Transcript of a Voice of America broadcast about recent discoveries in the Valley of the Mummies - Bahariya Oasis.

Audio is also available in MP3 and RealAudio format.

[More]  Voice of America, February 1, 2005, via EEF News.

The rough and tumble over whether - and if so where - to relocate the statue of King Ramses II is moving up a league.   After nearly 50 years gracing Midan Ramses, one of downtown Cairo's busiest and most polluted squares, the colossal 3,000-year-old statue is scheduled to be moved back to Meit Rahina where it was first unearthed.   Local archaeologists and antiquities experts brawl.

"The statue shouldn't have been placed in Ramses Square in the first place," says professor of antiquities, Dr Ahmed al-Sawi, one of the advocates of moving the statue from downtown Cairo.   "Such a statue is better placed in a museum, not in a public square."

"The statue has been subject to pollution for 54 years now," al-Sawi adds. "The smoke from the cars and buses which fill the square has damaged the statue badly, causing a noticeable change in its colour."

Addressing those who oppose the relocation of the statue on the grounds that it might be harmed in the process, al-Sawi states: "There can't be a project like the relocation of a grand statue like this without some losses.   Anyway, the parts that will be harmed in the body of the statue can be treated very easily after it has been moved to a more suitable place.   Any loss will be minimal, if not negligible."

However, he expresses fear that if the statue is moved again after that, the body might be greatly damaged.   Officials of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) seem intent on moving the statue thereafter to the new Civilisation Museum on the Cairo-Alexandria desert road.

Former chairman of the SCA, Dr Abdel Halim Nour Eddin, is peeved.   He is not of a mind to relocate Ramses.

"According to the latest survey conducted by Egyptian television, more than 70 per cent of Egyptians don't like the idea of moving the statue of King Ramses II to another place," says Nour Eddin in a recent interview with al-Wafd newspaper.

"The public are used to the presence of the statue in its current location," Nour Eddin adds.   "So you can't ask them to pass by the place of the statue and not find it there.   You can't disregard such an affinity that simply."

"Some people say that the presence of a number of flyovers overshadowing the statue cause it damage," Nour Eddin notes.   "To them I say, let's raise the statue above the level of these flyovers.   As for pollution, this is not a problem of Ramses Square alone.   It's a nation-wide affliction."

Nour Eddin explains that the new Civilisation Museum will not be ready to receive Egypt's antiquities for another 10 years at least.   "So to relocate the statue now and then wait another 10 years for the new museum to open would be without any benefits," says Nour Eddin.   "It can be equally abused in its new, but temporary, location.   Yet this time the body of the statue would be past remedy."

Deputy of the College of Hotel and Tourism for Environmental Affairs, Dr Sumaya Hassan, agrees.

"The idea of moving the statue of King Ramses II would damage the square as a whole," says Hassan.   "The square where the statue is currently located was named after the statue.   So, there's no reason why the statue that gave the place a name and a character should be moved."

"The SCA should keep the statue in its current location and better organise the square," Hassan suggests.   "I think the present location of the statue is a thousand times better than Meit Rahina."

[Source]  The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, 30 January 2005.

One of the most controversial issues among classical archaeologists and historians is the whereabouts of Alexander the Macedonian's tomb.   The issue is not new, chronicled accounts of searching for his final resting place date back to the fourth century AD when many attempts to find his tomb were underway.   However, all proved unsuccessful.

According to historic accounts, Alexander passed away at the age of 33; his body remaining in Babylon for two years owing to disagreement among his four successors as to where to bury him and how to hold a funeral becoming of a such a great leader as Alexander.

Old records contain two versions about Alexander's wish for his burial place.   A Coptic manuscript by an Alexandrian named Khadimon, a member of the old Alexandria library and museum, claims that Alexander wished to be buried in Alexandria.   The other version mentions the temple of Amon in Siwa as his proclaimed wish.

But what is the shape of Alexander's tomb?   According to the historian Buzanias, it is dome-shaped as are tumuli of the period; affected by funerary architecture not only in Alexandria but all over the Hellenistic world.

