[A] mummy's head, dating back thousands of years, is being scanned by specialists at a North East hospital to find out how its owner died.

The ancient head is one of four Egyptian skulls which form part of an ongoing study into the Hancock Museum's historic Egyptian Collections.

Now a team of top scientists at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary will use the latest medical equipment in a bid to delve back in time and discover its origins...

Murder on the Nile in 2000 BC?, Newcastle Evening Chronicle, UK, June 30, 2005.

IFILM have the Steve Martin King Tut skit from Saturday night live available on their site in RealPlayer format.

Steve Marting King Tut Skit, via ArchaeoBlog.

Life in ancient Egypt was very civilised — until you needed a dentist.   New Scientist gets to the root of the matter Amenhotep III was one of ancient Egypt's greatest pharaohs.   His rule was a golden age, when the Egyptian empire was powerful, peaceful and fabulously wealthy.   He built palaces and temples and raised statues to the gods.   He wanted to be remembered.   And he is, but probably not the way he intended.   More than 3000 years after he died, Amenhotep is famous for his terrible teeth.   X-rays of the pharaoh's mummy reveal a gruesome set.   Amenhotep must have endured years of pain.   His teeth gave him hell — every mouthful was agony, every meal an ordeal.   So why didn't he see a dentist?

The explanation is simple, says Judith Miller, a dental surgeon turned Egyptologist: there were no dentists in ancient Egypt, at least none that did more than prescribe a potion or recite a spell.   Her exhaustive study of skulls spanning more than 4000 years turned up no trace of...

Why the pharaohs never smiled, New Scientist, UK, Issue 2506, July 02, 2005.

The Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center is working to bring a 3,000-year-old Egyptian mummy to town in spring 2006, in hopes of renewing the wave of tourism generated by the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit, Exploreum director Mike Sullivan said Monday.

Nesperennub, the mummified former priest of Karnak, is currently housed at the British Museum in London, and starting in mid-September will embark on a tour that includes stops in Houston, Tokyo and possibly Mobile...

Exploreum works to lure mummy, The Mobile Register, Alabama, USA, June 28, 2005.

I stumbled across this whilst looking for Tutankhamun material.   A nice site about the discovery of Tutankhamun including a paper with the above title.

While the greatest archaeological find of the century helped spawn a fad, it also prompted Americans to examine their own culture and place in the world.

"No finer human interest story, no more thrilling drama, no greater archaeological revelations could be summoned from history or the most vivid imagination than is told by the mute objects in this tomb of King Tutankhamen — mute objects that speak with golden eloquence and whose message is now being revealed to the world." ...

Old World, New World: America Meets King Tutankhamun, Mary Rekas, University of Virginia, Virginia, USA, May 1, 2000.

A large sarcophagus dating to the reign of King Rameses II (1279-1213 BC) was discovered in Saqqara, south of Cairo, the Supreme Council of Antiquities said on Tuesday.

The sarcophagus, made of red granite, bears hieroglyphic text and different titles of the deceased. It belongs to an overseer of stables during the reign of Rameses II...

Cairo heralds discovery of large sarcophagus, SAPA-DPA via IOL, South Africa, June 28, 2005.

More on the Edinburgh Thutmosis III exhibition.

A Replica of an Egyptian burial chamber is expected to attract thousands of visitors as part of a major exhibition in Edinburgh.

The tomb of Pharaoh Thutmosis III, which was discovered in 1898, will be recreated in the City Arts Centre.   It will be the first ancient Egyptian exhibition to be held in Edinburgh since The Gold of the Pharaohs was displayed in the centre in 1988.

Herbert Coutts, the city council's director of culture and leisure, said: "There has long been great interest in ancient Egypt and it is anticipated that The Immortal Pharaoh: The Tomb of Thutmosis III will be a successful event."   The exhibition opens on 1 October for 14 weeks.

Egyptian chamber recreated , The Scotsman, UK, June 25, 2005.

Fantasies about chatting up legendary figures have come closer to reality in Japan where researchers have developed a mannequin with a built-in projector that can resemble a face of one's choice.

Company president Jun Ishikawa said he wanted to produce historical figures such as ancient Egyptian queen Cleopatra...

Japanese get a chance to chat up Cleopatra with DVD-powered mannequin, AFP via Space Daily, June 22, 2005.

A sarcophagus of more than 3,200 years old has been discovered by a mission of Cairo University's Faculty of Archaeology in Saqqara, southwest of Cairo, the official MENA news agency reported Tuesday.

Egyptian Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni said the big sarcophagus dating back to the reign of King Rameses II (1279-1213 BC) was made of rosy granite, bearing hieroglyphic signs and different titles of the deceased...

Egypt uncovers 3,200-year-old sarcophagus, Xinhua via People's Daily News, China, June 29, 2005.

The CSIRO has teamed up with the National Gallery of Victoria to reconstruct and conserve the last resting place of a teenage Egyptian priestess who died around 700BC.

The coffin lid, one of the first major Egyptian antiquities to arrive in Australia, is in a fragile state.

About 60 per cent of the wood, and even more of its painted surface, are lost, but the original bright colours on the remaining pieces survive under layers of dirt — gallery officials think...

Microprobe makeover for museum's mummy, Australian IT News, Australia, June 28, 2005.

Those folks in L.A. just don't have the celebrity-handling expertise of us desert dwellers.   They've been fighting traffic, long lines, parking and other indignities just to get a glimpse of the nation's hottest new celebrity show: King Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Conversely, here's how 50 art-loving members of desert society handled it:

They waited until the third day of the exhibit and then, at the civilized hour of 2 p.m. Saturday, they boarded a luxury Cardiff Coach in Rancho Mirage at the offices of Northern Trust Bank, one of the national sponsors of the exhibition...

