptian tourism has succeeded in achieving its target in the current stage, said Tourism Minister Zoheir Garana in statements on the sidelines of the Russia's third International Trade Fair for Travel INTOURMARKET-2008 inMoscow Saturday15/3/2008 with Egypt as the honorary guest.

He added that a plan set to develop Egyptian tourism sector was going according to schedule.

Garana said the Egyptian tourism increased by 52% last year compared to a year earlier.

The number of hotel rooms in Egypt increased to 191,000 by the end of last year, the minister went on to say, adding that other 156,000 rooms are under construction.

Egypt attaches much attention to new kinds of tourism such as entertainment, conferences and incentive tourisms.

More than 1.5 million Russian tourists visited Egypt last year, the minister said, expecting that figure to go up in the coming stage.

Interview: Los descubrimientos del egiptólogo Martín Valentín comunicados en el CERPA

Egiptologia (Nacho Abad Andújar) - in Spanish

El egiptólogo Martín Valentín, uno de los cuatro españoles que dirige una misión en el valle del Nilo, dio una conferencia en el CERPA el pasado miércoles, 27 de febrero. Trabaja en lo que hasta ahora se creía era la segunda tumba de Sen-en-Mut. Pero sus investigaciones han echado por tierra las creencias de decenas de años. Lea la entrevista realizada a uno de los expertos que más sabe de Egipto.

Dicen los expertos que aún falta por descifrar más del 90% de la información que encierran las pirámides, tumbas y templos de Egipto. Los jeroglíficos y tumbas siguen revelando datos nuevos capaces de sepultar interpretaciones históricas. Es lo que ha sucedido con el investigador Francisco Martín Valentín (Segovia, 1951), que lleva cinco campañas en lo que hasta ahora se creía era la segunda tumba de Sen en Mut, arquitecto jefe de la reina faraón Hatshepsut y uno de los hombres más poderosos de Egipto en su tiempo, hacia el año 1.460 a.C.

El egiptólogo español ha demostrado que no se trata de una tumba, sino de un cenotafio o capilla vinculada ritualmente con un templo. El pasado miércoles 27 de febrero contó en Rivas las novedades de su descubrimiento.

Lawrence of Arabia and Petrie

Ancient Egypt and Pop Culture

Not news, but this description of Petrie by Lawrence of Arabia did make me smile.

In another of my history classes, we’ve been reading about the legendary Lawrence of Arabia, and it goes into thorough detail about his early career as an archaeologist. In the winter of 1911-12, Flinders Petrie taught him the basic methods of archaeology, before beginning his archaeological career in Syria. Though he was initially stationed at Karkamis (Carcamish), Lawrence would later go on to further studies with Petrie in Egypt who was, at the time, excavating a large cemetery at Takhan, south of Cairo, when his dig at Karkamis was called to a halt by the British Museum. Lawrence would describe Petrie as “querulous, brusque, and opinionated”, and detested his time at the site. “A Petrie dig,” he said, “is a thing with a flavor of its own: tinned kidneys mingle with mummy corpses and amulets in the soup”. Though they would get along, Lawrence detested the tedious methods used by Petrie in cataloging the many pots used to create his time index. He was very glad therefore, when the British Museum reopened the site at Karkamis the following February.

Trivia roundup

Preparing for Aida
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Excitement reigns at Pittsburgh Opera, where a huge cast is preparing to perform "Aida," one of the most popular and spectacular of all operas. Giuseppe Verdi's intoxicating music evokes Egyptian antiquity for a romantic triangle set in the context of warring nations.

Stellar mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe, making her role debut as Amneris and her first Pittsburgh Opera appearance says, "Very few operas are so full of such pomp and circumstance. It's unbelievable how much great full-bodied music is in this opera and yet it ends in a whisper -- just brilliant!"

Cleopatra ready to rule north America
Adventure Gamers

The Adventure Company announced that the newly-renamed Cleopatra: Riddle of the Tomb has now shipped to North American retailers.

