Book Review: Dame Kathleen Kenyon

Archaeology Magazine (Review by Hana Koriech)

I've shoe-horned this review into the blog mainly because it interested me, but if you want to hear the most tenuous of excuses the review says that Kenyon's initial inspiration was Gertrude Caton-Thompson, who is a particular heroine of mine. Caton-Thompson is probably best known for her work at Great Zimbawe but she did truly pioneering work in Egypt, uncovering its prehistory in the Faiyum Depression, Kharga Oasis and the area around el Badari. Kathleen Kenyon, of course, is one of the most famous figures of Near Eastern archaeology and her work is legendary. There's a short biography of her on Wikipedia.

Miriam C. Davis Dame Kathleen Kenyon: Digging Up the Holy Land, published by Left Coast Press, Inc.

No archaeologist would ever confess to not knowing the name of Kathleen Kenyon, whose legacy includes excavating the ancient city of Jericho, and whose other accomplishments and influences on the discipline of archaeology are countless. Miriam C. Davis's book Dame Kathleen Kenyon: Digging Up the Holy Land is a lively biography of "the most influential woman archaeologist of the 20th century," while providing both detailed insights into many of archaeology's most significant developments and fun anecdotes of excavations in that period.

Kathleen Kenyon was eldest daughter of the prominent biblical scholar and British Museum director Sir Frederick Kenyon, who was also connected to the Institute of Archaeology, the Palestinian Exploration Fund, the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem, and the British Academy. Surrounded by and associating with those of high social standing, and undoubtedly abundant with social connections, Kenyon ran in what Davis describes as "elevated circles." However, as the biography makes clear, it was more K's (as she was later known as) strong character of "determination" and "hard-headedness" than her social circles that determined her great successes in the field and elsewhere.

Kenyon first realized her passion for archaeology after joining Gertrude Caton-Thompson on the 1929 famous all-woman excavation of Great Zimbabwe as a photographer, at the suggestion of College Principle Margery Fry, despite K having "no intention of becoming an archaeologist."

See the above page for the full story.

Blog Update

Hello to everyone

Thanks HUGELY to Ben Morales-Correa for doing such a fantastic job whilst I was soaking up the sun and sights in Italy. You would not believe how much it has lightened my load to know that, thanks to Ben's work, I don't have to backdate the site for the past week. It is a task which takes me an absolute age to do. I can't begin to say how grateful I am.

As usual my thanks also go to fabulous Kat Newkirk for the ongoing emails with news items.

I managed to track down three of Rome's obelisks. I didn't dare sort out my entire visit to Rome around possible obelisk sightings because the friend with whom I was traveling would have murdered me. But I will update the blog at some point with the obelisk photographs. I do wonder why Bernini thought that an elephant was a suitable stand for one of the obelisks. It is a truly wonderful elephant, but a slightly bizarre stand for the stark severity of the small obelisk which sits upon it.

I'll be updating the blog again as from tomorrow. As I said previously, Ben is more than welcome to add posts to this site, so hopefully we won't have seen the last of him here, but don't forget that you can visit his blog Egypt Then and Now.

Cheers
Andie

Lowe Art Museum shows "Excavating Egypt: Great Discoveries" from the Petrie Museum

Art Knowledge News

Excavating Egypt: Great Discoveries from the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology,University College, London, is on view at the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, from June 28th through November 2nd, 2008. The major traveling exhibition tells the story of British pioneer and archaeologist, Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie (1853-1942) and his exploration of ancient Egyptian civilization. Petrie, known as the Father of Egyptian Archaeology for his innovations and contributions to the field, excavated in Egypt for well over half a century. Excavating Egypt features 221 of Petrie's most significant finds - many never before seen by the public.

Hundreds of the Petrie Museum’s most important and spectacular objects, excavated by Sir Flinders Petrie from dozens of sites, provide a unique insight into how people lived and died in the Nile Valley. Selections include decorative art from the palace-city of the “heretic pharaoh” Akhenaten and his beautiful wife Nefertiti, gold mummy masks, funerary trappings, jewelry, sculpture, and objects of daily life. Enhancing this exhibit is the Duaneteref coffin from the Bolton Museums, UK from the Bolton Museums, Archive and Aquarium in Lancashire, United Kingdom.

