A guide to ancient Egyptian London

The Eloquent Peasant (Margaret Maitland)

This is a super post from Margaret Maitland, with an interactive map of London (U.K.) showing all the key buildings and monuments which have been directly influenced by ancient Egyptian art and architecture. Here is an extract from Margaret's post:

London has always had a fascination with ancient Egypt dating back to the ‘Egyptomania’ of Victorian times and today the city is recognized as one of the foremost centres of Egyptological research. . . . Google recently added a new feature that allows you to make your own customized maps, so I decided to compile a list of all the Egyptological places in London, many that I love and others that I hope to visit soon myself.

I live in London and am looking forward to using her map to go and visit these places, only a few of which I have actually seen.

Do visit Margaret's blog, which is updated approximately monthly - you won't be dissapointed because the emphasis is on quality rather than quantity: Other recent posts by Margaret on her blog include:
Egyptological theories magically become fact in news stories
A modern Atlantis: ancient Kush to be sunk by dam project

New Book: Le Premier Nome de Haute-Égypte du IIIe siècle avant J.-C. au VIIe siècle après J.-C.

Brepols Publishers

G. Zaki 2007
Le Premier Nome de Haute-Égypte du IIIe siècle avant J.-C. au VIIe siècle après J.-C. d'après les sources hiéroglyphiques des temples ptolémaïques et romains. Étude de géographie et d'histoire
Fondation Egyptologique Reine Elisabeth

Le premier des territoires administratifs pharaoniques qui, à la suite des Grecs, reçut l'appellation de nome est né d'une géographie historique créée par les conditions mêmes de l'existence humaine dans le Sud de l'Égypte. Lié, dès les origines, aux confins de l'Afrique orientale et à la limite naturelle de la Vallée que forme la dernière cataracte qui barre le cours du Nil, il était aussi le réceptacle du miracle vital de la crue annuelle. Ce phénomène naturel fut tenu par les anciens Égyptiens comme une preuve de la sollicitude divine envers leur nation et les lieux où il se manifestait acquit une sacralité sans égale. Plus de trois millénaires durant, l'histoire de la région méridionale, conséquence de sa nature de porte stratégique de la Nubie et de l'Est africain, marqua le destin de l'Égypte elle-même.

Daily Photo - Amarna at the Ashmolean

In the recent news, the Nefertiti bust in the Berlin Altes Museum has been found to have bags under her eyes, and wrinkles. Unfortunately I've never been to Amarna, but here are a pair of photographs of Amarna period artefacts from the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, U.K.

Nefertiti and Meritaten

Amarna princesses

More re wrinkles found on the Nefertiti bust

Expatica

Maybe wrinkles are not so bad after all, some German scientists have discovered.

In ancient times, such laugh lines and wrinkles around the mouth improved the face of Nefertiti, the Egyptian queen acclaimed as the world's most beautiful woman. X-ray pictures of the bust by a computer tomography machine at the nearby Charite Hospital in Berlin revealed that the sculpture is a piece of limestone with details added using four outer layers of plaster of Paris. "We have discovered that the sculptor later added gentle wrinkles to her face, especially around the eyes," said Dietrich Wildung, director of the Museum of Egyptology housed in the upper storey of the Altes Museum. "The wrinkles make the image more individual and expressive."

The scientists speculate that Nefertiti, who would have sat for the sculptor, herself approved the older look. Scientific motivationThe 3,000-year-old bust of Nefertiti is the greatest treasure at Berlin's Altes Museum. Wildung said he received the revelation a year ago that the serene face, which today lacks one eye, was not quite as smooth as it looked.

More on Hosni nomination to UNESCO

State Information Service

Culture Minister Farouk Hosni Sunday 12/8/2007 called on Arab countries to concur on a single candidate for the post of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) director-general. "If there is more than one Arab candidate, the chances that an Arab will land the prestigious job will be slim," he said in statements after a meeting with the working group tasked with campaigning for his nomination.

"Meantime, President Hosni Mubarak contacted French President Nicolas Sarkozy to garner France's support and he got an initial approval," the Culture Minister said. He said nominations for the post will be raised at an Arab foreign ministerial meeting on September 5 as well as meetings of the Arab culture ministers in Algiers in November.

See the above page for the full story.

New Book: Atlas of Cultural and Environmental Change in Arid Africa

Heinrich Barth Institut Bookshop

I don't know exactly when during the year this book was released, but it was new to me at Poznan in early July.

The Atlas of Cultural and Environmental Change in Arid Africa is edited by Ofaf Bubenzer, Andreas Bolten and Frank Darius and published by the Heinrich-Barth Institute (Koln 2007). It is the 21st in the Africa Praehistorica series.

This is a fabulous book that breathes quality as soon as you turn the first page. It is full of colour illustrations, maps, diagrams and photographs which complement the excellent papers beautifully. The pages are so large that details on the diagrams and maps, which might have become lost in smaller publications, are clearly visible.

Unfortunately, the above site does not list the contents of the book, and it would take me too long to type them up myself. However, the contents are divided into five sections, containing 59 papers, a full bibliography and a set of fabulous satellite photographs. The sections are as follows:

• Reconstrucing environment and human occupation
• Landscape and land use
• Routes and trade
• Language and space
• Economic and deomgraphic change

The text is in English, but a booklet containing a German version of the text is contained within a pocket in the back cover.

New Book: Archaeology of Early Northeastern Africa

There's no URL to introduce this new book, because I was unable to locate one. The Poznan Archaeological Museum, who publish the series, have not updated their website with this, the latest (9th) issue in the important Studies in African Archaeology series. In addition, I have been unable to find it for sale in any of the usual outlets, so it is possible that the book is not due for general release yet. However, it was being sold at the Poznan 2007 Symposium in early July, and I have a copy on my desk, so it certainly exists!

Archeaology of Early Northeastern Africa is a massive book, with 1061 pages of text, photographs and illustrations. It consists of a series of contributions to the previous conference by Karla Kroeper, Marek Chlodnicki and Michal Kobusiewicz, and is dedicted to the much-missed Lech Krzyzaniak, who died in 2004. It is dedicated, as the title suggests, mainly to the prehistoric period (including the Predynastic and Early Dynastic, in Egyptian terms).

The contents are divided into seven sections:

• Sudan
• The Sahara and the Western Desert of Egypt and the Sudan
• Oases
• Egypt
• Libya
• Varia

I would be here forever if I tried to type of the contents (which is why I was rather hoping that Poznan had updated their website). In small typescript, the list of contents and contributors extends over four pages. There are 57 papers in all, plus an alphabetical list of contributors. There are also three forwards commemorating the life of Lech Krzyzaniak and his work, together with a bibliography of his publications.

My one worry with this book is that I may not live long enough to read it from cover to cover. I haven't had the chance to sit down with it for long, due to other distractions, but I cannot wait to get stuck in to it!

More re Cairo corruption case

Egypt Daily Star

A brief piece saying that Farouk Hosni is making no statement about the corruption case until it has proceeded through the required legal processes:

Culture Minister Farouk Hosni will take no sides on a recent corruption case involving two of the ministry's top employees, Ayman Abdel Moneim and Hussein Ahmed Hussein, Ahmed Salah, the ministry's spokesman told Daily News Egypt.

Both Abdel Moneim and Hussein are being investigated for taking bribes and for using their positions in the ministry for personal gain. "Our work in the ministry is seen by the public and that is why when there are mistakes everyone can see them just as they see our successes," Salah said.

He also indicated that Hosni is in no position to comment on whether or not the two suspects are guilty because "the issue is currently in the hands of the Egyptian authorities and the legal system, which gives no one the right to interfere and say his opinion on the matter."

Tutankhaman tomb family's museum gift

Watton and Swaffham Times
A Norfolk museum has received a gift of paintings linked to the archaeologist who discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun.They are the work of relations of the Egyptologist Howard Carter who grew up in Swaffham.

The four pictures have been loaned to Swaffham Museum by Susan Allen, from Swaffham, and they include two landscape scenes by William Carter.

A third painting, that is signed by Henry Carter and dated 1916, is of Sporle Road House, in Swaffham. There is also a picture of a foal in a forest by HW Carter that was painted in 1885.

The Swaffham Museum is located in Norfolk, U.K. and has its own website.

