Slow negotiations between Italy and the Getty

http://tinyurl.com/jkkw6 (calendarlive.com)
For those of you following the important negotiations taking place, world wide, over the repatriation of items which were removed under dubious circumstances from their country of origin, there's a review on the above site about the current state of play between Italy and the Getty Museum: "One by one, museums in dispute with the Italian government over looted antiquities are reaching agreement. New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art signed a deal in February, and talks with Princeton University are said to be well advanced.Alone stands the J. Paul Getty Museum, whose exceedingly complicated negotiations with Rome have been plagued by delays and shown little progress. Two factors continue to dog the talks, which are scheduled to resume this month: the sheer volume of material that the Italians want the Getty to return, including some of the museum's most prized possessions, and the criminal prosecution of former Getty antiquities curator Marion True."
See the above page for the entire story.

More on the Bosnian pyramids

http://tinyurl.com/r3vt7 (telegraph.co.uk)

I'm still not sure that I should be covering this story on this site, but still - it's a very slow news day today, and a number of visitors to the site have expressed interest, so here goes with the latest news. This article, from the UK's Telegraph broadsheet gives one of the sceptical views of the situation:

"It has spawned a T-shirt, souvenir and hotel industry, drawn thousands of visitors and volunteers every weekend, and become a rare symbol of national unity in a country riven by ruinous sectarian war. Last week, it won the backing of Unesco, the world's foremost educational and cultural body. There is just one thing missing from Bosnia's so-called Pyramid of the Sun, acclaimed by some as the most important archaeological discovery in Europe for more than a century - a pyramid.

Despite the fact that Semir Osmanagic, who claims to have discovered it, has no formal archaeological training and believes, among other things, that the South American Mayans descended from visitors from outer space, more people apparently want to believe his theory that Bosnia is home to giant pyramids than to debunk it."

See the above page for the rest of the story.

Archive: Discovery of Khufu satellite pyramid

http://www.gom.com.eg/gazette/comments/detail_4_47.shtml

A new anecdote by Zahi Hawass on the Egyptian Gazette website, reproduced here in full due to the lack of archive on the site.
"At the southeast corner of the Great Pyramid was a large mound of sand. In 1991, I told my assistant to begin clearing this so that we could see what was underneath and we found a pyramid! I was thrilled. Petrie had excavated in this area in 1881; the American archaeologist George Reisner had been here in the early 1900s; and Selim Hassan had done further clearance in 1940. So we had expectations of finding anything new, especially something as important as a pyramid.
When I examined the newly discovered monument, I saw that it had a square base, the typical shape for a pyramid; its position, at the southeast corner of the upper pyramid complex, identified it immediately as Khufu's missing satellite pyramid.The satellite pyramid is an important element of the Old Kingdom pyramid complex, but its function is still subject to debate. Some scholars think it was a symbolic burial place for the ka, or spirit double, of the king; others think it was for the burial of the king's placenta, canopic jars, or crowns; and still others believe it was a solar symbol. I believe that it might have been connected with the Sed Festival, a celebration whose exact meaning is still uncertain. It is often called the royal jubilee, as it was generally celebrated for the first time after thirty years of rule. Some historians think it reconfirmed the king as ruler, guaranteed his royal power, or renewed his life and his strength. I believe the festival was held by the king to commemorate his victories and announce that he had finished all that the gods had asked him to do.The pyramid complexes of Khufu's immediate predecessors and successors all have satellite pyramids south of their main pyramids. In pyramid complexes during the rest of the Old Kingdom, the satellite pyramid is typically placed at the southeast corner of the pyramid enclosure. The fact that Khufu did not have a satellite pyramid was always a mystery, and this new find fills a major gap in our knowledge of the development of the pyramid complex."