The exhibition also draws upon the wealth of archival material in the Petrie Museum to illustrate for the modern audience the early days of Egyptology. Photographs, excavation notes, and personal journals will bring to life the science of archaeology during its infancy, seen through the eyes of one of its greatest pioneers. Objects from the Petrie Museum’s collections will demonstrate Petrie’s innovative (for his era) archaeological methods.

See the above link for more information.

EES conference a great success!

EES

The Egypt Exploration Society Annual Conference was held in the Brunei Gallery and Suite at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London on the weekend of 22-23 June 2008. The title of the conference was ‘The Kingdom of Osiris: aspects of funerary archaeology’ and EES members and guests heard talks on a wide-range of topics from Dr Alice Stevenson, Prof Harco Willems, Dr Marleen De Meyer, Prof Geoffrey Martin, Dr Martin Bommas, Dr John Taylor, Dr Aidan Dodson, Mr Chris Naunton, Prof Rosalie David and Ms Caroline Simpson.

The Society’s Vice-Chair, Dr Paul Nicholson, chaired the conference, which was attended by over 130 members and guests, some of whom had travelled to London for the conference from as far afield as Switzerland, Belgium and the USA. The comment forms completed by members at the end of the event were overwhelmingly positive:

‘Very coherent group of lectures which complemented each other well in the chosen theme’

‘Superb weekend, well organised & managed, all speakers great stuff’

‘Excellent day and speakers’

‘A very interesting conference. The topics were well chosen and complemented each other’

‘The organisation of the 2 days and the attitude of the speakers was perfect. The staff at SOAS are very helpful and friendly. Congrats all round to the Doughty Mews team’

‘Excellent conference – really enjoyed the weekend’

‘Excellent speakers and lectures – thank you!’

Members also made suggestions (including possible topics) for future events which will be taken into consideration when these are planned. The Society is very grateful to all the speakers for their participation, and to the staff at SOAS for ensuring the success of the event.

Forthcoming EES events include a lecture by Francesco Tiradritti on the Tomb of Harwa (11 July - TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE) and study days on Deir el Medina (25 Oct) and ancient Egyptian technology (13 Dec). Please contact the Society for details: contact@ees.ac.uk, +44 (0)20 7242 1880, www.ees.ac.uk.

Unholy thefts

Al-Ahram

Thefts from Islamic monuments in the Darb Al-Ahmar area have highlighted the problem of security at Cairo's historic mosques.

Inlaid wooden panels from the minbars of Ganim Al-Bahlawan and Altinbuga Al-Maridani mosques have been stolen, and a marble relief from the Blue Mosque. Thieves were also caught red handed, attempting to make off with a magnificent ironwork grill window from the sabil kuttab of Rokaya Dudu.

"It's a terrible loss," says Gamal Abdel-Rehim, professor of Islamic monuments at Cairo University's Faculty of Archaeology. The minbar of Ganim Al-Bahlawan was among the most important in any of Cairo's monumental mosques.

"Securing archaeological sites is the responsibility of the authority to which the site is affiliated," said Abdel-Khaleq Mokhtar, director of monuments in south Cairo.

Abdel-Khaleq says the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) has repeatedly requested that the Ministry of Awqaf (religious endowments) tighten security at mosques or else hand over responsibility to the SCA. "Currently the role of the SCA is to restore mosques and then hand them back to the Awqaf. The SCA then makes only periodic checks on the buildings' archaeological features."

Sheikh Kamal Abdel-Nasser, director of Awqaf in Cairo, argues that the SCA is shirking its responsibilities. "Why does the SCA refuse to admit responsibility for their own security shortcomings and seek, instead, to blame the mosque guards?" he asks.

Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of the SCA, will hold a meeting next week with the head of the Awqaf to draw up a security plan for archaeological mosques.

See the above link for more information.

Egypt archaeologists find ancient painted coffins

Yahoo! News

A team of Egyptian archaeologists have discovered several painted wooden coffins, including some dating back to the 13th century BC rule of pharaoh Ramses II.

