Lecture - The Tomb of Sennedjem: Little Jewel in the Beginning of Spanish Egyptology

Accessed March 18, 2010 | Instituto Valenciano de Egiptología | Join Marina Escolano, out of the EES and Durham University (among many other places), at the Royal Agricultural Society and Sports (C / Comedy, 12 - Valencia) on May 27 at 7:30pm for a free lecture she will be presenting on the tomb of Sennedjem, the discovery of which included a Spaniard, Eduard Toda i Güell. This announcement is in Spanish; click here to access an English translation. The link above gives a brief intro to TT1 and a nice description about my friend, Marina. Congratulations on your Fulbright scholarship!

Organic Preservation - a Petrie Museum Video

Originally published March 23, 2010 | UCLMuseums YouTube Channel | A short video documenting an intern's conservation efforts on some shabtis figures. If you frequent YouTube, perhaps you might subscribe to UCLMuseums' channel.

The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus Online

Accessed March 23, 2010 | US National Library of Medicine | For those passionate about papyrology and the ancient Egyptian writing system, here's an amazing find on the web: the Edwin Smith Papyrus, a digitized image and interactive experience that lets you unroll this medical papyrus and read it (if you are so inclined). There is also additional information about this historic document. Talk about preserving the past. Now we can enjoy this artifact repeatedly without having to worry about contributing to its deterioration.

KV63 - an Update from Jane Akshar

Originally published March 19, 2010 | Luxor News | by Jane Akshar | Jane details the latest about KV63: excavation work, restoration, etc. Follow the above link to read more. Here's an excerpt:

Otto opened the lecture by reminding us that whatever KV63 finally turns out to be it will always be the first tomb discovered since the tomb of Tutankhamen. It started with a search for foundation deposits for the tomb of KV10. Excavation revealed 2 huts to the west and 10 huts to the east. These were used by the workman who lived in the valley and filled with ostracha and other artifacts. Theodore Davies had excavated the east most huts 10, 9 and 9a but left the central area. Under hut 5 they found KV63. Consisting of a single chamber with a stack of 8 coffins and 28 huge storage jars. This season they have been working on restoration of the coffins and the contents of the jars. Within these jars they have found natron, pots, textiles and the ‘embalming bed’ that is now in the mummification museum.

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

New Statues Found at Kom el-Hettan

Originally published March 21, 2010 | Zahi Hawass' Blog | by Dr. Hawass | Press release announcement from Zahi Hawass about the unearthing of two red granite statues of King Amenhotep III and of the god Thoth near the Pharaoh’s funerary temple at Kom el-Hettan on Luxor’s west bank by an Egyptian team. Includes a photo and related links.

Avenue of Lost Sphinxes to be Unveiled Soon

Originally published March 14, 2010 | Times Online | by Matthew Campbell | I have a love-hate relationship with this endeavor - that of uncovering and restoring the Avenue of the Sphinxes. I commend the restoration work, but wish the effort wasn't a rushed affair. It's archaeology - it should be a slow process, not only to take care with ancient artifacts, but to avoid making mistakes (historical and ethical). Yes, it's a great future touristic hot-spot, but catering to tourism should come second to good archaeology.

The following is an excerpt:

A HIDDEN wonder of the ancient world is to be unveiled in Egypt after excavation of the first stretch of a two-mile avenue lined with hundreds of carved sphinxes.

Built more than 3,000 years ago, the so-called Avenue of Sphinxes linked two giant temples and was used once a year for a religious procession. It was gradually buried by silt and built over after falling out of use in the 5th century AD.

Now it is being uncovered and the first part is expected to open within weeks. Visitors will have the chance to stroll under the imperious gaze of the sphinxes — mythological creatures with the body of a lion and head of a human or ram.

...

Controversy has surrounded the project, not least because of the speed of the excavation in which bulldozers have cut a 100-yard trench through some of the densely populated districts of Luxor.

Foreign archeologists say historical buildings have been demolished to make way for a lucrative new attraction.

Video - Behenu's Burial Chamber

Accessed March 13, 2010 | Reuters | This is a nice video documenting the recent discovery of Queen Behenu's intact burial chamber at Saqqara. Whereas before (in articles announcing the discovery) you couldn't really see the beautiful inscriptions, you can with this video. If you have a minute or two, I encourage you to watch it.

Excavations in the Valley of the Kings

Originally published March 14, 2010 | Zahi Hawass' Blog | by Dr. Hawass | An excerpt:

One of the most famous sites in Egypt has always been the Valley of the Kings, which has revealed to us such wonders as the tomb of Tutankhamun. However, all of the major discoveries of the past were made by foreign archaeologists. I was determined that Egyptian archaeologists should become part of the process of excavation and discovery, so in November 2007, the first all-Egyptian team to ever work in the Valley began excavating the area behind the tomb of Merenptah.

In the cliffs behind the tomb we discovered channels that the ancient Egyptians dug to redirect the “tears of the gods,” the flood, in order to preserve the tombs. In the course of our excavations, we recorded many new graffiti in the Valley and found many ostraca, which are pieces of limestone or pottery with drawings and inscriptions. The inscriptions found were very interesting, including a picture of an old lady, the cartouche of Ramses II and many descriptions and other things.

Burial Chamber of Ancient Egyptian Queen Unearthed

Originally published March 3, 2010 | Yahoo! News and AFP | For all of you hieroglyphic inscription fans, this find should be a fascinating one for you (it is for me). Recently discovered in Saqqara was a burial chamber of an obscure Old Kingdom Queen. The following is an excerpt from this article at Yahoo! News:

"We are excited because the texts are well conserved," he told The Associated Press, adding that the queen's titles were written on the walls of the 33 by 16 foot (10 meter by 5 meter) burial chamber inside her small pyramid.

