Penn Museum to share cultural treasures via internet

Reuters

Thanks to Rick Menges for kindly sendly me a link to his album of photographs from the Penn Museum collection at webshots.com. It's worth visiting!

The University of Pennsylvania's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, a national and world leader in its field since its founding in 1887, will create in September a "digital spine" in which all of its approximately 1 million objects will be catalogued on the internet.

The idea, said the museum's new director Richard Hodges, is to open up its collection of artifacts to scholars, researchers, and the general public around the world who have been unable to access it either because they are not in Philadelphia or because 95 percent of the objects are in storage.

The creation of an internet catalogue will provide unprecedented access to objects that represent the cultural heritage of civilizations that have been the source for the museum's many archaeological expeditions to remote parts of the world during the last 121 years.

Among the artifacts to be digitized will be the treasures from the royal tombs of Ur in southern Iraq, a famous collection from the Sumerian civilization of around 2500 BC, which was discovered in a joint expedition by Penn Museum and the British archaeologist C. Leonard Woolley in the late 1920s.

The Ur collection, which toured the U.S. in the 1990s, includes a bull-headed lyre, one of the oldest musical instruments in the world, an elaborate headdress, and jewelry of gold, lapis-luzuli, and carnelian.

Other objects from the Ur excavation are held in Baghdad, and at the British Museum, which is working with the Penn museum to create one virtual collection.

The new digital catalogue will also include objects from the museum's excavation of a pre-Columbian cemetery in Panama in the 1940s. That collection, shown to the public in the Rivers of Gold exhibition in 2007, contains 120 gold artifacts including plaques, nose ornaments, pendants and beads, as well as painted ceramics and objects made of bone, ivory and semi-precious stones.

See the Reuters link above for more information.

Egypt: Gift of the Nile at Surrey Museum

surreyleader.com

The mysteries of the pharaohs, pyramids and mummies have inspired and amazed people for centuries. But what about the common Egyptian citizens who lived during the reign of pharaohs like Tutankhamen, the boy king, or Hetshepsut, the famous “female” pharaoh?

Surrey Museum’s newest exhibit, Egypt: Gift of the Nile, explores Egyptian civilization through the lives of everyday people, including their personal adornment, make-up and perfume, food, buildings, family life, education, religion, funerary practices and beliefs in the afterlife.

At the exhibit, tiny “tuts” and their parents can see a sarcophagus, complete with decorative artwork and pictographs depicting the life of the deceased. Visitors can try their hand at writing their name in hieroglyphics or practise the skills of an archaeologist who pieces together the past to create a story about ancient times.

Images of modern Egypt take you on a journey from the pyramids, up the Nile River to temples such as Philae, Karnak, Sobek and into the Valley of the Kings. The beauty and the backdrop of the desert showcase a special land and people who have shared their secrets and culture for centuries.

Children can colour papyrus-like pictures in the Kids Corner and explore maps of the land and treasures of ancient Egypt.

Egypt: Gift of the Nile, on loan from the Royal Ontario Museum, is on display until Sept. 6.

See the above link for location, hours and ticket information.

Blog Update

I have to go up to Wales unexpectedly today, so I won't be around until early next week. Sorry! I'll backdate when I get back.

Before I go I just want to say that I am having trouble with email. Some older emails are sitting in my "to do" folder in my Inbox - those are at least a week old and require lengthy replies which I haven't had time to get around to. But others simply haven't reached me (people have been phoning me to ask why I haven't replied). If I haven't replied over the last several days then I haven't received your message. I have no idea why and am hoping that my ISP will sort itself out whilst I'm away. For the older emails in my "to do" folder I'll put aside a day for them when I get back.

Sorry about all this but I can't say how busy I've been.

Bloomsbury Summer School starts next week and I will be heavily involved in the running of it, so you will have to bear with me over the next month. Things are going to be somewhat chaotic.

A note on desert travel. My Canon 40D came back from repair at Canon yesterday after its traumatic trip to Egypt in March - where I dropped it, broke the lens attached to it (which I repaired after a fashion with parcel tape) and then managed to get its workings completely stuffed with sand. Never, ever expose your camera to sand if you can help it. The Canon bill for cleaning out the sand alone came to more than some mid-range digital cameras cost. Never mind a camera case - a zip-up plastic bag is a much better idea. I may do a feature on the practicalities of desert travel when I get back. It's just that once I start writing on the subject I may not be able to stop!

All the best
Andie

UNESCO thanked Egypt for its “great” efforts to develop Luxor

Luxor News (Jane Akshar)

from Dr Samir Farag press office: UNESCO sent thanks to the Egyptian government for its efforts to develop the city of Luxor which consider one of the most important world heritage sites and what is being implemented on its territory from development projects designed to be converted into the biggest open museum in the world as a reopening by al-Kabash and the development of Luxor Temple Square and the Temple of Karnak Square and transfer Population of Qurnah village on the west bank to preserve the ancient tombs.

This came at the conclusion of the annual meeting of the World Heritage city on Quebec city in Canada which attended by more than 1200 participants from among the Ministers of Culture and Heritage and Tourism and the ambassadors of the world’s UNESCO addition to the Antiquities and heritage experts and advisers, diplomats and jurists from different world countries.

See the above page for the full account.

Pharaoh as Wizard in Ancient Egypt

Tendencias21

Thanks hugely to Ben Morales-Correa for continuing to prop up this blog with his hard work. He has taken the time out to translate the Spanish article which I posted about yesterday - an extract from the book The Wizards of Ancient Egypt. Madrid, 2002, by Francisco J. Martin Valentine. Here is Ben's translation:

Magicians in Egypt were considered 'state officials'. They were called upon to exercise magic as priests, replacing the pharaoh himself, the magician par excellence throughout Egypt because he possessed the Two Crowns, the most powerful magical instruments. These practitioners of magic, so to speak, exercised their functions within a formal framework, as part of the system of order and organization of the cosmos and the Egyptian world, and belonged to a profession formed in the temples inside the Houses of Life.

According to Egyptian thought, magic was the power to hold 'Heka', or magical power.

Heka' was an attribute of the gods and, by extension, the king, and had the fundamental purpose of obtaining the knowledge of the nature of the universe and the sensorial world, to control them for the sake of humanity and creation.

Thus, the first and most important purpose of magic was to provide human collaboration to facilitate compliance with the divine plan, and its principal actor was the king.

The king, imbued on his own with Heka, had among his main obligations the maintenance of the creation of the first day, as a successor of the gods on earth, his magical power was mainly aimed at guaranteeing that the daily cycle of life in the land of Egypt was constantly assured by holding rituals in temples and by the force of his own power.

