Daily Photo - Aswan past and present

My sincere thanks to George Mutter for sending me these photographs of Aswan today and in the past. The old photographs were taken in 1906, exactly 100 years before the modern photographs. As George says, the juxtaposition is rather nice. The photos were copied from an unpublished photograph album. There will be another set tomorrow.

I particularly like the first pair, which show the Old Cataract Hotel in Aswan. It goes to show how much greenery can grow in 100 years! And just look at the swimming pool area in 1906.

The second one just compares Nile cruisers, the latter being a Cook's steamer. I bet that they didn't have the cruise ship traffic jams in the early 1900s that you can see today!

I am always on the look-out for photographs for the blog, so if you have any for which you own the copyright (or have the copyright holder's permission to use), and would like to share with other visitors to the blog, please do send me a set. I am particularly on the look out for slightly more unusual locations or scenes, or photographs taken in museums, but anything Egyptological would do nicely.

Blog Update - #2

I have now finished backdating news items. I did a set yesterday, the beginning of which is marked by Temple of Luxor photos, and another block today - the beginnning of which is marked by photographs of basketry from the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology.

I am planning to do a "Weekly Websites" slot featuring the history of Coptic Egypt, at some point in the not too distant future. If anyone has any good links to websites which look specifically at Coptic heritage in Egypt please let me know.

All the best, Andie

Laser Survey to be Performed on the Step Pyramid at Saqqara

guardians.net

Thanks very much to Rick Menges for sending me the above link. It is a press release but there's no date on it.

H.E. Farouk Hosni, Minister of Culture, announced that the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), in collaboration with a Japanese-American mission, is carrying out a laser scanning survey of the Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara, in an attempt to create a virtual three-dimensional model of Egypt’s oldest pyramid. This project is within the framework of the Ministry of Culture’s and SCA’s commitment to protect and preserve Egypt’s cultural and archaeological heritage.

Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the SCA, considers the survey of Djoser’s pyramid to be an archaeological salvage project. The Step Pyramid was built during the reign of King Djoser of the Third Dynasty (c. 2687-2668 BC). It is the first pyramid in Egyptian history and also the earliest stone structure of its size. Over the years, the six steps of the pyramid have been exposed to natural erosion leading to its deterioration.

Dr. Hawass stated that this survey is being conducted in collaboration with a Japanese mission headed by Dr. Kosuke Sato of Osaka University and an American mission led by Dr. Mark Lehner, Director of Ancient Egypt Research Associates (AERA). This project intends on archaeologically documenting the Step Pyramid in order to greater understand its various stages of construction by using a variety of laser scanners including the Zoser Scanner, which was custom designed to scan the pyramid by Develo Solutions of Osaka, Japan.

Dr. Sato said that the Zoser Scanner, which is carried on the backs of professional climbers as they rappel down the faces of the pyramid’s six gigantic steps, uses infrared signals to gather coordinates and elevations of the thousands of points on the monument. The scanner gathers data at the exceedingly fast rate of 40,000 points per second in order to create a virtual three-dimensional model of the Step Pyramid, which will be a valuable reference for restorers, archaeologists, and architects involved in the restoration of the pyramid and for the continual monitoring of its condition. The laser scanning survey of the Step Pyramid will take four weeks to complete.

Feline geneticist traces origin of the cat

USA Today (Emily Zeugner)

They're fierce hunters and purring companions, subject of ancient paintings and modern-day cartoons, barnyard necessities and companions of single women everywhere. Both aloof and affectionate, cats have been revered — and sometimes reviled — for centuries.

And now, feline experts say they've surpassed the dog and become the most popular pet on earth. But how did the cat evolve from a wild animal to a pampered pet? In the upcoming National Geographic Channel documentary Explorer: Science of Cats, anthropologists and feline geneticists trace the evolution of the cat.

Dr. Leslie Lyons leads a research team studying the genetics of the domestic cat at the University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. In the interview excerpted here, she explores the origins and domestication of the house cat.

