Egyptology News 25th - 30th April 2013

Copied from @egyptologynews. Sorry that this is a bit late - I've been away from home.

Palm trees at Abu Simbel

Fieldwork

Gebel el Silsila Survey Project. The first 2 weeks of the new season. http://gebelelsilsilaepigraphicsurveyproject.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/first-two-weeks.html …

In Spanish. Czech team find valuable sculptures of Amun and Mut in Sudan, 2000 years old. With photos. Radio Praga http://bit.ly/11LhcK6

A submerged 1200 year old Egyptian city beneath the Mediterranean is starting to reveal its story. The Telegraph http://bit.ly/14x8rrq

Heracleion Photos: Lost Egyptian city revealed after 1200 years under the sea.Huffington Post http://huff.to/13H41t  

Discovery of 200 AD industrial artisan complex that produced tableware, bronzes, housed workers, in Sinai. ANSAmed http://bit.ly/17XHUQc


Research

Via @eloquentpeasant. Baking and bakeries at Old Kingdom Giza - feeding the pyramid workers. AERAweb http://bit.ly/m5iNBM

Scans of Perth’s “cat mummy” have revealed what appears to be a 90-year-old scam. thewest http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/wa/16903404/great-perth-mummy-swindle/ …

3D map raises Heracleion from the deep: Scientists recreate trading town submerged for 1200 years. Daily Mail http://bit.ly/18eif6b

Joyce Filer's "Notes on Health Problems in Ancient Egypt and Nubia: part 2" on her blog http://bit.ly/12XxMHX 

Heritage Management and Looting

On Monday archaeols held a protest in Dahshur re illegal encroachment of local cemetery on heritage. Daily News Egypt http://bit.ly/ZxVtFV 

Archaeologists fear for pyramid sites as illegal cemetery building gathers pace in wake of Arab spring. The Guardian http://bit.ly/10JO5Ks

More Egyptian archaeology harmed. Abu Sir Al Malaq on the border between Fayoum and Bani Sawif. Egyptian Chronicles http://bit.ly/15PVKYO

Unauthorised amateur archaeologists cause cracks in six buildings in Alexandria; one suspect arrested. Ahram Online http://bit.ly/17r8HpV

An article looking at the rumoured deterioration of the Bent Pyramid and plans for restoration. Ahram Online http://bit.ly/183PxYk

After two years of neglect, the world famous Giza Plateau is spruced up and cleared of garbage. Ahram Online http://bit.ly/ZeSgYq

Qatar offers $135 million for restoration of historic sites in Sudan. Sudan Tribune http://bit.ly/1696elF

Fight to preserve Egypt’s ancient Jewish sites. The Art Newspaper http://bit.ly/15LIYdR

Who Rules the Street in Cairo? The Residents Who Build It. Insights into Cairo Illegal building projects. NY Times http://nyti.ms/Y6KGl8


Books 

The Old Kingdom Town at Buhen - an appeal for funding. EES http://ees.ac.uk/news/news/216.html …

New book: Céramique et occupation égyptienne en Canaan au 13e siècle av. J.C. By Katia Charbit Nataf. BAR http://bit.ly/16aVH9B

Conferences

The Coptic Orthodox Church in action. Sixth International Symposium of Christianity and Monasticism. Al Ahram Weekly http://bit.ly/186wudh

Museums and exhibitions

Mummy hnty-k to go on display at McManus Museum in Dundee, Scotland. http://bit.ly/11TnsiX 

What is museum learning? Museums + Heritage http://bit.ly/10da7xQ  Via @gem_heritage

British Museum director to advise on Burrell Collection (Scotland) revamp. BBC http://bbc.in/ZRySk6
Exhibition: Nesperennub is still on his travels and is now opening in Singapore. ST http://bit.ly/11J4Bav

British Museum's £135m extension is on time and on budget, say curators. http://bit.ly/16e7X9i . Via @Amesemi 

An Egyptian legend in Prague. Facsimiles of all the treasures of King Tutankhamun's tomb are on display. http://bit.ly/Y4sxEz