Egyptian Math Problems

Let's Play Math! (Denise)
This is a blog devoted to mathematical problems. This rent post on the blog takes a problem from the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus:

This week’s page from my old newsletter contains a math “magic trick” from the Rhind papyrus and three Egyptian calculations to translate and solve. As a bonus, I have thrown in one of my Math Club students’ favorite games. Enjoy! Egyptian math puzzles (pdf, 53KB)

To solve these puzzles, you will need to know how to translate Egyptian hieroglyphs and how to do the Egyptian scribe’s method of multiplication. If you missed them, here are the earlier posts in this series:

Alexandria Jones and the thief in the night
Not essential, but sets the stage for the later story.
Egyptian math in hieroglyphs
How to translate hieroglyphic numbers
Alex’s puzzling papyrus
How to multiply the Egyptian way.

See the above page for more.

Daily Photo - Hatshepsut Red Temple at Karnak

A number of people have said that there are not enough photogrphs on the blog. The problem is, of course, that I have no rights to the photos that accompany the news items that I cover, and would be violating copyright if I reproduced them without permission. But I agree that a few more pictures would liven things up a little, so I'm going to upload a different photograph from my own collection every day - either from Egypt or from museum collections. I will try to make them relevant to any of the news items that I post, but if I can't then I'll simply post something nice!

Here's the first pair - there's nothing more topical than Hatshepsut at the moment, so this is a photo of Hatshepsut's Red Chapel at the Karnak Open Air Museum in Luxor, named for its walls of red quartzite.

Hatshepsut Statues on Special View

Suite 101 (Stan Parchin)

Thanks very much to Robert Espino for sending me the above link.

Stone portraits of ancient Egypt's Queen Hatshepsut have found a temporary home in the Sackler Wing at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Two granite statues of ancient Egypt's Queen Hatshepsut (reigned ca. 1479-1458 B.C.), who ruled as a pharaoh, are on view temporarily in the Sackler Wing, home of the cult Temple of Dendur (ca. 15 B.C.), at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. They'll return to their nearby gallery this Fall when its renovation is completed. The Eighteenth Dynasty monarch has been in the news as of late. Pending DNA test results, evidence strongly suggests that a mummy now in Cairo's Egyptian Museum is that of the controversial ruler.

See the above page for more.

For those interested, the Met has a lovely online photo album of the 50 best items from the Egyptology collection.

Museums and theater have a lot in common

Redlands Daily Facts (Carey C. Smith)

Thanks to Kat for sending this article to me. It mentions the touring Tutankhamun exhibtion, in passing, as an example of the way in which museum exhibitions have taken a lot from theatrical design approaches, and the real interest of this light-hearted piece lies in the exploration of the relationship between the two worlds. The article is not specific to Egyptology but it may be of interest to anyone who is intrigued by the development of blockbuster exhibitions, and how they are evolving.

Shakespeare wrote, "All the world's a stage" and never was there a more apt metaphor when designing exhibits for the San Bernardino County Museum.

In fact, theater and museum design share many common traits. In essence, a museum exhibit is a set for inanimate objects. And let's not forget the root of the word museum, "house or place of the muses," where the works of theater, among other fine arts so highly prized by the ancient Greeks, were stored. Every museum in the world now incorporates some element of theater in its displays and exhibits. Visitors to the recent King Tut exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art were treated to an entryway lined with fiberglass golden lotus pillars, each dramatically lit with brightly colored spotlights. Theater! At the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit in San Diego, guests can walk through a cave and an archeologist's desert campsite complete with props, sound effects and atmospheric lighting. Theater!

As in the theater, experiential and environmental exhibit designs are an important aspect of an interactive experience. The contemporary museum visitor expects an engaging experience that seems or is authentic. Large spectacle Broadway musicals, theme parks and Las Vegas casino resorts have contributed greatly to this concept of environments that appear authentic and engage visitors. This interest has led to many theatrically related enhancements to the world of exhibits design, and companies that provided materials and equipment exclusively for performing arts venues now include major museums on their client roster.

See the above page for the full story.

National committee formed to support Hosni UNESCO nomination

State Information Service

A national committee has been formed comprising the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Culture and Higher Education to implement a plan supporting Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni's nomination for the UNESCO director general post.

The Foreign Ministry has started sending messages to foreign ministries of other countries and the UNESCO's 58-member Executive Council, with the minister's CV attached. The plan covers actions to be taken and timetable to be set till the elections in 2009 as well as actions on the political, cultural, social and humanitarian levels.

There are considerations governing the nomination of any figure for an international position, including the status of the country of the nominee and his international contributions, diplomatic sources said, adding that the Egyptian nominee has fulfilled both considerations.

New committee to oversee Cairo heritage conservation

State Information Service

Culture Minister Farouk Hosney decided to form a higher committee under the leadership of first under Secretary of State for financial and administrative affairs with the aim of supervising and proceeding work in Cairo's historical project, and the projects achieved within Cultural Development and Al-Nouba's Monumental Funds.

Farouk Hosney said on 10/8/2007 that the committee includes nine specialists from the University Professors, engineers, archeologists and administratives for following up the work in these national projects that shouldn't be delayed. The work in Cairo's historical project started since 1992 by value of LE 850 million. In addition, there is a
supervision of Al-Nouba Monumental Fund and the Cultural Development Fund which support many artistic, cinematic and cultural activities in several domains.

Exhibition: artefacts to travel to Mexico

State Information Service

The Culture Minster Farouq Hosni accepted to hold an exhibition of the Egyptian antiques in Monterrey City and Mexico City in Mexico during the period from next September 20 until June 15 2008 under the title "Isis and the snake with feathers… Ancient Egypt.. Mexico before the Spanish era".

Dr. Zahi Hawwas, the Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities said that the exhibition includes 144 pieces of exhibits museums Egyptian and Greek and Roman Luxor, Nubia and the Karnak and Dandarah regions; pointing out that Egypt will get $ 1.6 billion physical back at & 800 thousand for each city, and if the number of the visitors exceed 800 thousand will get 25% of the revenue.

New Book: The Mathematics of Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, India, and Islam

Princeton University Press

The Mathematics of Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, India, and Islam: A Sourcebook
Edited by Victor J. Katz
Section Authors: Annette Imhausen, Eleanor Robson, Joseph W. Dauben, Kim Plofker & J. Lennart Berggren

In recent decades it has become obvious that mathematics has always been a worldwide activity. But this is the first book to provide a substantial collection of English translations of key mathematical texts from the five most important ancient and medieval non-Western mathematical cultures, and to put them into full historical and mathematical context. The Mathematics of Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, India, and Islam gives English readers a firsthand understanding and appreciation of these cultures' important contributions to world mathematics.

The five section authors--Annette Imhausen (Egypt), Eleanor Robson (Mesopotamia), Joseph Dauben (China), Kim Plofker (India), and J. Lennart Berggren (Islam)--are experts in their fields. Each author has selected key texts and in many cases provided new translations. The authors have also written substantial section introductions that give an overview of each mathematical culture and explanatory notes that put each selection into context.

Stolen Egyptian artefacts handed over to consulate

The New York Sun (Bradley Hope)

A stolen4,500-year-old Egyptian relic that was to be included in a Christie's auction last year was returned to the consulate yesterday and will soon head to Egypt, officials said. The duck-shaped, alabaster vessel was last year spotted on Christie's auction list by Interpol, which notified Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In October, investigators obtained a seizure warrant and Christie's turned it over.

The consul general of Egypt to New York, Sherif El-Kholi, received the vessel in a ceremony early yesterday. "Today our two countries send a message to those who mistakenly perceive cultural theft as a low-risk/high-return business," the acting director of the ICE New York field office, Salvatore Dalessandro, said. "National artifacts and cultural treasures are not for sale to the highest bidder."

The vessel and a similar piece were excavated in 1979 at the pyramid of Amenemhat III, the sixth ruler of Egypt's 12th dynasty. An Egyptologist with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Dieter Arnold, was the archaeologist who discovered them. He could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Egypt arrests top culture officials for taking bribes in antiquity projects

International Herald Tribune

Egypt arrested and charged with bribery Thursday two ranking officials at the Culture Ministry for taking kickbacks from the construction companies restoring the nation's antiquities, a security official said.