"These coffins were found in the tombs of senior officials of the 18th and 19th dynasties," near Saqqara, Zahi Hawass, the director of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities said on Thursday.

"Some coloured unopened coffins dating back to the sixth century BC were found as well as some coffins dating back to the time of Ramses II," who ruled from 1279 to 1213 BC, he said.

See above link for more information.

Tickets go on sale for Dallas King Tut exhibit

The Earth Times

Following the success of the first U.S. tour, which drew nearly 4 million visitors and broke records at each of the four museums it visited from June 2005 through September 2007, "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs" will return from its current London engagement to open at the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) on October 3, 2008. The exhibition will remain on view through May 17, 2009.

Proceeds generated from the world tour are being used to help preserve Egypt's treasures, including the construction of a new museum in Cairo where antiquities will be housed.

When the Tutankhamun exhibition opens at the Dallas Museum of Art, "Harry Burton Photographs" will be shown together with the exhibition for the first time. On view September 14, 2008, through May 17, 2009, this photography exhibit will feature more than 40 original prints from Harry Burton, the photographer who accompanied explorer Howard Carter on the now famous Tutankhamun expedition and documented the moment-by-moment discovery of King Tut's untouched tomb.

Additionally, "Mummies 3D: Secrets of the Pharaohs," a 22-minute 3D movie adventure that follows researchers and explorers as they piece together the archaeological and genetic clues of Egyptian mummies, will be shown in the Museum's Horchow Auditorium.

The exhibition is organized by National Geographic, Arts and Exhibitions International and AEG Exhibitions, with cooperation from the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities. Northern Trust, a global financial services firm, is the presenting sponsor of the encore tour, and American Airlines, the world's largest airline, is the official airline of the exhibition. The Dallas engagement is presented in partnership with the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau.

See the above link for more information.

King Tut "authentic reproductions" go to Las Vegas museum

Las Vegas Sun

The Las Vegas Natural History Museum, a private, non-profit institution dedicated to educating children and families in the natural sciences, today announced that it is receiving a donation of "authentic reproductions" from the Tomb and Museum of King Tutankhamen at Luxor. The King Tut Museum at Luxor Las Vegas, that is.

The gift, valued at $3 million, was made possible by MGM Mirage and Luxor President and COO Felix Rappaport, and includes the guardian statues, King Tut's sarcophagus and an array of statues, vases, beds, baskets and pottery. The 17-year-old Natural History Museum will store the items until an expansion is completed to permanently display the exhibit.

"This is the largest gift we've ever received and we're incredibly honored to be given these treasures, which were precisely recreated and reproduced by artisans using the same tools and original 3,300-year-old methods," said Marilyn Gillespie, executive director of the LVNHM in a press announcement today.

See the above link for more.

Egypt, Spain to use underwater robot to search for ancient Egyptian sarcophagus

An underwater robot will be used to search for the sarcophagus of ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Menkaure of more than 4,500 years ago off the Spanish coasts, the Egyptian MENA news agency reported on Saturday.

Egyptian and Spanish archeologists will launch the search in the historical city of Cartagena at the depths of the sea with the help of the hi-tech equipped robot, Egyptian Secretary General of Egyptian Supreme Council for Antiquities, Zahi Hawwas, was quoted by MENA as saying.

The merchant ship Beatrice carrying the sarcophagus of the ancient Egyptian king along with other antiquities sank off Cartagena in the early 19th century en route from Egypt to Britain, where some scientific studies were supposed to be conducted on them, Hawwas said.

Egypt and Spain will cooperate in a joint venture to locate the sarcophagus of Menkaure, the 5th king of the 4th Dynasty of Egypt who ruled from 2,551 BC to 2,523 BC.

First phase of Aksum Obelisk re-installation successfully completed

UNESCO

Not exactly an Ancient Egypt news, but the report is about an obelisk stolen by the Italian government of Mussolini pre World War II, its return in 2005 and its final reinstallation in its original location after 70 years.