The king was officiant par excellence. He was the 'Lord of the Rites' and'

Lord of the Crowns'. These were the two specially magical attributes that reflected in the titularities or names of kings.

The condition of 'Lord of the Rites' was equivalent to owning and holding all magical proceedings. He had all the knowledge necessary to sustain life; night and day, the sun, stars, moon and planets.

He had the power to grow the Nile in its time. The pharaoh had knowledge of the magical proceedings to neutralize the 'Nine Arches', the nine nations that were traditional enemies of Egypt.

As' Lord of the Rites', the king ordered the heaven and earth, because he had been initiated and knew what was beyond the earthly life. The king controlled by magic the winds from the south and the north winds. They were his wet nurses. Breathing the north wind brought life-giving abundance.

He had the means to hold the four celestial winds that could not oppose his will. He had the virtue to fight the storms of heaven. He was able to disperse the clouds laden with rain and, according to the Pyramid Texts, mounted on a cloud he could reach the divine light.

With his power, the king was able to defeat the unbridled elements and become a cosmic traveler, in the hereafter.

All that was said was true because he had been conceived and put into the world begat by the primordial energy to govern all kingdoms. The texts follow as well: Look, O king! that you may govern the hills of Horus. May you govern the hills of Seth. May you govern the hills of Osiris!

This shows that the pharaoh of Egypt was the center of creative thinking for the world, was the means through which the universe was made visible and sensible in the eyes of the rest of the mortals.

Engendered by the earth and sky, Pharaoh was heir to the throne of the god Gueb, and the son of all divine powers enabling him to be, in turn, the sustaining father of all creation dependent on him.

As' Lord of the Crowns', the Red Crown and the White Crown, he was the owner of his magical power. They were his protectors. The king could order the Red Crown, terrible fire serpent, to hail him as pharaoh, as the crown itself was acclaimed.

The two crowns were mothers of the king; the Red Crown Cross nurtured him; the White Crown gave him possession of the land. When the king placed the White Crown on his head, it was like the very head of Ra. When he wore the Red Crown, the doors of the bright regions opened for him, for he had become the owner of Ureaus whose name is ' That Who is Great in Magic '.

This terrible fire serpent gave the king his magical powers. Nobody else could possess it because only he knew the magic words that appeased it.

With his possession the pharaoh could make everyone fear him as much as the crown itself was feared; produce terror, be acclaimed and loved as the crown was. It was the Crown that delivered the crook and the flail, Heka and Nehaha to the pharaoh, and the magical power and eternity to govern all living beings and all Aj, or luminous beings.

The White Crown, the mother goddess of Nejen, was also attributed similar powers. She was the Great protector of Horus, in the midst of the two Eneads. For her, the pharaoh was Ra himself.

Pharaoh appeared in glory before the gods bearing the divine light, and his radiant appearance under the Two Crowns, made him, as Ra Kheper, Lord of Upper and Lower Egypt. Fears arose in all hearts when the king, the magician par excellence, was seen in all his power and all glory.

From the book The Wizards of Ancient Egypt. Madrid, 2002
Author: Francisco J. Martin Valentine

Travel: Alexandria - following in the steps of Cleopatra

The Telegraph - UK (Diana Preston)

A bronze coin in the Alexandria Museum depicts Cleopatra in masterful profile. The most important woman in ancient history, she took the two greatest Romans of her day – Julius Caesar and Mark Antony – as lovers.

Had the ancient world had soap operas, writers could have found all the material they needed in the Egyptian queen's story and her capital, Alexandria. Ambition, assassination, seduction, betrayal, suicide and excess – Alexandria and Cleopatra had them all.

Although the city she knew has mostly vanished, enough remains to conjure her turbulent world. Founded near a fishing village on the Mediterranean by Alexander the Great, Alexandria was by Cleopatra's time a populous, clamorous, glamorous city. Even then, it attracted visitors eager to inspect its boulevards, sphinxes and brilliantly decorated temples.

Aida in Beijing

China Economic Net

A slow news day again. So this is just a piece which contains some history to Verdi's opera Aida, which was commissioned by the Egyptian Khedive to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal:

As part of the celebrations of the opening of the Suez Canal in November 1869, the Khedive of Egypt built a new opera house in Cairo and approached Verdi about the composition of an inaugural ode. The composer declined somewhat haughtily, saying he was "not accustomed to compose occasional pieces".

Six months later, however, Verdi finally consented to write an opera specifically for Cairo, on an Egyptian theme. Camille Du Locle, a close friend since the days they had collaborated on Don Carlos in Paris, had sent him a scenario based on a synopsis written by Auguste Mariette, a French Egyptologist in the service of the Khedive.

The premiere in Cairo was originally scheduled for January 1871 but the French had not long before declared war on Prussia and the plans were put on hold. The wait was worthy, though, and the premiere was a resounding success.

This four-act tragic working of the famous tale of star-crossed lovers - the triumphant Egyptian captain Radames and the captured Ethiopian slave-girl, Aida - stormed the operatic world and remains one of the best-loved operas of all time.

TT39 - A preliminary presentation

Universidad del Valle de Mexico

It is an exceedingly slow news day so I've thrown this one in for general interest. It is a preliminary presentation by the Mexican team currently working at TT39 as part of their application to be granted permission to work at the site. It provides a fascinating insight into the process. Here's an extract from the introduction:

This document includes all the documentation related to our project, we are requesting a one month season either in November or December 2004 for its implementation. During this month we will be performing a preliminary analysis to identify and establish technical and budget specific requirements.

On December 2002, Mohamed A. The-Bialey, commented that the Puyemre tomb, had sections of murals and paintings in bad conditions; some of them even in the floor, requiring restoration and consolidation. During the first stage of the project, we will be working in the diagnosis of the physical condition of the tomb, to establish a detailed work plan with the restoration activities to be carried out, as well as the technical requirements.

Our team is integrated by professionals in all the necessary areas to implement the restoration and consolidation project successfully. This will allow the Egyptian government to open the tomb to the public. The project deliverables will includes all the documentation necessary that can be used for future publications or studies.

The Mexican Society of Egyptology since the foundation has performed several formal activities and events focused on the study and promotion of the Egyptian Culture in Mexico. Among these activities, we have organized expositions, conferences, seminars, study visits to Egypt, it is the reason why we are interested in developing and implementing this project, a project that will help us expand our capabilities, knowledge and curricula, and achieve the objectives of the Society.