Ayman Abdel Moneim, the director of the Cultural Development Fund and the No.2 man in the ministry, and his colleague Hussein Ahmed, were being questioned Thursday by prosecutors, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.

No further details on the nature of the charges or the companies involved were given.

See the above page for further details.

Travel: Nile Cruise

Adelaide Now (Jessica Hurt)

Aswan was originally known as Swenet, a frontier town of ancient Egypt. Its quarries were celebrated for their stone, especially the granitic rock called syenite. Their stone was used in the colossal statues, obelisks and shrines which are found around Aswan and throughout Egypt today – including the pyramids. You can still see traces left by quarrymen in the area about 3000 years ago. Aswan also was known as a military station.

Like most Egyptian towns, Aswan life centres around the bustling bazaar. We arrive just before dinner, when the market comes to life. There are more locals here than tourists. The women, covered head-to-toe, come to buy fruit and vegetables and choose from woven baskets with a huge selection of spices, from chilli to indigo. Stall owners cry out to the passing trade – enticing patrons with their crafty wares.

See the above for more.

Saturday Trivia

Oil Barrel Pyramid to be Built in UAE

Waleg.com

Pyramids abound in the Middle East. How would you feel if you were told that these thousand years pyramids are about to be added with one more? This is very likely because artist Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude revealed their plan to create a new pyramid somewhere in the vast desert of UAE. But unlike the most admired Pyramid of Giza and other pyramids, this won’t be made of bricks and sand but of oil barrels! This planned pyramid of oil barrels which they called as the Mastaba project would be 150 meters high and would be composed of approximately 390,500 barrels, stacked right on top of each other! If this pyramid of oil barrels materializes, it’s said to survive for 5,000 years. They are still waiting for approval from the UAE government. Previously they have already tried building this pyramid in Texas and Netherlands but so far it has not become a reality. So they are hopeful about this new venture in the UAE.

Children's Book Review: Alex & Penny In Egypt: The Mystery of the 9 Scarabs
Craig Daily Press

It was translated into English by Sarah Ponting. The book is second in a series of “Alex & Penny” books. The first was “Alex & Penny Ballooning Over Italy.” That’s when the twins (possibly about 12 years of age) discovered the mysterious World Secret Agency. Now they’re going to be special agents for the agency.

Via a special screen in a magic computer, special director Cornelius Misterius gives Alex and Penny instructions. They are to investigate a secret tunnel in the Sphinx in Egypt.

So the twins board a special hot air balloon that’s equipped with a supersonic engine. They’re in Egypt in a flash.

At the Sphinx, Alex and Penny meet up with Nefer, an Egyptian boy from ancient Thebes, and his cat Mew. Nefer needs help which requires finding nine scarabs. The search takes the three youngsters (and Mew) all across ancient Egypt.

Learning about this time in history is the purpose of the book.

New settlement at Bahariya

Al Ahram Weekly

On the same page as the northern Sinai article (page down to find it) Nevine El-Aref takes a brief look at the discovery of a new settlement at Bahariya Oasis in the Western Desert.

Last week the area of Garet Al-Abiyad in Bahariya Oasis was the focus of world archaeological news. During a routine archaeological survey, a Czech archaeological mission from Charles University in Prague stumbled upon what is believed to be an Old Kingdom residential settlement. The key that led to the discovery was the first sand layer accumulated on the site mixed with heavily-eroded potsherds. Below it, directly adjoining the bedrock, archaeologists unearthed remains of mud-brick buildings and two fireplaces. Digging further down, according to the mission director Miroslav Barta, artefacts dating from the Old Kingdom were found including domestic pots, pans, flat-bottomed flasks, bread baking trays, low bi-conical stands and falcate bowls.

He added that team members had also unearthed an unusual food vessel with significant marks of cooking both inside and outside. The vessel is composed of two clay cups with flat bases moulded together with a height ranging from 8-12cm each.

Barta said early studies on the pottery had not determined the exact date of the finds, but all could be dated back to the Old Kingdom and most likely were from the Sixth Dynasty.

See the above page for more details.

Mummies in Brooklyn Museum To Undergo Scientific Study

Brooklyn Daily Eagle

The Brooklyn Museum Conservation Laboratory is beginning a study of the human and animal mummies in the Museum’s collection, using the tools of modern-day scientific investigation to reveal new information about mummification practices in ancient Egypt thousands of years ago.

The project will bring together scientists from the Brooklyn Museum, the Getty Conservation Institute in Los Angeles and the University of Bristol in England. It will begin with the X-ray fluorescence (XRF) of the first-century C.E. mummy known as Demetrios, which will be a part of the forthcoming exhibition “To Live Forever: Egyptian Treasures from the Brooklyn Museum.”

X-ray fluorescence will allow analysis of the painted surfaces associated with the wrapping of mummies, including painted linen bandages and shrouds. Preliminary results have shown that the red paint used on the Demetrios mummy may have been made, in part, from components imported from Spain. The lead in the paint is suspected to have come from a Spanish silver mine, but it remains unclear whether the paint itself was manufactured there or, alternatively, whether if the lead ingredient was traded to Egypt with the paint then produced locally.

See the above page for the full story.

Northern Sinai

Al Ahram Weekly

Nevine El-Aref takes a look at the historical importance of the route from Egypt accross northern Sinai and describes various New Kingdom forts as well as the newly discovered New Kingdom fortress of Tharos in North Sinai. The article is accompanied by photographs.

The fortified city of Qantara East (Sharq) in North Sinai is often hailed by historians as Egypt's eastern gateway to the Nile Delta. Its chequered history is a reminder of several military clashes from Pharaonic times to the early 1970s. . . .

Early in 2000, however, the town achieved repute as an extremely fruitful archaeological site when a number of ancient Egyptian monuments and artefacts came to light after a massive archaeological excavation project carried out by three archeological teams from Trinity University in the US, the Sorbonne in France and the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA). These achievements came within the framework of a salvage operation of Sinai monuments caused by the threat posed to scores of sites by the new Al-Salam (Peace) Canal.

Over the past seven years the remains of several ancient objects have been discovered, among them a mud-brick temple, a number of bronze and limestone coins and scarabs featuring Osiris and Horus, and a cachet of limestone reliefs bearing the names of two royal personalities and two seated statues of differing sizes. The larger statue is made of limestone and belongs to a yet unidentified personage, but from its size and features archaeologists believe that it could be a statue of Horus, the god of the city. Weapons, pottery shards, grain silos, stables, storerooms, a dormitory for soldiers and dwellings were also discovered, along with military fortresses, citadels, churches, amphitheatres and baths. Slowly the idea of developing the Horus Road as a tourist attraction gained momentum.

At Tel Al-Farama (Pelusium) and the neighbouring sites at Tel Al-Makhzan and Kanais, which probably formed parts of Greater Pelusium, were also subjected to excavation work along with the area around the ancient port, the amphitheatre, the Byzantine church and the ruins of three more churches dating from the fourth and fifth centuries. The Horus Road was, of course, also the highway along which Christian pilgrims travelled, and there were churches from Rafah to Pelusium.

See the above page for the full story.

Cairo under siege

Al Ahram Weekly (Nevine El-Aref)

Following its meeting in New Zealand last month, the World Heritage Committee (WHC) released a report that may exacerbate differences between the Ministry of Culture and the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) on one hand, and UNESCO on the other.

In the report, WHC members reiterate their concern over the lack of progress in implementing the recommendations of the 2002 International Symposium on the Conservation and Restoration of Islamic Cairo which include: designating Islamic Cairo as a Special Planning District, with buffer zones, in accordance with the provisions of the Operational Guidelines; preparing a comprehensive urban plan for the conservation and development of the old city with appropriate development regulations to encourage the rehabilitation of the urban fabric and ensure its compatibility with the historic character of Islamic Cairo and organising regular meetings between Egyptian and international experts to review current conservation issues and projects.

See the above page for the full story.

Story of the fake Fabyan mummy

Kane County Chronicle

Beyond suits of Japanese armor and a stuffed shark, it lies silently, wrapped in coffee-brown linen strips, clutching what appears to be an infant. A leg bone protrudes, and the Mummy of Fabyan Villa bares its teeth. However, unlike mummies from the movies, the Fabyan Villa mummy isn’t cursed and has never walked.