See the above page for the interview. There is also a link on the above page to the National Geographic's feature Science of Cats

New Book: Egypt and Beyond

David Brown Book Company

Egypt and Beyond: Essays Presented to Leonard H. Lesko upon his Retirement from the Wilbour Chair of Egyptology at Brown University, June 2005, edited by Stephen E. Thompson and Peter Der Manuelian

In June of 2005, Leonard Lesko retired after 23 years as Wilbour Professor and Chairman of the Department of Egyptology at Brown University. In recognition of his many contributions to the field of Egyptology, 24 colleagues from around the world, and from several fields of ancient studies, contributed articles to a festschrift in his honor. The contributions to the festschrift are as wide-ranging as are Leonard's interests. Contributions discuss ancient Egyptian religion and religious texts, Egyptian grammar, history, art, and archaeology. There are also contributions from the fields of classics, Near Eastern archaeology, and a study of Middle Iranian texts from the Bancroft Library of the University of California at Berkeley (where Leonard began his career in Egyptology). 371p (Department of Egyptology and Ancient Western Asian Studies, Brown University 2008).

The Table of Contents is available on the above page.

More re Manchester Museum decision to cover mummies

Egypt at the Manchester Museum

A new post on the Manchester Museum weblog has provided an update about the next steps that the museum's management are planning to take:

The Director of the Manchester Museum, Nick Merriman, at the staff Director’s Update in the Museum this morning in the Museum, reported on the ongoing response to the covering of the three unwrapped or partially unwrapped mummies on the gallery. The response to the covering, on the gallery comment cards, in the media and on this blog, will be taken on board and the Museum will shortly decide its next step in relation to the display of these mummies. The covering of the mummies had been intended to stimulate the debate and discussion surrounding the display of human remains, and in this it has been very successful.

In response to Peter Robinson’s request for further information on the response to the covering of the mummies, the information will be fed into a consultation report which should be available towards the end of the year. The report will be made publicly available.

All developments will be posted on this blog for further discussion. Many thanks to all of you who have contributed so far, your comments have been very welcome, interesting and useful.

If you have somehow managed to miss the debate, the original post to the Manchester Museum blog, and the 144 comments made in response to it to date, can be found at:
http://egyptmanchester.wordpress.com/2008/05/06/covering-the-mummies/

The GlyphStudy Open-Source Projects Group announces its grand opening

http://gosp.sourceforge.net

The GOSP announced its formal opening today. Here is the press release:

The GlyphStudy Open-Source Projects (GOSP) Group is an association of software developers, Ancient Egyptian educators, students, and scholars of various levels devoted to open source and public domain tools and resources to aid in Egyptology.

The flagship products of the GOSP are a series of Ancient Egyptian dictionaries containing over 12,000 entries from such sources as Faulkner's Middle Egyptian Dictionary. The software to generate the dictionaries and various supporting libraries have also been made available. The flexibility of the software promotes rapid generation of a variety of language resources including dictionaries, sign lists, and cross-references in any imaginable layout, structure, and output format. For instance, work is underway to produce a version of the dictionary for the iPod!

The GOSP is also home to a number of other projects including efforts to produce high quality sign lists, a scholarly and fully referenced dictionary of Ancient Egyptian, and numerous collaborations including improvements being made to the open-source hieroglyphic text editor JSesh, and the wiki-based Egyptian dictionary Eglyptionary.

Director and cofounder Ted Young explains, "This is a very exciting and fast moving project. Since the decision to go forward with this project seven days ago we now have a vast array of resources that we can use to support existing projects and to create new resources to fulfill existing needs. We also have a fantastic website full of information.

"It all started when I announced to the GlyphStudy Yahoo group, dedicated to teaching Middle Egyptian, that I had designed a flexible piece of software that can generate arbitrary dictionaries from various sources such as Mark Vygus’s wordlist. Mark's wordlist is phenomenal. He transcribed over 12,000 entries from Faulkner's dictionary. He continues to maintain this valuable resource and I wanted a solution that would create new dictionaries as he made improvements.

“The response was phenomenal! Dozens of people came forward with suggestions, incredible new ideas, and offers of help. It was decided then that we needed to formalize our movement. Hence, the GOSP was born. There is a wealth of Egyptology resources available to us now. For instance, we are able to produce high quality documents with the use of JSesh, which can export hieroglyphic text as SVG. As a Java library it is suitable for embedding in other applications such as ours. Another goal of the GOSP is to catalog these resources so they are readily available to other Egyptologists.”