Road trip to Tutankhamun, The Desert Sun, California, USA, June 26, 2005.

A transcript is available of the 60 minutes, Channel Nine Australia, programme ‘Who Killed King Tut’ mentioned on this blog the other day.

TARA BROWN: Early morning and you can see why the River Nile is considered Egypt's life blood.   It's a fertile strip of cool green in a hot, desert country.   Half an hour's drive away and the landscape turns lunar, desolate, unearthly.   But this is the Valley of the Kings, and here, the treasures are out of sight.   And like always, everything exciting happens underground here, doesn't it?

DR ZAHI HAWASS: Yes. This is a very mysterious place...

And so it goes on.

Transcript - Who killed King Tut?, 60 Minutes, Channel Nine MSN, Australia, June 27, 2005.

Popular traveling exhibit, currently in Los Angeles, expected to bring in king's ransom for artifact preservation...

What is it about Tut that makes hard-core museum-goers and the arts- indifferent alike shell out a mini king's ransom to see his stash?

Theories abound.

There's the mystery of the boy king (born around 1350 B.C., lived to be 19 years old), the history, curses and legends — some of it true, much of it simply a great yarn (or the subject of a Steve Martin ditty)...

TUT, TUT, TUT, Monterey Herald, California, USA, June 26, 2005.

Titled "Jesus in Egypt," the film is based on a book of the same name by Arizona author Paul Perry...

The meeting will be held at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, according to Hawass.

...the film focuses on the flight of the Holy Family to Egypt from Israel after King Herod threatened to "destroy" the boy Jesus, as St. Matthew wrote in the New Testament (2:13).

It was prepared by a team led by Perry that includes Indialantic archaeologist John de Bry, 61...

Film chronicles Jesus in Egypt, Florida Today, Florida, USA, June 27, 2005.

The Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) Secretary-General Zahi Hawass heads to Paris today to attend the meeting of 15th session of the executive committee for Nubia museum in Aswan and the civilization museum in Fustat "ancient Cairo".

The meeting will be held at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, according to Hawass.

Hawass pointed out that the committee will discuss what have been implemented of construction works for setting up the civilization museum.

Hawass attends Nubia museum committee meeting in Paris, State Information Service, Egypt, June 27, 2005.

The Los Angeles leg of the King Tut exhibition, "Tutankhamen and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs," will be open 24 hours a day for the last two months of its run at the Los Angeles County Museum of Arts, an organizer said.   Andres Numhauser, vice president of Arts and Exhibitions International, said that to accommodate the demand for tickets, the galleries would be open all night before the exhibition closes on Nov. 15. A spokeswoman for the museum said that while night time viewing was under consideration, no decision had been made.

Round-the-Clock Tut?, New York Times, USA, June 22, 2005.

A newly found poem by Sappho, acknowledged as one of the greatest poets of Greek classical antiquity and seen by some as the finest of any era, is published for the first time today.

The poem which is now her fourth to survive had a tortuous and not unromantic discovery. It was found in the cartonnage of an Egyptian mummy, the flexible layer of fibre or papyrus which was moulded while wet into a plaster- like surface around the irregular parts of a mummified wrapped body, so that motifs could be painted on...

After 2,600 years, the world gains a fourth poem by Sappho, The Guardian, UK, June 24, 2005, via David Nishimura'sCronaca.

cf. A new Sappho poem, Times Literary Supplement, UK, June 21, 2005.

cf. Fourth work of Sappho is revealed to the world, The Telegraph, UK, June 25, 2005.

To most people, Egyptian mummies are a handful of dead pharaohs wrapped in linen bandages and buried in pyramids outside Cairo.   In reality, virtually everyone in ancient Egypt who could afford it — as many as 70 million people over 3,000 years — wound up going through the elaborate two-month mummification process.

Additionally, millions of animals were mummified and buried alongside their owners.   They were, says Richard Sabin, curator at the Natural History Museum of London, something of a send-off status symbol, much like large bouquets of flowers at funerals today.   “In the 1800s there were literally tons of them dug up from old and new dynasty burial sites,” says Sabin. So many, in fact, that Sabin began to suspect some may have been mass-produced for sale.   “They were wrapping anything they could get their hands on,” says Sabin, including cats, birds, antelopes, and even livestock...

Ancient Egyptians Loved Their Dead Animals, Discover Magazine, USA, Vol. 26, No. 07, July 2005, via Explorator.

Pesed has called a western Pennsylvania college home for about 120 years, but her caretakers don't know what she looks like.

But that might change now that researchers have a CT scan of the 2,300- year-old Egyptian mummy.   Officials believe the scan will provide enough information to allow a forensic artist to construct a bust of Pesed, a mummy from the Nile River town of Akhmim, about 350 miles south of Cairo.

Pesed has been the property of Westminster College, located about 40 miles north of Pittsburgh, since the Rev.   John Griffin, an Egyptian missionary and a Westminster alumnus, gave the mummy to the school in 1885...

Scientists may soon get glimpse of mummy's face, Patriot News, Pennsylvania, USA, June 26, 2005.

... [Dr. Colin Hope,] an adviser to the National Gallery of Victoria on Egyptian art and research associate of Museum Victoria, he has helped co-ordinate the new exhibition, Mummies: Ancient Egypt and the Afterlife.   Despite his fascination, he has understandably found his time in tombs "somewhat unpleasant" due, he says, to "a distinct aroma".