New publications

Some new Egyptology-related publications are available, as follows:

Book:

Wengrow, David
The Archaeology of Early Egypt: Social Transformations in North East Africa, 10,000 to 2650 BC

ISBN: 0521543746
Cambridge World Archaeology
http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521835860

Paper:
Petrovich, Doug
Amenhotep II and the Historicity of the Exodus-Pharaoh
The Master's Seminary Journal 2006, 81-110
http://www.tms.edu/tmsj06.asp

Catalogue:

Oxbow's new catalogue, Book News, is out with new and forthcoming titles for Summer 2006 (porices in UKP and USD):

http://www.oxbowbooks.com/

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.

Karnak Development Project revisited

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/799/heritage.htm

"Problems surrounding the Karnak Development Project still seem unsolved despite the reported approval of all concerned. Nevine El-Aref investigates the continuing controversy - The mood at this year's annual meeting in Luxor between the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) and the French mission of the Centre Franco-Egyptien D'Étude des Temples de Karnak (CFEETK) was tense despite a friendly veneer. Some observers have reported that the planned Karnak Development Project drawn up by the SCA in collaboration with the Luxor City Council (LCC) was the cause of the underlying ill feeling, especially since part of the project's plan involves the demolition of the French mission's residential compound and the 19th-century-dig house of French Egyptologist George Legrain."

Exhibition: Napoleon on the Nile

http://tinyurl.com/gsxf6 (nytimes.com)

A new exhibition at Dahesh Museum of Art in New York, Napoleon on the Nile: Soldiers, Artists and the Rediscovery of Egypt, looks at the most outstanding result of Napoleon's brief conquest of Egypt - the staggering Description de l'Égypte. Accompanying the 55,000 strong military force to Egypt were over 150 engineers, economists, mathematicians, zoologists, botanists, archeologists, translators, journalists, and artists, the so-called savants, whose role was to capture Egypt on paper. This two-page article explains the Description and its history, and talks through some of the exhibits in detail: "The pull between past glories and present realities is palpable. At Edfu, François-Charles Cécile stuck to the facts, showing the temple interior half filled with sand and the Arabs living near its rafters. At Dendera, Edmé Jomard and Gaspard-Antoine Chabrol, both engineers, rendered an elevation of a monumental squared arch as it might have looked in its prime, with a vast Pharaonic army marching through it, straight toward us. As the soldiers pass through the arch and turn left, they become flat and overlapping, as in Egyptian reliefs."

This is one of those exhibitions I would really love to see. See the above 2-page article for the full story - there's a lovely representation of the Ramesseum on the first page. If you need a username and password, type egyptnews into both fields.

The exhibition runs from June 8 – September 3, 2006. The home page for the Dahesh Museum of Art is at:

http://www.daheshmuseum.org/

The exhibition home page on the site is at:

http://www.daheshmuseum.org/collection/exhibitions/index.html#current

And there's a podcast with Egyptologist Dr Bob Brier talking about the Description at:

http://www.daheshmuseum.org/education/podcast.html

(You'll need the Quick Time plug-in)

There's a Wikipedia entry on the Description at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Description_de_l%27Egypte_%281809%29

Art Museums Wrestle With Ownership Issue

http://tinyurl.com/hhqne (washingtonpost.com)

Another in a long line of recent articles about the challenges facing museums wishing to aquire antiquities for their collections, and the efforts of governments to repatriate items which, in some cases, should not have been left the country of origin in the first place: "The issue of provenance _ or the history of an artwork's ownership _ has never before been a more debated topic among archeologists and attorneys, collectors and curators, museum directors and donors, nations and cultural groups.
It's occurring as the Metropolitan Museum of Art agrees to return ancient objects to Italy, a former American antiquities curator faces charges of knowingly buying stolen artifacts and museums continue to address claims about artwork stolen by Nazis up to 70 years ago. . . .
Emboldened by Italy, such countries as Peru, Egypt and Turkey are becoming more aggressive in demanding that American museums return disputed items.
Egypt _ led by Zahi Hawass, the country's charismatic and often controversial chief archaeologist _ is particularly pushing the case of a 3,200-year-old funerary mask of a mummy depicting a young lady, which it said disappeared from the Egyptian Museum."

See the above article for the full story.