In fact, the Fabyan Villa mummy is a fake that contains one bone – from a dog.“For the time period, it was certainly a good fakery,” said Lynn Dransoff, director of the Fabyan Villa Museum, in the Fabyan Forest Preserve. “It was thought for many years to be real.”

In 1982, an expert examined the mummy, and an X-ray revealed the truth.

The fake mummy originally was owned by George Fabyan, a wealthy Chicago businessman who used the villa as a summer retreat.

There's a photograph of the fake mummy on the above page.

Tourism: Attractions of Sudan

Xpress (Shatha Khalil)

A photo gallery of eight pictures accompanies the article.

Sudan, Africa’s largest nation, may not be a conventional place to go on holiday but it has lots to offer tourists and is untouched by the millions of visitors who explore its better known neighbour.

A drive around Khartoum, the capital city, will take you through history to a time when the British ruled this rich state.

Khartoum was home to Al Mahdi, the leader of Sudan’s resistance against British colonial rule in the late 19th century, and his residence still stands in the city.
Be sure to pass by the presidential palace to greet the guards, who will acknowledge you with different gestures every time – a gun raised in response, a salute or even a brief march-past. . . .

Getting away from the main cities is a good way to make the most of this vast country. A trip to the north will take you through barren desert but will also allow you to marvel at some of the untouched villages that line the route to the pyramids at Meroe.

Though smaller than those in Egypt and not as well maintained and protected, the Sud-anese pyramids are worth visiting for anyone with an interest in ancient history.

Hawass Dig Days - Scholars who love Egypt

Al Ahram Weekly

Zahi Hawass on the subject of foreign academic interest in the ancient Egyptian heritge:

Scholars from all over America gather to discuss the history and archaeology of Egypt. There are many universities in the United States whose programmes are considered among the best in the world for the study of Egyptology. When I took a Fulbright Scholarship to study in the States, I chose the University of Pennsylvania. One day, I was sitting in the laboratory when I met a lady who was working for a busy colleague of mine. The lady looked at me and said, "where are you from?" I replied, "from Egypt." The lady laughed, and said, "you are here in America to study Egyptology?"

Many people do not know that Egyptology was essentially invented by great scholars from France, Germany and America.

Book review: Excavating Egypt

About.com

I am fairly sure that I've featured this review previously, but new visitors may be interested (an anyway, its Petrie!). There are some lovely photographs accompanying the article:

A Special Exhibition Catalogue Review by Stan Parchin

Excavating Egypt: Great Discoveries from thePetrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, University College London
Trope, Betsy Teasley, Stephen Quirke and Peter Lacovara, et al.
Excavating Egypt: Great Discoveries from the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, University College London (exh. cat.).
Atlanta, GA: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2005.

Books dealing with both ancient Egyptian art and its scientific study rarely strike a balance in their treatment of the two topics. From an art historian's perspective, Excavating Egypt: Great Discoveries from the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, University College London excels in its even coverage of both subjects. This highly readable catalogue for the special exhibition of the same name describes in 205 pages more than 160 works of art and artifacts from a renowned British collection. The show's United States tour began in April 2005 at Emory University's Michael C. Carlos Museum in Atlanta, Georgia and continues through June 2009. The objects are explained in 12 richly illustrated chapters that deal with various aspects of ancient Egyptian art and material culture: chronology; sculpture; archaeology; sites; weights and measures; daily life; writing; arts and crafts; ceramics; funerary works; tools and weapons; and faience and glass objects.

First and foremost, Excavating Egypt... is the story of the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, founded through bequest in 1892 by writer Amelia Edwards (1831-1892) at University College London.

See the above page for the full reivew.

For details about the fabulous Petrie Museum in London, U.K. click here.
The photograph on this page is copyright of the Petrie Museum.

Review: More re Mummies - Secrets of the Pharaohs

Brisbane Times

Egyptologist Professor Colin Hope, a Senior Lecturer at Monash University and Honorary Associate with Museum Victoria, says we have much in common with this ancient culture which was largely built around a belief in life after death. "They seem to have been concerned about the same things that we're concerned about," he says. "About humans' place in the universe, what are we about, why are we here? So they're speculating on the things that we're speculating on."

Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs is a short film that's educational and entertaining in equal parts, though some creative license may have been taken with regard to historical accuracy.

The giant IMAX screen and computer technology puts you in the middle of iconic locations like the Valley of the Kings, Luxor and the temple of Abu Simbel, and lets you get up creepily close and personal to some rarely viewed mummies - including Rameses II himself.

More re Farouk Hosni nomination for UNESCO

State Information Service

Visiting Italian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Ugo Intini has expressed satisfaction over Egypt's nomination of Culture Minister Farouk Hosni for the post UNESCO President. Intini says that his country supports Hosni as President of UNESCO. Meanwhile, Hosni has approved a $2-million deposit into UNESCO's account to prepare a blueprint for the old-Cairo development project. The sum would be used to hire an international firm to survey the area.

Damqatum (Newsletter of the CEHAO) - Fall 2007

Damqatum, Fall 2007 (English)
Damqatum, Otoño 2007 (Spanish)

Damqatum, the newsletter of the Centro de Estudios de Historia del Antiguo Oriente (CEHAO) is available online at the above address. The lead article is: Of Kinship and Gods in Ancient Egypt: An Interview with Marcelo Campagno by Virginia Laporta. It is an extensive piece, spanning three and a half pages.

Argentinean Egyptologist Marcelo Campagno, Professor of the University of Buenos Aires and Researcher of the CONICET (Argentine National Research Council), has been one of those researchers that have focused attention on the origin of the Egyptian State and the role of the ideology of kinship in the development of the state institutions. This is an interview with Campagno, after is research residence in the prestigious Warburg Institute (London, United Kingdom), in which he tell us about his career in the Egyptology and current investigations.

See the above page for the interview, and other articles about Near Eastern archaeology.

Ancient Egypt

http://www.ancientegyptmagazine.com/
Thanks to Bob Partridge for the following update. The August/September issue of “Ancient Egypt” magazine (published in the U.K.) is now available.

This issue is also available as an electronic version which can be found at the above address. This may be useful for anyone with a broadband connection who may have difficulty in getting hold of a paper copy of the magazine, or who might want to see a copy before subscribing.

Contents of this issue include;

• News from Egypt: The magazine’s Egypt Correspondent brings the latest news from Egypt which includes new discoveries at Karnak, the recording of ancient rock art in the Eastern Desert, work at Saqqara and a newly restored statue of Amenhotep III.
• Queen Tiye: Marshall Hindley recounts the life and times of the great Royal Wife of king Amenhotep III.
• New views of the temple of Luxor: AE reports on the recent civil engineering works, new excavations and conservation work in and around the temple of Luxor.
• Statues of Akhenaten: A look at the many enigmatic colossal statues of Akhenaten surviving from his temple to the Aten at Karnak.
• The Dakhleh Oasis Project: The fourth of the reports on the important and revealing work being done in the Oasis. This article looks at the Roman Town of Kellis, located in the heart of the Oasis.
• Ancient Egyptian Technology: The third and last in a series of articles by Denys Stocks shows how the ancient Egyptian had mass-production techniques for cutting and carving the hardest of stones.
• Per Mesut: For younger readers: This issue Hilary Wilson looks at ancient Egyptian Picnics.

Book Reviews:

• Akhenaten and Tutankhamun, by David P. Silverman, Joseph H. Wegner and Jennifer Houser Wegner.
• People of Ancient Egypt, by Charlotte Booth.
• Napoleon’s Pyramids, a novel by William Dietricht.
• The Rosetta Stone, by John Ray.
• The Great Belzoni, by Stanley Mayes.
• The Exiled collector: William Bankes and the making of an English country house, by Anne Sebba.
• The Gayer-Anderson cat, by Neal Spencer.
• Egyptian Games and Sports, by Joyce Tyldesley.
• Lords of Avaris, by David Rohl.
• Who Really Killed Alexander the great – An Archeo Biological Solution, by Rick Baudé.
  
  Plus other Regular Features, including: Egyptology Society details for the UK and many overseas societies and full listing of forthcoming lectures and event in the UK from August to October.
  
  Coming in Future issues: A number of articles which on Tutankhamun and related subjects, to coincide with the opening of the “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaoh’s” exhibition in London in November.