For more information please visit the GOSP website:
http://gosp.sourceforge.net

The GOSP Mailing List and Yahoo Group:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/gosp_list/

New Book: Bulletin of the Egyptological Seminar of New York, Volume 17 (2008)

David Brown Book Company

Bulletin of the Egyptological Seminar of New York, Volume 17 (2008): Studies in Memory of James F. Romano, edited by James P. Allen

James F. Romano, curator of Egyptian art at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, was a leading figure in the study of ancient Egyptian art. This volume honors his memory with major studies in Egyptian art, religion, and archaeology by sixteen of his friends and colleagues, as well as a remembrance and bibliography. "Studies in Memory of James F. Romano" is volume 17 of the Bulletin of the Egyptological Seminar of New York (BES), an organization that Romano helped found and direct. 229p (Egyptological Seminar of New York 2008)

The Table of Contents is available on the above page.

Hawass to visit Palestrina

Wanted in Rome

Earlier this spring, Claudio Scaramella, president of the Pro Loco (tourist board) of Palestrina, an ancient town 38 km southeast of Rome, brought off a coup he’d been planning for eight years. He succeeded in bringing world-famous Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass (dubbed “the Indiana Jones of Egypt” by the American television Discovery Channel) to his home town.

Palestrina, the pre-Roman town of Praeneste, celebrated for the spectacular remains of the Roman sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia, dates back to the seventh century BC and was once an important trading post for the peoples of the Mediterranean. Scaramella says there is a body of evidence proving links between Praeneste and ancient Egypt. The Egyptian goddess Isis was worshipped in Praeneste’s Temple of Fortune and a fascinating second-century BC mosaic depicting animals and scenes of daily life on the banks of the Nile was discovered in the ruins. The Nile Mosaic is now one of the most prized exhibits in the Palazzo Barberini national archaeological museum crowning the sanctuary.

It was thanks to this extraordinary exhibit that Palestrina became a point of reference for the Egyptian Academy in Rome. In 1998 the academy director was invited to Palestrina to see the Nile Mosaic. He was so impressed that the visit developed into a series of joint initiatives and cultural exchanges in which the Palestrina authorities are invited to the annual Egyptian national holiday celebrations at the Egyptian embassy on 19 July

See the above for more details.

Book Review: Who Owns Antiquity?

modernghana.com (Dr Kwame Opoku)

So far the only reviews that I have seen of James Cuno's book Who Owns Antiquity have been very positive, and his book has most usefully inspired some good dialogue on the subject of the "ownership" of heritage. This review is not positive, and it contains some very political statements. I know from experience that posting links to this sort of article often leads to criticism of the fact that I have chosen to do so. But I post the good and the bad in the interests of balance. This is a long review and very heartfelt, but it is clearly argued, dealing with key points made by Cuno in turn.

There's a short but neat post on Tom Flynn's Artknows blog about the opposing positions taken by Dr Opoku and Philippe de Montebello, each of whom represents the opposing camps - well worth a look if you are interested in this debate.

Here's an extract from Dr Opoku's review.

In order to deny States the right to control excavations on their land and to prevent them from claiming ownership of artefacts found in their countries, James Cuno, Director of the Art Institute of Chicago, in his new book, Who owns antiquity? Museums and the battle over our ancient heritage, goes so far as to deny any continuity between the peoples of present States and those of ancient civilizations. He denies that the present-day Egyptians have any links with ancient Egyptians:

