From the Mediterranean bed to Kom Al-Dikka, from Akhmim to Sinai, from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo to Basle and Germany and from auction halls in Europe and America to Egypt, there were several exciting archaeological events to highlight this outstanding year. Nevine El-Aref reviews the past 12 busy months.

Tutmania: This was the year when Switzerland, Germany, France, Greece, the United States and China were caught up in the euphoria of Egyptomania, with 14 exhibitions featuring the Ancient Egyptian civilisation. The one that hogged most of the glory was the touring Tutankhamun circus, which is travelling through Europe and America for the first time in more than two decades.

Egypt prohibited any further showing of the treasured collection following its last exhibition in Cologne in 1981 when damage was sustained by the statue of the deity Selket, which at one point fell resulting in the detachment of its scorpion crown.

[More], Al-Ahram, Egypt, 723, December 30, 2004 - January 05, 2005.

Culture Minister Farouk Hosni will re-open the Pyramid of King Chephren in Giza as of Saturday after the completion of restoration works.

In statements, Hosni said the third Pyramid of Mycerinus will be closed for a year to start necessary rejuvenations, adding 2005 will see a giant restoration project to restore King Chephren's funerary temple and the stone blocks in the area south of the temple.

[More], State Information Service, Egypt, December 31, 2004.

The past few months have been exceptionally rich on the antiquities front.  Among some of the most important developments:

...Zahi Hawass discovered the cover of a sarcophagus dating back to the modern dynasty. The antiquity was simply lying there, and no one was able to tell him how arrived. Hawass promptly ordered the cover moved to the antiquities storerooms in Matariyya...

[More], Egypt Today, December 2004, Volume 25, Issue 12, via EEF News.

Dont [sic] say stolen[,] the word is missing, insists Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni. And because we have a soft spot for this member of Cabinet, well [sic] follow his instructions in every sentence we write.

The Egyptian Museums basement, you see, is a thiefs [sic] dream. (Whoops! We meant magicians dream. Really, we did)

In May, the Habi relief went missing from the fabled museums subterranean storage vaults, forcing Hosni to appoint a committee of experts to investigate the location to which the relief chose to disappear. While cynics said the answer was obvious (back to Japan, where it was missing until 1985), museum staff insisted its [sic] somewhere around here...

[More], Egypt Today, December 2004, Volume 25, Issue 12, via EEF News.

Tongue firmly wedged in my cheek for this one!

A team of British and Egyptian archaeologists made a stunning discovery Monday, unearthing several intact specimens of "skeleton people" — skinless, organless humans who populated the Nile delta region an estimated 6,000 years ago.

"This is an incredible find," said Dr. Christian Hutchins, Oxford University archaeologist and head of the dig team. "Imagine: At one time, this entire area was filled with spooky, bony, walking skeletons."

[More], The Onion, Volume 40, Issue 52, December 29, 2004, via HallOfMaat.

Happy New Year!

Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit has been translated into ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs by a curator from the British Museum and a retired medical expert.

Peter Rabbit, or hare beneath a semi-circle, as he is known in the 4,000-year-old hieroglyphic form, learns why it is important to listen to his mother when he is caught trespassing by Mr McGregor, or duck, vertical line, jar stand over mouth, jar stand, lasso over mouth, sitting man...

[More], The Times, UK, December 31, 2004, via HallOfMaat.

More on the granaries found in Suez, Egypt, this time Associated Press copy rather than Reuters.

An American excavation mission has unearthed eight granaries that are relics from agricultural life in the Neolithic era, the Egyptian culture minister said in a statement Tuesday.

The granaries were discovered last week in Fayoum, an oasis some 50 miles southwest of Cairo, Farouk Hosni said in the statement. The statement said the granaries date back to the Neolithic era that began around 9,000 B.C., known as a transition point from roaming and hunting societies to an agricultural one.

...

William [sic] Z. Wendrich, the head of the American archaeological mission, said in the statement that the granaries were found north of a site where several granaries full of Emmer wheat, flax and fruit were found in 1926.

[More], AP via ABC News, USA, December 28, 2004.

cf. 8 prehistoric granaries found in Egypt, AP via Anchorage Daily News, Alaska, USA, December 28, 2004.

An Afrocentric article that relates Osiris, Horus, and Isis to the [Holy] Trinity of the Father, the Son and the Black Virgin Mother.

...The “golden age” for myths of the world was between 2800-1800 B.C., with the best documented being those of Egypt. The universe was formed, according to Egyptian cosmogony, by chaotic uncreated matter — the primitive Nun (i.e. “nothingness”). This primitive matter contained, in the form of principles, all possible beings as well as the god of potential development, Khepru.

As soon as the “primitive nothingness” created Ra, the demiurge (the creator of the world but who was subordinate to the one high God), its role ended. Nun also created evil in the form of Seth (Set), the brother of Osiris, and the snake of the underworld, Apap (or Apophis)...

[More], The Black Voice News, California, USA, December 23, 2004.