"My major interest is not in funerary archaeology," says Hope, who began his study of ancient Egyptian settlements in 1974 and continued investigations at two excavations in Dakhleh Oasis, in the Egyptian Sahara and about 450 kilometres west of the Nile, after settling in Australia five years later.

He has explored temples, homes, administrative buildings and cemeteries at the remains of a village at Ismant el-Kharab occupied from the Ptolemaic period (332 to 30BC) to the end of the fourth century and Mutel-Kharab, the ancient capital where the Temple of Seth, Lord of the Oasis, stood from at least the end of the New Kingdom (1550 to 1069 BC)...

Tales from the crypt, The Age, Australia, June 24, 2005.

Old flax mill could be the temple of boom.

Multi-million pound plans to regenerate one of the most historic — and eccentric — buildings in Leeds have been unveiled by developers.

London-based SJS Property Management wants to invest £180m to transform the Egyptian-style Temple Works building in Holbeck and surrounding land, creating up to 3,000 full-time jobs.

The building would be reborn as what the developers call a "cultural retail" centre — a mix of shops and more highbrow attractions such as art and sculpture — following a trend already established in Europe.

Temple Works is a Grade I listed former flax mill built between 1836 and 1840.   It was based on the Temple of Horus at Edfu, reflecting a craze for ancient Egypt which swept Europe in the first half of the 19th century...

£180m 'cultural retail centre' plan to regenerate Egyptian-style building, Leeds Today, UK, June 24, 2005.

A very short taster article dated 26th(!) which says more information will be available on the 27th.   This appears to relate to an Australian TV show presented by Tara Brown for 60 minutes.   You may recall Tara Brown's name being mentioned in the recent attack on Zahi Hawass in The Times, UK, which referenced another programme of hers relating to the so-called Nefertiti mummy discovery.

Who or what killed King Tut, the magnificent boy king, ancient Egypt's most famous pharaoh?   His death more than 3000 years ago has been one of the world's most intriguing mysteries – until now. Now we know exactly how King Tutankhamen died.   It's a wrap on history's most fascinating cold case, much more gripping than any episode of CSI.   For not only have these forensic detectives nailed the culprit, in a way they've brought King Tut back to life.   And if you always thought that iconic golden death mask was true to life, wait until you see what he really looked like.

Who killed King Tut?, 60 Minutes, Channel Nine MSN, Australia, June 26, 2005.

...There's plenty more to see.   The exhibition covers 11 galleries set up in chronological order, from Egypt before Tut to January medical scans of his mummy.   The shimmer of the display is staggering, with gold and gilded wood everywhere.<.p>

Items are well displayed, but it's questionable how accessible they'll be with the expected crowds.   The best bet might be to go mid-day, mid-week after the hoopla has died down.

For non-Egyptophiles, it would be worth the extra charge to rent the accompanying audio tour, because understanding the symbolism behind Egyptian beliefs and burial rituals enhances the experience...

Egyptian royalty returns, Riverside Press-Enterprise, California, USA, June 23, 2005.

...Of all the people or fads to make a comeback, Tutankhamun is the biggest.   Returning to the United States after over 25 years, King Tut returns with his treasures, in exhibits new and old.   Of course all his treasures are ancient, but there is something new.   The actual mummy is not at the exhibit, rather the findings of a CT scan done to get a better look into Tut's body and solve why he died.   Known as history's greatest murder mystery, it was once thought that the boy king died at 19 from a blow to the head, suggesting foul play.   New studies find that he died from a leg injury, possibly from a chariot accident.   The injury got infected and proved fatal...

The Boy King Is Back Better Than Ever, La Cañada Valley Sun, California, USA, June 23, 2005.

You may feel a bit like Indiana Jones as you make your way through the brooding colonnaded entrance of "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs," on display through Nov. 15 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

And that's exactly the way the creators and corporate sponsors of this eagerly awaited King Tut sequel want you to feel.

They've conceived a museum going experience that achieves the academic and artistic level you would expect from a world-class museum, while displaying some of the most remarkable archeological artifacts in the world in a way that evokes the spirit of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" with state-of-the-art visuals worthy of Las Vegas...

Show me the mummy, Los Angeles Daily Breeze, California, USA, June 24, 2005.

An exact replica of an Egyptian burial chamber is to form the centrepiece of a major new exhibition in Edinburgh.

The tomb of Pharaoh Thutmosis III, known as the Napoleon of ancient Egypt, is to be built in the City Arts Centre.

More than 60,000 visitors are expected to flock to the exclusive UK exhibition when it opens in October...

...The Edinburgh exhibition, entitled Immortal Pharaoh: The Tomb of Thutmosis III, was due to be announced by the council this morning...

Pharaoh's tomb to be mummy of all shows, Edinburgh Evening News via The Scotsman, UK, June 24, 2005.

Culture Minister Farouk Hosni said the Grand Egyptian Museum, to be built at the Pyramids area in Giza governorate, is the biggest cultural project of the 21st century.

At a press conference held at the museum's site, Hosni said the first stage of the project has already started, adding that most of the world organisations concerned have contributed to it...

Grand Egyptian museum biggest cultural project in 21st century, State Information Service, Egypt, June 24, 2005.

The night before the King Tutankhamun exhibit was unveiled for reporters, I sat at home debating the best way to study the history of the boy king who had been dead for 3,300 years.

After reading a slew of articles on the history of the boy king, I decided there was no fitting manner to prepare for an Egyptian-themed blockbuster than to watch one.

