Solving the "Blue" Mystery - New Kingdom Pottery

Originally published March 17, 2010 | Washington University in St. Louis | by Diana Lutz | An excerpt:

What was she doing in the tunnel?

The answer: seeking an uncontaminated sample of a mineral that might have been the key ingredient in the blue used to decorate "blue painted pottery" popular among the Egyptian elite during the New Kingdom (1550-1079 BC).

Colleague Colin A. Hope, PhD, an expert in blue painted pottery, had asked if she wouldn’t help him pin down the source of the blue pigment by sampling and analyzing material from the mine.

Hope and Smith, together with Paul Kucera, a doctoral student at Monash University in Australia who first identified the mines, describe the pottery, the mines and the mineral in a chapter of Beyond the Horizon, a festschrift for the Egyptologist Barry A. Kemp

Lecture & Symposium - Radiocarbon Dating & Egyptian Chronology

Accessed February 16, 2010 | University of Oxford | On March 17 and 18, the Research Laboratory for Archaeology & the History of Art, Oxford University will host a conference about radiocarbon dating and the Egyptian chronology. Accompanying this conference is a free public lecture and reception at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and a symposium (admission fee) that will discuss the results of the Egyptian Chronology Project (a program with the aim to investigate the consistency of the historical chronology with dates obtained via the radiocarbon method) at the Ashmolean Museum. For more detailed information, please visit the above web site. There is also a conference schedule available.

Course in Egypt - The Life and Works of the Theban Royal Tomb Makers

Accessed February 6, 2010 | Bloomsbury Summer School/Academy | Join John Romer, Renowned expert on Deir el-Medina and the Valley of the Kings, for a week-long series of lectures in the heart of Luxor November 10 - 17, 2010. Here is the course description:

The extraordinary achievement of the royal tombs of Thebes cannot be fully appreciated without an understanding of the environment in which they were made. John Romer will re-explore with you the world of the Theban New Kingdom. He will consider how and why the first royal tombs were made at Thebes, and how the tomb makers who lived at Deir el Medina elaborated that tradition to create the great tombs of the Valley of the Kings. He will also explore the purposes and meanings of these tombs - and something also, of the lives and times of the archaeologists and Egyptologists who have shaped our present understanding of them. Finally, in the light of fresh and, as yet, largely unpublished evidence, he will outline a new history of the ending of the Valley of the Kings and of the remarkable community of those who worked there.

Click the above link to find a list a suggested reading, booking and programme information, and registration fees.

International Colloquium - Science and New Technologies Applied to Archaeology

Originally published October 9, 2009 | Challenging the Past | Marisa Bealby

Submit your papers (in English, German, or French) related to the theme at the 2010 international colloquium entitled The Temples of Millions of Years and Royal Power at Thebes in the New Kingdom: Science and New Technologies applied to Archaeology. Deadline is November 15, 2009.

Course - History and Archeology of the Egyptian New Kingdom

Accessed September 3, 2009 | Instituto Valenciano De Egiptología

The Valencian Institute of Egyptology (IVDE) will offer a 20-hour course called History and Archeology of the Egyptian New Kingdom, given by José Lull, Egyptologist, from 28 October to 2 December 2009. The course consists of 10 2-hour sessions Mondays and Wednesdays from 7pm to 9pm at the Training Center TAES - Advanced Techniques Study.

Click on the above link to learn more about the course description and enrollment and contact information.

The following is a direct link to the web site in its original language (Spanish): Curso de "Historia y Arqueología del Imperio Nuevo egipcio" en Valencia

Article - Royal Gift Exchange Between Mycenae and Egypt

Accessed August 20, 2009 | American Journal of Archaeology | by Jorrit M. Kelder

The following is the abstract to Jorrit M. Kelder's article in the American Journal of Archaeology. There are links to the PDF version of the abstract and the author's bio.

This paper seeks to stimulate new thinking on this subject by positing the possibility that exchange between the two was more than a haphazard phenomenon, arguing that it was, instead, a highly organized system that involved the active engagement of the ruling elite at Mycenae as well as the pharaonic court.