Ethnicity of Tutankhamun

Philadelphia Weekly

For Mukasa Afrika, it’s another blow in a continuing assault.

In June 2005 National Geographic magazine featured the reconstructed image of King Tutankhamen on its cover. The headline read: “THE NEW FACE OF KING TUT.” The young pharaoh had light eyes, a pointy nose, thin lips and a golden caramel hue. In the search for King Tut’s true identity, scientists in France, the U.S. and Egypt conducted three separate reconstructions that yielded three different kings: one Caucasian, one African and one Afrika mockingly calls “Arab-Caucasoid.” It’s this one, reconstructed by the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Egypt under the leadership of Dr. Zahi Hawass, whom Afrika accuses of constantly excising Egypt from Africa, that has become famous, and is now on display at the Franklin Institute Science Museum, the final stop on the king’s current U.S. tour.

Afrika, 32, tells stories from African history and culture with the ease with which most people discuss last night’s American Idol. He speaks in the slow, assured manner of someone twice his age, and there’s no doubt in his mind the boy king was African. “The mummy itself is evidence that King Tut is African,” he says. He adds that paintings found in king’s tomb show he had deep brown skin. Also the king’s 18th dynasty descends from Thebes, located in the southern part of Egypt, making his family lineage African. He also points to the famous golden mask in which the king has almond-shaped eyes, a rounded nose and full lips.

See the above page for more.

Disputed mummies returned to SCA

Daily Star

The Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) has received eight bird mummies, previously at display at the corporate office Al-Mahala Textile factory. In a press release sent to Daily News Egypt, The council announced the end of the dispute between the state-owned company and the council over the antiquities.

Three of these mummies belong to bird-shaped god of wisdom, Djehuti, and the other five are identified with the god Horus, in the shape of a falcon, said Dr. Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the SCA. The mummies are estimated to date back to the late Ancient Egyptian era and the early Greco-Roman period. Since 1927, they have been at display at the corporate offices of Al Mahala Textiles.

Following an agreement between the ministers of culture and investment, the mummies have been transferred to the SCA. The SCA has agreed to provide the company with a replica of the collection to replace the genuine one, which is currently at display at the Egyptian Museum.

See the above page for a photograph of the mummified remains.

Exhibition: Gifts for the Gods: Images from Egyptian Temples

Huliq.com (Ruzik Tuzik)

Overview of a new exhibition, which is due to open at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in October, and looks like an absolute cracker, focusing on the importance of metal working (running from October 16, 2007–February 18, 2008):

Opening at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on October 16, 2007, Gifts for the Gods: Images from Egyptian Temples is the first exhibition ever devoted to these fascinating yet enigmatic works. On view will be some 70 superb statues and statuettes created in precious metals and copper alloys including bronze (an alloy of copper and tin) over more than two millennia.

Through their long history, the ancient Egyptians used copper, bronze, gold, and silver to create lustrous, graceful statuary for their interactions with their gods – from ritual dramas in the temples and chapels that dotted the landscape to festival processions through the towns and countryside that were thronged by believers. The exhibition will bring to New York masterpieces from around the world, including seven extremely rare inlaid and decorated large bronzes from the first half of the first millennium, the so-called Third Intermediate Period (1070 – 664 B.C.), the apogee of Egyptian metalwork. Among these will be the astonishing bronze statue of the priestess and noblewoman Takushit, the treasure of the Egyptian Collection of the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. Measuring some 27 inches (70 cm) in height and covered with a luminous latticework of divine figures and imagery in precious metal, this work has never before left Greece.

New book: The Rosetta Stone and the Rebirth of Egypt

Harvard University Press

An excerpt from John Ray's new book The Rosetta Stone and the Rebirth of Egypt is available online at the above address, in PDF format. A description of the book can also be found on the HUP website at the following adddress, although it gives no indication of how this book differs from others that cover the discovery of the stone and the subsequent efforts to decipher it:
http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/RAYROS.html
John Ray is Herbert Thompson Professor of Egyptology at Cambridge University, and is also a Fellow of Selwyn College.

Travel: 10 things to do when you go to Egypt

The New Zealand Herald (Anya Kussler)

A list, with descriptions, of ten things that the author recommends that tourists visiting Egypt should do. She covers a range of activities, from visiting the Giza pyramids and the Valley of the Kings to drinking coffee, eating sweet pastries and dodging Cairo traffic.

More re Hatshepsut mummy identification

Egypt Today (Cache Seel)

See the above page for the full story, which is accompanied by photographs

The search for Hatshepsut unearths more questions than answers, but makes for great TV . . . Before the results of the DNA tests were received, the idea was hit upon to scan the box containing Hatshepsut’s canopic jar. The box was sealed shut, but the three-dimensional scan revealed a molar. Molars have two roots; the one in the box only had one. This made the task of matching it to a mummy that much easier. The scan of the mummies showed that the tooth did in fact come from one of them; the only mummy Hawass ever took from the Valley of the Kings. “I am 100 percent certain that we have discovered the lost mummy of Queen Hatshepsut,” he declares excitedly.

But some Egyptologists, while acknowledging that the results are promising, have voiced fears that he rushed to conclusions. Mitochondrial DNA is the DNA passed from mother to daughter. Samples have been taken from Hatshepsut’s grandmother to be compared against the mummy now believed to be Hatshepsut. The initial results have been called promising, but conclusive proof takes months. When final, these results will prove beyond any doubt whether or not she is Hatshepsut.

Journal of Archaeological Science

Science Direct
The most recent issue of JAS (October 2007, Volume 34, Issue 10, Pages 1555-1762) is available online. Abstracts are free of charge and full papers are available to purchase as downloads in PDF format.

In this issue there is a paper about ancient Egyptian faience: A technological study of ancient faience from Egypt (Pages 1568-1583) by M.S. Tite, P. Manti and A.J. Shortlandd. The abstract is as follows:

The chemical compositions and microstructures of some 35 faience objects from Egypt spanning the period from the Middle Kingdom through to the 22nd dynasty are determined using analytical scanning electron microscopy. Replicate faience beads glazed in the laboratory using the efflorescence and cementation methods are similarly investigated. In efflorescence glazing, there appears to be preferential efflorescence of soda over potash, and in cementation glazing, preferential take up of potash over soda into the glaze. These data are then used to try to infer the raw materials and methods of glazing employed in the production of the ancient faience. The glaze/glass phases present in the faience differ significantly in composition from that of New Kingdom glass. This could be due either to the use of different plant ashes or to changes in the composition of the plant ashes during the production of faience and/or glass. Although it is only rarely possible to determine with certainty whether ancient faience was glazed by efflorescence, cementation or application, the observed microstructures provide an indication of the approach adopted to achieve desired performance characteristics such as strength.

There is also an article from the previous issue, Volume 34, Issue 9, Pages 1347-1554 (September 2007), which I missed: Migration in the Nile Valley during the New Kingdom period: a preliminary strontium isotope study (pages 1391-1401) by Michele R. Buzon, Antonio Simonetti and Robert A. Creaser:

The value of strontium isotope analysis in identifying immigrants at numerous archaeological sites and regional areas has been demonstrated by several researchers, usually by comparing 87Sr/86Sr values of human tooth enamel and/or
bone with the local strontium isotope signature determined by faunal and environmental samples. This paper examines the feasibility of using 87Sr/86Sr ratios to investigate residential mobility in the Nile Valley region, specifically at the New Kingdom period (1050–1400 BC) archaeological site of Tombos (ancient Nubia). Archaeological and textual information regarding this period indicates that immigrant Egyptians and local native Nubians were likely interacting at this site during a period of Egyptian colonial occupation. The results of this study suggest that non-local individuals may be distinguished from locals using 87Sr/86Sr values and that colonial agents in the Tombos population were probably both local native Nubians and immigrants.

Archaeological Diggings magazine August/September 2007

The latest issue of Archaeological Diggings, the Australian-based archaeology magazine, is now available, featuring a number of Egyptology related articles, including:

• Marleen De Meyer in the Tomb of Henu at Deir Al-Barsha, with photos of the tomb as it was first found.
• Marie Carter on Ancient Egyptian Magic
• More details on the recent finds at Saqqara in Leiden
• Cleopatra's Egypt: Greek & Romans on the Nile
• News from Cairo

Blog Updates

Good morning to all

Life is back to normal and I am reuninted with my computer - I have backdated the blog to include older news items, and daily updates will be resumed! Thanks to all for bearing with me. Huge thanks as usual to Kat Newkirk and Chris Townsend.