The first phase of the re-installation works of the Aksum Obelisk, also known as Stele 2, in its original location at the World Heritage site in Aksum, Ethiopia was completed on 12 June 2008. The first of three blocks of the stele, which stands 24.3 metres high and weighs 152 tons, was successfully and smoothly mounted.

The Aksum Obelisk re-installation project, conducted by UNESCO contractor Croci Associati, is using an innovative high-technology approach, and its implementation represents a technical feat of colossal scale. The project has been prepared to ensure a zero-risk approach for the monument and the surrounding site. The successful mounting of the first block is an extremely important step confirming the soundness of the project's complex design as well as the skills of the UNESCO contractors, the construction company Lattanzi and the supervision team (Croci Associati, SPC Engineering, and MH Engineering).

The remaining two blocks will be reinstalled from 16 to 31 July 2008, one year after the start of this exceptional project.

The inauguration ceremony will take place on September 10th, the last day of the Ethiopian millennium celebrations. Photos and a press kit are available for more detailed information.

From a previous report:

The Aksum Obelisk was transported (looted) to Rome by the troops of Mussolini in 1937 and returned by the Italian Government in April 2005. Weighing 150 tons and 24 meters high, the obelisk was cut into three pieces and transported to Aksum, near its original location.

The obelisk is around 1,700 years old and has become a symbol of the Ethiopian people's identity. The significance of its return after 68 years, and the technical feat of transporting the obelisk and re-erecting it on site are on a par with other historic UNESCO projects, such as Abu Simbel, where entire Egyptian temples were removed from their original location to protect them from rising water due to the construction of the Aswan dam.

The total budget for the project is USD$2,833,985, funded by the Italian Government who also financed the transportation of the obelisk and the related studies undertaken by UNESCO in collaboration with the Ethiopian authorities and experts.

Art Deco Exhibition in the Southern Hemisphere

National Gallery of Victoria website

This winter (28 June to 5 October 2008) 2008, the National Gallery of Victoria is the exclusive Australian venue for a major exhibition of the celebrated and popular style, Art Deco. The exhibition is the most popular program ever mounted at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, which houses one of the world’s great collections of Art Deco, comprising over 300 works and covering all artistic media from painting to photography, fashion to film and architecture to jewellery. Spanning the boom of the roaring Twenties and the Depression–ridden 1930s, Art Deco came to epitomize all the glamour, opulence and hedonism of the Jazz age. It was the era of the flapper girl, the luxury ocean liner, the Hollywood film and the skyscraper.

The Australian

This short extract is about how Art Deco was influenced by ancient Egyptian Art, especially after the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamen.

Art Deco emerged in the years before 1914 in many of the cities that had embraced Art Nouveau and its development accelerated in the aftermath of World War I. It drew life from many sources: the art of ancient civilisations and the avant-garde, the exoticism of the Ballets Russes, the motifs of French tradition and the imagery of the machine age. By the early '20s Art Deco had come to represent the fast and new, the exotic and the sensual. It was a style shaped in the words of F. Scott Fitzgerald, by "all the nervous energy stored up and unexpended in the war". And although its creators tended to avoid social idealism, the style clearly reflected the tensions of wider cultural politics. Figuration became central to Art Deco practice and reclining nudes, dancing maenads or huntresses could be seen on everything from textile and poster designs to moulded glass and ceramic vessels. While Art Deco was a deeply eclectic style and designers drew from many sources, none gave the style its distinct flavour more than the use of the exotic. The arts of Africa and the East proved a rich source for both forms and materials, while recent archeological discoveries fuelled a romantic fascination with the ancient cultures of Egypt, Mesopotamia and Meso-America.

The archeological discovery that gripped the public imagination most profoundly was that of the tomb of the boy-pharaoh, Tutankhamen. In November 1922 archeologist Howard Carter uncovered an undisturbed tomb in the Valley of Kings near Luxor, one of the most important discoveries in archeological history. Funerary goods included spectacular jewellery, chariots, furniture, alabaster vessels and the fantastic gold mask and mummy cases.

These objects sparked enormous popular interest in all things Egyptian. It was, however, not so much the specific forms of the Tutankhamen pieces that were incorporated into Art Deco design but, rather, generic Egyptian imagery such as lotus flowers and buds, scarabs and hieroglyphics. The pylon and the pyramid were particularly popular motifs and appeared in many forms of decorative arts from bookbinding to jewellery.