Smuggling

Cairo airport authorities thwart attempt to smuggle 145 coins dating from Graeco-Roman and Ottoman eras. Ahram Online http://bit.ly/13v8Mq8

Free online

In Spanish. Interview with Egyptologist and excavator Francisco Martín Valentín. Ushebtis http://bit.ly/11PxjFh

Videos of Sai Island, Sudan. Medieval Sai Project https://medievalsaiproject.wordpress.com/2013/04/27/videos-from-sai/ …

On BBC iPlayer for 7days for those with access: The Man Who Discovered Egypt. About archaeo William Flinders Petrie. http://bbc.in/15UVhob

Free online: CENiM – Les Cahiers Égypte Nilotique et Méditérranéenne. ENiM 6, 2013 (4 articles in French) http://bit.ly/Y94R1Q

Who were the Mamluks? History Today http://bit.ly/124tJuj  

Download the PDF for Armenian Egyptology Centre Newsletter 27 (27th April 2012).http://www.academia.edu/3413672/AEC_Egyptology_Newsletter_27_27th_April_2012_ …

 

Journals and Magazine  

Nouveau numéro d'Égypte Afrique & Orient (N°69), consacré aux femmes égyptologues au XIXe siècle. Centre d'égyptol.​ http://bit.ly/12IElOw


Travel and Tourism


Jane Akshar explains the new rules for the operation of hot air balloons in Luxor on her Luxor News Blog http://bit.ly/ZU315B 


Obituary

Chicago House Director Ray Johnson's obituary of Helen Jacquet-Gordon. Oriental Institute http://bit.ly/Ybr13m 


Miscellaneous 

Questions that might be asked on your academic job interview http://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2013/04/29/essay-interview-questions-academic-job-searches 

Antiquities Looting and the War in Syria. Cultural Lawyer http://bit.ly/15R8SNa 

Final Issue of Egypt Independent: In Egypt, environmental journalists are endangered species. Egypt Independent http://bit.ly/Yc9UAV 

Richard Cavendish remembers King Farouk's succession to the Egyptian throne on April 28th 1936. History Today http://bit.ly/Y5VqQP
 
 

Egyptology News 22nd - 24th April 2013

Copied from @egyptologynews  

Abu Simbel

Fieldwork

A New discovery in North Sinai including imported amphorae from Rhodes Island. Luxor Times http://bit.ly/ZkWhxZ

The South Tombs Cemetery excavations at Amarna, 2013: the final season! The latest from Barry Kemp + Anna Stevens http://bit.ly/17fo3gU 

Barbara O'Neill's interview with Dr Maria Nilsson (Gebel Silsila Epigraphic Survey Project) is now on Egyptological: http://bit.ly/15GEepB

Interview in Spanish with Alejandro Jiménez, Director of investigations into tombs at Qubbet el-Hawa, Aswan. Ushebtis http://bit.ly/10zN1sz 


Research

Old Kingdom leather fragments found in Cairo Museum reveal how ancient Egyptians built their chariots. Ahram Online http://bit.ly/ZIJCkH 
[For those interested in this topic there was a really good article in Nature by Jo Marchant (November 2011) about New Kingdom leather pieces and what they revealed about chariots, again from pieces found in the Cairo Museum. Summary at http://www.nature.com/news/ancient-egyptian-chariot-trappings-rediscovered-1.9388]

Giza Secret Revealed: How 10,000 Pyramid Builders Got Fed. Live Science http://bit.ly/11ARDtS

Greek, Greek / Demotic and Demotic Mummy Labels: A Survey Version 1.0 March 2013. K.A. Worp. What's New in Papyrology http://bit.ly/12IgJcW 

Conferences

Summary of Egyptian origins portion of “Dialogue of Civilizations” conference held in Guatemala. National Geographic http://bit.ly/17Ri8QB

Museums and exhibitions

Free PDF press kit about the Egypt and Sudan galleries at the Ashmolean Museum website with lots of info and photos. http://bit.ly/XQMI8U  

Archaeology: Greek-Roman museum to reopen in Alexandria. ANSAmed http://bit.ly/Zm7UFD 