Mexico and Egypt are countries that share the concern and face the challenge to preserve and study their archeological patrimony, a difficult challenge due to the economical situation of our countries. Yet, both countries have been able to develop strong programs and the experience aimed at the protection of our cultures and patrimony, many times against foreign countries. Our common concerns and coincidences, the friendship that we share with your country, and the experience gathered among the different members of our project team are key elements for the success of the project.

A dedicated website for TT39 was mentioned but no sign of it has emerged.

La consideración del Faraón como mago en el Antiguo Egipto

Tendencias21

One for the Spanish speakers amongst you - it is a long article and I haven't got the time to tranlsate it, unfortunately - it is from Los magos del Antiguo Egipto (Madrid, 2002) by Francisco J. Martín Valentín .

Los magos en Egipto tuvieron la consideración de ‘funcionarios de Estado'. Ellos eran los encargados de ejercer la magia como sacerdotes, en sustitución del propio faraón, el mago por excelencia de todo Egipto, pues él poseía las Dos Coronas que eran los más poderosos instrumentos mágicos. Estos profesionales de la magia, por así decirlo, ejercían sus funciones dentro de un marco oficial, como parte del sistema de orden y organización del cosmos y del mundo egipcio, y pertenecían a un estamento profesional formado en las Casas de la Vida de los templos.

PalArch Journal and Newsletter 5, 2 (July 2008)

PalArch

Thanks to Andre Veldmeijer for the news that the July issue of the PalArch journals is online, complete with new format.

For more information on the new format as well as on the most recent developments see the Newsletter at
(http://www.palarch.nl/NewsletterArticles/newsart.htm).
As usual, the Newsletter includes 'Egypt in photographs' and several other reports, such as the one on the 4-year International Congress of Egyptologists at Rhodes, Greece.

Egyptomania: Egypt-themed mural newly uncovered

Whittier Daily News

Beneath 2 inches of sand, red terra cotta tiles and cement, four sheets of asphalt, and tar used to seal a roof after the 1933 earthquake, a note-worthy tile mural was found.

The Campbell Apartments in Long Beach, first completed in 1928, claim record of the first housing to convert to condos on the West Coast, and were reportedly favorite digs of stars such as Lucille Ball, Frank Sinatra and even the Black Dahlia. . . .

Seventy-three years after the roof had been sealed with tar, a leak was found by top-floor residents, and the repair process began.

"They had to keep going down to the bottom," Kaiser, 58, said.

Once the mural was found, the condo association was notified, and word eventually got to Kaiser.

"To us this is like an oil painting," he said, explaining the attempts made to save the remarkable mural - an 8-foot-by-8-foot depiction of a kneeling camel in front of three pyramids.

Signed by artist Cerillo Torres, the tiles were made by D & M Tiles, a defunct Los Angeles firm.

"This is the largest D & M mural ever found, and also, it's artist signed," Casey said.

5,000-year-old cemetery found in S Egypt

Xinhuanet

An Egyptian archeological mission has unearthed a 5,000-year-old royal burial ground in southern Egypt, the official MENA news agency reported on Saturday.

The cemetery was discovered in Umm el-Ga'ab area, south of the historical city of Abydos in Sohag governorate, about 400 km south of Cairo, said the report.

The burial ground, which contains 13 tombs, is believed to be of senior royal employees or people who contributed to the construction of the cemetery.

Middle East Times

Archaeologists have uncovered ancient wooden coffins in what appears to be a royal burial ground near the necropolis of Abydos in southern Egypt, the state-run MENA news agency reported on Saturday.

The agency said that the discovery, made by a team from the Supreme Council of Egyptian Antiquities, could be dated back to the Old Kingdom (3,000 B.C.) -- the golden age of pyramid building in ancient times.

The team "has found what could be a royal complex of 13 tombs of different shapes and sizes that could have belonged to high officials from that period or people who contributed to building these tombs," MENA said.

Egypt State Information Service

5,000 year old cemetery has been unearthed in Sohag governorate, Upper Egypt, officials said on Saturday 5/7/2008.

The cemetery is believed to be of senior royal staffers or persons who participated in the establishment of the royal tombs. It contains 13 tombs.

The cemetery was discovered by a mission of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Umm el-Ga'ab area, south of Sohag's Abydos archaeological city.

The mission also found a group of wooden caskets, containing embalmed remains, as well as a "Senet" game which resembles chess.

This is the second time an ancient Egyptian Senet game is discovered. The first was found in King Tutankhamen's tomb.

Exhibition: Ancient Egyptian priestess woos Pink City

The Statesman (Binoy Valsan)

Castle ruins, sand dunes, camels, multi-coloured turbans and even long handle-bar moustaches ~ these are some of the typical images that flash across the mind of an average tourist bound for the desert state. They never expect to bump into an ancient Egyptian priestess in the heart of the Pink City, which explains their astonishment at the Egyptian gallery of the famous Albert Hall Museum here in the city. Most of them are unaware of the fact that it has on display the mummified remains of a female member of the Tutu clan who was believed to be an invoker of the ancient Egyptian deity Chem before she arrived here to spend her afterlife.

“I never expected to find a mummy here in the middle of Jaipur. People at the tourist desk had given me a long lecture on the castles, forts and the desert but nobody told me anything about her (pointing to the mummy),” said Tim Ryan, a tourist from Ireland.

Guarded by two life size figures of the ancient Egyptian Goddess of Death, Sekhmet and high priest, Imhotep on both sides of her casket, the 2200 year old Egyptian mummy was brought here by the Jaipur royal family in 1887 from Cairo. The casket is decorated with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics and symbols including an invocation to Anubis, the Lord of Necropolis, the Egyptian city of the dead.

Cairo from a café

The Hindu (Savtej Sarna)

A brief experience of Mahfouz country, though the café he used to frequent is no more, having given way to change…

The night throws its canopy gently over the Great Pyramids at Giza, as if it were reluctant to smudge their sharp silhouettes. And as the first stars force their presence into a dusky sky, timelessness takes over the vision: there is an assurance that the pyramids are safe for another night as they have been for centuries. There is nothing more to be done there except to drive back into the heart of bustling Cairo and begin the search for the café where Naguib Mahfouz, the man who has alternatively been called Egypt’s Balzac or Zola or Galsworthy, breakfasted and wrote for four decades.

It is not an easy journey. Even as the hour turns late, the streets are choked with cars, taxis and donkey carts piled high with large melons. We crawl past palaces and minarets, restaurants and shopping malls; clearly, there are no closing hours. And the night seems to be throwing a picnic for the entire city under the gently swaying date palms.