A big hello to all whom I met for the first time during the last four weeks - it was a genuine pleasure to meet so many like-minded people. To the chap sitting in front of me in Hieroglyphs (I didn't get your name) - you will never be forgiven for the introduction to Judd books. I am now nearly bankrupt! :-)

All the best

Andie

CT scan on North Shore University Hosptial mummy

New York Times

The corpse had no broken bones, its skull was intact, and it had a full set of teeth. There was no evidence of a vitamin deficiency or previous trauma. And the bony tips of the fingers allowed examiners to rule out degenerative diseases. “The normality of it all is what is so surprising,” said Dr. Lawrence Boxt, the director of cardiac MRIs and CT scans at North Shore University Hospital here, as he surveyed images on a series of computer screens. He may have died a quiet, natural death.”

As Demetrios, a 2,000-year-old Egyptian mummy belonging to the Brooklyn Museum, lay on the table of the “64-slice” CT scanner, a cluster of art curators, conservators and medical specialists looked on, riveted by the macabre spectacle. While mummies have been subjected to CT scans for more than two decades, it was a first for the museum and for North Shore. The goal was to gain insights into who Demetrios was, how he died and what his mummified remains might tell them about Egyptian funerary practices.

Dr. Boxt immediately dismissed one hypothesis. These were not the bones of an 89-year-old man, as some had inferred from the number inscribed, along with Demetrios’ name, on the ancient red shroud encasing his body. He was certainly far younger when he died: in his 50s at most, the radiologist said.

See the above page for more details, with photographs and a slideshow.

Touts fight push for hassle-free Egypt tourism

The Age

IT IS early morning and the alleyways of Nazlet al-Saman, the mini-suburb of horse and camel stables below the Giza plateau, look like the Wild West. The sunlight, which is just beginning to cut through Cairo's haze, creates searchlights in the dust kicked up by hundreds of horses and camels being ridden, often at breakneck pace, by young, whooping Arab tourists.

Quietly and patiently, Saeed Abu Saleeb leads his three horses through the pandemonium, avoiding the four-wheeled-motorbikes and the honking Hummers. Mr Abu Saleeb is an Egyptian tout, one of a small army of notorious, largely loathed, hawkers who scrape together a living offering rides around the pyramids for about $4 an hour. To most people, he is an annoyance — he routinely gets the finger and a curt order to "f--- off". To his wife and three children he is the source of a meagre family income. To the Egyptian economy, he is one little cog in a giant machine of tips, bribes and kickbacks — the infamous baksheesh — that makes the nation tick.

And in his eyes, he is a kind of anachronism whose livelihood is under constant pressure in a growing and changing city.

See the above page for the full story.

Book review: Lost Oasis - In Search of Paradise

Guardian Unlimited (review by Toby Lichtig)

Robert Twigger's latest travel odyssey is a search for a fabled oasis in the Egyptian Sahara. As in Voyageur, which mirrored the 18th-century Scottish explorer Alexander Mackenzie on his journey across North America, Twigger is following in famous footsteps: the search for 'Zerzura', he tells us, 'drove the exploration of the eastern Sahara'. Harding King, Ralph Bagnold and Count Almasy (of English Patient fame) all pursued it, though none found it. Twigger realises that it probably doesn't exist, but Zerzura is just a pretext. His real fascination is with the desert itself. He and his family have abandoned suburban Oxfordshire for Cairo; now, he simply seeks 'vastness in the face of human confusion and brain fatigue'.

Unusually for a travel book, not a huge amount happens in Lost Oasis. Twigger goes on a few expeditions into the Sahara. He builds a special trolley for his baggage. He has trouble getting hold of maps and becomes enmeshed in the Egyptian bribery system. He meets a host of colourful characters, including megalomaniac tour guides and Dutch explorer Arita Baaijens.

See the above page for the rest of the review.

Documentary Review: Mummies - Secrets Of Pharaohs (in Chicago)

Huliq.com

Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs brings to life ancient wonders, historic intrigue and a modern-day forensic adventure, all in one eye-popping new film that opens at the Museum of Science and Industry’s domed, five-story screen through February 2008. . . .

Filmed by award-winning director Keith Melton (Mystic India, Cirque du Soleil) and renowned cinematographer Reed Smoot (Mysteries of Egypt, Mystic India, Shackleton’s Antarctic Adventure), with a screenplay by Arabella Cecil (Kilimanjaro: to the Roof of Africa), Mummies features breathtaking scenes of natural beauty and stunning locations combined with incredible CGI sequences, lavish sets and period recreations that immerse viewers in different eras of Egyptian history.

IMAX cameras capture sweeping images of the swirling desert sand dunes and dramatic rocky cliffs of the Northern Sahara and the real wonders of Egypt at key historic sites with treasures honoring Egypt’s most prolific pharaohs. Mummies takes viewers on a journey back thousands of years, to the age of the great pharaohs, to explore why mummification was so vital to ancient Egyptian life.

See the above page for the rest of the review.

Toutankhamon Magazine August/September 2007

Toutankhamon Magazine

Thanks to Francois Tonic for the details of the August/September 2007 issue of Toutankhamon magazine (issue 34):

• Une tombe inviolée à Deir el-Barsha !
• 150 ans d'archéologie en Égypte
• La renaissance de Karnak
• Aventurier: Le temple du Thoth Berg
• Le trésor de Toutankhamon
• Les origines de la civilisation égyptienne
  

Exhibition: To Live Forever: Egyptian Treasures from the Brooklyn Museum

Huliq.com

The Brooklyn Museum has organized an exhibition of 107 objects from its world-renowned holdings of ancient Egyptian art that will go on a nationwide tour beginning in the summer of 2008 and conclude in the fall of 2011.

The presentation, titled To Live Forever: Egyptian Treasures from the Brooklyn Museum, is slated to travel to more than ten venues.

One of the primary cultural tenets through thousands of years of ancient Egyptian civilization was a belief in the afterlife and the view that death was an enemy that could be vanquished. To Live Forever includes objects that illustrate a range of strategies the ancient Egyptians developed to defeat death. It explores mummification and the rituals performed in the tomb to assist the deceased in defying death, as well as examining what the Egyptians believed they would find in the next world.

The exhibition contrasts how the rich and the poor prepared for the hereafter. The economics of the funeral are examined, including how the poor tried to imitate the costly appearance of the grave goods of the rich in order to ensure a better place in the afterlife. . . .

Among the venues to which the exhibition will tour are the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the John and Mable Ringling Museum, the Columbus Museum of Art, the Chrysler Museum of Art, the Phoenix Art Museum, the Joslyn Art Museum, the Norton Museum of Art, and the Frist Center for Visual Arts, with additional venues to be announced.

See the above page for the full story.

Saturday Trivia

Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas to shed its Egyptian image

The Mercury News

The black and bold Luxor opened in 1993 as an architectural tour de force - the tallest structure on the Strip, attracting camera-toting tourists as well as design intellectuals who would write books and teach college courses discussing the building's commercial and psychological appeal.

It wasn't the first theme hotel in Las Vegas (its closest neighbor: a medieval castle), but was still an instant icon, what with a 10-story sphinx guarding the entrance and the Earth's strongest flashlight beaming into space from the pyramid's apex. Inside, the Egyptian theme was executed to extreme and comical limits even by Las Vegas standards. Talking mechanical camels greeted guests entering a cavernous atrium accented with statues of pharaohs, images of King Tut and bazaars selling papyrus artwork and scarab beetle jewelry. Tour guides gave commentary along the faux Nile River as miniature barges carried guests down a slow-moving water ride - past blackjack and craps tables.

And then, as Las Vegas cooled on architectural themes, the Luxor seemed as stale as yesterday's mummy. So now they're throwing millions of dollars into a major renovation. The goal: take the Egypt out of the pyramid to make it even more compelling for today's tourists. Over the next year, the new Luxor will look decidedly more contemporary - or at least less Egyptian.