New website address for the Friends of the Petrie Museum: http://www.friendsofpetrie.org.uk 

La momia del Museu Darder vuelve a Banyoles 10 años después. Exposición itinerante 'Proyecto Monthemhat' Vanguardia http://bit.ly/15oGuS7 

Egyptomania

More re the recently re-opened 1920s Egypt-influenced Louxor cinema in Paris: "Luxor-on Seine." The Economist. http://econ.st/ZgLOnf 

Review of Cathie Bryan's @PetrieMuseEgypt tour of Egyptianized + Masonic tombs at Kensal Green Cemetery. Petrie Mus. http://bit.ly/ZIkb5Z 



New websites and apps

New archaeology apps may make you an armchair Indiana Jones. Fox News http://fxn.ws/Zlqo9p 

The South Tombs Cemetery excavations at Amarna, 2013: the final season!

The latest email news update from Anna Stevens and Barry Kemp

From the South Tombs Cemetery photo album on
 the Amarna Project's Facebook page
(see link below)

The final season of excavations at the South Tombs Cemetery is now underway at Amarna, and with just a couple of weeks left on site we are working hard to try to reach our project target of 400 skeletons. 21 to go!

We are continuing work at the Upper Site, under the direction of Dr Mary Shepperson, where the odd trend for multiple burials noted in previous seasons continues. Do these graves simply represent family tombs, or was this part of the cemetery in use at a time when the population was exposed to a particularly harsh outbreak of disease that killed many and resulted in Œ"mass graves"? The physical anthropology team, who will recommence their study of the human remains in May, will no doubt be interested to examine these new burials with these issues in mind.

We've also opened a new part of the site, around half way along the wadi in which the cemetery lies, which is densely packed with very regularly spaced graves, most occupied by single skeletons. Yet, as always, the site offers something unexpected: the burial of an adult not in the extended position as is standard, but in the contracted (fetal) position. This is only the second burial of this kind in eight seasons of excavations, and we are wondering if this individual was perhaps a foreigner living at Amarna.

Back at the dig house, the conservation team led by Julie Dawson is recommencing their crucial project to consolidate the pieces of decorated wooden coffin recovered from the cemetery over recent years, which are so important for the study of funerary religion in Akhenaten¹s reign.

And the excavations continue to produce other finds that convey something of the character of the people of Amarna, including two pairs of bronze tweezers in the grave of an adult female, and an entire necklace formed of blue faience fish-shaped pendants and hundreds of little ring beads.

These pieces can be viewed in the online photo album at the link below, which is updated regularly and includes images of the excavations:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.559090944111844.1073741825.178713395482936&type=3

And yesterday we were joined by the BBC, who are working on a new program entitled "Treasures of Ancient Egypt", so some footage of the cemetery excavations might also make it to the television screen soon!

The excavations this year are funded by a British Academy Small Research Grant, and by the Amarna Trust, and the conservation of the coffins is paid for by grants from the Thriplow and Aurelius Trusts.

For anyone interested in learning more about the cemetery excavations, you might also like to read our recently published research article in the journal Antiquity (subscription required):

http://antiquity.ac.uk/ant/087/ant0870064.htm

Thanks again for your interest in and support of our work.

19 April 2013

Anna Stevens/Barry Kemp

Egyptology News 19th-22nd April 2013

Copied from @egyptologynews.  Today's photo of the fresco from the Ashmolean Museum, which shows two Amarna princesses, is posted to accompany Campbell Price's news that a small fragment of the wall from which the princess scene is just a part, has been found in Manchester Museum's stores.  It's not a great photo (click on it to see a larger version or go to the Ashmolean Museum website to see a much better photo http://bit.ly/XQMgYj) but when looking at the original fresco you can make out that the princesses are sitting at the foot of a much larger figure.  See the link to Campbell Price's post below, which included a photograph of the fragment.