“What is the relationship between, say, modern Egypt and the antiquities that were part of the land’s Pharaonic past? The people of modern-day Cairo do not speak the language of the ancient Egyptians, do not practice their religion, do not make their art, wear their dress, eat their food, or play their music, and do not adhere to the same kind of laws or form of government the ancient Egyptians did.” (1) This astonishing declaration is typical of the controversial pronouncements made by Cuno in his book which can be easily proven to be unfounded or mere speculation and in any case, not very helpful in finding workable solutions to present controversies concerning the retention of illegally exported or stolen cultural objects. Some of his statements are of such a nature that one wonders whether they are worthy of detailed examination. They are probably better left uncommented but since they come from a director of one of the most important museums in the Western world, they cannot be simply ignored. Take the statement that the present Egyptians do not eat the same food as ancient Egyptians. Is this serious? When Zahi Hawass claims the return of the Rosetta Stone or the bust of Nefertiti, should we examine his diet in order to establish his links to ancient Egypt which permit him to claim on behalf of present-day Egypt? Does our consumption of particular food establish our links or affinity with other peoples? Does the consumption of rice by many Africans establish in any way their links to Asians? What about MacDonald’s food which is wide spread in our world, does that make all of us Americans or one people? What about variations in food consumption patterns within a country along north/south lines or class lines? So who cares whether Zahi Hawass eats the same food as Tutankhamen did? For most of us, it is enough to know that they are both Egyptians and the one can legitimately claim the cultural achievements of the other on behalf of the Egyptian peoples of to-day.

Similarly, the other factors mentioned by Cuno, language, dress, religion, and music are not decisive for determining whether a State has a right to artefacts found on its soil. Sharing the same religion, music or language with a people does not help to settle this issue.

See the above page for more.

Ancient Egypt Magazine June/July 2008

Ancient Egypt Magazine

Thanks to Bob Partridge for letting me know that the June/July 2008 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 web site www.ancientegyptmagazine.com 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, Dr. Ayman Wahby Taher, brings the latest news from Egypt which includes a report new archaeological discoveries in Luxor and in Aswan and a special exhibition at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo on the work of the Australian Excavations in Egypt, at sites such as Giza, Saqqara, Helwan and Thebes.

The People of Amarna: In the third of a series of articles, Professor Barry Kemp looks at the how the city of Akhetaten grew and developed and what it tells us about life there.

Recent Explorations in the Abusir Pyramid field. A major article by Professor Miroslav Verner, looks at the results of over forty years of work at the Old Kingdom Pyramid site of Abusir and especially at some of the more recent discoveries.

Ancient Egyptian Eye Paint: Chris Humber looks at the evidence to determine of eye paint was medicinal, ritual or simply cosmetic.

Sherds, Clay and Clean Water: A report by Henning Franzmeier examines the technology of well making in ancient Egypt based on the latest information obtained from excavations.

Egyptianising Architecture in Akron, Ohio: Earl L. Ertman discovers some ancient Egyptian influences in his home town.

Ancient Egyptian masterpieces: the Statue of Khafra

Per Mesut. For younger readers: This issue Hilary Wilson looks at chairs and stools.

Book Reviews:

• The Tomb in Ancient Egypt, by Aidan Dodson and Salima Ikram.
• Daily Life in Ancient Egypt, by Kasia Szpakowska.
• The Painted Tomb-Chapel of Nebamun, by Richard Parkinson.
• The Tomb of Nebamun: Explore an Ancient Egyptian Tomb, by Merideth Hooper.
• Cairo of the Mamluks: A History of the Architecture and its Culture, by Doris Behrens-Abousef.
• Egypt: History and Treasures of an Ancient Civilisation, by Giorgio Ferrero.
• The Nubian Pharaohs: Black Kings on the Nile, by Charles Bonnet and Dominique Valbelle.
• Island of the Blessed: The Secrets of Egypt’s Everlasting Oasis, by Harry Thurston.
• Tutankhamun’s Armies: Battle and Conquest during Ancient Egypt’s late 18th Dynasty, by John Coleman Darnell and Colleen Manassa.

Plus other Regular Features that include Egyptology Society details for the UK and many overseas and full listing of forthcoming lectures and events in the UK from June till August 2008.

Coming in the next issue (August) a specially extended “News from Egypt” with photos and information on new discoveries from around Egypt.

Coptic icon of Saint Mark's Church, Azbakya, Cairo

Al Ahram Weekly

The Coptic Orthodox Church celebrated the entry of the Holy Family into Egypt on 24 Bashans of the Coptic calendar -- which coincided with 1 June.