Nile - a band with an Egyptian theme
Tulsa World

Nile’s Karl Sanders sings about mummies, the secrets to eternal life, pyramids and other things drawn from his research into Egyptology. . . . His band, which pairs images steeped in Egyptian mythology with the writings of H.P. Lovecraft, brings its mind-numbingly complex music, chock full of breakneck starts, stops and dive-bomb guitar solos, to Cain’s Ballroom’s second stage Tuesday . . . .

Nile’s fifth album, “Ithyphallic,” released July 17, shows the band continuing an epic style and musicianship first showcased in 1998’s “Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka.” “Ithyphallic,” with songs from “As He Creates So He Destroys” to “Eat of the Dead,” refers to a symbol common in Egyptian statuary depicting gods with exaggerated parts of their bodies, something said to denote virility, creativity and strength, Sanders said.

Tomb Raider Chronicles
Tomb Raider Chronicles

Eidos has released a new collection of conceptual artwork and illustrations showcasing the Cat Mummies, Lara Croft's more than able adversaries in Tomb Raider Anniversary. Developed by Crystal Dynamics, Tomb Raider Anniversary is out now for Sony PS2 and Windows PC, with versions for Nintendo Wii, Sony PSP and Xbox 360 in the pipeline. The game is based on a realisation of the original 1996 adventure and depicts a global search for a mystical artifact known only as the Scion. The Tomb Raider series is still one of the best selling videogame franchises of all time with over 32 million copies sold and two major feature films released, starring Angelina Jolie. Follow the below hyperlink to collect our latest offering of polygon-rich media, and stay tuned as we mobilise our Tomb Raider 8 content in the very near future.

The Professor's Daughter
Bookslut

Set in Victorian London, Sfar and Guibert's story rather matter-of-factly sets up a romance between Lillian, the beautiful and freedom-yearning daughter of a wealthy professor, and Imhotep, an Egyptian mummy who's been dead (in a way) for about 32 centuries. The professor, you see, keeps a number of mummies in his collection and doesn't like to let them out of his sight. But the regal Imhotep is no more fond of following orders than Lillian, and so they find trouble strolling about London in the daylight, she in her Sunday finest and he in one of the Professor's suits and all his bandages like The Invisible Man going promenading. It's all rather grand and romantic in a light, Anne Rice sort of way, and about as logical. Trouble follows, and the lovers must hit the road, much to the professor's dismay at losing his daughter to a mummy ("You are the property of the British Museum. You are dead. Stay out of this.").

Book Review: Mummies and Death in Egypt

Bryn Mawr Classical Review (review by Allen Kerkeslager)

Françoise Dunand, Roger Lichtenberg, Mummies and Death in Egypt.
Foreword by Jean Yoyotte.
Translated from the French by David Lorton.
Cornell University Press, 2006

Françoise Dunand and Roger Lichtenberg have a long record of publications related to the topic of this book. They are best known for their research on Graeco-Roman Egypt, especially archaeological excavation in the region of the el-Kharga oasis. Consistent with the encyclopedic breadth and judicious interpretive skill found in their previous work, Mummies and Death in Egypt offers excellent surveys of both the history of mummification in Egypt and how mummies are studied using current scientific methods. . . .

Among some of the book's more specific contributions, specialists in Graeco-Roman Egypt will be quick to grasp the importance of Dunand and Lichtenberg's observation that the study of mummies complements the use of other resources for studying ancient demography (pp. 173-75). Papyrology and epigraphy have provided important sources for statistical data on average age at death, ratio of males to females in various age groups, and other data that illuminate the demography of ancient Egypt. Recent applications of scientific methods to the study of large numbers of provenanced mummies found in excavations have provided a completely new source for the kind of statistical data that is most useful in addressing such issues. Thus it is especially valuable to discover that some of the data derived from the study of mummies is similar to the results of the study of census returns by Bagnall and Frier (p. 173).

David Lorton has performed a great service in producing a clear and readable translation of such an excellent book. Many readers will probably stumble over a few of the medical terms in the later chapters that are not defined in the text or the glossary. However, this will not prevent the book from serving as an easily accessible textbook or supplementary reading for students at all levels, from high school to the graduate level. The book can be recommended to the widest possible audience of general readers, students, and advanced scholars.

See the above page for the complete review.

"Gentrified" Egyptian Burial Chamber Discovered in Abusir

National Geographic

A recycled burial chamber with unusual decorations has been discovered just south of Cairo, archaeologists announced today. The chamber may offer further proof of how the nobles of Egypt's 26th dynasty (664 to 525 B.C.) "gentrified" the 2,000-year-old necropolis, or vast burial grounds, of their 5th-dynasty predecessors. The necropolis had fallen into disrepair in the intervening millenia.

The monuments were part of a complex built about 4,500 years ago during the 5th dynasty's brief reign, from 2498 to 2345 B.C. The necropolis then served the nobles of Memphis, Egypt's ancient capital. Twenty centuries later, the site was revived by a new generation of Egyptian nobles, who wanted to be buried near the temples of Saqqara, said Miroslav Verner of the Czech Institute of Egyptology in Prague. "We believe it is the proximity to the complex of sacred installations in north Saqqara"—just half a mile (one kilometer) away—that led to the building of new tombs at Abu Sir, said Verner, who has been researching the region for decades.

The above page has a photograph of some of the inscriptions within the sarcophagus.

Xinhuanet

The grave of a royal guard of the 26th dynasty, which dates back to about 2,500 years ago, was unearthed by an Egyptian-Czech archaeological mission in the south of Cairo, Egyptian Minister of Culture Farouq Hosni said on Thursday.

A large limestone sarcophagus, which enclosed yet another casket, was discovered while the archaeologists were excavating in search of yet-to-be discovered Pharaonic monuments in Abu-Sir area, about 27 km south of Cairo, said Hosni. The embedded box is made of diorite and has on it inscriptions from the Book of the Dead, he added. The grave, which belongs to Menkhep-Nikaw, also houses funereal furniture, including faience pots, good-luck amulets and carnelian stones, Hosni said.

Zahi Hawwas, Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, said the new discovery proved Abu-Sir to be a virgin area, with many Pharaonic mysteries still buried under its earth.

Tourism: Volume of tourist investments hit LE 100 billion

State Information Service

"Investments in tourism domain reached now LE 100 billion," Minister of Tourism Zuhair Garana said during the inauguration of a resort in Ain Al-Sokhna area. The investments included 187,000 hotel rooms, the minister said adding that another 143,000 rooms are under construction. The Ministry of Tourism seeks to solve the problems of the defaulted projects, Garana said. A plan is being carried out to promote the Egyptian resorts abroad, the minister added. Egypt's tourism revenues now reached $ 10.5 billion, Garana noted.

Nefertiti and the Lost Dynasty

La Cañada Online

Last week, National Geographic aired a documentary that explored a controversy that has been brewing for many years: Has Nefertiti's mummy been found? For Dr. Susan James, author and La Cañada resident, this mystery has been part of her life since she wrote her first article about the issue in 2001. "The program was an investigation of two female mummies that were transferred from a tomb," James said.

The show, "Nefertiti and The Lost Dynasty," examined two mummies archeologists call the Elder Lady and the Younger Lady. They were discovered in a tomb named KV 35 in the Valley of the Kings in the late 1800s . . . .

James, who is a historian with a PhD in British History, found the Elder Woman when she was looking through a book on mummies years ago. As she researched the mummy, she found many similarities between her and Nefertiti. She wrote a paper on her deductions."I got some really good feed back," James recalled. . . .

The experience with the National Geographic filming was new for James. She wasn't certain what questions would be posed by the interviewer. "I got the questions just 45 minutes before being filmed," she said. "I didn't have any restrictions on what I could say, but you don't have any control of what is in the program or how it is edited."

Franklin Museum Welcomes Millionth Ticket Holder to Tutankhamun

Huliq.com

Just weeks after celebrating its one millionth visitor of 2007, The Franklin Institute sold the one millionth ticket for “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs," putting the museum on track to become the most successful venue on the exhibit’s current 27-month U.S. tour. . . .

Solidifying its place in Philadelphia's history, the King Tut exhibition broke previous records in March, 2007, when it became the most well attended museum exhibition in the city's history with more than 616,000 tickets sold or reserved since going on sale on November 8, 2006. Since opening in June 2005, "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs" has drawn more than 3.6 million visitors, setting records in each city it has visited, including Los Angeles, Fort Lauderdale and Chicago.