Surprisingly, Cleopatra is not particularly central to the story of Riddle of the Tomb. While the game takes place during her reign, at a time the country is engaged in civil war, players are cast in the role of an astrology apprentice named Thomas. Young Thomas has fallen in love with his master's daughter, and when both she and his mentor are kidnapped, it's up to players to sift through a complex conspiracy to save them, while traveling through historical Egyptian locations like the Library of Alexandria.

Drawing of UFOs found on cave walls in Egypt
The Spoof
(specially for Francis!)

Archaeologists in Egypt say they have discovered ancient cave drawings that they believe could be of a UFO painted by man over 3000 years ago.

Professor I Knutt said the discoveries prove his theory that life on earth came from the stars and that man was transplanted on earth as an experiment or as a colony for another planet.

"I've been saying it for years. We did not evolve from monkeys, we were not created by God, we came from space. The evidence is all there. Now these drawings of a UFO in ancient Egypt prove it" said Knutt.

Knutt's theory that humans were transplanted on earth from a distance planet is based on his belief that all major religions look to the skies for their God. He also claims Jesus was from the distance planet, as well as all the Hindu Gods, Adolf Hitler and Big Foot.

Playing with Egypt on your mobile
Mobile News

Egypt has supplied the inspiration for several mobile games, some ace (Pyramid Bloxx, Luxor 2) and some not quite so ace (Asterix and Cleopatra).

Hopefully The Egyptians will fall into the former category. It's the new mobile game from HandyGames and is a strategy title that sees you defending Ancient Egypt (known as Brand New Egypt at the time, presumably) from armies of mythical monsters.

The game has 25 levels to strategise your way through, constructing buildings, beating up bosses, and calling on 12 gods for special abilities.

Will Smith, The Last Pharaoh?
ComingSoon

The film centers on Taharqa, who was king of Egypt (from 690 BC to 664 BC) and a member of the Nubian or 25th dynasty of Egypt. He was the son of Piye, the Nubian king of Napata who had first conquered Egypt, and the younger brother and successor of Shebitku. The story is about Ethiopians battling Assyrians for the throne of Amun-Ra.

"It's an open writing assignment from Will's company. It's something he's taken a big interest in," Hauty said.

Modern Egypt - sundry posts

Made in Egypt
Al Ahram Weekly (Amira Al-Noshokaty)

"This is the entrance of Akhmim," points Mariam Azmi at her art work, as she ushers me in to Al-Kawsar district's sizeable garden. "On Sham Al-Neseem -- Easter -- everybody, Muslims and Copts, go there to spend the day and enjoy the greenery."

At the premises of the Upper Egypt Association for Education and Development (AUEED), the walls are covered with vivid textiles -- some with portraits depicting daily rituals that capture the core of pastoral life -- reflecting the ingenuous stitches and motifs of the Upper Egyptian artisans of Akhmim: that little village stitched into the heart of Sohag governorate in Upper Egypt. On the tables are numerous skillfully carved wooden ornaments, with typical Pharaonic, Coptic and Islamic motifs, only found in the small village of Hegaza in Qena governorate, where all the tenants are carpenters. It is the annual market for products of AUEED.

Restoring Cairo Zoo
Al Ahram Weekly (Dena Rashid)

The clamour of the streets surrounding the Giza Zoo in Cairo and the voices of the thousands of visitors who each day visit it disappear once one enters the historic citadel hills, also known as the royal hills, at the zoo's heart. These artificial hills, built in 1867, have now been renovated and reopened to the public, allowing a respite from the maddening noise outside. Their newly renovated condition is a sign of things to come and part of an ambitious scheme to restore the zoo's international standing after years of neglect.

The Giza Zoo, originally opened to the public in 1891, developed over the later decades of the 19th century from being the gardens of the Khedive Ismail to a major public park and attraction for Egyptians of all classes. The uniqueness of the zoo lay not only in its possession of rare animal species and plants, but also in its lay-out and design. Gustave Eiffel, the engineer behind the Eiffel Tower in Paris, built a metal suspension bridge in the grounds that allows visitors a view of the animals from the top of artificial hills. The old fences, pathways, lakes and many of the original animal houses also reflect the dedication put into the original design of the zoo.