Egypt - The scale of the returns

Safe Corner (David Gill)

David Gill has highlighted the recent Al Ahram article by Nevine El-Aref on the Safe Corner blog, (the online community of the non-profit organization SAFE/Saving Antiquities for Everyone), and has added a very useful pie chart showing the scale of returns of artefacts to Egypt over the last six years, by location.

The Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) has been active in seeking returns of looted antiquities ("Wrapping up smuggled goods", Al-Ahram, 3-9 July 2008). Some 3000 antiquities have been seized in the last six years. Locations include Heathrow Airport and Geneva - but these only account for some 1000 pieces. Where were the other 2000 seized? (See also the relief from Bonhams; two Middle Kingdom ducks at Christie's (New York) and with Rupert Wace.) Were these 3000 antiquities destined for the antiquities market? Had they been purchased? Who was handling them?

These figures suggest that looting in Egypt is far from over. This area will be looked after by a new department at the SCA, the National Committee to Return Smuggled Antiquities (NCRSA).

Etana Core Texts - full listing

Ancient World Bloggers Group (Charles Ellwood Jones)

Thanks very much to Chuck Jones for the above post, which lists every one of the 355 texts available on ETANA as a resource for Near Eastern studies (including Egypt). Here's a quick introduction to the immensely valuable ETANA from the post:

ETANA (Electronic Texts and Ancient Near Eastern Archives) has digitized, and continues to digitize, texts selected as valuable for teaching and research relating to ancient Near Eastern studies. We have selected primarily editions that are outside of copyright, or with the permission of copyright holders. While the new electronic editions we have produced are under copyright, the ETANA project chooses to make these freely available for noncommercial teaching and research purposes.

The ETANA website is fully searchable, so if you are interested in these texts to go and have a look at the site.

Exhibition: Excavating Egypt

Miami New Times (Carlos Suarez de Jesus)

When 27-year-old British adventurer and archaeologist Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie first entered the Nile Valley in 1880, he probably believed the people of Atlantis had built the Great Pyramid of Giza — and perhaps the Bible's mysteries were encoded in the ancient structure.

"Back then everyone still thought it contained occult knowledge," observes Dr. Steve Harvey, an archaeologist who was in town last week to lecture on the man many consider to be the real-life inspiration for Indiana Jones. "The British, the French, the Americans — the early archaeologists were more intent on searching for where Jesus was born or excavating sites like Tanis, which was mentioned in the Bible."

Not your garden-variety tomb raider or occultist crackpot, Petrie became known as the father of Egyptian archaeology. He made great breakthroughs in field excavation and invented a sequence-dating method that enabled reconstruction of history from ancient remains. After half a century unraveling the mysteries of Egypt, he was knighted in 1923 for his discoveries.

See the above page for the full two-page story.

Exhibition: Asian, American tour for Egypt's sunken antiquities

Egypt State Information Service

Minister of Culture, Farouq Hosni, said on Thursday 3/7/2008 that it has been decided to move the Egyptian sunken antiquities exhibition to take a tour in Japan and the United States. This comes after the great success witnessed by the exhibition in its European tour that taken to France, Germany, Spain and Italy. It is expected that 2 million people will visit the exhibition.

The minister said that the exhibition was opened by King Juan Carlos of Spain and his wife, Queen Sofia in the past May in the Spanish capital of Madrid in its fourth leg within its European tour.

He added that the exhibition acquires a special importance as it is the first time to display such antiquities outside Egypt.

On other hand, the Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Dr. Zahi Hawwas said that the exhibition is expected to realize 900 thousand euro for Egypt in Spain. The same number is expected to be achieved in Italy, Hawwas added, noting, that the total amount realized from the European tour of the exhibition has reached 5 million euros till now.

Geological study warns of potential earthquakes in Cairo area

Egypt Daily Star News

A geological study warned that in the coming few years Cairo might be subject to three destructive earthquakes that could measure a staggering 7 degrees on the Richter scale.

The study conducted by Egyptian geologist Taha Mohamed Abul Azayem, predicts that the point of initial rupture of the strongest of the three earthquakes will be south west Cairo, precisely around
Dahshour.

That same area was the epicenter of the most destructive earthquake to hit Egypt in 1992.

Imbaba, Giza, Ramses, Tahrir, Shubra and Garden City are expected to be the worst hit by the earthquakes because of the spongy nature of their soil considering their proximity to the Nile.

He also predicts that areas like Maadi, Helwan, Ghamra, Giza and Haram will be less affected, while residents of Nasr City and Heliopolis have nothing at all to worry about.

Exhibition: Treasure of the Month

The Galveston County Daily News (Eleanor Clark)

During the month of July, the Rosenberg Library will exhibit a collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts that were discovered in tombs and temples excavated by archaeologists during the late 19th century.

These relics, most of which date from 1200-1500 B.C., were donated to the library in the 1930s by two local residents.

Waters Davis, a prominent Galveston businessman, purchased a number of items from the Cairo Museum in Egypt during a trip around the world in 1890.

At that time, the museum sold duplicate materials to interested individuals.

The Davis artifacts on display include a mummy’s headrest, a hand-shaped clay bowl and bits of mummy wrapping and other textile fragments.

See the above for more.

New treasures from Saqqara

Al Ahram Weekly (Nevine El-Aref)

The above article is accompanied by a photograph (click to enlarge).

A COLLECTION of painted wooden sarcophagi dating from the Late Period have been unearthed at the Saqqara necropolis, Nevine El-Aref reports.

To the south of the causeway of the pyramid of Unas at Saqqara, a team from Cairo University has been uncovering more secrets about this necropolis, which served as an important burial ground for nobles from the early dynasties to the Late Period.

While removing surface sand, archaeologists from the university stumbled upon a part of the tomb of Wadj-Mes, overseer of the guards during the reign of Pharaoh Ramses II (1304-1237 BC), as well as a number of burial shafts on the tomb's eastern side.

The tomb is a maze of corridors and underground tunnels that lead nowhere but contain fragments of pots, sarcophagi and blocks painted with the figures of deities.

Ola El-Aguizi, former dean of the Faculty of Archaeology and head of the mission, said that owing to the poor condition of the tomb, excavation inside it has been put on hold until the next archaeological season. Accumulated dust and sand would be removed in an attempt to facilitate further excavations.

See the above page for more details.

Pirated skulls come home

Al Ahram Weekly (Nevine El-Aref)

Nevine El Aref has been busy this week. This is a nice compliment to her previous article (below) about the National Committee to Return Smuggled Antiquities.

A 26th-dynasty limestone relief and two Graeco-Roman skulls are back in Egypt, Nevine El-Aref reports.

