Request for Nefertiti bust loan

http://tinyurl.com/jww59 (artdaily.com)

A very brief item mentioning the request by Zahi Hawass for the loan of the Nefertiti bust, currently resident in Berlin: "Zahi Hawas, director of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, had the idea of at least getting the work on loan in case Germany did not accept to return it. There would be a signed agreement to return the work after a defined period. Next November will be the centennial of the foundation of the German Institute of Archeology, which would be a good place to make the agreement effective. So far the Egyptian Museum in Berlin has not responded."

See the above page for the rest of the story.

Artifact removed from NY auction

http://tinyurl.com/hnreg (today.reuters.com)

"A 4000-year-old Egyptian alabaster container shaped like a duck and used for a funeral offering has been withdrawn from auction because it may be stolen property, Christie's auction house said on Monday. The Old Kingdom alabaster offering vessel dating from 2575 to 2134 BC was expected to sell for $20,000 to $30,000 before it was withdrawn from the sale, according to the Christie's online catalog for its June 16 sale of antiquities in New York."

Conference on stolen artefacts to be organized

http://www.gom.com.eg/gazette/home/detail_2_22.shtml

"EGYPT will start making arrangements later in the year for an international conference to urge for the recovery of stolen antiquities, according to a senior official. 'We will contact countries such as China, Greece, Mexico and Syria that boast of unique antiquities in order to agree on an international campaign for the recovery of their stolen artifacts,' Zahi Hawass, head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) told The Gazette."

See the rest of the brief article for the rest of the bulletin.

The Scribe's Palette newsletter

http://egyptstudy.org/SP.pdf

The latest edition of The Scribe's Palette (the newsletter of the Egyptian Study Society) is now available in PDF format at the above address. Archives from The Ostracon include some selected articles from the Society's formal publication, and can be found at:

http://www.egyptstudy.org/

Travel: Getting good views of Luxor

http://touregypt.net/teblog/luxornews/?p=227

Jane Akshar looks at the alternative ways of obtaining good views over the town of Luxor on her Luxor News Blog - by ballon, by donkey, or on foot. The posting is accompanied as usual by some very fine photographs.

Exhibition: Hygiene and Beauty in Siena

http://tinyurl.com/np2eu (italymag.co.uk)

"Visitors to Siena this weekend will be able to compare their own efforts to keep young, healthy and beautiful with those used by the ancient Egyptians. A show opening here Saturday highlights the hugely important role that cleanliness and good looks - helped along by cosmetics - played in the life of the Egyptian civilization. Rich people would usually wash or bathe before dressing and women used to massage themselves with perfumed oil. Both men and women used cosmetics including lip colours, eyeshades and face powder. The exhibition is entitled ‘Igiene e bellezza nell’ antico Egitto’ (Hygiene and Beauty in Ancient Egypt) and it runs at Siena’s Santa Maria dela Scala complex until September 17."

See the above page for further details.

More bits on Quest For Immortality

http://tinyurl.com/g87kb (theleafchronicle.com)

There's nothing very new to set this review of the exhibition apart from the previous ones, although it's a nice summary, with comments from museum staff, but it does have a useful "If you go" side column with details of opening hours, prices, and the special events that are being offered to compliment the exhibition.

The Frist's own website, which was down on the previous occasions when I checked it recently, is back up and running, with a special section dedicated to the exhibition at:

http://egyptatthefrist.org/

Amongst other pages, a rather nice feature is a listing of all the artefacts being displayed:

http://www.egyptatthefrist.org/exhibition/object-list.php

EEF News Digest

http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Alley/4482/EEFNEWS.html

Last week's EEF News Digest is now available online at the above address, for all the latest information about exhibitions, conferences, lectures and new online and print publications, grants awards and fellowships, new websites, courses and trips, plus a round up of last week's main news items.

KV63 website updated

http://www.kv-63.com/index.html

Some more details of excavation work at KV63 have been posted on the official website: "Coffin ‘E’ (against the back wall of the chamber) has already received some conservation work. Resin-covered bands of texts are visible stretching across the torso, and extending midline towards the footboard. Intense conservation measures will be utilized to preserve these precious bands of texts in hopes of discovering names or cartouches. In the interim, we areconsidering x-raying (and other non-intrusive tools) this particular coffin and the infant coffin to determine contents and aid the team in formulating a timetable for examination."

See the above page for more details, together with an initial report on the "pillows" that have been found, photographs of which can be seen at:

http://www.kv-63.com/photospage2.html

Thanks very much to Carolin Johansson for pointing out the updates.