Some historians believe that Alexander may be buried in Memphis, given that the gods of Memphis were higher in rank than Amon of Siwa.   But such a theory could be refuted on the grounds that the governing seat of the Ptolemies moved to Alexandria, a city which was actually named after him.   There are many reasons to believe that Alexander is buried in Alexandria.

During the many excavations conducted during the search for Alexander's grave, a marble tomb was discovered in 1964 among the Latin graves in Alexandria.

It was thought to be a royal one, owing to the huge amount of alabaster used and the nature of its construction.

It was the only one not carved out of the rocks and had a tumulus shape, as do other royal tombs.   However, there was no definite evidence pinpointing a direct relationship to Alexander.

There are also two accounts linking Alexander with two mosques in Alexandria.   Scholars have reason to believe that 'the leader of two horns' mentioned in the Koran was Alexander, both because of the helmet he used to wear and the vast lands he opened.

It is said that Muslims of the city took his sarcophagus and placed it in the mosque of Al Attarin; later being moved to the British Museum.   However, this sarcophagus proved to be that of Nekhtenabu II.

The second account is that the tomb lies beneath the mosque of Nabi Danial.   Sheikh Mahmud Danial Al Musseli came to Alexandria at the end of the 8th century Hijira and used the mosque - which was at the time named after Alexander - as a place for teaching theology until he died in 810 Hijira.

In 1850AD, a Greek translator said he had looked through an opening in the wooden door of the cellar beneath the mosque of Danial.   He claimed to have seen a glass sarcophagus with a mummy inside which was most probably that of Alexander.   Years later, the sarcophagus was opened and found to be empty.

[Source]  The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, 3 February 2005.

Sarcophagus of Nectanebo II, British Museum.

Really ancient Egypt!

Earth and planetary scientists at Washington University in St. Louis are studying snail fossils to understand the climate of northern Africa 130,000 years ago.

While that might sound a bit like relying on wooly bear caterpillars to predict the severity of winter, the snails actually reveal clues about the climate and environment of western Egypt, lo [sic] those many years ago. They also could shed light on the possible role weather and climate played in the dispersal of humans "out of Africa" and into Europe and Asia. Periods of substantially increased rainfall compared to the present are known to have occurred in the Sahara throughout the last million years, but their duration, intensity, and frequency remain somewhat unconstrained...

[More]  Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, Feb. 2, 2005, via Archaeologica.

The mighty statue of Ramesses II is set to be moved from down-town Cairo to a new museum planned for the Giza plateau. [Current World Archaeology] report[s] on a cutting-edge scanning project that has been undertaken to record the statue ahead of the move...

[Excerpt], Current World Archaeology, Think Publishing, London, UK, Volume 1, No. 9, Issue 9, January / February 2005.

Subscribe to Current World Archaeology Magazine via Amazon.com.

In Siwa, Rasha Sadek gets as close as one can to nature.

Hundreds of thousands of stars dispersed in the dark but clear blue sky.   As we gathered in a circle stretching our hands out to the fire we set to warm ourselves, I tilted my head upwards watching star constellations.   Although my knowledge is scarce when it comes to astrometry, the blessing of ignorance widened my scope as I imagined new patterns and formations.

Sweet potatoes are ready to be eaten; they've been roasting in the fire for 20 minutes now.   We were not, by the way, in the desert surrounded by sand dunes and sleeping bags.   We were in the backyard of a hotel in the oasis of Siwa...

[More]  Al-Ahram, Egypt, issue 728, 3 - 9 February 2005.

The UK release date of the computer game 'Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile' has finally arrived.

Children of the Nile official website

Below are some reviews pertaining to the American release.

Children of the Nile raises the bar for strategy games, Houston Chronicle, Texas, USA, Jan. 4, 2005.

Imm ortal Cities: Children of the Nile Review for PC at GameSpot, Gamespot.com, 11/11/2004.

A Vault | PC | Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile ReviewNewWorld.com, November 26, 2004.

Child ren of the Nile: Review, Strategy Informer, undated.

PC: Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile, GameSpy, Nov. 4, 2004.