An archaeological delegation headed by Youssef Khalifa, director of the department of stolen and recovered antiquities at the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), returned from London this week with three artefacts that had been stolen and illegally smuggled out of Egypt.

The first was an ancient Egyptian object saved for the nation when the SCA succeeded in halting its sale at Bonham's auction hall in London as part of its campaign to stamp out the trade in illegally- smuggled artefacts.

The object is an inscribed limestone relief that was chopped off the tomb wall of the 26th-Dynasty nobleman Mutirdis. The tomb was discovered in 1969 at Assassif on Luxor's west bank by German Egyptologist Jan Assman, and the fragment was apparently still in its original place when the tomb was restored between 1973 and 1974. A photograph of the inscription still in situ was published in 1977 in Das Grab der Mutirdis.

Wrapping up smuggled goods

Al Ahram Weekly (Nevine El-Aref)

Six months after its establishment, the National Committee to Return Smuggled Antiquities has convened for the first time. Nevine El-Aref attended the meeting.

The Ministry of Culture and the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) have been at the forefront of a campaign since 2002 to stamp out the trade in artefacts illegally smuggled from Egypt and bring them back home. To put the campaign into effect, the SCA has created a new department in its administrative body, the National Committee to Return Smuggled Antiquities (NCRSA), to list all the objects that have been illegally smuggled out of the country together with those missing from archaeological storehouses and museums. It also traces all reports provided by Egypt's embassies and consulates abroad of possible infringements of the antiquities law, and from time to time it checks the sale catalogues of well known auction houses such as Bonhams and Christies.

By following these measures the SCA has succeeded in recovering 3,000 artefacts over the last six years. Of these, 619 items came from Heathrow airport in London, 398 from Geneva and two from Basel, seven statues from Italy, a unique, ancient Egyptian relief from Belgium, and others from the United States, Holland, Germany, France and Canada.

Sarah Parcak, Content Provider

Lost Egypt Exhibition blog

Dr. Parcak works at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. It’s a little odd to think of an archaeologist doing a lot of “field work” at a computer station, but that’s exactly what she’s doing. One of the tricky things about archaeology is that the people who practice it are often looking for things that are hidden, buried underground for long periods of time (have you ever seen the drawings Napoleon’s team did of the Sphinx buried up to its neck in sand?). Archaeologists used to (and sometimes still do) rely on logic, perseverance, and luck when looking for new sites. They would dig in places where they had deduced that a site should be based upon the available evidence (like the team that discovered the Lost City of the Pyramid Builders), or they would jump on chance discoveries made by the local human or even animal population (like the donkey who accidentally stepped into the graves now known as The Valley of the Golden Mummies). But because of the satellite imaging that is now being done by Dr. Parcak and others, archaeologists are better able to determine exactly where to dig before ever even setting foot there.

Oriental Institute Museum, Chicago - Nubian Gallery

Time Out

The institute has expanded its offerings with a new gallery focused on ancient Nubia, the area that is now southern Egypt and northern Sudan. The artifacts, many of which are on public display for the first time, go as far back as 6,000 years. Don't-miss items include a fragment of what's believed to be the world's oldest rug, an ancient saddle and various ceramic items such as jugs, bowls and incense burners.

The Oriental Institute Museum has its own website, with an excellent set of pages dedicated to Nubia's archaeology and history.

Informatique et Egyptologie Group Concerence

Pyramid of Man blog

Thanks very much to Vincent Brown's excellent Pyramid of Man blog for alerting me to the fact that the Informatique et Egyptologie Group Conference is scheduled for later this month (in just a few days time). Here's what Vincent says (see the above page for programme details):

The IAE Computer Group (Informatique et Egyptologie, I&E) will be meeting in Vienna at the Kunsthistorisches Museum on the 8-11 of July this year. The conference itself will start on Wednesday the 9th and 10th.

IAE 2008 meeting at the Kunsthistorisches Museum

The conference fee is €30 and includes a visit to the Heurigen restaurant for a typical Viennese party.

Updates will be found on the IAE's web page on Nigel Strudwick's Egyptology Resources site.

Walking Old Cairo

Al Ahram Weekly (Nevine El-Aref)

Visitors to Al-Muizz Street in Fatimid Cairo will encounter an unfamiliar scene in the next few days. They will be able to stroll along the street without having to worry about traffic. Nor will they have to negotiate the huge pumps that for years blocked the routes of pedestrians as they pumped out subterranean water. These, like the drainage pipes over which visitors once tripped, are no more. A majority of the monuments that line the street have now been restored and the handful that have not are nearing completion.

Workers are now busy repaving the street. Others, on wooden scaffolding, are cleaning the façade of houses and shops. On an empty platform in front of the Qalawun Mosque two gardeners with spades are busy planting a pair of date palms to recall the original spirit of the street. Before the Mohamed Ali sabil (public fountain), which has been transformed into a Textile Museum, a dozen engineers and technicians stand checking lamps that will illuminate the dramatic façades along the entire street. The lighting has been designed so that colours can be used to mark special events.

A total of 34 monuments along Al-Muizz Street and 67 located in neighbouring alleyways have now been restored.

All About Egypt website seeking collaborators

Egypt Then And Now
All-About-Egypt

Ben Morales-Correa, who so kindly updated this blog in my absence, has posted a request for collaborators on his own site. This may represent a great opportunity for some of you out there to share information and help to build on an increasingly useful resource. Here's an extract from his post, but see the above page on Egypt Then and Now for full details:

Any website’s success is based on traffic, and traffic is generated by addressing the needs of readers looking for specific topics within a central theme.

All-About-Egypt has grown to the point that I have to recognize that while my passion for Egypt is boundless, my knowledge is not.

I deem it necessary to request the collaboration of other writers interested in having their articles published in All-About-Egypt. This is strictly voluntary, but as author, you get full credit, international recognition and publication rights. If you have a blog or website, you’ll also get an outbound link to help you develop traffic and rank. Your article will be further promoted through my subscription base.

The writing style of All-About-Egypt is informal, in a few words - Egyptology for the rest of us. Ease of reading is essential, but accuracy is too. Usual disclaimers apply, but All-About-Egypt is not a forum to propose outrageous claims or poorly supported theories. Just make sure that events and dates are properly corroborated.

The Intellectual Consequences of Collecting Coptic Art

Looting Matters (David Gill)

Following on from recent reports about fact Coptic art held in museum collections, David Gill has made the brief point that he and Christopher Chippindale have been making for many years - which is that "Collecting recently-surfaced antiquities (ancient or of modern creation) has intellectual consequences for the study of the ancient world," a point which they initially made with regard to Cycladic figures in an article entitled Material and Intellectual Consequences of Esteem for Cycladic Figures (American Journal of Archaeology 97, 1993).