Farouk Hosny: The Energy of Abstraction
New Times, Broward-Palm Beach

Hosny’s not just a cultural critic, he’s also an abstract artist. So maybe you can pick up on his true motivations in the swirls of desert oranges and violets that grace his paintings, appearing now through April 15 at the Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale (One E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale). General Admission costs $10. Call 954-525-5500, or visit www.moafl.org.

City of the Dead
Ancient Egypt and Pop Culture (Brittany Sovran)

I went to Egypt when I was nine and the one thing I will never forget is driving through Cairo with my uncle and peering out the window at the City of the Dead - a four mile long cemetery on the eastern side of Cairo where ancient rulers used to bury the dead. We talk so much about ancient Egypt and the wonder of the architecture, history and customs of old that rarely we realize what Egypt is like today. The City of the Dead, formally known as the Qarafa cemetery, is a massive cemetery with little “tomb rooms” above the thousands of graves. Today, massive overpopulation and a severe housing shortage in Cairo has forced as many as five million civilians to call these cemetery tomb rooms home. Among these cemeteries (5 in total) lives a community of Cairo’s urban poor; forming an illegal but tolerated separate society.

The people who live in these “tomb rooms” have tried to make them as practical as possible. They use grave markers as desks and shelves, hang string between gravestones for laundry to dry, and brought in electricity wire from a nearby mosque. The poor of Cairo have flocked to the cities of the dead, as they are already built and far better than living on the streets, despite the cockroaches, mosquitoes, and flies that abound.

Daily Photo - Tomb of Paheri, El Kab

The next couple of days will feature the rock cut tombs from El Kab, ancient Nekhen, the main centre of the third nome. Paheri was the grandson of Ahmose ("Son of Ibana"), whose tomb is also at El Kab. His titles indicate that he was the local governor. For excellent descriptions of the El Kab tombs, see the El Kab section on the Osirisnet website. The scenes in the tomb are lovely.

Blog Update

Thanks almost exclusively to Kat Newkirk I have made a start at updating the blog with the main news items that appeared whilst I was away (see below).

There are many other emails to be read and I have not yet checked my other Inboxes, so there may be further updates tomorrow.

You will need to click the "Older Posts" link at the bottom of the page to see all news updates.

All the very best
Andie

Gathering "concrete" evidence

MIT News - HTML (David Chandler)
MIT News - PDF

Even though they are among the best-known structures on Earth, the pyramids of Egypt may still hold surprises. This spring, an MIT class is testing a controversial theory that some of the giant blocks that make up the great pyramids of Giza may have been cast in place from concrete, rather than quarried and moved into position.

In order to help identify blocks that were cast rather than quarried, students in the class, Materials in Human Experience (class 3.094), are assembling a small pyramid using a combination of both kinds of material. They will then use techniques such as microscopic imagery and chemical analysis to look for signs that might provide ways of telling the difference on samples from the Great Pyramid itself.

While many people think of concrete as a recent material, in fact the Romans used a version made from volcanic ash and lime extensively for most of their famous buildings, including the Pantheon. But although the idea that the Egyptians may have used a kind of concrete in building the pyramids was first suggested in the 1930s, with a specific material that could have been used proposed in 1988, so far there has been no proof and the idea has remained mired in controversy.

See the above page for the full story.

Tutankhamun Day at the Petrie, London, U.K.

Thanks to Lucia Gahlin for the news that on the 31st May 2008 the Friends of the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology will be hosting a conference to celebrate is 20th anniversary:

TUTANKHAMUN: THE MAKING OF A LEGEND, Saturday 31 May 2008, 10.00 17.00, The UCL Bloomsbury Theatre, University College London.

• Amarna, Memphis and Thebes: Life in the Royal Cities of Akhenaten and Tutankhamun, Dr Kate Spence
• Akhenaten, Tutankhamun and the religion of the Aten, Professor David Silverman
• Tutankhamuns tomb(s?), Professor David Silverman
• Tutankhamun: the making of a legend, Professor David Silverman

The main speaker, David Silverman, is curator of Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of Pharaohs, currently on display at the O2 Bubble in Greenwich, London.

Conference tickets cost £30.00 (ukp) which include morning coffee, afternoon tea, and a glass of wine after the event (lunch will be available for purchase in the Refectory and other locations in UCL).