St. Paul Monastery opens after renovation

http://tinyurl.com/o7qpf (sis.gov.eg)
"The Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) has re-opened St. Paul Monastery for visits by Egyptian and foreign tourists after three-year renovation works.
Founded in the 4th century in the shape of a fort among the high hills near the Red Sea, St. Paul Monastery houses four churches and a library, said SCA Secretary General Zahi Hawwas.
St. Anthony Monastery, near to St. Paul, was dedicated to the founder and godfather of priesthood St Anthony, the earliest hermit in the world, said director of Islamic and Coptic Monuments Department at SCA Abdullah Kamel."

CT scan to locate Hatshepsut?

http://www.gom.com.eg/gazette/tourism/tourism.shtml

"The Supreme Council of Antiquities is using CT scans to examine two mummies found by Howard Carter, who discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1903 in Luxor's Valley of the Kings, in a bid to ascertain whether one of them is that of Queen Hatshepsut."

The link to the page where this daily changing column is supposed to be held has been broken since I found the Egyptian Gazette's new location, so this tantalizing header paragraph is all the information that is available.

Saturday Trivia

The world has been sadly short of archaeological trivia recently, but here's are some bits of forthcoming "virtual" wizadry from the world of technology, that might interest and/or amuse:

Virtual archaeology on the move
http://tinyurl.com/jt4mn (istresults.cordis.europa.eu)
"An Italian-led research project is developing a service that allows visitors to use their camera-equipped 3G mobile telephones to get a personalised multimedia guide to archaeological sites and museums. A tour of a big outdoor cultural site can sometimes be a frustrating experience if objects are not easily located, identified or placed in historical context. The Agamemnon project is working on an interactive multimedia system that provides relevant text, videos, speech and pictures with 3D reconstructions, to visitors' mobile telephones."

Virtual historical worlds
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/521212/

"Computer technology brings ancient worlds to life, but archaeologists debate whether it resembles long-ago reality or reality TV. Jeffrey Clark, Ph.D., director of the Archaeology Technologies Laboratory at North Dakota State University, Fargo, notes the technology that creates such virtual worlds allows people to explore historical locations in a unique way. At the same time, virtual models of past places and the artifacts found there may portray facts bolstered with assumptions. Clark’s comments are among those featured in the article “Digital Digs” in a recent issue of Nature."

See the above article for the full story. Details of the Nature issue which contains the paper upon which the article is based can be found at:

http://www.nature.com/index.html

Discoveries in Theban Tomb 39

http://estadis.eluniversal.com.mx/cultura/49017.html

Thanks very much to the EEF News Digest for another great edition, and for the following news item, summarizing the discoveries of the Mexican team excavating TT39 in the 2006 season. The tomb, which has not been investigated since 1920, belonged to Pui-Em-Ra, a priest under the reign of Hatshepsut:

"Luego de tres semanas de trabajo, 11 especialistas mexicanos concluyeron la segunda temporada de exploración de la Tumba Tebana 39, en Egipto, en la que lograron clasificar 108 de las casi 500 piedras -con escritura o pintura- encontradas en el lugar.
En esta segunda exploración de la misión mexicana, también se hallaron restos de momia, conos funerarios, fragmentos de Ushabti (figurillas funerarias), y una variedad de fragmentos de cerámica."

In rough summary, after three weeks of work 11 Mexican specialists concluded their second season of work at TT39. They catalogued 108 of a total of nearly 500 pieces which were painted or written upon. They also found funerary cones, fragments of ushabtis and a variety of ceramic fragments.

See the rest of the article at the above page. The story is also covered, with a photograph of the tomb exterior at:

http://www.milenio.com/mexico/milenio/nota.asp?id=94328

(the EEF news digest will appear online on Sunday at this address):

Archaeology Magazine July/August

http://www.archaeology.org/0607/index.html
The new edition of Archaeology is now available, and the website has been updated with some online content too, of which the following may be of interest. See the following URLs for the full accounts.