See the above page for more.

LASM mummy's sex, age uncovered

Gonzales Weekly Citizen

BATON ROUGE - The 2,300 year-old mummy affectionately known as the Princess of Thebes since arrival at the Louisiana Art & Science Museum in 1964 is a man.Information from a CT scan performed at St. Elizabeth Hospital by technologist Ron Letourneau in July under the supervision of Dr. Jonathan Elias, Akhmim Mummy Studies Consortium, helped determine that the mummy is a male between 25-30 years of age who died under mysterious circumstances. . . .

Manhein said she primarily used the pelvis and unique size and shaping differences between male and female to determine the mummy's sex. The determination was backed when a small male sciatic knot was discovered, and a blunt male chin was uncovered. "From the collarbone we were able to tell something about the age," she said. "The clavicle is the last bone in the body to fuse, usually around age 24 to 25, so we could tell the subject was at least that age. "In the most surprising revelation, the young man suffered physical trauma at or about the time of death."Something put tremendous pressure on his chest," Manhein said. "He had seven or eight broken ribs."

See the above page for more.

Farouk Hosni nominated as UNESCO director

Daily News Egypt

The Egyptian government announced Monday that it was nominating Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni as a candidate for the position of director general of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco). There have been nine director generals since Unesco’s inception, but none of them have been from Egypt or any Arab country. Farouk Hosni has been the Minister of Culture since 1987, and is the longest serving member of President Hosni Mubarak’s cabinet. He is also an accomplished painter and artist, whose art has been exhibited around the world.

According to a spokesperson at the Ministry of Culture, Hosni is “very happy that the President has endorsed him as he seeks the position. He hopes that he will be the first Arab to be the director general of Unesco.” Many Egyptian experts on culture and society praised Hosni’s nomination, pointing to his extensive experience as Minister of Culture and his close work with Unesco on a number of projects in Egypt.

New Book: Visual and Written Culture in Ancient Egypt

Oxford University Press
By John Baines (Professor of Egyptology at the University of Oxford)

Description: A generously illustrated selection of John Baines's influential writings on two core areas of ancient Egyptian civilization: the role of writing, which was very different in antiquity from what is familiar in the modern world, and the importance of visual culture. These questions are explored through a number of case studies. The volume assembles articles that were scattered in publications in a variety of disciplines, making available key contributions on core problems of theory, comparison, and analysis in the study of many civilizations and offering important points of departure for further research. Three wholly new essays are included, and the overall approach is an interdisciplinary one, synthesizing insights from archaeology, anthropology, and art history as well as Egyptology.

Trial set for dealers who sold fake Amarna statuette in Bolton UK

The Telegraph

A family appeared in court yesterday accused of passing off a fake Egyptian artefact to a local authority for more than £400,000.

George Greenhalgh, 83, who is wheelchair-bound, was positioned outside the dock while his wife Olive, 82, holding a walking stick, joined their two middle-aged sons inside.The Amarna Princess statuette was bought for £410,393 by Bolton metropolitan borough council in September 2003 in the belief it was genuine. It was said to date from 1350BC and represent one of the daughters of Pharaoh Akhenaten and Queen Nefertiti, the mother of Tutankhamen, and be worth up to £1 million.The 20-inch figure went on display in Bolton museum after being featured in an exhibition opened by the Queen at the Hayward Gallery, London. Officers from the Metropolitan Police art and antiques unit removed the artefact last year after concerns about its authenticity.

The Bolton News

A MAN has pleaded guilty to being involved in the sale of a fake Egyptian statue to Bolton Council for more than £410,000. Shaun Greenhalgh, aged 47, admitted his role in laundering the cash from the sale of the Amarna Princess statue, as well as passing off fake artworks to galleries and dealers over a 17-year period.

The 20-inch sculpture was originally believed to be 3,300 years old and worth £1 million when it went on display at Bolton Museum, but last year experts determined it to be fake.

Greenhalgh appeared at Bolton Crown Court yesterday, along with his father George, aged 83, his mother Olive, aged 82, and his older brother George, aged 52. Shaun Greenhalgh pleaded guilty to conspiring with others between November, 2003, and March, 2006, to "conceal, disguise, convert or transfer £410,392, knowing that it represented the proceeds of criminal conduct, namely the sale of the Amarna Princess". He also pleaded guilty to conspiring with others between June, 1989, and March, 2006, to defraud art and antique dealers, museums, auction houses, academic institutions, art galleries and other people.

Manchester Evening News

A MAN has admitted defrauding art galleries and antique dealers by passing off fake works of art. Shaun Greenhalgh, 47, pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud various art institutions between 1989 and last year.

He also admitted conspiracy to conceal and transfer £410,393, the proceeds of a the sale of the Amarna Princess statuette, said to be of King Tutankhamun's sister. Greenhalgh appeared at Bolton Crown Court with his mother Olive, 82, brother George junior, 52, and his father George snr, 83, all of The Crescent, Bromley Cross, Bolton. George snr and Olive are charged with the same offences. George junior is accused of acquiring criminal property. All three co-accused entered no pleas. Judge William Morris told Shaun Greenhalgh he will be sentenced when the case of his parents and brother has been concluded. A provisional trial date was set for February 4 next year.

Scientist appears in mummy documentary

Manchester Evening News

Dr Angelique Corthals, a lecturer at Manchester Univeristy, has just returned from the New York premiere of Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs. The film, narrated by The Lord Of The Rings star Christopher Lee, was shown on the giant 88ft-diameter IMAX screen at the Liberty Science Centre. It will be released here in September.

Using special effects, the documentary takes viewers back thousands of years to the age of the great pharaohs, before recounting the 19th century discovery of 40 mummies, including 12 kings, in a single tomb.

Hawk mummy to be displayed

Press Enterprise

A video is available to accompany the following short report:

An Egyptian hawk mummy, circa 700 B.C., is of several ancient objects that will be added this fall to the Robert V. Fullerton Museum at Cal State San Bernardino. The hawk is among about 75 pieces, largely from ancient Egypt, that have been transferred to the museum. Museum workers are sorting through the items now to determine what will be put on display beginning Oct. 6.

Cray Computer at helps discovery of Origin of glass found in Tut's Tomb

Macro World Investor

Global supercomputer leader Cray Inc. today announced that researchers running simulations on the Cray supercomputer at Sandia National Laboratories have re-created what could have happened 29 million years ago when an asteroid explosion turned Saharan sand into glass. The greenish natural glass, which can still be found scattered across remote stretches of the desert, was used by an artisan in ancient Egypt to carve a scarab that decorates one of the bejeweled breastplates buried in King Tutankhamen's tomb.

See the above page for more.

Geoarchaeology August 2007

Geoarchaeology Volume 22, Issue 6 (August 2007)
The excellent Geoarchaeology journal is featuring an Egypt-related article this month:
Holocene climatic change and human settlement between the central Sahara and the Nile Valley: Archaeological and geomorphological results (p 607-620) Olaf Bubenzer, Heiko Riemer. You will need to be a subscriber or pay for the article to view it, but the Abstract is available free of charge:
Abstract

Travel: Photographing Egyptian life

An Egyptian Odyssey

There is no shortage of photo opportunities in Egypt. Its people are relatively poor and there is a heavy reliance upon tourism. With the centuries of tourism, there has developed a savvy among its people based solely upon survival. They will happily allow themselves to be photographed, but many will ask for tips. They call it “baksheesh”. It is simply a case of using what you have to survive, even if it is your weathered face smiling through worn teeth and wise old eyes.

Expect to pay an Egyptian pound for the privilege. As you enter temple sites and other popular tourist places, the locals who are employed to care for them make the most of their opportunities, beckoning to you as they smile and point to themselves. Dressed elegantly in galibayas and turbans, they position themselves in front of carved reliefs and ancient columns. The photographic opportunities are irresistible, but you will rarely escape without paying.

While a pound or two here or there is not a concern, it is the posed nature of the photographs that can soon become tiring. It is for this reason that my 80-200 f2.8 was invaluable for the more candid photographs of the faces of Egypt. Being autofocus, it was quick to capture such moments sharply, relying on the aperture priority mode to allow me to set at f2.8 for minimal depth of field. In this manner, I was able to photograph people being themselves, going about their daily lives without interruption or contrivance.