Ewart Hall antiquities, Cairo

Caravan, AUC

Six unnamed suspects have been charged with the theft of 145 artifacts and 50 replicas allegedly stolen from a hidden storage area under Ewart Hall, Old Campus. An investigation has been launched by the Prosecutor’s Office after the AUC administration reported the case to the authorities in March.

Meanwhile, the administration has established its own Investigation Committee to look into the matter, according to a member of the Committee and AUC’s Legal Advisor, Karim Abdel Latif.

“We don’t know if more convicts will turn up [due to the investigation],” he said, adding that not all six defendants, who have been taken into custody, are AUC employees.

Last Tuesday, the administration sent out a press release verifying reports of “what appears to be the theft of antiquities,” yet refrained from any mention of the arrests.

Caravan, AUC

The Caravan’s investigation into the recent theft of antiquities has revealed that in a period spanning several decades AUC faculty and officials collected more than 1,600 artifacts described by Egyptology experts to be ‘of no great significance’ in value.

Ironically, the theft of some of these items brought to light the previously unknown cache stored beneath Ewart Hall.

Renowned Egyptologist and professor emeri­tus Kent R. Weeks told The Caravan that “the ob­jects in Ewart Hall were acquired by then-President Richard Pederson, who for some reason thought it would be nice to have a teaching collection of an­tiquities on campus.”

Weeks said that all the objects were legally ac­quired by the university and registered at the Su­preme Council of Antiquities (SCA).

Egypt court jails officials over Van Gogh theft

Los Angeles Times

An Egyptian court Thursday jailed five officials, including a former head of the state's fine arts department, over the theft of a Van Gogh painting worth an estimated $55 million, state media said.

"Vase with Viscaria" was stolen in August from Cairo's Mahmoud Khalil museum, home to one of the Middle East's finest collections of 19th and 20th-century art.

The state MENA news agency and court officials said the five had been found guilty of "causing the theft of the painting," without giving further details.

A very ancient Egyptian Easter: Sham El-Nasim

Ahram Online

Monday 25 April marks Sham El-Nasim, in the same breath as Easter. The rituals and beliefs associated with today’s Sham El-Nasim celebrations link it directly to ancient Egyptian feasts.

Celebrated since 2700 BC by all Egyptians regardless of their religion, beliefs, and social status, the name Sham El-Nasim (Inhaling the breeze) is derived from the Coptic language that, in turn, is derived from the ancient Egyptian language. Originally pronounced Tshom Ni Sime, with tshom meaning “gardens” and ni sime meaning “meadows.”

Like most ancient Egyptian feasts, Sham El-Nasim was also affiliated with astronomy and nature. It marks the beginning of the spring festival, which is the time they believed day and night are equal, (when the sun is in the Aries zodiac) hence marking the beginning of creation. They confirm the exact date annually by sighting the sun in relation to the great pyramid. Ancient Egyptians named it The Feast of Shmo (the revival of life) and have officially celebrated it since 2700BC.

Book Review: The Last Pharaohs

Scholia Reviews (Review by John Atkinson)

As usual the page will not display in Firefox but is fine in most other browsers.

Scholia Reviews ns 20 (2011) 8.

J. G. Manning, The Last Pharaohs: Egypt under the Ptolemies, 305-30 BC. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010.

Manning, with numerous previous publications in the field of Ptolemaic studies to his credit, here plunges straight into the issues which he proposes to address, and dispenses with the customary historical survey of the Ptolemaic period. His brief historical introduction is entitled 'Egypt in the First Millennium BC’ (pp. 19-28), and picks up the story from the end of the New Kingdom, giving more space to Persian rule than to the period of Alexander and Ptolemy. This is appropriate as he identifies with the trend in scholarship over the last three decades to lay greater stress on Egyptian culture in the Ptolemaic era, and on Persian administrative practices (p. 2).

Photo for Today - Medinet Habu

Apologies for the late post, nearly a week after my previous one. I've been running around like a headless chicken for the last few days, partly with the launch of Egyptological and partly with making preparations for coming up to Wales for a couple of weeks and meeting up with old friends over the last two days before going off somewhere else in Wales tomorrow. It has been somewhat chaotic to say the least! Things have calmed down a lot now.

A very happy Easter to all who celebrate it.

You may find the posts somewhat Hawass-laden due to the twin controversies of the court case and the clothing line, but this was unavoidable.