Anyone who has looked at Predynastic archaeology in Egypt is well aware of the problem too - the number of unprovenanced palettes, labels, figurines and ceramics is quite staggering and with many of them it is unknown whether they are genuine or not. I was told recently that a set of "Predynastic" figurines in the British Museum are now considered to be fakes - which was more than a shame for the researcher friend who was planning to use them in part of his work! And the Harrogate Vase is a good case in point.

An Egyptian artist in Rome

Al Ahram Weekly (Zahi Hawass)

Hawass is using his Dig Days column this week to talk about Farouk Hosni, the Egyptian Minister of Culture and well known modern artist. If you're interested in finding out more about Hosni, he has his own home page (but beware - as soon as you click on the link it starts to play music). Here's an extract from Hawass's article:

Farouk Hosni left Paris to work at the Egyptian Academy in Rome. At that time Abdel-Hamid Radwan was the minister of culture; Radwan wanted Mohamed Ghoneim to be the head of the academy. However, the late Sufi Abu Taleb and late Atef Sidqi convinced Radwan that Hosni was the best candidate for the job. Hosni established great activities in Rome and brought the Egyptian cultural scene to the Italians. He became good friends with many Italian Egyptologists, such as Sergio Donadoni and Silvio Curto.

Sidqi was appointed by President Hosni Mubarak to be Egypt's prime minister, and at the same time Ahmed Qadri became the head of Egypt's Antiquities Organisation. Qadri gave a voice to antiquities but most of his work was criticised, especially because of the Sphinx restoration project that he oversaw. The architect who was in charge of the reconstruction of the casing stones that the Pharaohs had put on the Sphinx's body replaced them with stones that completely changed the proportions of the Sphinx. Also the cement could be seen on the blocks, distracting from the beauty of this masterpiece. Another incident that drew significant criticism was a student who had never before worked in restoration was commissioned to paint the Citadel.

Sidqi understood how valuable Hosni was. At that time, Hosni was not well known by the public, but he was known and respected as a talented artist within the cultural community.

Exhibition: Tutankhamun and the Golden Age in Dallas

Mercury News

Tickets for the King Tut exhibit opening this fall at the Dallas Museum of Art are on sale.

The exhibit, "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs," is making an encore visit to the United States after a two-year tour that drew nearly 4 million visitors ended in September 2007.

The exhibit, currently in London, will open at the Dallas Museum of Art on Oct. 3. It will run there through May 17, 2009, and then travel to two yet-to-be-named cities.

There will be more than 130 artifacts from the tomb of Egypt's King Tut, including some artifacts that are new to the exhibit and have not been seen before outside of Egypt, the Dallas Museum of Art said in a news release.

In Dallas, a photography exhibit of prints from Harry Burton, the photographer who accompanied the King Tut expedition in 1922, will be on display as well.

The official Golden Age of the Pharaohs website is now selling tickets for Dallas (via Ticketmaster).

Just a reminder to those of you who will be in the UK in the next couple of months - the exhibition is currently in London and closes on 31st August 2008.

Daily Photo

The Daily Photo will be resumed shortly, along with other normal services. Rick Menges kindly sent me some photographs to use, and those will be up in the next few days, and I've received other generous offers too which I will be taking up soon. Plus, the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology has given me permission to use photographs from their database (with my everlasting thanks) But don't forget - I'm always on the hunt for photographs!

Apologies to all those who are still waiting for me to reply to emails - I will be back to you shortly. I've got quite a lot on my plate at the moment, so I am still playing catch-up.

Fake Coptic art in the Brooklyn Museum?

ARTINFO

Edna Russmann, a curator at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, has said that about one third of the museum's Coptic art — early Christian Egyptian art — collection is fake, the Independent reports. Although chemical testing on the works has not yet been completed, Russmann said she is fairly certain that 10 to 30 of the pieces are fake and that about half of the remaining objects have likely been recarved or retouched.

Russmann says she began to have doubts about the collection four years ago. According to the Art Newspaper, which first reported the story, Baltimore-based Byzantine specialist Gary Vikan first noted the possibility of fakes in the collection in the early 1970s but never went public with the concern.

The Independent, UK

Although some chemical testing on the works has yet to be completed, Dr Russmann considers that 10 of the 30 examples of Coptic art – Christian imagery in limestone from Egypt dating between the late fourth century and AD641 – held by the museum are phoney. Moreover, about half the other pieces have probably been extensively recarved and retouched.

Part of the purpose of the exhibition will be to alert other US institutions to the possibility that they too have fake pieces in their collections. "There are lot of museums in this country that have maybe two or three or four pieces," she said.

Origins of domestic cat

The Courier of Montgomery County

The origin of domestic cats began millions of years ago. About 50 million years ago weasel-like animals called the Miacis is believed to be the ancestor of cats. About 40 million years ago, the Dinictis, a cat-like animal about the size of a lynx was roaming wild in Africa.

Around 4000 BC, in the Valley of the Nile, which is now Sudan (formerly Egypt), the cat was first domesticated. Grain provided the basis of food for many people and the grain was stored in large rooms. Rats, mice and other rodents were drawn to these storage rooms and would eat the grain and breed uncontrollably.

The rodent problem was spiralling out of control. Rodents swarmed many Egyptian cities destroying vast food sources as well as exposing people to diseases. No traps, poisons or other controlling devices were in place to keep the rodent population under control.

The African wildcat was native to the area and soon, Egyptians figured out a solution.

Egypt retrieves a 2,500-year-old stone relief from Bonhams

PR Inside

Egypt said Monday that it retrieved a 2,500-year-old limestone relief from London after its sale was blocked by Bonhams auction house there because it had been looted from a pharaoh's tomb.

A team of Egyptian archaeologists traveled to Britain to retrieve the artifact, which bears hieroglyphic text engraved in six rows and a cartouche of an ancient Egyptian queen, according to a statement issued Monday by Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities. It did not say when the carving was brought home.

The stone slab had been removed from a tomb discovered in 1969 in the Egyptian temple city of Luxor, the statement said.

A spokesman for Bonhams auction house in London confirmed that the relief had been listed for sale in May, but was withdrawn after experts discovered it had been looted.

Also reported on the International Herald Tribune.

The original article which I posted about this was back in May, on the Egypt Daily Star News website.

More re recent discovery in Edfu

Guardians.net

Thanks very much to Rick Menges for sending me this link to another article about the recent discoveries at Edfu, which has some good photographs.