Khafre, the second-largest of the three Great Pyramids at Giza, outside Cairo, is to reopen on Saturday after being closed for nearly two years for repairs and restoration.

Workers removed graffiti inside the pyramid, repaired cracks and cleaned the walls of salt residue, the Supreme Council of Antiquities said on Thursday.

[More], Al-Jazeera, Qatar, December 30, 2004.

Nothing to do with tourism really.  Details of a number of finds in the Suez area.

Minister of Culture, Farouk Hossni, decided to form a panel of Egyptian archeologists to examine new 22 archeological sites, recently discovered in the Suez governorate...

Director General of the Suez area of monuments, Dr. Mohamed Salem, expounded that the Suez governorate, after those discoveries, contained 29 archeological sites dating back to the Pharonic, Greek, Roman and Nuptic ages distributed on 4 sites.

[More], State Information Service, Egypt, December 29, 2004.

More on the granaries found in the Fayum.

California University and the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) joint expedition announced yesterday that eight silos dating back to the pre-dynasty era have been unearthed in northern Fayum.

SCA Chairman, Zahi Hawass said the find is one of the most interesting discoveries as "it enriches our knowledge of the agricultural methods and techniques adopted by the Ancient Egyptians in the pre-history era."

[More], State Information Service, Egypt, December 29, 2004.

Prime Minister Dr. Ahmed Nazif, accompanied by the Minister of Culture, late on Sunday inaugurated five newly restored religious sites on the centuries-old el-Muzzeddin Allah Street.

The sites include Ashraf Barsbey School; Sheikh Ali el- Muttahar Mosque and Sabil; the Dome and School of el-Nasser Qalaoun; Barquk Madrasa (School and Khanka), and el-Silhedar Mosque.

[More], State Information Service, Egypt, December 28, 2004.

Prime Minister Dr.Ahmed Nazif opens this evening five archaeological projects that have been renovated in El-Muez Street in ancient Cairo the projects include Mosque, Fountain and Kuttab (lowest elementary school in the past) of Suliman Agha El- Slehdar, Sultan Barquq School, El-Nasser Mohamed Bin Qalawoon, Mosque, Fountain Ankuteb of Ali El- Metlahr and Mosque and School of Al-Ashraf Bersai.

[More], State Information Service, Egypt, December 26, 2004.

Archaeologists in Egypt have found eight Stone Age grain stores at an oasis southwest of Cairo that help show the shift from hunting to agricultural societies, the Ministry of Culture reported.

The ministry said the discovery was made by a team from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in an area north of Fayoum 60 miles southwest of Cairo, where 67 grain stores were found in 1926.

"The well-preserved nature of these stores helped experts to understand the transformation of societies, from depending on hunting to a stable agricultural society," government antiquities chief Zahi Hawass said in the statement.

The statement did not say when the discovery was made.

[More], Reuters, UK, December 28, 2004.

cf. Archaeologists Find Egyptian Stone Age Stores, Reuters via Yahoo, December 28, 2004.

cf. Stone Age granaries found in Egypt, Reuters via MSNBC, December 29, 2004.

cf. Archaeologists find Egyptian Stone Age stores, Reuters via CNN, December 28, 2004.

More on the Field museum's project to x-ray some of its artefacts.

Digital technology gives Field Museum staff a glimpse inside some of their most valuable items; they hope a benefactor will foot the $250,000 cost of the machine.

The bundle of bandages purchased by the Field Museum in 1925 was supposed to be a mummified cat, an offering to Bestat, an ancient Egyptian goddess with the head of a feline.

But on Wednesday anthropologists uncovered the truth through digital X-ray technology: The mummified artifact is a circa 500 B.C. fake, part of a cadre of dubious mummies circulating throughout collections worldwide.

[More], Chicago Tribune, Illinois, USA, December 23, 2004.

cf. Digging into mysteries.

Thousands of pilgrims converge on the site of the Tree of the Holy Virgin each Christmas. Jill Kamil looks into its history and its ever-evolving folklore.

There are many trees in Egypt that are regarded as sacred because they offered shelter to the Holy Family during their sojourn here, but none is so highly regarded as the "Virgin's Tree" at Mataria.

Some people believe that fruit from the tree is a blessing and should be kept in the house. Pilgrims frequently ask for miracles — especially women hoping to conceive, who encircle the tree seven times. There are many poignant legends associated with it. "Someone once cut a branch from the tree and sap came out; it was red but not blood," Ashraf Ibrahim, a guard at the site, said...

[More], Al-Ahram, Egypt, 722, December 23 - 29, 2004.

By Zahi Hawass.

Egypt has many great thinkers, philosophers and writers. These extraordinary people have made significant contributions to humanity and left a mark on our lives. One of these great people is Anis Mansour. I am so lucky to be his friend and be able to meet him occasionally because he is very interested in Egyptology, as well as in literature and philosophy. I can say that his knowledge on these subjects is equal to the knowledge of a Nobel Prize winner.