Karnak facelift approved

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/798/fr2.htm

Nevine El-Aref describes the dipsutes surrounding plans for Karnak Temple, which have now apparently been resolved. The purpose of the project "is to curtail infringements on the archaeological site and clear a site for the excavation of the ancient harbour and canal that once connected the temple to the Nile. The plan, furthermore, involves the planting of new trees and not the uprooting of those already in situ. Bazaars located along the temple walls will be relocated along the Corniche, in the site occupied by the Luxor Stadium, which will also house an underground commercial development as well as a visitors' centre. A memorabilia hall is also planned, commemorating the French archaeologists who worked in Karnak, including Auguste Mariette, Maspero and George Legrain."

More on Quest For Immortality

http://tinyurl.com/l5zku (rctimes.com)

A section by section review of the Quest exhibition currently showing at the Frist, a summary of the accompanying mummification display, and a look at some of the thinking and organization that went into the creation and presentation of the exhibition. The overview is accompanied by photographs - one of the full-scale re-creation of the burial chamber of Thutmose III, and others of some of the artefacts on display.

Distant Dakhla

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/798/he3.htm

Jill Kamil reports on the fifth Dakhla Oasis Project conference: "Treasures from the Roman period have been transported for exhibition at the Egyptian Museum in conjunction with the fifth conference of the Dakhla Oasis Project (DOP), which opened last Saturday. It was fitting introduction to an international gathering, at which presentations related to current fieldwork revealed how dramatically our knowledge of life in the oasis has increased in recent years."

An African kingdom on the Nile

There are two articles by Jill Kamil, on the Al Ahram Weekly website this week, about Nubia:

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/798/he1.htm

"In a lecture at the Canadian Institute of Archaeology in Cairo last month, Krzys Grzymski of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) described the use of modern technology to uncover the origins and topography, history and development of Meroe, an African kingdom which developed along the upper reaches of the Nile about 200km north of Khartoum between 800 BC and 350 AD."

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/798/he2.htm

"To appreciate the significance of this African kingdom, which once controlled important trade routes from central Africa to the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, and in the third century BC held sway over the Nile to within reach of Aswan, it is important to note that Egyptologists tend to regard Lower Nubia as Egyptian territory, virtually an extension of Egypt."

Ancient Egypt Magazine - June/July

Thanks very much to Bob Partridge, Editor of "Ancient Egypt" magazine for the contents listing of the June/July issue of “Ancient Egypt” magazine, which is now out.

Contents of this issue include:

Tomb KV 63 in the Valley of the Kings: University of Memphis team member Roxanne Wilson gives the fullest-yet account of the work in the clearance of the tomb in this second of a series of articles. There will be a further update in the next issue.

Ancient Egyptian Wine: Maria Rosa Guasch Jane investigates the ingredients of wine from the Tomb of Tutankhamun.

Belzoni’s Sarcophagi: Explorer and adventurer Giovanni Belzoni was an avid collector of Egyptian Antiquities and size was no object. Dylan Bickerstaffe tell the story of his collection of sarcophagi, including two royal examples.

Friends of Nekhen News: The third of our reports on the important and revealing work being done at Hierakonpolis. This article looks at the oldest standing mud-brick monument in the world and the recent efforts to conserve and understand the structure.

Ancient Egypt in Zagreb: A report on a little known Egyptological collection in Croatia.
Visiting Middle Egypt: Some advice to travellers from Anne Eglintine.

Byzantine Egypt: Sean McLachlan tells how ancient Egyptian ideas are reflected in early Christianity in Egypt, which wads a melting-pot of ideas and beliefs in the Late Roman and Byzantine Periods.

Book Reviews:

The Midnight Sun-the death and Rebirth of God in Ancient Egypt, by Alan F. Alford.

Statuettes funeraires Egyptiennes du department des Monnaies, Medals et Antiquities, by Jacques F. and Liliane Aubert.

The Hyksos Period in Egypt, by Charlotte Booth.

The Art of Death in Graeco Roman Egypt, by Judith Corbelli.

Plus details of many other “books received” and rare and out of print books on CDRom from Yare Egyptology.

Regular Features includes:

News from Egypt, from Egyptian Egyptologist Ayman Wahby Taher, with more pages allocated to the latest news and images from Egypt.

Egyptology Society details and full listing of forthcoming lectures and event in the UK from June until August.

