For 10 years, University of Arkansas students and professors have been digging up pieces of the past and changing the way archeologists view life in the Middle East during the first millennium. Now the U of A and Yarmouk University in Jordan have published the results of their initial years of excavation and study.

[More], NewsWise, December 16, 2004.

Archaeology Magazine's Interactive Dig at Hierakonpolis has been updated with a new article entitled Fixing the Fort.

Conservation isn't just a buzz word; it is a responsibility for all of us who cherish Egypt's ancient heritage. Our winter 2004 season at Hierakonpolis is dedicated to translating this word into action as we begin the stabilization and repair of the imposing structure we call the Fort, actually the Ceremonial Enclosure of King Khasekhemwy and the oldest freestanding mud-brick monumental structure in the world.

[More], Archaeology Magazine, USA, December 2004 - February 2005.

cf. Hierakonpolis Online

Of all the many cultures unearthed by archeologists and displayed in museums, the civilisation that existed between 5000 and 2000 years ago along the Nile resonates longest and loudest. Eight million Americans crowded in to see the glittering Treasures of Tutankhamen exhibition in 1976-77, making it a cultural phenomenon: the first blockbuster exhibition, which set a benchmark for all museums and art galleries.

Cultural tourism to Egypt soared and King Tut was regarded as Egypt's greatest ambassador to the US.  Now another wave of enthusiasm for ancient Egypt is sweeping the world.

This week in Sydney, the deputy director of the Netherlands' Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Marlies Kleiterp, told The Australian: "If we are looking for a big blockbuster ... we know what we have to do. Pharaohs, pyramids and mummies — they fascinate people."

Kleiterp is overseeing the installation of the mummy of a young woman in an exhibition, Life Beyond the Tomb — Death in Ancient Egypt, which opens tomorrow at the Australian Museum...

...Now on show at the Nicholson [Museum at the University of Sydney] is Unearthed Tales, which includes a child's mummy and other human remains...

[More], The Australian, Australia, December 10, 2004, via EEFNews.