Egypt: Pushing for Better Tourism

Zawya

Egypt is overhauling its tourism industry in a bid to bring more foreign and domestic investment to the sector.

A draft bill amendment, approved by the Egyptian parliament in June 2008, will change aspects of law 38, 1977, which regulates tourism companies. The changes include allowing foreign tourism companies to operate in the country as long as they have a minimum capital amount of LE3m ($560,000). The amendment also raises the minimum capital requirement to establish a tourism operator from LE100,000 ($18,700) to LE2m ($373,700).

Adla Ragab, economic advisor for the ministry of tourism, believes the recent measures will have a positive impact on the industry, helping to create a more competitive and professional sector. "The increase in capital will help to differentiate long term operators and those adding quality to the industry from those that are not serious about investing in tourism in the country," she told OBG.

The tourism sector is an essential part of the Egyptian economy. It employs 13% of the country's workforce and accounts directly and indirectly for 11.3% of Egypt's gross domestic product (GDP), according to the fifth Egyptian Competitiveness Report, released in 2008. It is also a big foreign currency earner for Egypt, bringing in 19.3% of foreign exchange. The government expects this figure to rise by 26% to $12bn by 2011. The report also pointed out that every LE1 invested in the sector brings in LE4 in foreign currency.

See the above page for more.

Summer Solstice

I'm off to celebrate the Summer Solstice, the Heliacal Rising of Sirius and the beginning of a new year in the Ancient Egyptian calendar. I'll be back tomorrow with more news.

How many are your deeds, though hidden from sight. O sole God without equal!
You made the Earth as You desired, You alone. With people, cattle, and all creatures.
With everything upon Earth that walks on legs, and all that is on high and flies with its wings.
The foreign lands of Syria and Nubia, and the land of Egypt,
You set everybody in his place and supply their needs.
They all have their food and their lifetimes are counted.
Tongues differ in speech, their characters as well.
Their skins are distinct, for You distinguished the peoples.
You made the Nile in the Netherworld. You bring it up when You will,
to keep those of Egypt alive, for You have created them for yourself.
Lord of All who toils for them. Lord of All Lands who shines for them.
O Aten of daytime, great in glory! All distant lands, You make them live.
You made a heavenly Nile descend for them. With waves beating on the mountains like the sea,
to drench their fields and their towns. How excellent are your ways, O Lord of Eternity!
The Nile from heaven for foreign peoples and all land-creatures that walk on legs.
For Egypt the Nile from the Duat.

If you want to celebrate along read the entire Great Hymn to Aten here.

Coils of Ancient Egyptian Rope Found in Cave

Discovery News

The ancient Egyptian's secret to making the strongest of all rigging ropes lies in a tangle of cord coils in a cave found in a hand-hewn cave at the ancient Red Sea port of Marsa Gawasis, 23 kilometers (14 miles) south of Safaga.

Discovered three years ago by archaeologists Rodolfo Fattovich of the Oriental Studies University of Naples and Kathryn Bard of Boston University, the ropes offer an unprecedented look at seafaring activities in ancient Egypt.

"The cave is really spectacular. Over 30 coils of ropes lie on the ground as if they had just been left there. Amazingly, these ropes were stored in the same way as nowadays sailors store their shipping cords -- just coiling and tighting them in the middle," archaeologist and rope analyst Andre Veldmeijer told Discovery News.

"Each cord is about 30 meters (98 feet) long and is very thick. No doubt these ropes were made for strong, heavy duties, Veldmeijer said. The theory is supported by the fact that the estimated length of the Egyptian ships is about 10 meters (33 feet) shorter than the ropes' lengths. This shows that sailors had five meters (16 feet) at both ends to tie the ropes.

The researchers believe they are the well-preserved riggings from an Egyptian seafaring expedition to the fabled Land of Punt (around present-day Somalia), in the 12th Dynasty, almost 4,000 years ago. The most famous expedition to the mysterious and exotic Land of Punt was conducted during the reign of Queen Hatshepsut and is described in bas-relief inscriptions in her funerary temple at Deir el-Bahri.