Popping “ The Mummy” into the DVD player, I eagerly absorbed the lore of Hollywood’s fictionalization of the curse of the mummy for two hours late into the night, watching the carved stone tombs and gilded treasures of Hamunaptra (City of the Dead) as ancient mummies came to life...

Revenge of The Mummy: Why Tut Intrigues, Los Angeles Independent, California, USA, June 22, 2005.

A rare Mansoor portrait sculpture of an 18th dynasty Amarna Princess (ca 1363-1364 B.C.) goes live on eBay, the world's largest online marketplace, June 23rd at 10 AM P.S.T.

Previews of the piece are now viewable at www.ebay.com/princess.   The beautiful, delicately carved pink limestone head was last sold more than 50 years ago by the legendary M.A. Mansoor, to a private collector, who owned it till his death several years ago.   The only other known pieces are on display in museums or held in private collections...

Amazing Ancient Egyptian Princess Head from 14th Century B.C. to be Listed on eBay, Yahoo! Business, USA, June 23, 2005.

Tutankhamun is back in the United States 27 years after his first historic visit.   Nevine El-Aref reports on the blockbuster touring exhibition a week after its official inauguration in Los Angeles.

Last Thursday the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) was transformed into an ancient Egyptian necropolis as Egyptian and American officials unveiled the long-heralded exhibition Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs.   The extravagant opening took its attendees back in time to the 18th Dynasty, with strains of early Egyptian music filling the air and waiters wearing ancient Egyptian costumes greeting visitors as they made their way over a gold carpet to meet the famous boy king.   For the next six months, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art will display more than a hundred magnificent objects from the collection that has captivated American attention since its first tour there in the late 1970s.

The exhibition Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, dramatically laid out in 11 galleries, relates the story of one of the most interesting and perplexing eras in ancient Egyptian history — the period before and during the Pharaoh Tutankhamun's reign 3,300 years ago.   Each section showcases the dazzling craftsmanship of ancient artisans that characterised the earlier Tutankhamun exhibition...

Tutmania in LA, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 748, 23 - 29 June 2005.

This is a big year for Tutankhamun, perhaps one of the most important since the discovery of his tomb 83 years ago.   Jill Kamil recalls the drama that surrounded that event.

While the boy king Tutankhamun has rarely been out of the limelight since Howard Carter found his tomb in 1922, interest in this enigmatic Pharaoh has proliferated in the past months.   An exhibition of Tutankhamun's treasures kicked off its world tour in the German city of Bonn last year and has since moved on to Los Angeles, from where it will go on to three other American cities before returning to Europe.   Meanwhile; the mummy itself has been subjected to 1,700 high-resolution CT-scanning by a multinational team of scientists with a view to uncovering facts about how Tutankhamun met his death (apparently not by foul play).   Now, to satisfy curiosity about what he really looked like, three independent teams have reconstructed his features using the latest forensic techniques...

Tutankhamun's tomb — the untold story, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 748, 23 - 29 June 2005.

A giant museum with a glowing alabaster facade and a roof in alignment with the nearby pyramids will house King Tut's mummy and treasures along with thousands of other artifacts, according to a design unveiled Wednesday.

Wednesday's design was the latest step in the government's ambitious $500 million project for the Grand Museum of Egypt, which is intended to gather in one spot at the foot of the pyramids some 100,000 artifacts, many of which have been sitting in warehouses for decades with no room to display them.

Egypt is negotiating with the Japanese Bank for International Development for a loan for the project and plans its own fund-raising drive.   The $40 million that Egypt hopes to raise from a current tour of King Tutankhamun artifacts in the United Sates will go toward the project...

Design for New Egyptian Museum Unveiled, AP via San Francisco Chronicle, California, USA, June 22, 2005.

cf. New museum to house King Tut's mummy, AP via Redlands Daily Facts, California, USA, June 22, 2005.

cf. King Tut getting a new home in Egypt, AP via MSNBC, USA, June 22, 2005.

A reader has asked for a list of the upcoming dates for the Tutankhamun tour.   I have compiled a full list below.   The exhibitions in Basel and Bonn went under the title ‘Tutankhamun and the Golden Beyond’ (Tutanchamun Das goldene Jenseits).

• April 7, 2004 – October 3, 2004
  Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig (Basel Museum of Antiquities), Basel, Switzerland
• November 4, 2004 – May 1, 2005
  Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle (Art and Exhibition Hall), Bonn, Germany
• June 16, 2005 – November 15, 2005
  Los Angeles County Museum of Art Los Angeles, California, USA
• December 15, 2005 – April 23, 2006
  Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA
• May 26, 2006 – January 1, 2007
  The Field Museum Chicago, Illinois, USA
• February 3, 2007 – September 30, 2007
  The Franklin Institute Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
• November(?) 2007 – 2008 TBC
  The Millennium Dome London, UK

An article about the ancient trade in frankincense.   You may recall that Hatshepsut's expedition to Punt brought back frankincense amongst other trade goods.

...Frankincense is an aromatic resin from spindly trees, deemed essential for a host of uses ranging from religious, to cosmetic, to medicinal.

An expedition led by Dr Juris Zarins began in 1991, keeping the maps of Claudius Ptolemy, the Alexandrian geographer of the 2nd century AD as its guide...

...In Egypt, frankincense was used for all practical purposes.   It was used during mummification for embalming corpses...

...The 'kohl' used by Egyptian women to beautify their eyes was comprised of frankincense. ..

A fragrant passage, Deccan Herald via Daily News Online, Sri Lanka, June 20, 2005.

The text below is excerpted from a side-bar on the story linked at the bottom.   I have reproduced it here as I haven't seen it anywhere else and I thought readers might find it useful.

Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs is organized so that the viewer travels through 11 galleries.

• Gallery 1: The Introduction
• Gallery 2: "Daily Life in Ancient Egypt"
• Gallery 3: "Traditional Religion"
• Gallery 4: "Religious Revolution: The Focus on a Single God"
• Gallery 5: "Death, Burial and Afterlife"
• Gallery 6: "The Discovery of the Tomb"
• Gallery 7: "Tutankhamun, King of Egypt"
• Gallery 8: "Causing His Name to Live"
• Gallery 9: "Daily Life in Tutankhamun's World"
• Gallery 10: "The Tomb and Burial of Tutankhamun"
• Gallery 11: Is devoted to the CT scans performed on Tutankhamun's mummified body.   The CT scans were part of a five-year Egyptian research and conservation project with National Geographic that revealed new information about the boy king's brief life and untimely death.   The exhibition galleries take the viewer through a fascinating journey that builds to a finish with a bang.   While the artifacts and treasures are awe-inspiring, the last part of the exhibition is absolutely spellbinding.

Return of the king, The Desert Sun, California, USA, June 20, 2005.

The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse will host an International Conference on Rivers and Civilization in 2006.

The international event will be June 25-28, and will bring together academics, river managers and ecologists, business leaders, writers, musicians, artists, politicians, river experts, recreational interests, wildlife managers, transportation experts and others to focus on contemporary issues related to the world's major river basins...

...Other speakers include ... Fekri Hassan, professor of archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology and Department of Egyptology at University College, London, England...

The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse to host 2006 Rivers conference, La Crosse Tribune, Wisconsin, USA, June 21, 2005.

cf. 2006 Great Rivers Conference.

TravelVideo.TV interview Zahi Hawass.

...Years 2005 and 2006 are very important for archaeology.   We will find out what is behind the secret doors blocking the shaft inside the Pyramids.   We will reveal what is hidden inside the tomb of Seti I, who we believe has his tomb kept intact within the chamber.   We are going to do more CT scans on famous mummies like Nefertiti, Hatshepsut and others.   Until now, we have unearthed only 30 percent of our monuments; 70 percent has yet to be excavated.   Imagine this.   Just before I left Cairo last week, the great temple of Rameses II was found under a house in Heliopolis, downtown which shows that continuously ancient Egypt is revealing itself for us to rewrite the history of a glorious past of our country and a world to whom ancient Egyptian history truly belongs...

Unraveling mystery behind King Tut, TravelVideo.TV, Canada, June 21, 2005.

A specialist south Wales company has won a contract to help preserve an ancient Egyptian temple.

Newport-based Cintec International will carry out work to reinforce the 2,500-year-old Temple of Hibis in the Western Desert.

The company is using a system which it says will leave no visible change to the temple's outward appearance.

Cintec has work on 10 mosques and maqaads, or pillared rooms, in historic parts of the Egyptian capital Cairo...

Firm secures Egypt temple mission, BBC News, UK, June 21, 2005.

Irvin Lippman, executive director of the Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, said he anticipates that King Tut will do for Fort Lauderdale what Art Basel has done for Miami Beach: create a lasting impact on the institution and the community.

“The residual value . . . is huge,” said Lippman, who attended the West Coast premiere.   “It's great to have the exhibition and yes, it's great to welcome hundreds of thousands of people [to the museum], ” he said. “But for the next 20 years those . . . people will recall having seen the exhibition in Fort Lauderdale.” ...

Returning King Tut exhibit to visit S. Florida, The Miami Herald, Florida, USA, June 17, 2005.

Even to those who know her best, Pesed is a woman cloaked in mystery.

She traveled halfway around the world to make her home at Westminster College in New Wilmington, Lawrence County, and rumor has it she sometimes made late-night jaunts across campus, roaming dormitory halls and snuggling up with unsuspecting co-eds.

Though people close to her know she came from Egypt's Akhmim region, south of Cairo, they've learned little about her life there.   They're also curious about the meaning behind the small metal charm she wears tucked under her arm.

Mostly, they want to know what she looked like...

Scanning for answers to mummy's mysteries, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, USA, June 21, 2005.

cf. The Mummy Overview, Westminster College.

The Petrie Museum, which has a world- famous collection of Egyptian material spanning 8,000 years, was one of the first museums to get its entire collection online - which is just as well because it is extremely difficult for even the staff to get physical access to the collection.

It is part of University College London, which is planning a glittering new purpose-built museum, the Panopticon, to house all the university collections, most of which have never been on public display...

Treasures buried in old stables, The Guardian, UK, June 14, 2005, via Explorator.

This one includes RealPlayer audio.

Tourism is important to Egypt's economy, and Egyptian officials hope a traveling exhibit on King Tut will bring American visitors to their country.   The exhibit "King Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs" opened last week (June 16) in Los Angeles.   Egyptian officials say the long-dead ruler has become an important part of their marketing effort.

Outside the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, archeologist Zahi Hawass joked that King Tut has been appointed an Egyptian ambassador, who will take a message about Egypt to Los Angeles, Fort Lauderdale, Chicago, and Philadelphia...

King Tut Markets Egypt as Tourist Destination, VOA News, USA, June 21, 2005.

...Carter's discovery has fascinated me since childhood.   Mummies can be deliciously scary, and children, as well as adults, have been mesmerized even by such low-caliber offerings as "Abbot and Costello Meet the Mummy."   But a presentation as no-nonsense, authentic and high class as "Tutankhamun and the Golden Ages of the Pharaohs," at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art until November, can beguile all of us into thinking we are amateur Egyptologists...