Exhibition: The Quest for Immortality

http://tinyurl.com/q5ztg (nashvillecitypaper.com)

A review of the exhibition The Quest for Immortality: Treasures of Ancient Egypt, opening at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts on Friday: "The exhibition is divided into six themes: the New Kingdom, the Reign of Thutmose III, Tombs of Nobles, Royal Tombs, the Realm of the Gods, and the Tomb of Thutmose III and the Amduat (a funerary text, reserved only for pharaohs or those favored by the noble class). The half dozen sections feature a myriad of artifacts such as massive stone carvings of gods and pharaohs, painted coffins, tomb furnishings, gold masks, jewelry, canopic jars that once contained internal organs and obelisk fragments. The pieces themselves are revealing vignettes into ancient Egyptian culture."

See the above page for the full story, including comments by museum curatorial staff.

Searching for the argun palm

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1644323/posts

A New Scientist article about the search for the argun palm tree whose fruits are known from tombs, but which seemed to have vanished from Egypt: "When Giuseppe Passalacqua went to Egypt in the 1820s his plan was to do a bit of horse-trading. He soon discovered a more lucrative line of work - excavating ancient tombs and selling off their contents. While Passalacqua found many priceless treasures, unlike most tomb-robbers he also made off with the more mundane. If something could be carried off, it was - right down to the dried-up offerings left to feed the ancients in the afterlife. Among these were some strange shrivelled fruits that have posed a series of puzzles ever since. They came from some sort of palm tree, but not one anyone recognised. Had the tree vanished along with the pharaohs?"

Water damage to Nile monuments

http://www.egypttoday.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=6795

An article looking at dangers to Egyptian monuments - from the recent Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa fatwa to the damage caused to Luxor sites by irrigation: "The tourist industry is Egypt’s largest source of private employment and is one of the country’s largest sources of revenue. Terrorist attacks, fluctuations in the world economy and general unrest in parts of the Middle East all affect the industry to some extent. But the greatest threat to many of Egypt’s antiquities and the industry built around them may not be from misinterpreted fatwas or extremist’s bombs, but from an icon as Egyptian as the Great Pyramids of Giza: the Nile. . . . Much of the groundwater and its greatly increased salinity levels come from an unexpected side effect of regulating the flow of the Nile. Even though the river maintains a constant high level, the end of the traditional flood season means that man-made irrigation is now necessary even on the flood-plain. In addition to the new irrigation systems, chemical fertilizers have contributed to the erosion of the ancient columns."

See the above page for more.

News from Karnak

http://tinyurl.com/zovvm (Egypt State Information Service)
Zahi Hawass has announced that heritage management work will carried out at Karnak by an Egyptian-French team, to protect the monuments from protential damage from tourism: "The project will include specific lanes for tourists to head off any damage to the monuments, Hawwas told reporters after a meeting of an Egyptian-French committee implementing the project. He added that bazaars, parking lots and cafeterias will be built a distance form the temple to serve tourists without affecting the temple. Hawwas said part of the 50 million-pound budget will be paid in compensation for affected families."
At the same time, Hawass has announced that a nearby quay will be excavated: "Hawwas further said that an Egyptian-French expedition will embark on excavation of a port on the River Nile near Karnak. He told reporters during a tour of the upper Egyptian city of Luxor that ancient Egyptians used the quay to transfer stones from one place to another."

See the page above for the rest of this very brief piece.

More re the St Louis Mask

http://www.egypttoday.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=6781

There's nothing new in this short piece, but if you want a recap about the current state of play between the St Louis Art Museum and the SCA, this provides a quick summary.

Museum update

http://www.egypttoday.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=6763
The Egypt Today website has two short features on their Culture 101 page, above, re the establishment of two new museums in Egypt.

New museum in Hurghada
"Hurghada will soon be home to a the first national museum on the Red Sea coast, the Ministry of Culture announced last month, saying the facility will house antiquities discovered in the Eastern Desert. Located on the water’s edge to encompass submerged monuments as well, the 22,000-square-meter facility will have four display halls, artists’ studios and performance spaces. The museum will give tourists heading to Hurghada from abroad the chance to sample the complete spectrum of Egyptian history — from Pharaonic through Islamic eras — at one destination."

Grand Egyptian Museum to open in 2011?
"The government of Japan last month finalized a $300 million loan to Egypt for the construction of the new Grand Egyptian Museum on the Giza Plateau. Japan’s ambassador to Cairo and Minister of International Cooperation Fayza Abul Naga inked the loan agreement at a public signing ceremony. The Ministry of Culture had initially said that construction of the GEM should wrap up by the end of 2009, but the only building block now in place is the foundation stone set by President Hosni Mubarak in 2002.
Farouk Abdel Salam, first undersecretary of the Ministry of Culture, says that construction will start soon, adding that he expects the GEM to be ready for its first guests in 2011. "