Mansour began his career as a friend of Kamal El-Mallakh, who was an architect and Egyptologist working at the Pyramids, and also wrote articles for newspapers and magazines. With El-Mallakh, Mansour witnessed the discovery of the Solar Boat of Khufu at Giza. I love to listen to the stories about the discovery from Mansour; he uses exciting words that make me listen to him with great attention. But my favourite stories are those of the tricks he and his friend El-Mallakh played on each other.

[More], Al-Ahram, Egypt, 722, December 23 - 29, 2004.

The Field Museum's vast collection of mummies, fossils, pottery and other anthropological gems is riddled with mysteries.

Researchers are hoping to shed light on these and other mysteries with the help of a $225,000 portable X-ray machine that Mikron Digital Imaging is loaning to the museum for three days...

[More], Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago, Illinois, USA, December 21, 2004, via TourEgypt.

cf. Field Museum to use X-ray machine to scan priceless specimens, AP via Belleville News Democrat, Illinois, USA, December 21, 2004.

Another article about Google indexing five of the world's libraries that refers back to Ptolemy I's work setting up the Library of Alexandria.

...[T]he Library of Alexandria ... [s]et up by Ptolemy I in the third century B.C., it was meant to hold every book on every imaginable subject.  To ensure that no title escaped its vast catalog, a royal decree ordered that any book brought into the city was to be confiscated and copied; only then would the original (sometimes the copy) be returned.

[More], New York Times, New York, USA, December 19, 2004.

cf. At our fingertips, wisdom of the ages.

AK Comics usher in the era of the homegrown Middle Eastern superhero.

Batman ... the X-Men ... Spiderman ... Bah!! These American superheroes are old news.

Now is the new era of the homegrown Arab superhero, four of them in fact — and they look likely to give their made-in-America counterparts a run for their money...

[More], The Daily Star, Libya, December 21, 2004.

Egypt brought back an ancient mural from the Metropolitan Museum in New York, "said Culture Minister Farouk Hosni yesterday.

In press statements on this occasion, Hosni said that the mural, discovered in Helwan, Egypt by archaeologist Ibrahim Zarqana, was 12 pieces that were auctioned off in Bonhams in London in October.

He said when the Metropolitan Museum discovered that the mural that dates back to the prehistoric was stolen from Egypt; it immediately contacted the Egyptian authorities...

[More], State Information Service, Egypt, December 21, 2004.

The Al Moudira hotel appears to have been transported to the West Bank of Luxor, Egypt, by some aesthetically minded genie.  Far from the tourist hordes invading the nearby Valley of the Kings, this oasis of luxury and serenity is about as far away from the package travel experience as you can get, yet is a mere half-hour from its very epicentre.

Twenty kilometres from the East Bank, where chain hotels stand shoulder to shoulder and tour buses spew exhaust, Al Moudira has brought the boutique-chic concept to a place that was crying out for it.  And if you get up early enough, you can even beat the tourist rush to some of the pharaonic sites, thanks to a 30-minute head start.

[More], The Globe and Mail, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, December 18, 2004.

cf. A Dream of a Thousand and One Nights: The Al Moudira, a New 5 Star Hotel in Luxor, TourEgypt, undated.

Below is a travel article that I had missed from September in The Telegraph.

Keen to show his children that there is life beyond Hampshire, Jonathan Young took them to Egypt for an inspirational break.

The mosque's PA system hollered out the early-morning call to the faithful.  Still disorientated after our late arrival the previous night, I struggled to the window, drew back the curtains - and there was the Great Pyramid, literally at the bottom of the garden...

[More], The Telegraph, UK, September 27, 2004.

Another review of Channel Five's recent documentary Secrets of the Sphinx: Revealed.

Archaeologists, who are able to tell us who built the pyramids of Ancient Egypt, have puzzled over the riddle of the Sphinx for generations.

The identity of the ruler who ordered the building of the 65ft high, 260ft long limestone half-human statue that has guarded the Giza Plateau for 4,500 years has been lost in the sands of time.

[More], The Telegraph, UK, December 14, 2004, via ArchNews.

...[L]ast week's announcement from Google, the Internet search engine, that it will scan and digitize the vast collections of five major libraries. The plan would make good on Google's mission to make "the world's information" universally accessible and searchable by making 15 million books - centuries of learning — available instantly and free.

It echoed "Alexander" because the conqueror's story is told by one of his generals, Ptolemy, in the Great Library of Alexandria — a legendary lost treasure and one of the wonders of the ancient world...

[More], The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio, USA, December 19, 2004, via Explorator.

cf. Google to scan famous libraries, BBC News, UK, December 14, 2004.

cf. New front in search war as Google brings libraries online, Media Bulletin, UK, December 14, 2004.

"Making the wealth of knowledge accumulated in the Bodleian Library's historic collections accessible to as many people as possible is at the heart of Oxford University's commitment to lifelong learning."

The New Library of Alexandia can be found here.

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.