Museums and exhibitions

A piece of famous Amarna Princess painting (Ashmolean Mus) found by Manchester Museum curator in their stores http://bit.ly/17Mb2gb 

More re "Echoes of Egypt": Abiding influence of ancient Egypt on world’s cultures explored at the Yale Peabody Museum.http://bit.ly/Z88GpL 

Review of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, southwest England. Seshat's Journal http://bit.ly/11YDV5k

Fieldwork

Nevine el-Aref does her usual good work summarizing what's known about Khufu's 4th Dynasty Red Sea port. Ahram Weekly http://bit.ly/17HRNBF 

Photographs (no new details) to accompany the story on Khufu's Red Sea port. Daily Mail http://bit.ly/14sWjYC

Research

 Early descriptions of the so-called Cathedral of Sai. Medieval Sai Project http://bit.ly/11Wd8Xe 

This story keeps resurfacing. From Egyptian Blue to Infrared. Archaeology magazine http://bit.ly/14Hr5Nw

Books 

Via Égypte-actualités ‏@mchartier New book: Pierre Tallet. 12 Reines d’Egypte qui ont changé l’Histoire. Mai 2013. Editions Pygmalion Groupe Flammarion http://bit.ly/15tGbG1  

Heritage Management 

Obituary: Carmen Weinstein, driving force behind the restoration of monuments of Egyptian Jewish history. NY Times http://nyti.ms/101viKr 

Cairo's Mosque of Ibn Tulun has lost much of its splendour with wastewater and garbage lining its walls. Ahram Online http://bit.ly/15wlysk

Free online 

Via @ISAWLibrary Open Access: Armenian Egyptology Centre Newsletter. Download issues 1 to 24 in PDF format from http://yerevan.academia.edu/AshkhenZakharyan/Papers …

A number of PDFs on the subject of Egyptian rock art by Fred Hardtke are available for download on Academia. edu: http://mq.academia.edu/FredHardtke

Travel

Respite in the desert. Bahareya Oasis is more than what first meets the eye. Ahram Weekly http://bit.ly/WYv6K9

Alexandria, Egypt's 'Pearl of the Mediterranean.' Huffington Post http://huff.to/ZyL4ZW 

Edition 8 of Egyptological

www.egyptological.com



18th April 2013

Table of Contents:
The Significance of the Crossed Arms Pose in the New Kingdom – Part 1.  By Dylan Bickerstaffe

Labib Habachi A Life to Know…. Part 1. By Garry Beuk

Replicating the tomb of Tutankhamun. Conservation and sustainable tourism in the Valley of the Kings. By Andrea Byrnes

An Exploration of the term ‘inw’ from the Early Dynastic Period to the New Kingdom. By Barbara O’Neill

Marianne Brocklehurst and the West Park Museum, Macclesfield – Part 1. By Andrea Byrnes

Revisiting Heqanakht. By Barbara O’Neill

Merneith – The First Queen of Egypt? By Kate Phizackerley

In Brief:
The goddess Neith in the Early Dynastic period

Book Reviews:
Traveling Through the Deserts of Egypt
Dawn of Egyptian Art

Egyptology News 17th-18th April 2013

Copied from Twitter @egyptologynews. Have a good weekend everyone!

Amun in the form of a Ram, Kawa, Nubia.
c.680BC.  1931.553. Ashmolean Museum

Fieldwork

The British Museum website has new pages re the BM and Sudan Archaeological Research Society excavations at Kawa http://bit.ly/ZAGZYd 

Free online

RT historyancient Free online: Revisiting the harem conspiracy and death of Ramesses III. British Medical Journal http://ow.ly/k9FwH 

Edition 8 of Egyptological's Magazine is now up at http://www.egyptological.com . The contents list is on the home page. Sorry it took so long :-)

Books 

Audio: Peter Lacovara talking about his book "Ancient Nubia: African Kingdoms on the Nile" (AUC 2012). 3 mins. Emory http://bit.ly/YwZuq9

Book review: T. M. Hickey, Wine, Wealth, and the State in Late Antique Egypt. University of Michigan Press 2012. BMCR http://bit.ly/15owQzd

Conferences

American Research Centre in Egypt Annual Conference 2013, 19th-21st April. Em Hotep bit.ly/11k7Y67