The above-pictured ancient icon, dating back to the first century AD, was reproduced from an original icon that was illustrated by Saint Luke, The Physician. The original icon depicts the Virgin Mary holding the Infant Jesus, while John the Baptist was kissing Christ's feet, and beside him a lamp, which is a symbol of Christ himself.

The reproduced icon exists in the Church of the Virgin Mary (known by the name Al- Ezbaweya), which is in the neighbourhood of Saint Mark Church in Azbakya district of Downtown Cairo.

According to tradition, the site where the church today stands, Ezba (or a farm) was owned by a benevolent man, who was sowing watermelon seeds, and kindly hosted the Holy Family and afforded them water from a well -- which still stands in the grounds of the church.

See the above page for the rest of the story.

Conference: Egypt at its Origins

Egypt at its Origins

Welcome to the website of the Third International Colloquium on Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt. This triennial conference draws together an international field of Egyptologists, archaeologists and anthropologists who specialise in the origins and formation of the ancient Egyptian state (c. 4000–2680 BC). The inaugural meeting entitled “Origin of the State: Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt” was held in Kraków, Poland, in August 2002. Following the success of the second meeting in Toulouse, France, in September 2005, the third meeting is scheduled for the British Museum, London, from Sunday 27th July to Friday 1st August 2008. This website provides details regarding many aspects of the conference, to which regular updates will be added as the information becomes available.

The first day of the colloquium (Monday 28th July) will be held in conjunction with the British Museum Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan’s one day Annual Egyptological Colloquium 2008

Full details of this conference are available on the above page. There's no programme shown as yet, but the abstracts are all available at the following page:
http://www.origins3.org.uk/abstracts.html
The conference is weighted towards the periods of state formation and the Early Dynastic.

Daily Photo - Basketry at the Petrie Museum

The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, one of the most fascinating museums in London (and one which seems to be very little known even amongst real Egyptology enthusiasts) has an online database of its complete collection. Here are some examples of basketry taken from the database. These are just screen-grabs taken from the Petrie's website but if you visit the website yourself, and you are using MS Explorer 5.5 or above, you will be able to rotate the images to get a better view of them.

Eighteenth Dynasty, Lahun

Eighteenth Dynasty, Gurob

Eighteenth Dynasty, Gurob

Roman, Hawara

Roman, Hawara

Recent treasures found in Egypt

Al Ahram Weekly (Nevine El-Aref)

Ptolemaic artefacts from the north coast near Alexandria, traces of a New Kingdom fortified city in Northa Sinai and a Byzantine wine factory in South Sinai are the most recent treasures found in Egypt

See the above page for the full story. Click the small image to see all of the photographs.

Dying for that ancient treasure

Egypt Daily Star News (Emad El-Sayed)

Although prospecting for antiquities has been going on for several decades, recently monument trafficking in Egypt has been spreading like wildfire, with several big families in Upper Egypt in particular implicated in the illegal practice.

Dreams of striking gold and finding that long-lost treasure have made those who prospect for monuments ready to sacrifice their lives for it. That distant dream has, however, claimed the lives of thousands of youth who die in tunnels they believe will lead them to a yet undiscovered Pharaonic era tomb.

Four friends met a few days ago at a restaurant owned by one of them in Giza when fortuneteller told them that a Pharaonic treasure was buried underneath one of their houses, in return for LE 5000. He said that the treasure was 11 meters beneath the bedroom.

One of them, a contractor, didn’t waste any time. He brought excavation tools in complete secrecy and asked his son to help him find the coveted treasure, until at nine meters deep, the hole collapsed and with it their dream and one of the friends, who died in the accident.

They were arrested after failing to hide the corpse.

See the above for the full story.

Discovery of two Pharaonic and Persian castles east to Suez Canal

Egypt State Information Service

An Egyptian archaeological team has discovered two castles, the first at Tel Habwa on the ancient road of Horus War Road, which dates back to the Pharaohs era, Dynasties 18 and 19.

The second castle dated back to the Persian era. Zahi Hawwas Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities said the new discoveries are located 30 km east to the Suez Canal.