To complement Owen's story about Coptic graffiti I have
chosen a photograph of the some of remains of the Coptic town of Jeme today.
Jeme was built into the remains of Medinet Habu,
and fragments of it remain in mudbrick, surrounding
the temple precinct.

Blog update

You will find today's news posts underneath the announcement about the launch of Egyptological, which was originally posted yesterday lunchtime (and which I wanted to keep near the top for obvious reasons!).

Egyptological launches

After several months of development Kate Phizackerley and I are very pleased to announce that we are ready to invite writers and photographers to contribute to the first issue of our free online magazine, Egytpological. There is some sample content published already, so do give it a look.

In order to appeal to a wide audience Egyptological is divided into three main sections - Journal, Magazine and Colloquy - representing academic and more popular interests. As well as articles we will publish book, conference, exhibitions and DVD reviews. Have a look at the sample articles in some of the sections to give you an idea about what sort of material we hope to attract.

We are aiming to publish issues every two to three months in the Journal and Magazine sections, but we will add brief pieces and short reviews to Colloquy as they become ready.

If you represent an Egyptology society have a look at our Events calendar and let us know if you would like us to add upcoming activities, study days or lectures. Our Photo Album section is aimed at readers who would like to share their photographs with readers for an issue.

Finally we have two projects under construction, both of which are part of the Egyptological family of websites – Hieropaedia and Egyptopaedia. Hieropaedia is currently available for use and will be developed further. It includes hieroglyph plug-ins for WordPress which will be essential if you want to use hieroglyphs on Egyptological, but can be used anywhere on WordPress and will eventually become available for other platforms. We are developing Hieropaedia as a portal for anyone learning and using hieroglyphs. Egyptopaedia will be our Encyclopaedia of Egyptology. Read more about it on the Egyptopaedia page on our website.

If you are either an experienced writer or just starting out, and would like to contribute to Egyptological we would be interested to hear from you. If you have already talked to us about contributing we will be in touch with you individually. To find out more about contributing, see our detailed guidelines in the Write For Us and Contribute Photos sections on the site.

We are looking for volunteers to help us run Egyptological and Egyptopaedia and to assist with editing and translations. If you have an interest in Egyptological and have a little time have a look at our Volunteers Wanted page.

If you want to keep an eye on our progress you can follow us on Twitter or subscribe to RSS via our Follow or Subscribe page.

To see more about Egyptological see our About section. To find out more about Andrea Byrnes and Kate Phizackerley see our Founders section.

Egypt's Antiquities Caught in the Revolution

The Middle East Quarterly, Spring 2011, pp. 73-78 (Alexander H. Joffe)

The initial spasm of images from the Cairo Museum shocked observers. As tens of thousands of demonstrators confronted the security forces in what quickly evolved into the first popular revolution in Egypt's history, the museum was ransacked in a scene reminiscent of the looted tombs of ancient Egyptian kings. A statue of Tutankhamun astride a panther was ripped from its base but then cast to the floor when thieves discovered it was gilded and not solid gold. A boat model from a tomb was smashed, the figures huddled in the boathouse pulverized but the navigator at the bow still pointing sadly forward. Two mummies were beheaded, mouths agape; it was rumored that they were Tut's grandparents.

At the Cairo Museum, a statue of Tutankhamun astride a panther was ripped from its base but then cast to the floor when thieves discovered it was gilded and not solid gold.

The extent of the chaos was unknown but ominous. Egypt's antiquities were suddenly caught up in a revolution. But those antiquities have always been both a tool to create Egypt and Egyptians in the present as well as a telling map of Egyptian society.
Conflicting Narratives

A second narrative quickly appeared. In this one, the police, military, and most importantly "everyday Egyptians," joined together to protect museums and sites. Farid Saad, a 40-year-old engineer, was quoted as saying, "I'm standing here to defend and to protect our national treasure."[1] The nation was united in protection of its past.

More work by the EES Delta Survey

EES Delta Survey

With photos.

Thursday again and the last working day of the week. We’ve continued investigating some of the high mud-brick walls, though some of the chunks of what look like mud-brick are deceptive. In some cases what has survived is a wall with fill beside it which contains some fallen or displaced bricks, but isn’t actually part of an articulated wall itself. It is just what was left when people stopped work, digging away the mud bricks to use as fertiliser on the fields.