They are still puzzling over the material the ancient Egyptians used to make such a strong cordage.

Archaeologists have also found remains of ship timbers, anchors, expedition equipment, cargo boxes and pottery.

See the above link for more information and a video.

More re: Ancient Egyptian administrative building, silos unearthed in Edfu

Al-Ahram

When grain was currency

"Ancient Egyptian administration is mainly known from texts, but the full understanding of the institutions involved and their role with towns and cities has been so far difficult to grasp because of the lack of archaeological evidence with which textual data needs to be combined," says Nadine Moller, assistant professor at the Oriental Institute of Chicago University and head of the archaeological mission in Tel Edfu. At Tel Edfu, Moller says, the mission has uncovered what is considered to be a downtown centre, a community located half way between the modern city of Aswan and Luxor. Tel Edfu was also a rare example where almost 3,000 years of ancient Egyptian history are still preserved in the stratigraphy of a single mound.

"These monuments were found at the core of the ancient community as grain was a form of currency at that time, while the silos functioned as a sort of bank as well as a food source," Moller said, adding that the size of both the silos and administration buildings shows that the community was apparently a prosperous urban centre.

"Grain, which was usually barley or emmer wheat, was used as food and medium of exchange. One form of payment was the monthly ration of grain," Moller said.

The columned hall was the place where the scribes would possibly do the accounting, the opening and sealing of the containers, and receive letters.

The period when the administrative centre was in use is the time in history when Egypt lost its political unity and a small kingdom developed in Thebes which controlled most of Upper Egypt. During this period one can see an increase in connections between the provincial elite, such as the family of the governor, to the royal family at Thebes who were keen on strengthening bonds through marriage or by awarding important offices to these people.

See the above link for more

Palatial museum for Assiut

Al-Ahram

The exquisite, early 20th-century residential palace of Alexan Pasha will soon be converted into the Assiut National Museum, Nevine El-Aref reports.

The Alexan Pasha Palace stands on the Nile Corniche in Assiut, its faded decorative façades waiting for restoration. With a budget of LE18,181,000, the palace is now on Egypt's antiquities list almost a century after its construction.

Alexan Pasha built his splendid palace on the bank of the Nile in 1910, creating a garden on just a feddan around his new residence in Upper Egypt. The palace originally had three floors; the first two for Alexan's family and the top floor for the servants. The first floor has two large rooms; the eastern one being the reception hall, furnished with a number of salons in different colours, decorative motifs and styles and with European oil paintings hanging on the walls and a number of showcases filled with small European-style antiques. The second hall at the western end of the house was used as the dining room, and holds three sets of tables and chairs and three cupboards laden with silver pieces. The room was connected to a fully-equipped kitchen, and next to it an office, a bathroom and two bedrooms complete with beds and cupboards. The dining room also has an adjoining reception area and a billiard room. The second floor has a number of bed and drawing rooms.

In 1995, owing to the exquisite and unique architectural features of the house, the Ministry of Culture and the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) put the palace on Egypt's antiquities list, but the lack of money delayed all work on restoring the palace until 2004.

See the above link for more.

Unbroken story of human progress

Al-Ahram

Book Review: A History of Egypt: From earliest times to the present, Jason Thompson, Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press, 2008. pp383, 2 maps, 80 b/w photos

Here's an extract from Jill Kamil 's review:

With his new book, Jason Thompson attempts the ambitious task of covering the entire span of Egyptian history from its earliest settlers to the present day. This is the first major work of its kind, and it succeeds triumphantly. Never before has any individual tried to provide a comprehensive coverage of Egyptian history from predynastic settlements through the pharaonic, Ptolemaic, Roman, Coptic and Islamic eras, followed by the Ottoman Turks, the birth of modern Egypt, mid- nineteenth-century Egypt, the British occupation and the parliamentary era through to Nasser, Sadat and Mubarak.