Tickets available from the Bloomsbury Theatre +44 (0)20 7388 8822, or online at www.thebloomsbury.com/event

Photo gallery: Intact Colossus of Egypt's Queen Tiye Found

National Geographic

This intact statue of Queen Tiye, a powerful queen from ancient Egypt's 18th dynasty, was recently discovered at the site of the mortuary temple of powerful pharaoh Amenhotep III, as seen in this photograph taken March 27, 2008.

The 12-foot-tall (3.6-meter-tall) quartzite figure was found attached to the broken-off leg of a much larger colossus—a 50-foot-tall (15-meter-tall) likeness of Amenhotep III seated at his throne.

Experts said the statue is one of the best preserved at the site, ancient Egypt's largest temple complex that most believe was decimated in antiquity by massive earthquakes.

Exhibition: The Louvre and the Ancient World

High Museum of Art, Atlanta

The Louvre and the Ancient World features masterpieces from the founding cultures of Western civilization and will include more than 70 works from the Louvre’s unparalleled Egyptian, Near Eastern and Greco-Roman antiquities collections. Showcasing works dating from the third millennium BC through the third century AD, the exhibition will examine the rise of the museum and its collections of antiquities under Napoleon, the discoveries and decipherment of hieroglyphics and cuneiform and the Louvre’s leading role in excavating the cradle of civilization at the end of the nineteenth century and during the 20th century (most of the excavations for Near East).

The oldest works in the exhibition are drawn from the ancient cultures of Egypt, Susa (in modern Iran), the Neo-Sumerian city of Tello (in modern Iraq) and the Canaanite city of Ugarit (in modern Syria). Key works from these periods include the diorite Statue of Wahibre, Governor of Upper Egypt (Late period Egyptian); an Egyptian papyrus that belonged to the first Egyptian Museum whose curator, Jean-François Champollion, is credited with first deciphering hieroglyphics (Third Intermediate Period); an Attic black-figure amphora attributed to the potter Exekias (550–540 BC); and a dolerite Statue of Gudea, Prince of Lagash from Tello (Neo-Sumerian Period).

A special installation will showcase the colossal, ten-foot-long Tiber—one of the largest sculptures in the Louvre’s collections. The statue, discovered in 1512, decorated a sanctuary dedicated to Isis and Sarapis and was the pendant to a similar statue depicting the Nile, which is currently in the Vatican collection in Rome. The work explores the river’s link to Roman mythology and its fertility. It depicts a river god accompanied by both Romulus and Remus, the city’s legendary twin founders, while the reliefs on its base illustrate another myth about the founding of Rome and the river’s beneficial effects.

Exhibition: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs

International Herald Tribune

An exhibition featuring more than 130 treasures from the Egyptian tomb of King Tutankhamun and other ancient sites will begin a U.S. tour with an opening November in Atlanta.

The Michael C. Carlos Museum of Emory University announced Wednesday it will open the exhibit at the Atlanta Civic Center from November through May 22, 2009. The exhibit highlighting more than 50 treasures from Tut's tomb and more than 70 artifacts representing other pharaohs and notables, will then move to the Indianapolis Children's Museum from June to October 2009.

"Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs" is the second National Geographic exhibition dedicated to the treasures of King Tutankhamun and ancient Egyptian royalty.

The first exhibition, "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs," was visited by nearly 4 million people during a four-city U.S. tour from 2005 to 2007.

It will begin a three-city encore later this year in Dallas.

The Earth Times

"Tutankhamun's magic still captures the hearts of people all over the world, even though more than 75 years have passed since the discovery of his amazing tomb," said Zahi Hawass, secretary general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities. "America has welcomed the golden king, and now he returns, bringing with him all the great pharaohs of Egypt. This exhibition will raise much-needed funds for the preservation of Egypt's monuments and the construction and renovation of museums throughout the country. I always say that Egyptian antiquities are the heritage of the world and that we are only their guardians."

Proceeds from the tour will go toward antiquities preservation and conservation efforts in Egypt, including the construction of a new grand museum in Cairo.