Museums and exhibitions

Curating Ancient Egypt at the Manchester Museum. Ancient Egypt in Vancouver http://bit.ly/175da1f   

Exhibition. El Louvre organiza la primera muestra mundial sobre el dibujo en el antiguo Egipto 19/04-22/07. Ushebtis http://bit.ly/12n0xNW  

Via Gwyn Ashworth-Pratt. Cairo to Constantinople: Early Photos of the Middle East at the Queen's Gallery. Culture24 http://bit.ly/ZaANyT 

‘Echoes of Egypt’ reveals ancient culture’s impact across the millennia. Yale News http://bit.ly/15iunpX 

Heritage Management 

Egypt's Jewish community to refuse Israeli financial help for renovation of Egypt's ancient Jewish synagogues. Ahram http://bit.ly/110wetF

Research

More re scan of Amunet. "Egyptian Mummy from OHS Collection Undergoes CT Scan." Wall Street Journal http://on.wsj.com/ZtrCxY

Egyptomania 

Egyptianized 1920s cinema reopens in Paris (with pics) IHT http://nyti.ms/XRizZe . Also a great video (in Spanish) at http://on-msn.com/ZBw3Th 

Egyptology News 15th and 16th April

Copied from Twitter @egyptologynews.   

I've tried a new layout to make navigating the stream of links more manageable. 

Painted ceiling, Coptic Monastery of St Simeon, Aswan
(7th Century AD)

Fieldwork

Gebel el Silsila Survey Project: Start of a new season: http://gebelelsilsilaepigraphicsurveyproject.blogspot.com/2013/04/start-of-new-season.html … 

Ian Shaw's email re the postponement of the 2013 season of the Gurob Harem Palace Project posted on Egyptology News blog at http://bit.ly/111Pto6

Vast Kushite royal palace (5000 sq m) found on Nile betwn 3rd & 4th cataracts in Sonijat, Tergis, Sudan. Archaiologia http://bit.ly/YAL3oB

Looting and the black market

Young Egyptians start “Stop the heritage drain” campaign to prevent loss of Egypt's heritage. Daily News Egypt http://bit.ly/17yTxQn

Egyptian authorities seized 5 AE coffins, 63 statues and c.5000 coins in Beni Suef governorate. Xinhuanet via MENA http://bit.ly/130XY6M 

Museums

Hixenbaugh Ancient Art Presents Recently Acquired Royal Ushabti of the Viceroy of Kush, Hori. With photo. SFGate http://bit.ly/Zxo1e1 

Egypt's Minister of Antiquities, Mohamed Ibrahim, inaugurated Assiut's first national museum. allafrica .com http://bit.ly/10VevDG

HMNS Ancient Egypt Hall has partnered with multiple museums to create "permanently changing" display. culturemap http://bit.ly/ZUqOOq 

Will a museum studies degree help you get a job in a museum? UCL Museums and Collections http://bit.ly/14s8zJ0 

Research

Mummy of an AE woman, believed to be at least 2,500 years old, has been scanned in Ohio. Columbus Dispatch http://bit.ly/128uGk2 

More re Nature article: Mummy genetics study may enable widespread genome mapping of Ancient Egyptians. Huff Post http://huff.to/17BTlzI

What links the evolution of language to the collection of baboon figurines at the Petrie Museum of Egyptology? UCL http://bit.ly/XOFjZP 

The digital Gurob Ship-Cart Model, an open access digital supplement to Shelley Wachsmann's book. vizin .org http://bit.ly/15dwCuE 

Biblical Blame Shift - Is the Egyptologist Jan Assmann Fueling Anti-Semitism? Chronicle of Higher Education http://bit.ly/15ab3e5

Essay on Margaret Benson, first woman to gain right to excavate in Egypt, in 1895: http://www.williamhpeck.org/margaret_benson 

Tourism

Egypt lifts ban on Luxor ballooning, although company that owned crashed balloon still grounded. IOL News http://bit.ly/ZukQVt  

Strike in front of the Karnak temple in Luxor has ended after officers heard the strikers' demands. Daily News Egypt http://bit.ly/159NphX