Tut's curse, a mummy myth, Long Beach Press-Telegram, California, USA, June 20, 2005.

The man behind Tut's return zealously preserves his country's past.   He's drawn both admiration and ire.

Zahi Hawass moves through dim galleries at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, a sport-coated platoon leader walking the point on a tense patrol.

The face so often smiling in television specials about ancient Egypt is stern.   The brown eyes that shine when he's playing raconteur at sold- out lectures about the pyramids and pharaohs radiate cold intensity as he inspects each object in "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs."

"These monuments of Egypt are the heritage of everyone," he says later...

Eternal Egypt is his business, Los Angeles Times, California, USA, June 20, 2005.

We elitists may hate the crowds, but blockbuster art shows have benefited millions.

Like Christopher Knight, the art critic of this paper, who thinks the current King Tut blockbuster exhibition is "smarmy," I am an art elitist.   I hate these blockbuster crowds, the inflated admission prices and those things you stick in your ear for the platitudinous canned tour.

In Cairo, when I was organizing the first Tut show in 1975 (as director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art), I was allowed into the Egyptian Museum after hours – all alone – and was given permission to open any case and to fondle the incomparable pieces.   The first one was Tut's great gold mask, which I hefted from its pedestal and promptly kissed, full on the lips.

But Knight is way off when he slams art exhibition "blockbusters" ...

In Defense of King Tut, Los Angeles Times, California, USA, June 20, 2005.

The government has begun implementing an ambitious programme to restore the civilised face of the capital.   This will be achieved through an effort to limit pollution, over-population and traffic jams.   The new programme is being executed in cooperation with the private sector in the framework of the new millennium development goals which include protection of the environment.

Part of the plan focuses on the improvement of the al-Madabegh (tanneries) and Abul Soud districts at a cost of LE863 million, and the movement of government departments away from buildings in downtown.   It also includes upgrading the randomly built areas and gardens along the banks of the Nile in order to improve the Nile Corniche.

Cabinet sources noted that a study to implement development programmes in al-Madabegh and Abul Soud that would transfer industrial activities polluting the environment away from the capital is also underway.   They added that a plan to convert the whole area into a massive tourist site at a cost of LE863 million is being considered.

In cooperation with the Chamber of Leather Industries, a new industrial site will be created to which the tanneries in Masr el-Kadima district will be transferred.   The National Investment Bank will finance the project with an investment of LE385 million.

Sources mentioned that the owners of the existing tanneries will be exempted from 50 per cent of the cost of the new tanneries.   This is an incentive to leave their current locations.   The project will be managed by Cairo governorate.

However, owners of shoe factories and tanneries located outside of Masr el-Kadima will have to pay the total cost of constructing any new infrastructure to which they relocate.   It has been agreed that the Social Fund for Development will finance the beneficiaries' equipment modernisation operation in cooperation with the Ministry of International Cooperation.

Another part of the project will see Cairo governorate, in cooperation with the Ministries of Population, Culture and Tourism, develop Malaeb Sheha in Darrassa, a randomly built area comprised of 280 shanty towns.

A recent report released by the Cairo governor revealed that 239 families from this region will be moved to new housing units in al-Nahda district.   This will follow in the footsteps of the Zeinhom project which was successfully implemented under the auspices of Mrs Suzanne Mubarak.

The report, now in the hands of the cabinet, also highlighted proposals on limiting the heights of buildings in certain Cairo areas.   This would have the dual benefit of limiting over-population and helping to restore the beautiful face of the capital.

The report also included a comprehensive review of how to preserve the antiquities of Cairo from destruction due to pollution.   A notable case is the preservation of Rameses II Statue currently located outside of Rameses Square.

All of this links to the cabinet's ongoing project to upgrade the banks of the Nile from Cairo upstream to Helwan.

Restoring the face of the capital, The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, Jun 19, 2005.

Pharaohs may never have found the glorious afterlife they were expecting, but one thing about ancient Egypt is eternal — the popularity of King Tut.

The Boy King — and his bling — return to the United States 26 years after his treasures dazzled 8 million museum visitors and created a new category of cultural event: the museum blockbuster.

Even by today's over-the-top standards, the Tutankhamun collection is staggering.   This time, curators of "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs" are packing displays with more than twice as many gold and jewel-encrusted artifacts from the world's most celebrated archaeological discovery.   There are 50 objects from the pharaoh's tomb and 70 more from the graves of his noble relatives.   All the artifacts are at least 3,300 years old...

Tutankhamun and 'The Golden Age', Indianapolis Star, USA, Jun 19, 2005.

There is a link at the bottom of this article to a photo gallery with some photo's taken from the New York Times.

The New York Times has devoted a part of its internet site to the exhibition of Tut's objects.

...the exhibition's design was overseen by David P. Silverman, an Egyptologist at the University of Pennsylvania, whose experience was also apparent in the first Tut exhibition...

Tutankhamun and 'The Golden Age', State Information Service, Egypt, June 19, 2005.

At the rate of 300 an hour, visitors streamed into the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for a second consecutive day yesterday as "Tutankhamen and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs" began its two-year, four-city American tour.   With the first days' ticket sales restricted to museum members and with tickets issued in limited numbers to ensure a smooth start to the show, the museum was prepared for 500 visitors an hour beginning tomorrow.   Carrying a top ticket price of $30, the exhibition of more than 130 Egyptian antiquities continues through Nov. 15. Museum officials said total attendance might pass 1.2 million, the record established by its King Tut exhibition in 1978.   A van Gogh show at the museum in 1999 drew 821,004 visitors.