Although the site has many low mounds which (on the surface at least) appear to contain mainly burned bricks, there are no extant red brick walls standing on the site, though there are a few chunks of burned brickwork on the surface.

New research shows 3,500 year old tomb contained infants who suffered from disease, Valley of the Kings

Unreported Heritage News (Owen Jarus)

It certainly wasn’t a tomb for a pharaoh.

New research presented recently at the annual meeting of the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE) shows that a tomb in the Valley of the Kings, KV 44, contained the remains of infants who were suffering from disease. The skeletons of adult women were also found but no men.

The tomb was first discovered in 1901 by Howard Carter who found it to be looted and containing “rubbish.” Its design is remarkably simple, consisting of a shaft entryway and chamber with no apparent decoration on the walls.

It was constructed at some point during Egypt’s New Kingdom period (3,500 to 3,100 years ago), a time of great prosperity that saw the valley become populated with the tombs of pharaohs. During the 22nd dynasty (around 2,900 years ago) it was re-used, housing a woman named Tentkerer.

In the 1990’s a team led by Professor Donald Ryan, of Pacific Lutheran University, excavated the tomb and found skeletal remains. Recently another team led by Dr. Jerome Cybulski, of the Canadian Museum of Civilization, examined the skeletons and made some surprising finds.

Returned Shabti Wrongly Identified

Talking Pyramids (Vincent Brown)

The four stolen museum pieces that were recently recovered have already caused quite a stir in the couple of days since their mysterious return. News reports have mocked the official story which stated that they were “accidentally” found in an unidentified black bag at the subway by an employee of the Ministry of State of Antiquities Affairs (MSAA). Bloggers and Egyptologists have also been scratching their heads over this astounding account of recovering these four items.

British archaeologist Paul Barford took issue at the report’s claim that the shabti was returned “undamaged” when there is clearly a long crack down it’s front. Paul noticed this crack is not apparent in images of the shabti taken prior to it’s theft and seems to has appeared since then.

Egyptians continue protecting their ancient heritage

The Art of Counting

There is no doubt that many Egyptian sites have suffered terribly in the last months, and there is really no way of knowing what we have actually lost. Information unrecorded and objects not photographed are truly lost when destroyed. However, it seems that control is being regained. Dr. Hawass has already petitioned the Egyptian authorities to remove all illegal constructions that have been erected during this unsettled time, foreign archaeological expeditions have returned (such as those at Saqqara and Abusir) to assess their sites or never stopped working in the first place, and tourists are again visiting Egypt’s museums and monuments. More data will continue to emerge from archaeological expeditions and antiquities authorities; much of it will surely be devastating to hear, but it is a relief to have verified information after weeks of rumors. No matter what, we must be grateful for what has survived the millennia and all the events that separate their context from ours.

Egypt’s Chief Archaeologist Defends His Rights (and Wrongs)

Biblical Archaeological Review (Hershel Shanks)

On Sunday, January 16, I interviewed Zahi Hawass in his office in Zamalek, the elegant Cairene island in the Nile and home of the Gezira Sports Club, from which Hawass commanded an army of 32,000 employees as secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. The following Thursday, I left Egypt. And five days later the mass protests erupted that would topple the government of Hosni Mubarak. As part of an effort to save his thoroughly despised regime, Mubarak appointed Hawass Minister for Antiquities. One blogger described Hawass’s appointment this way: “Zahi Hawass, the bombastic, clownish pseudo-archaeologist who has tyrannized, bullied, and manipulated Egyptologists and Egyptian Villagers alike for years now, today officially accepted President Hosni Mubarak’s appointment as Minister of State for Antiquities.” On March 3, Hawass resigned but was reappointed in March (see sidebar).

But my interview with Hawass was before all this. True, Hawass was widely vilified—but also widely admired. The New Yorker called him the “international star of Egyptology … at the intersection of archaeology, show business and national politics.”

The New York Times, on the other hand, had characterized him as “obnoxious.” He threw “tantrums,” the Times said, at his subordinates. I was also aware, as the Times put it in another article, “He has been taken to task for his critical statements about Jews.”

I found him confident, overbearing, domineering, brash and loud. But he was also sometimes reasonable and often even charming.