The text is primarily concerned with protecting the queen's remains and her transition to afterlife.

Collombert called the queen "mysterious," and said it was not clear whether she was the wife of King Pepi I or II, two long-ruling pharaohs of the Sixth Dynasty.

Another source reporting on the same news can be found at Reuters and my favorite place to frequent on the web, Heritage Key.

Lectures - The Rosetta Stone

Accessed February 25, 2010

Thanks goes to Marina Poveda, one of the presenters of these lectures, for passing along this information on to me.

The following are some talks happening at the Assembly Hall of the Casa de Cultura, C/ Jaume II, 3. Novelda (Alicante):

1. Friday 5th of March at 20:00: La Piedra de Rosetta: Llave maestra de la egiptología, by Santiago Mallebrera, teacher of Egyptian language. Member of ITERU.
2. Friday 12th of March at 19:30: Más Allá de la Piedra de Rosetta: El papel fundamental de la lengua copta en el desciframiento de la escritura jeroglífica, by Marina Escolano, deputy director of the joint EES/Durham University archaeological expedition to Saïs (Sa el-Hagar, Egypt).

A poster for these lectures is available.

Unraveling the DNA Behind the Mask

Originally published February 24, 2010 | Yale Daily News | by Erin Vanderhoof |

After 3,400 years, one of history’s oldest cold cases has finally been solved.

In addition to finding evidence that the legendary Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun (better known as King Tut) died of malaria and suffered from a club foot, DNA analysis unveiled last week has identified a previously anonymous excavated mummy, KV55, as Tutankhamun’s father: Akhenaten, the rebellious pharaoh of Egypt’s Amarna period whose legacy disappeared for thousands of years. The DNA supports the theory of two Yale professors, who suggested that the androgynous figures of the period’s art reflect religious beliefs rather than representations of Akhenaten’s family.

This theory was presented by Yale Egyptology professors John Darnell and Colleen Manassa ’01 GRD ’05 in their 2007 book, "Tutankhamun’s Armies," which details the military and diplomatic technique of Egypt’s late 18th Dynasty, which ruled the country from 1550 B.C. to 1292 B.C.

Tutankhamun's Funeral Exhibition at the Met will Explore Materials and Rituals

Originally published February 24, 2010 | Art Daily | An excerpt - click on the above link to read more:

In 1908, while excavating in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, American archaeologist Theodore Davis discovered about a dozen large storage jars. Their contents included broken pottery, bags of natron (a mixture of sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, sodium sulphate, and sodium chloride that occurs naturally in Egypt), bags of sawdust, floral collars, and pieces of linen with markings from years 6 and 8 during the reign of a then little-known pharaoh named Tutankhamun. The Metropolitan Museum of Art was given six of the vessels and a good part of their contents in 1909.

In time, Herbert Winlock, curator and field director of the Metropolitan's Egyptian excavations and in the 1930s Director of the Museum, came to realize that the natron and linen were the embalming refuse from the mummification of Tutankhamun. He also suggested that the animal bones, pottery, and collars might have come from a funeral meal. Winlock's analysis was an important clue that led to Howard Carter's 1922 discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb some 110 meters away.

Opening March 16 at the Metropolitan Museum, the exhibition Tutankhamun's Funeral will explore the materials and rituals associated with the burial of the pharaoh. The presentation will include some 60 objects, primarily from the Metropolitan's own collection.

Still Them and Us - a Look at the Drawings of the Time Exhibit

Originally published February 25, 2010 | Al-Ahram Weekly Online | by Gamal Nkrumah | Gamal Nkrumah's reaction and analysis of Drawings of the Time: Impressions of Edfu Temple exhibit. An excerpt:

Drawings of the Time: Impressions from Edfu Temple is an exhibition that displays colourful and engaging portraits of high priests of ancient Egyptian Temples. Gamal Nkrumah discovers they tend to be at odds with contemporary art in many respects. These striking images are definitely not the stuff of daily life in the closing years of the Pharaonic era. They have a broader and more aspiring canvas.

The exquisite works of Andalusian artists Asuncion Jodar Minarro and Ricardo Marin Viadel ornament the Egyptian Museum and offer a timely lesson in Mediterranean camaraderie. The exhibition focuses on the miscellaneous aspects of the high priests of the Ptolemaic Period. The focus of this show is art rather than history. And yet the images have quite a tale to tell.

What a difference a couple of millennia make. Two thousand years ago, these images were adored as the very likeness of the living gods. Or those destined to serve the gods. Today they are admired as imaginative and ingenious interpretations of an art of an age bygone. They were worshipped then, and they are viewed with wonder now.

Imesy's Coffin to Return to Egypt

Originally published February 25, 2010 | Zahi Hawass' Blog | by Dr. Hawass | Here's a portion of the article describing this latest news - click the above link to read the fully story at Dr. Hawass' blog:

Culture Minister, Farouk Hosni, announced that following two years of negotiations and investigations, the 21st Dynasty (1070-945 BC) coffin of a private individual called Imesy is to be returned to Egypt.

[...]

On the basis of their investigation, ICE confiscated the coffin and contacted the SCA who requested that the object be seized. The SCA petitioned to DHS for the artifact’s return to Egypt. In November 2009, the matter went before US courts at which time the SCA presented their case with the help of a pro-bono lawyer from Miami. The importer eventually retracted his claim and withdrew from the case. The SCA agreed that the coffin be forfeited to US authorities with the guarantee that the object be repatriated to Egypt as soon as possible.

Arrangements are currently underway for the coffin to be handed over to the SCA as of March 10th, 2010, in Washington, DC during an official gala ceremony.

Other sources reporting on the same news: Discovery News and The Daily Star