Hail to the King, New York Times, New York, USA, Jun 18, 2005.

British and German archaeologists have found an ancient glassworks in Egypt, believed to date back to around 1250 BC, according to a study published in Science magazine.

The site, at Qantir-Piramesses on the eastern Nile Delta, suggests that Mesopotamia may not have been the sole cradle of glassmaking from raw material, say the study's authors, British archaeologist Thilo Rehren, of University College London, and German colleague Edgar Pusch, of the Pelizaeus Museum in Hildesheim, Germany...

Ancient glassworks found in Delta, State Information Service, Egypt, June 19, 2005.

cf. Ancient Glassmakers: Egyptians crafted ingots for Mediterranean trade, Science News, Vol. 167, No. 25, June 18, 2005, p. 388.

Although Egypt stands at the crossroads of continents and civilizations, images of pyramids, The Sphinx and mummies dominate, eclipsing its other historic cultural and religious strands.

Now attempts are being made to redress the balance and to put the Pharaonic period in context through an ambitious renovation project in Cairo and a series of cultural events in the United States.

Tourism has flourished under the watchful eyes of the Pharaohs with the majority of foreign visitors being attracted by the prospect of viewing ancient tombs and temples...

Egypt's other pasts, CNN, USA, Jun 19, 2005.

The gilded treasures of Tutankhamun have returned to the United States more than 25 years after the sensational success of their first visit, and this time Egypt intends to cash in on the enduring popularity of the boy king.

The comeback museum tour has all of the trappings of a Hollywood blockbuster sequel: a "gold carpet" opening in Los Angeles, a high-powered marketing effort and the potential for a massive box office with tickets as high as $30 each.

"I am not going to send any exhibit for free anymore. We took you for a free lunch and dinner a lot.   Now is the time to pay for your dinner," said Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities...

King Tut treasure back in U.S. as Egypt seeks gold, Reuters, UK, Jun 19, 2005.

Joe Nickell reviews the evidence surrounding the case for the murder of Tutankhamun.

King Tut is in the news again—not regarding his supposed “curse, ” but as the subject of high-tech analyses that debunked his supposed “murder” and provided a more realistic representation of the youthful king’s features.

In his book, The Murder of Tutankhamun, Egyptologist Bob Brier had claimed to solve the 3,000-year-old mystery of the teenage pharaoh’s death.   Citing forensic evidence he concluded that Tut was the victim of murder, probably by his chief advisor Aye, a commoner, who then married Tut’s widow, Queen Ankhesenamun.   According to Brier, “ The X-ray of Tutankhamen’s skull suggests a blow to the back of the head. “

Given my background as a former private investigator and investigative writer who has been involved in several death investigations, as well as co-author of the forensic textbook Crime Science, I have followed the “ murder” case with interest.   I was skeptical of Brier’ s conclusions, although very sympathetic to his attempt to apply forensic and historical evidence to an ancient mystery...

CSI: Egypt, Live Science, USA, June 17, 2005.

The Curse of the Pharaohs has a long heritage, at least as far as King Tut is concerned.   A series of unusual deaths followed quickly on the 1922 discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt.   In later years the curse supposedly brought blackouts, floods and major inconveniences, all attributed to the disruption of Tut's 3,300-year-old mummy and the display of any of the 5,398 objects that filled his tomb.

But in the museum world, the curse may have another meaning, one traceable to the exhibition of 50 objects from the tomb that toured the United States in the late 1970s.   That exhibition attracted eight million visitors, championed supplementary admission prices, boosted the importance of souvenir shops, inspired a renaissance of Egyptian kitsch and set curators and museum boards to salivating for something else that could draw eight million people, skewing museums' expectations for decades.

With the opening here Thursday of "Tutankhamen and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs," an exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, many have feared that this more recent curse, of abject commercialism, would rise again.   The stated goals of this two-year, four-city American tour are mass appeal and mass profits...

Getting beyond the curse of Tut, International Herald Tribune, France, June 18, 2005.

U-Daily Bulletin have a collection of King Tut exhibition stories on the page linked below.

King Tut Exhibit, U-Daily Bulletin, California, USA.

There is also a good photo slideshow here King Tut & the Golden Age of the Pharaohs Photo Gallery.

It's not every day that Melbourne receives a 2700-year-old visitor, but she's here at last. Keku, a magnificently adorned mummy from ancient Egypt, and other artefacts have arrived in town to show the splendour of that ancient civilisation.

The exhibition Mummies: Ancient Egypt and the Afterlife will run at the Melbourne Museum in Carlton from Friday week to October 2.

Keku and her elaborately inscribed coffins form the centrepiece of the exhibition, which will include mummified human heads, hands and feet, animal mummies and six different sarcophagi.   Spells, amulets and ancient linen bandages collected from tombs also feature...

Keku a wonder to behold, after 2700 years, The Age, Australia, June 15, 2005.

cf. All dolled up for a date with the gods, The Herald Sun, Australia, June 15,2005.

More on the glassworks discovery.

in ancient times, so those who knew how to make it possessed a powerful technology.

Glass fragments unearthed in modern-day Iraq suggest that glassmaking began around 1500 B.C. in Mesopotamia and was kept a closely guarded secret for many centuries.   Or so it was thought.

Now a new study suggests the ancient Egyptians mastered the art of glassmaking very soon after the Mesopotamians, using the technology to extend their influence throughout the Mediterranean and the Middle East...