More re copyrighting the pyramids

NBC4i Straight Answers

Q. I heard that Egypt has copyrighted the pyramids, the Sphinx, and other antiquities. Is this true? If so, what does that mean for artists who have already used images of the pyramids in their work? - A.F.

A. Late last year, news media around the world reported that Zahi Hawass, the head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, had proposed such a law. Hawass said that it would raise money that could be used to preserve the monuments.

But as he described the law, it would apply to "exact copies" of the pyramids or other antiquities, not to artists' interpretations of them.

Hawass was quoted as saying that the law "does not forbid local or international artists from profiting from drawings and other reproductions of pharaonic and Egyptian monuments from all eras - as long as they don't make exact copies. Artists have the right to be inspired by everything that surrounds them, including monuments."

For example, Hawass said that the pyramid-shaped Luxor hotel in Las Vegas would not fall under the law, because the interior does not duplicate that of an Egyptian pyramid. But the Luxor's King Tut exhibit probably would.

But so far all of this is just talk. Egypt's parliament would have to pass the law for it to take effect, and that action has not been reported. Even if Egypt passes the law, it is unclear whether it would be enforceable, since it would be very different from any other standing copyright laws in place around the world.

The Las Vegas Sun newspaper quoted a copyright lawyer, Mark Tratos, as saying: "It's an interesting proposition - to retroactively create an intellectual property right in history. It's novel for a government to say that they're not going to focus upon rewarding creativity now, but are going to take advantage of the creativity of centuries and millennium past. It really is unprecedented for anyone to be able to say that they own something like this."

Conference: Informatique et Egyptologie

http://www.newton.cam.ac.uk/egypt/ie2008/index.html

Egytologist Nigel Strudwick (ncs3@cam.ac.uk) has announced that a date has been set for the next meeting of the IAE Computer Group (Informatique et Egyptologie, I&E), which last met in Oxford in 2006. The meeting will take place in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria, on 8-11 July 2008, with the sessions on 9-10 July. For any queries about the programme, papers etc, please contact Nigel Strudwick at the above address.

Giant Statue of Ancient Egypt Queen Found

National Geographic

Archaeologists have uncovered a pristinely preserved statue of a powerful Egyptian queen at the sprawling mortuary temple of Amenhotep III on Luxor's West Bank.

A joint European-Egyptian team found the 12-foot-tall (3.6-meter-tall) quartzite figure attached to the broken-off leg of a much larger colossus of Amenhotep III, who ruled from about 1390 to 1350 B.C.

Experts say the newfound statue is of Queen Tiye—Amenhotep III's favorite wife and the most influential woman of his 38-year reign—bolstering theories that female royalty were gaining in prominence and influence during the time period.

The temple complex, which measures 2,300 feet (700 meters) in length, is ancient Egypt's largest. Its most famous attractions are the great Colossi of Memnon—twin 59-foot (21-meter) statues of Amenhotep III that flank the temple's entrance.

But the site was devastated by massive earthquakes in pharonic times and in the first century A.D., so the discovery of an undamaged statue there is extremely rare, experts said.

"The surprise was that she was not crushed," said Hourig Sourouzian, who led the excavation and has been digging at the site since 2000. "The leg [of the larger colossus] was very badly damaged, so the surprise was that the queen lying behind it was intact—she is very beautiful."

Cleopatra's death by snake a myth?

Discovery Channel

Popular lore holds that in Cleopatra's last moments, the distraught queen -- who had just lost her kingdom and learned of her lover's demise -- smuggled a poisonous snake into her locked chamber and died, along with two ladies-in-waiting, of a self-inflicted snake bite.

Such a scenario is next to impossible, according to Egyptologist Joyce Tyldesley, who shatters the "snakebite suicide" myth in her new book, Cleopatra: Last Queen of Egypt, just published in Europe and slated for an upcoming U.S. release.

"It seems to me that the snake theory is just too difficult to sustain, as it leaves too many loopholes," Tyldesley, a lecturer at the University of Manchester in England and museum fellow, told Discovery News.

See the above page for the full story.

Egyptian figurine found at local auction

Yorkshire Post

A bronze Egyptian figure dating back to 600BC has been found in a box of tourist souvenirs at a North Yorkshire auction house.