More re Saqqara pyramid

National Geographic (Andrew Bossone)

Long since reduced to its foundations, the structure was previously known as Number 29 or the "Headless Pyramid." It was mentioned in the mid-19th century by German archaeologist Karl Richard Lepsius.

Then it disappeared in the sands of Saqqara, a sprawling royal burial complex near current-day Cairo.

It took Egyptian archaeologists about a year and a half just to remove all the sand above the pyramid.

"After Lepsius the location of the pyramid was lost and the substructure of [the] pyramid never known," said Zahi Hawass, secretary general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities. . . .

Nothing on the pyramid specifically names its owner, and the majority of the structure has been destroyed, so Egyptian archaeologists had to put several clues together to identify it.

Past archaeologists have disputed the date of the pyramid, usually putting it in either the Old Kingdom, between 2575 and 2150 B.C., or the Middle Kingdom, between 1975 and 1640 B.C.

But the recent research determined that the pyramid lacked the winding mazes typical of a Middle Kingdom temple.

See the above page for more.

Egipto quiere buscar el sarcófago de Micerinos en aguas españolas

ABC.es

Egipto quiere buscar el sarcófago del faraón Micerinos en aguas españolas, frente a las costas de Cartagena, y está buscando financiación para ello, según dijeron fuentes del Gobierno egipcio.

El secretario general del Consejo Supremo de Antigüedades, Zahi Hawass, explicó hoy en una entrevista con Efe que su institución ha pedido al canal de televisión National Geographic financiación para llevar a cabo un proyecto "que sabemos costará mucho dinero".

En concreto, a Hawass -siempre con el ojo atento al impacto mediático- le gustaría que National Geographic contratara los servicios de Robert Ballard, el hombre que se cubrió de gloria con el descubrimiento de los restos del "Titanic" en 1985. Por supuesto, y en línea con los últimos descubrimientos desvelados por Hawass, el canal de televisión tendría la exclusividad del reportaje, "pero yo me encargaré de que sea un auténtico boom", subrayó.

El sarcófago de Micerinos -que en realidad se llamaba Menkaura, pues Micerinos o Mikerinos es la forma helenizada del nombre y la que ha pasado a las lenguas occidentales- se lo tragaron las aguas cerca de Cartagena en 1838, al naufragar una goleta de nombre "Beatrice" que lo llevaba, junto con otras piezas, al British Museum de Londres. Hawass aclaró que el sarcófago estaba ya entonces vacío, y no se va a encontrar momia ni tesoro alguno, pues la tumba de Micerinos -la famosa tercera pirámide de Guiza- había sido saqueada a conciencia.

El sarcófago había sido hallado en 1837 por el arqueólogo inglés Howard Vyse, con el expeditivo método de dinamitar las entradas a la pirámide de Micerinos, como ya había hecho en la de Keops, para no encontrar más que el sarcófago vacío.

See the above page for more.

More re new Saqqara pyramid discovery

BBC News Video

This video features the excavation in progress, but there is no commentary.


Reuters Africa (Jonathan Wright)

The archaeologists did not find inscriptions with the name of the pharaoh, so Hawas based his attribution on architectural features, coupled with the fact that Menkauhor is the only Fifth Dynasty ruler whose pyramid has not been identified.

He pointed out large red granite blocks at the entrance to the burial chamber and said these were characteristic of pyramids of that period, of which there are many examples.

He also said that on close examination the plain lid of the sarcophagus was made of a material -- grey schist -- which was closely associated with the Old Kingdom.

"The material of this sarcophagus was never used in the Middle Kingdom," he added.

Another deciding factor was the ground plan of the substructure, which lacks the labyrinthine pattern of passages which led to the burial chambers of Middle Kingdom pyramids.

"The Middle Kingdom pyramids ... have complicated corridors until you reach the burial chamber. Without discovering any inscription I tell you this is Old Kingdom. The substructure is exactly Dynasty V," Hawas said.

The top part of the pyramid disappeared many years ago, probably removed by villagers to build houses in the flood plain of the Nile, which lies about 100 metres (yards) away.

When Hawas's team started work at the site about 18 months ago, they had to remove about 8 metres (25 feet) of sand to reach the relatively well preserved lower levels.

See the above for more.