Gender Representation in Ancient Egyptian Tomb Art

Originally published August , 2009 | Indianapolis Examiner | by Kim Jackson

Ms. Jackson discusses typical New Kingdom tomb art, focusing on the reality of fashion and its significance in art; each genders' roles in tomb art and the significance of each genders' activities; and the purposeful selection of certain every day activities by artists, which was less a handbook to life in Egypt and more of a way to portray certain distinctions in the physical world.

The author ends the article with a link to an article at the Tour Egypt web site on the Amarna Period.

Book Review - The Court and Court Society in Ancient Monarchies

Accessed July 20, 2009 | Bryn Mawr Classical Review | by Rolf Strootman

The book under review is the result of a workshop held in 2004 in Newcastle, where seven scholars met to discuss and compare seven royal courts in different cultures and periods: the Achaemenid, Argead Macedonian, and Sassanid, early and late imperial Roman, Han Chinese and New Kingdom Egyptian.

The volume ends with a chapter by Kate Spence, who considers the court in pharaonic Egypt in the late Second Millennium BCE -- a difficult task since official royal texts rarely mention individuals other than the pharaoh: "building temples, fighting wars and performing ritual were recorded as historical events but were usually presented as if kings acted in isolation" (p. 267). Spence therefore focuses on the relatively well-documented court of the reformer Akhenaten at el-Amarna. As in most other ancient monarchies, courtiers in pharaonic Egypt doubled as administrators. Since priests played a crucial role in pharaonic administration, Spence interprets Akhenaten's abolition of the powerful priesthood of Amun -- normally considered as a religious measure -- as an effort by the king to shift the balance between himself and his officials, an active reform of the administration encountered more often in Egyptian history.

Lecture - The Last New Kingdom Tomb at Thebes

Accessed July 7, 2009 | The British Museum

On July 20, the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Foundation Distinguished Lecture in Egyptology 2009 presents a lecture entitled the Last New Kingdom Tomb at Thebes: the End of a Great Tradition. The above link gives the who, where, when, and how much.

Egyptologist Pulls Together Threads Woven Through Ancient Civilizations

Originally published June 30, 2009 | UCLA Today | by Meg Sullivan

The anticipated new six-part series that will be airing on the Discovery Channel entitled Out of Egypt follows Kara Cooney and other authorities in discovering reasonable explanations for parallels in religious and burial traditions and settlement patterns across a range of cultures with no documented previous contact with each other. They will trace themes and variations on six traditions across 12 cultures and 10 countries. In addition, this article describes the series' development.

Exhibit - The Beautiful has Come

Accessed June 25, 2009 | State Hermitage Museum

From June 23, 2009 through September 20, 2009, the State Heritage Museum will showcase an exhibit dedicated to portrait masterpieces from the Egyptian Museum of Berlin. The web page features pictures of some of the artifacts from the exhibit, the artifacts' place in Egyptian history, and exhibit information.

Données Supplémentaires Concernant les Formes Memphites d'Amon au Nouvel Empire

Accessed June 22, 2009 | Egypte Nilothique et Méditerranéenne

Stéphane Pasquali's article chronicles the five additional forms of Amun in Memphis during the New Kingdom including the one currently known and memphite monuments that illustrate the erasure of Amun's images during the Amarna Period.

The 26 page article is available for free download through Adobe Reader. You must follow the direct link on the home page to access it. First, click on "Télécharger cet article au format pdf." The next page should automatically launch another window designated for the article in pdf format; if it doesn't load automatically click "ici" in the following line of words at the top "Si votre téléchargement ne démarre pas automatiquement, veuillez cliquer ici"

Free Film at the Oriental Institute: Egypt's Golden Empire, Part 2

Accessed June 12, 2009 | Oriental Institute

I believe this film showing is located in Breasted Hall, just opposite the Suk gift shop. It starts at 2 pm and ends at 4 pm. The duration of the film is 30-50 minutes, after which you can peruse the OI's exhibits. Registration is not required.