Review: Napoleon on Madison
http://www.archaeology.org/online/reviews/napoleon/index.html
"On July 1, 1798, Bonaparte, just 29 years old, arrived off the coast of Egypt. With the young general were some 55,000 troops and another, much smaller group of scholars, engineers, and scientists, collectively known as the savants. As a military expedition, it was a disaster, and Napoleon himself secretly sailed back to France little more than a year later, abandoning his army, which was stranded when Nelson annihilated the French fleet. The expedition's saving grace and enduring legacy was the contribution of the 160 or so savants, whose research and investigations were published in the monumental Description de l'Égypte. This 23-volume compendium is the focus of Napoleon on the Nile: Soldiers, Artists, and the Rediscovery of Egypt, a new exhibition at the Dahesh Museum of Art in New York.

Summary: Bosnian pyramid
http://www.archaeology.org/0607/abstracts/bosnia.html
An article summarizing in brief the main claims and counter claims about the so-called Bosnian pyramids, together with a short analysis of the background of the researcher heading the excavations: "So, who is Semir Osmanagic? According to the press--the BBC and AP among others--he's a Bosnian archaeologist who's spent 15 years researching pyramids in the Western Hemisphere. But Osmanagic is no archaeologist. He's a Houston-based metalwork contractor who holds Sarajevo University degrees in economics and political science. His 15 years of "independent research" have resulted in publications like The World of the Maya, which claims the Maya were descendants of aliens from the Pleiades by way of Atlantis."

Interview: Exposing the Culture Thieves
http://www.archaeology.org/online/interviews/watson.html

An interview with Peter Watson, co-author with Cecilia Todeschini of The Medici Conspiracy, and an investigator into the illicit antiquities and art trade, mainly in Italy. The most interesting feature of the interview is the final paragraph, in which Watson provides a short 5-point list of measures that he advises should be adopted immediately in the interests of safeguarding antiquities from further dispersal.

Travel: Visiting Aswan

http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/hdh/rtw/1147883640.html
A very nicely written and helpfully descriptive travel article about visiting Aswan, focusing on key monuments like Philae and Abu Simbel, as well as more local activities like a visit to the souq, and not forgetting the High Dam itself. The Nubian Museum, so often forgotten by travel writers, is also described: " We visited the Nubian Museum in the morning. The drowning of Nubia happened rather rapidly so the collection is small. The displays are beautifully presented and range from 6000 BC pottery bowls to exquisite 25th dynasty sculpture and statues. The displays of traditional Nubian housing and explanations of their communal thinking, property rights and marriage rituals record traditions slowly being lost as displaced Nubians assimilate with Egyptian society. There is a fascinating photographic exhibition and additional display recording the UNESCO rescue project. The gardens are magnificent, tranquil and a tourist policeman offered to share his seat in the shade with us."
See the above article for the full story.

The Hall of Ma'at

http://www.archaeology.org/0305/etc/web.html
An article on the Archaeology website, looking at one group of people's attempts to counter pseudo-archaeological arguments by using Internet technology to provide a forum for reasoned discussion: "The website takes its name from Ma'at, the ancient Egyptian principle of justice and balance, and according to its homepage aims to 'provide a well-reasoned case for the mainstream version of ancient history.' Its primary features are a collection of articles dealing with such topics as the weathering of the Sphinx and the age of Antarctic ice, as well as a lively message board where, according to site owner Reece, 'the mainstream proponents, the numerologists, the conspiracy theorists, the fence sitters, and all the others commingle and share thoughts on history.' What makes the story behind Ma'at so compelling is that its day-to-day operation relies almost entirely upon a group of archaeology nonspecialists."

The Hall of Ma'at website is a lively and welcoming discussion group - see their site for more information.