H.E. Farouk Hosni, Minister of Culture, announced today that an American archaeological mission from the University of Chicago has unearthed an administrative building and silos dating back to Dynasty 17 (c. 1665-1569 BC), as well as an older columned hall during routine excavations at Edfu.

Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), explained that the columned hall is a mud-brick building with sixteen wooden columns that predates the silos. Pottery and seal impressions dated to early Dynasty 13 (c. 1786-1665 BC) were found inside the hall. Hawass said that the layout of the building shows that it may have been part of the governor’s palace, which was a typical feature of provincial towns. It was used by scribes for accounting, opening and sealing containers, and also for receiving letters.

New York Times (John Noble Wilford)

If you are asked for a username and password enter egyptnews in both fields.

Archaeologists have long fixed their sights on the grandeur that was ancient Egypt, the pyramids, temples and tombs. Few bothered to dig beneath and beyond the monumental stones for glimpses into the living and working spaces of ordinary Egyptians.

Parts of an administration building, above, and a large silo, top, at the site of an ancient provincial capital on the Upper Nile.

That is changing slowly but steadily. In the last two or three decades, excavations have uncovered urban remains and swept aside the conventional wisdom that the Egypt of the pharaohs, in contrast to Mesopotamia, was somehow a civilization without cities.

“We can now confirm that this was not the case,” said Nadine Moeller, an Egyptologist at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Dr. Moeller was speaking of her own recent findings, as well as those of other excavators who practice what is known as settlement archaeology.

She described the discovery of a large administration building and seven grain silos buried at the site of an ancient provincial capital on the Upper Nile.

Pyramids? What's the Point?

The Tyee (Steve Burgess)

I'm here in Cairo working on a provocative new theory about the death of Cleopatra. I have come to believe it was all a big misunderstanding.

Cairo is Africa's biggest city, and unlikely to win blue ribbons for any other distinction. The Egyptian capital is a chaotic, polluted madhouse, as even Egyptians are wont to point out. It is also home to some amazing historical treasures, many of which are still in service as taxicabs.

Others are stored at the incredible Egyptian Museum, where stern signs warn: "No laser torches." Check. (On the other hand I did not see a single sign reading "No photography," and yet was almost thrown out for not knowing it instinctively.) Leaving aside the famous Tut treasures, there are antiquities a-plenty and even some mummified crocodiles. But everyone wants to see the famous mask and coffins of the Boy King, and they are worth the trip -- particularly since they are in the only air-conditioned room in the place.

Meanwhile, the greatest treasure of all awaited me in the gift shop: "The Inflatable Boy King." It's a full size King Tut punching bag -- only 14 bucks.

Exhibition: Coptic Sculpture in the Brooklyn Museum

Suite 101 (Stan Parchin)

"Coptic Sculpture in the Brooklyn Museum" will present authentic Late Antique works with their modern-day replicas.

Late Antique Egyptian sculptures (395-642 A.D.) and modern replicas are compared in an upcoming exhibition in New York. Coptic Sculpture in the Brooklyn Museum (November 7, 2008-September 27, 2009) presents authentic works of art alongside reproductions ambitious in scale, detail and theme.

Computer trickery builds fake history

The Inquirer (Nick Farrell)

THE OBSESSION OF historical documentary makers to come up with new things to show off their swish computer graphics is getting out of hand, according to Newsweek.

The History Channel is about to release a sensational story about a "Lost Pyramid" of Giza that it is found which is taller than the Great Pyramid but had been lost below the desert sands. The show will include some flash computer graphics of what the lost Pyramid would have been like.

The only problem is that is neither lost, taller than the Great Pyramid, in Giza, nor indeed even a Pyramid.

The pyramid was found a century ago. The only reason that it has not been explored much is because it is part because the pyramid sits close to a military exclusion zone, While it may appear larger than the Great Pyramid it is because it sits on a hill. In fact the Great Pyramid is more than twice as tall.

EES email newsletter

The Egypt Exploration Society have launched their new email newsletter for members. Key points from the newsletter are as follows:

• The EES website is undergoing a revamp, and the team behind it are working to see how they can use the advantages of the Web to communicate more effectively with interested parties. As part of the new offering they are offering a new EES news blog using the Tumblr blog service
  
• Upcoming lecture: The Tomb of Harwa: A monument of the Egyptian Renaissance. A lecture by Dr Francesco Tiradritti. Friday 11 July, 6.30 – 9 pm.The Society of Antiquaries, Burlington House, London W1J 0BE.
• Upcoming Study Day: The Men of the Gang. The village of Deir el Medina and its inhabitants, Saturday 25 October. The Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre, School of Oriental and African Studies, Thornhaugh St, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG.
• The Society now has a page on Facebook (which has attracted over 500 members since its launch in April this year)

Egypt fire damages church of 'Jesus footprint'

Yahoo! News (via AFP)

An historic church in the Nile Delta where Jesus and his family are believed to have stopped during their flight to Egypt, leaving an imprint of Christ's foot, has been damaged by fire, a security official has said.

The fire at the Sanctuary of the Church of the Virgin Mary in Sakha, just outside Kafr el-Sheikh, north of Cairo, destroyed the altar and an historic icon and caused some structural damage.

The local governor blamed the fire on an electrical fault, the official said, with a security cordon placed around the church amid Christian-Muslim tensions following recent unrest between the two communities.

There's an article about the churches usually listed in connection with the flight to Egypt on the State Information Service website. A photograph of the foot print is also available on a page on the Egypt SIS website.

The Graduate Junction - updated

The Graduate Junction

I am really glad to report that The Graduate Junction, an initiative about which I posted some weeks ago, is continuing to evolve. So many of these good ideas die a death in the first couple of weeks, so it is terrific to see that this one is going from strength to strength - they now have 4000 registered researchers from over 40 countries. They've added more content and some very useful functionality. There are various ways of finding people who share your interests. Registration is free and quick. Here's the introduction from their home page:

The Graduate Junction is a brand new website designed to give young researchers an easy way of making contact with others who share their research interests no matter which department, institution or country they work in.

The Graduate Junction is the first network which brings together Masters, Doctoral and Postdoctoral researchers working in any field across the globe and provides them with a place to meet and communicate.

• Create a personal research profile page
• Establish a network of researchers who share your research interests
• Join or create online research groups
• Initiate discussions and exchange useful tips
• Find up to date conference and career information
• Share general research advice on our forum pages

The Graduate Junction has been created by two graduate researchers, who felt isolated within their own research projects and wanted to find others who shared their research interests. The Graduate Junction has been designed to be simple and provide only information and functionality that is relevant to young researchers. We feel too many websites have unnecessary functionality and are cluttered with advertisements. To find out more about us, why we created The Graduate Junction and our vision for this website click here.