Antiques dealer Martin Roberts discovered the seven-inch figure of the Egyptian god Osiris while viewing lots at Thompson's Auctioneers in Killinghall, near Harrogate. He snapped up the item for £70, but hopes it will sell for 30 times that sum at another auction next month.

It would be the second big windfall in 12 months for Mr Roberts, who paid £50 for another Egyptian figure last year and sold it for £30,000.

Remarkably, that piece, a four-inch royal shabti torso dating back to 1386BC, was also bought at Thompson's.

Exhibition: Napoleon on the Nile

Art Daily

The Snug Harbor Cultural Center presents the exhibit Napoleon on the Nile: Soldiers, Artists, and the Rediscovery of Egypt through June 15. This spring the Museum will focus on the Description de l’Egypte, the seminal multi-volume work that remains the single most important European scholarly study of ancient and modern Egypt. Initiated under the patronage of the young General Napoleon Bonaparte as he invaded Egypt in 1798, and completed in 1829 during the reign of King Charles X, the Description was among the most significant, and certainly the most tangible, consequences of the French military’s occupation of Egypt (1798-1801). Not only did it form the foundation for the modern discipline of Egyptology, but its large and magnificent plate illustrations influenced the course of "Egyptomania" and “Orientalism” in western fine and decorative arts for two centuries. These plates, along with letters, documents, medals, decorative artworks, maps, and prints, will be selected by Dahesh Associate Curator Lisa Small from the Bob Brier Collection. The majority of paintings in the exhibition were drawn from the Dahesh Museum of Art’s permanent collection of Orientalist works. The Museum’s Trustees and staff gratefully acknowledge our colleague Professor Bob Brier (C. W. Post Campus of Long Island University), the renowned Egyptologist and host of the TLC Series, The Great Egyptians, for his advice and enthusiastic encouragement. The Museum is also indebted to Princeton University Museum of Art, the Fordham Library and to generous private collectors, including The David Markham Collection, for their loans to the exhibition.

The exhibition tells the story of Napoleon’s ill-fated bid to add Egypt to the growing French empire, and how the British, who had their own colonial interests in the region to protect, ultimately thwarted this plan. The major battles and characters will be depicted in various prints and commemorative medals representing both the British and French perspectives. Fascinating archival letters, documents, and official bulletins, signed by Napoleon and some of his most important generals, will reveal both the grand sweep of the military endeavor as well as intriguing glimpses of the daily life and activities of the soldiers. Of particular interest are documents—countersigned by Napoleon—relating to the interaction between local Arab officials and the French occupying forces.

See the above page for the full story.

JSesh tutorial now available

JSesh

We explain here our to combine the use of JSesh and of a drawing software like Inkscape or Adobe Illustrator to produce complex illustrations, mixing hieroglyphs and drawings.

This can be useful for the users who want to publish a hieroglyphic transcription of a hieratic document, or a "standardized" rendering of a monument.

Please note that Inkscape is free and runs on all platforms (Mac os X, Windows, Linux).

Toutankhamon Magazine #38 (April/May 2008)

Toutankhamon Magazine

- Une tombe inviolée à Abousir
- Cléopâtre
- La Haute Égypte inconnue
- Le musée de l'Ermitage
- Les forteresses du desert

Exhibition: Egypt's antiquities move from Hokkaido to Kumamoto

Egypt State Information Service

Egypt's antiquities exhibition in Japan will move from Hokkaido Museum of Art to Kumamoto Museum of Art, Culture Minister Farouk Hosni said Saturday 29/3/2008.

The Egyptian antiquities will be showcased in Kumamoto exhibition, which will be inaugurated on April, 10 and until June, 8.

This is the ninth tour of Egyptian antiquities to take place, Hosni said in statements, noting that the exhibition was the first of its kind in Japan in 15 years.

Such exhibitions are held to bring in the money needed to implement rehabilitation projects to preserve Egyptian cultural heritage, the minister said.

Some 327 artifacts dating back to various historical eras will be showcased in the exhibition.

Such artifacts were found by a Japanese Wasida University exploration mission.