Hieroglyphs in Spain

Thanks very much to Tony Cagle's ArchaeoBlog for pointing out the English language version of this story. Egyptian hieroglyphs, drawn on Roman stone and ceramic, have been found at the site of Iruña-Veleia in northern Spain, dating to the third century AD (almost 500 years after they had begun to fall out of use in Egypt itself). The Spanish site also shown below has some good photographs.

http://tinyurl.com/gn8xf (eitb24.com)
"A 57-square metre room was found in that town, sealed as in a 'time capsule with its contents untouched,' and inside there were feeding remains and fragments of different recipients and other tools that had been used for writing. The Egypt expert of the University of Barcelona Montserrat Rius has explained that some Latin inscriptions refer to the ancient Egyptian history and its divinities, and has noted there are also hieroglyphic inscriptions 'with a perfect layout' that make experts think they were taught to children."

http://tinyurl.com/qo9v4 (terraeantiqvae.blogia.com)
Los trozos cerámicos están datados también en el siglo III. Esa escritura de los faraones se había dejado de utilizar en Egipto casi 500 años antes. En Veleia se mimaba la escritura de jeroglíficos. O, al menos, se dedicaba algo de tiempo a trazar tan complejos símbolos a mano alzada. Pero, sobre todo, se hacía casi 500 años después de que empezara a olvidarse la correcta lectura de esa escritura en su lugar de origen, a orillas del Nilo."

The full details, with images, can be found on the above website (in Spanish).

For more about the site of Iruña-Veleia in English, see:

http://www.veleia.com/ingles/yacimiento.php

(If you like to see Flash used really well, and you have Flash 8 installed, click on the Location link - nice to see Flash being used to do something useful).

UK supports Egypt's grand museum

http://tinyurl.com/pr8u7 (sis.gov.eg)

"The British government agreed Tuesday to support Egypt's Great National Museum to be built on 117 feddans along the Cairo- Alexandria desert road. Visiting British Secretary of Media, Culture and Sport Tessa Jowell said Britain must be proud to take part in this unique cultural project."

This is the entire bulletin on the State Information Service website.

Sedentism in prehistoric North Africa

http://tinyurl.com/mrs8c (journalsonline.tandf.co.uk)

The latest issue of World Archaeology (Volume 38, Number 2, June 2006) focuses on sedentism, and contains one article relevant to Egyptian prehistory: Semi-permanent foragers in semi-arid environments of North Africa by Elena A. A. Garcea: "Early Holocene foragers in North Africa provide unique responses to adaptational patterns of non-agricultural societies and they can offer intriguing answers to questions regarding relationships between sedentism, economy and sociocultural complexity. Three points are of major relevance for understanding late foragers in North Africa: first, fishing, sustained by reduced mobility, was a common practice at sites located along perennial rivers, such as the Nile, or seasonal watercourses (wadis); second, the successive shift to a food-producing economy implied the acquisition of nomadic pastoralism; third, agriculture has never been a feasible economic practice in desert and peri-desert environments."

The full paper can be purchased online, but the abstract is free of charge at the above address.

Hawass kicks up a dust storm

http://tinyurl.com/ef6ff (sfgate.com)

Article looking at both the positive and negative impressions made by teh SCA's Zahi Hawass: "Since Hawass became director of Egypt's 34,000-member Supreme Council of Antiquities in 2002, many Egyptologists agree that the feisty 59-year-old archaeologist has done more than anyone yet to bring Egyptian civilization to the world stage, appearing on cable television, writing newspaper articles, traveling the world giving lectures and launching exhibits of Egyptian treasures. . . . Hawass' critics, however, say his celebrity has turned him into an autocrat who rules the Supreme Council as if it were his personal fiefdom."

See the above page for the full story.

A moment of truth for all in antiquities

http://www.theartnewspaper.com/article01.asp?id=307

An article on The Art Newspaper website looking at the problem of museum aquisition of poorly documented antiquities, and how both source and receiving countries might change their attitudes to address the current issues: "In a new climate of respect for the rule of law on the part of museums, the source countries might on their side consider the truth of their current situation. The reality is that, despite tough protective legislation, even involving the death penalty in some countries, the world’s buried history is being lost at a faster rate than ever before, partly through organised looting, as with the tombaroli in Italy, but much more through economic development."

See the above page for the full story.