2,278-yr-old mummy dying a slow death

Times of India (Prakash Bhandari)

Thanks very much to Noreen Doyle for forwarding me the above link.

It is a 2,278-year-old mummy of an Egyptian priestess and decaying fast at the city's Albert Hall Museum. Displayed in a glass case, it is a key attraction of the museum but may not be around very soon, as exposure to oxygen and moisture has led to its case crumbling to dust.

Egyptian experts, who had visited the city a few years ago, had said that the mummy bought by Sawai Ram Singh, then ruler of Jaipur, from Cairo in 1887 needed to be kept in an oxygen-free environment.

The cost involved was a meagre $1,000, but the museum authorities seem to be dragging their feet over it, and it may cost the city one of its treasures -the mummy of a priestess of the Ptolemaic dynasty that ruled Egypt for nearly 300 years between 305 BC and 30 BC.

What's worse is the fact that the last time the mummy's case was taken out for restoration and paintwork, its beam was replaced incorrectly adding to the stress on the casket. Nassry Youssef Iskander, director of the Egyptian museum at Cairo who visited Albert Hall a few years ago, had remarked on this, adding that the mummy's base was in bad shape and needed urgent repairs.

More re Edfu discovery

eTurboNews (Hazel Heyer)

An American archaeological mission from the University of Chicago has unearthed an administrative building and silos dating back to Dynasty 17 (c. 1665-1569 BC), as well as an older columned hall during routine excavations at Edfu in Egypt.

Dr. Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), explained that the columned hall is a mud-brick building with sixteen wooden columns that predates the silos. Pottery and seal impressions dated to early Dynasty 13 (c. 1786-1665 BC) were found inside the hall. Hawass said that the layout of the building shows that it may have been part of the governor’s palace, which was a typical feature of provincial towns. It was used by scribes for accounting, opening and sealing containers, and also for receiving letters.

Dr. Nadine Moeller, head of the American mission, said that the seal impressions were made by scarab seals decorated with ornamental patterns such as spirals and a combination of hieroglyphic symbols including ankh signs. Patterns belonging to different officials were also uncovered, providing evidence for the various administrative activities, such as accounting in addition to sealing boxes, ceramic jars, and other commodities.

Moeller said this discovery reflects Egypt’s political situation at a time when ancient Egypt’s unity no longer existed and a small kingdom had developed at Thebes which controlled Upper Egypt. During this period, connections between the provincial elite, such as the family of the governor, and the royal family in Thebes were strengthened through marriage or the awarding of important offices.

Egypt Fights to Stem Population Growth

ABC News (Will Rasmussen)

This is an item about modern Egypt (with thanks to Rhio Barnhart), but although it is slightly off-topic I thought that it might be of interest to some visitors.

Red and white banners along Nile bridges and Cairo streets this month were Egypt's latest effort to curb an increasingly pressing problem: a population growing faster than the economy can support.

Since President Hosni Mubarak took office in 1981, the population has nearly doubled. But most of the country's 76 million people are squashed in urban areas near the Nile, in an area roughly the size of Switzerland, which is home to just 7.5 million.

"Before you add another baby, make sure his needs are secured," ran the slogan, adding to a string of campaigns over 30 years to encourage family planning. Mubarak told a government-sponsored population conference that cutting population growth was urgent.

With about one fifth of the population living on less than $1 a day and food and fuel prices lifting inflation to a 19-year high, discontent is mounting. But beyond domestic concerns, Egypt could become a poster-child for a global trend. Top of Form

According to the United Nations, the poor are set to be more and more numerous by 2050 and many will be living in towns as the world population climbs to a total of 9.2 billion. Essentially all the growth will be in less developed countries.

Egypt -- where the divide between rich and poor is stark and resistance to targeted birth control common -- shows how that could happen.

Revista del Instituto de Historia Antigua Oriental (RIHAO) Vol 14, 2007

The Instituto de Historia Antigua Oriental "Dr. Abraham Rosenvasser", University of Buenos Aires, is pleased to announce the publication of Vol. 14 (2007) of the Revista del Instituto de Historia Antigua Oriental (RIHAO)

TABLE OF CONTENTS RIHAO 14 (2007)

-ITAMAR SINGER, The Failed Reforms of Akhenaton and Muwatalli (Spanish)
-ROXANA CLAUDIA FLAMMINI, Egypt and Kerma in the Early Second Millennium BC: A Reading Through the Categories of Core and Periphery (Spanish)
-IANIR MILEVSKI, The Historical and Archaeological Levantine Background of Sinuhe Examined Anew (English)
-EMANUEL PFOH, Hatti and the Northern Levant: Socio-Political Relationships According to the Textual Evidence (Spanish)
-JUAN MANUEL TEBES, "You who Live in the Clefts of the Rock, who hold the Height of the Hill": Tribalism in Iron Age Edom (Spanish)
-THOMAS L. THOMPSON, Archaeology and the Bible Revisited: A Review Article (Spanish)
-BOOK REVIEWS

Revista del Instituto de Historia Antigua Oriental (RIHAO) is the scholarly journal of the Instituto de Historia Antigua Oriental "Dr. Abraham Rosenvasser" (Institute of Ancient Near Eastern Studies), Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, University of Buenos Aires. It considers for publication manuscripts related to the history of the societies of the Ancient Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean from the Paleolithic through the Roman-Hellenistic period. Other manuscripts with theoretical or interdisciplinary approaches are also considered. RIHAO is published once a year and includes articles and book reviews in Spanish, English or French. Deadline for submissions: May 31st.

Revista del Instituto de Historia Antigua Oriental (RIHAO)
Director: Alicia Daneri
Editors: Alicia Daneri, Marcelo Campagno

Editorial Board:
Donald B. Redford (Pennsylvania State University)
John Baines (Oxford University)
Alejandro Botta (Southern Methodist University)
Josep Cervelló Autuori (Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona)
Antonio Loprieno (Universität Basel)

Postal address: Instituto de Historia Antigua Oriental “Dr. Abraham Rosenvasser”, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad de Buenos Aires. 25 de Mayo 217, 3º piso. C1002ABD. Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires. Argentina.

Exchanges (institutions only), subscriptions and back issues request forms:
Email: ihao@filo.uba.ar
http://www.filo.uba.ar/contenidos/investigacion/institutos/antoriental/publicaciones.htm