A History of Egypt is a remarkable work of synthesis, cohesion, and understanding. "Egypt," he writes in his Preface, "is the most written-about land in the world, an inexhaustible source of inspiration for writers and interest for readers -- but they almost invariably concentrate on one particular period, as if hermetically sealed from each other. Yet few if any lands have as many threads of continuity running throughout their entire historical experience as Egypt. While the country has changed almost beyond recognition, one is repeatedly confronted by the paradox -- indeed the outright contradiction -- that many aspects of Egyptian culture have remained recognisably the same and can be documented across the millennia."

On his vast canvas Thompson's oversights, if there are any, are trivial and not worth mentioning. What is worthy of note is that Egyptian history can be treated as a whole, and that, by drawing on historical scholarship as well as his own research, Thompson has written a one- volume narrative of the extraordinarily long course of human history by the Nile.

A History of Egypt is an important book, a distinguished work of scholarship and of understanding. It provides an engaging one-volume narrative of the extraordinarily long course of human history, tracing how Egypt emerged from predynastic kingdoms, through pharaonic, Ptolemaic, Roman, Byzantine, Coptic, mediaeval Islamic, and Ottoman eras, to its nation-state status in the 21st century.

Let me add that the book is timely. The National Museum of Egyptian History on the pyramid plateau at Giza is well on its way to completion, and it, too, will cover under one roof the whole span of Egyptian history from the most ancient past to the present.

See the above link for the full review.

Ancient Christian "Holy Wine" Factory Found in Egypt

National Geographic

Two wine presses found in Egypt were likely part of the area's earliest winery, producing holy wine for export to Christians abroad.

Egyptian archaeologists discovered the two presses with large crosses carved across them near St. Catherine's Monastery, a sixth-century A.D. complex near Mount Sinai on the Sinai Peninsula. Although the presses have not yet been conclusively dated, archaeologists believe the tools were made between the fourth and sixth centuries A.D. Several gold coins picturing the Roman Emperor Valens, who ruled from A.D. 364 to 378, were also found near the presses. The wine presses could date to the same period, archaeologists say. Similar coins have been found in Lebanon and Syria—the areas of origin for many of the grape varieties used for wine in ancient Egypt.

The wine made near Sinai was stored in the amphorae, standard vessels of the time for shipping wine, olive oil, grain, fish, and other items. It would have been considered to be from a holy site and used in religious ceremonies—such as the Christian Eucharist—at St. Catherine's Monastery and abroad. Early Christians likely managed to grow grapevines and palm trees at the winery site because—at more than 5,000 feet (1,524 meters) above sea level—it would have been cooler than the surrounding desert.

The wine presses have 4-foot-square (1.2-meter-square) basins, where monks would have used their feet to smash grapes. A hole at one end of each press likely fed into a lower basin, which caught the pressed juice. The structures are similar to presses used by ancient Egyptians, beginning as early as 3,000 B.C., when pharaohs started a royal winemaking industry in the fertile Nile Delta.

There is no evidence, however, that ancient Egyptians produced wine in this part of the Sinai Peninsula.

See the above link for more

Ancient Egyptian administrative building, silos unearthed in Edfu

Egypt State Information Service

A US archaeological team has unearthed an ancient Egyptian administrative building and silos dating back to the 17th dynasty, in the Upper Egyptian town of Edfu," said Egypt's Antiquities Department Tuesday17/6/2008.

Sixteen wooden columns were found in the hall and show that it might be part of a governor's palace, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Zahi Hawwas said.

Pottery and seals dating back to the 13th dynasty were discovered in the hall. The seals found inside the hall are decorated with spiral patterns and hieroglyphic symbols including ankh sign, said head of the American Chicago University's mission Nadine Moeller.

The Battle of "Berrow"

www.burnham-on-sea.com

Atlantic Productions will turn the sand dunes of Berrow Beach into a desert location to recreate a chariot scene from an ancient battle involving Ramses the Great.

The filming is for a National Geographic programme about the famous Battle of Kadesh, a military engagement that resulted in a draw and produced as a result the first peace treaty between two nations.

Berrow Beach, in England's South West, is a six mile length of beach with sand dunes and firm sand, the second longest stretch of sand in Europe. The southern end of the beach will be cordoned off during the filming, June 25th and June 26th.