Rumors About a Tunnel Between the Cairo Museum and AUC

drhawass.com (Zahi Hawass)

Over the last few months I have heard many rumors that no one ever mentioned before. Lately I have heard a story that there is a tunnel that runs from the Cairo Museum to the campus of the American University in Cairo in Tahrir Square. People are saying that this imaginary tunnel is used to take antiquities from the Museum to the University to be stored at the University. I used to laugh when I heard this rumor, because it is not true and I do not know where people come up with these stories.

I think I have found a possible basis for where this story came from.

Video: Nicholas Reeves - Behind the Mask of Tutankhamun

You Tube

See the video on the above page. Here's the caption:

Nicholas Reeves, Sylvan C. Coleman and Pamela Coleman Memorial Fellow, Department of Egyptian Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The magnificent gold headpiece from Tutankhamun's tomb is the best-known Egyptian artwork in the world today. Hear Nicholas Reeves discuss recent scholarship on this exquisite mask, as he reveals the astonishing secret of this object's original intent.

Online Resource: Baked Clay Figurines and Votive Beds from Medinet Habu

The Oriental Institute

Baked Clay Figurines and Votive Beds from Medinet Habu
Emily Teeter

This catalog presents the entire corpus of 272 baked clay figurines and votive beds excavated at Medinet Habu in Western Thebes by the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago during its 1926-1933 campaign. The figurines represent women, women with children, men, deities, and animals. They date from the sixteenth century B.C. to the ninth century A.D., illustrating permanence and change in themes of clay figurines as well as stylistic development within each type. The group of votive beds and the small stelae made from votive bed molds are among the largest and most diverse collections of such material. Each object is fully described and illustrated and is accompanied by commentary on construction, symbolism, and function.

Hawass meets employees

Ahram Online (Nevine El-Aref)

During his meeting today with representatives of the employees of the Ministry of State for Antiquities Affairs (MSAA), Zahi Hawass as minister discussed the current issues facing the organisation. The meeting discussed how to improve the ministry, to raise salaries, and secure better health insurance and other benefits.

“We are also planning to enforce stricter rules concerning bonuses, which will be granted only to hard workers,” Hawass told employees, adding that the ministry will also equalise its pay scale, so each position earns a fair salary according to effort. A finance committee has also been created to investigate how to raise salaries.

Hawass announced during the meeting that the ministry will give scholarships to employees based on qualifications, also taking into consideration those with special needs or health issues.

Photos of scans looking for mummy disease

National Geographic

Slideshow.

An unidentified Egyptian mummy dated back to between 688 and 332 B.C. slides into a CT scanner as part of a recent study of ancient disease.

The mummy was among 52 from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo subjected to medical scanning by a joint U.S.-Egyptian team. The tests revealed that almost half of the dead have clogged arteries associated with a condition called atherosclerosis, which can lead to heart attack or stroke.

One of the mummies, a princess who died about 3,500 years ago, is now the oldest known case of the arterial disease, the researchers say.

"If the princess was in a time machine and I was to see her now, I would tell her to lay off the fat, take plenty of exercise, then schedule her for heart surgery," said study co-leader Gregory Thomas, a professor of cardiology at the University of California, Irvine. "She would require a double bypass."

Egyptology News goes audio!

You can now listen to Egyptology News. I am very interested in making online content available for the visually impaired so I have added an Odiogo feed to Egyptology News. Thanks to Kate Phizackerley for pointing me at Odiogo.

Just click on the "Listen Now" icon at the head of each post to listen to it.

The voice used is male and American whereas I am female and English, but that scarcely seems to matter! This seems like an excellent solution and I hope that people find it useful. The only serious downside is that I only post experts from articles so if you want to gain access to the entire article you will still need to click the link to go to the source, which is very unlikely to have an audio option. Still, rather better than nothing!

So far Odiogo seems to be doing a great job of dealing with Egyptian and other difficult names. I was worried about how it would handle block quotes but it picks them up, announcing opening and closing quotes to let you know which material is quoted and which isn't. For anyone planning to use the audio alternative instead of reading the text it will be helpful to have a good grasp of how I format the content on the blog in order to listen out for the title, the source website, any comments and the block quote etc.

I hope that we will be able to add something for Egyptological eventually.

If you try it, or pass it on to someone visually impaired to try, please can you let me know how you or they get on with it? I would be most grateful for any feedback. andie [at] oddthing . co. uk.

Aerial view of the pyramids of Abusir

drhawass.com

A wonderful photo of the pyramids of Absuir from the SCA Archives, on the above page.