Ancient Egyptian City Yields World's Oldest Glassworks, National Geographic News, USA, June 16, 2005.

cf. Ancient Glassmaking Site Found in Egypt, AFP via Discovery Channel News, USA, June 17, 2005.

cf. Glassmaking in Bronze-Age Egypt, Caroline M. Jackson, Science, Volume 308, Number 5729, June 17, 2005, pp. 1750-1752.

cf. Late Bronze Age Glass Production at Qantir-Piramesses, Egypt, Thilo Rehren and Edgar B. Pusch, Science, Volume 308, Number 5729, June 17, 2005, pp. 1756-1758.

Zahi Hawass

Last month, Laura Bush returned to Egypt to visit the Pyramids.   The United States security came to see me at my office and told me that she personally asked for me to accompany her at the Pyramids.   I went at noon, and she was interviewed in front of the Sphinx for American TV.   This interview captured the hearts of all Americans because Laura was talking in front of the Sphinx and Pyramids. At 6pm she returned to the site, and I took her to see something new...

More secrets from Karnak, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 747, 16 - 22 June 2005.

The discovery of a life-sized dyad statue of a Middle Kingdom Pharaoh and the reconstruction of two prestigious monuments are among the latest achievements of the Franco-Egyptian archaeological team working at Karnak Temple in Luxor.   Nevine El-Aref tours the site.

Last week, during the annual inspection tour carried out by the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) to check on the latest achievements of the French Egyptian mission at Karnak Temple, one part of a rare limestone dyad (pair statue) of the 13th- Dynasty Pharaoh Neferhotep I was announced.   After being buried for nearly 3,600 years in the temple ruins, the statue of Neferhotep, whose name means "beautiful and good", was uncovered by archaeologists from the Centre Franco-Egyptien D'Étude des Temples de Karnak (CFEETK) in a niche 1.5m below the foundation pit of Hatshepsut's obelisk at the Wadjyt hall...

More secrets from Karnak, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 747, 16 - 22 June 2005.

The golden treasures of Egyptian boy King Tutankhamun's tomb are set to dazzle America for the first time in three decades with today's Hollywood- style launch of a unique exhibition in Los Angeles.

Tinsel town will collide with the land of legendary King Tut when the block buster exhibit Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs begins' its 27-month US run at a gala in Los Angeles to be attended by a constellation of stars.

The show, which boasts 130 funerary objects some of which have rarely or ever traveled out of Egypt before, opens its doors 26 years after the last US display of artifacts from Tutankhamun's tomb ended in 1976.

Organizers are hoping the show will become a phenomenon and break attendance records set by the 1976-79 show that gave birth to blockbuster exhibitions and haul in nearly 30 million dollars for Egypt's government...

Tut's treasures to dazzle LA, State Information Service, Egypt, June 16, 2005.

Segments of Roman walls surrounding Luxor and Karnak temples have been discovered, announced the Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni.

He added that the two walls were built by the Romans early in the second century when Luxor Temple was turned into a Roman army camp...

Roman walls unearthed in Luxor, State Information Service, Egypt, June 16, 2005.

What may be one of the earliest glassmaking sites in ancient Egypt has been uncovered in the eastern Nile Delta.

Evidence at Qantir-Piramesses indicates that glass was made there out of raw materials as early as 1250 B.C., researchers from England and Germany report in Friday's issue of the journal Science.

The reworking of already made glass into finished goods has been documented at ancient sites in the Middle East and Egypt, but the new report adds evidence for primary glass production at this location.

Thilo Rehren of University College, London, and Edgar B. Pusch of Pelizaeus Museum in Hildesheim, Germany, report finding a large number of crucibles with remains of glass inside...

Early Glassmaking Site Uncovered in Egypt, AP via Yahoo! News, USA, June 16, 2005.

cf. Early Glassmaking Site Uncovered in Egypt, AP via ABC News, USA, June 16, 2005.

cf. Early Glassmaking Site Uncovered in Egypt, Los Angeles Times, California, USA, June 16, 2005.

The June / July 2005 issue of Ancient Egypt magazine is now available.   There follows a summary of its contents.

• The Thrice-Buried Queen
  Dylan Bickerstaffe investigates the story of a Queen re-buried under unusual circumstances.
• Digging in a Museum
  Wolfram Grajetzki examines the Second Intermediate Period burial of Senebhenaef.
• The Island of Elephantine
  AE visits the monuments on the Island of Elephantine, a site of strategic importance throughout Egypt’s long history.
• The Mummy of Tutankhamun
  AE brings you the full report from the Supreme Council of Antiquities, following the recent CT scan of Tutankhamun’s Mummy.
• Ancient Egypt on the Small Screen
  A review of recent television documentaries on ancient Egypt.
• New Lakes and Very Old Bones
  AE looks at a new site for tourists in the Fayoum, which includes and area where the fossilised skeletons of whales can be seen.
• Cairos’s oldest and largest mosque: the Mosque of Ibn Tulun
  Recently restored, the Ibn Tulun Mosque is a haven for mind, body, and spirit in the heart of old Cairo.
• Cairos’s oldest and largest mosque: the Mosque of Ibn Tulun
  Recently restored, the Ibn Tulun Mosque is a haven for mind, body, and spirit in the heart of old Cairo.
• News of the Friends of the Petrie Museum
• A Stab in the Back
  Joan Reestells a tale of rivalry between Egyptologist Amelia Edwards and her cousin Matilda Betham-Edwards.

Ancient Egypt Magazine, Volume 5, No. 6, Issue 30, June / July 2005.

Some in art world raise eyebrows at high ticket prices.

Tutankhamun, the Egyptian boy king whose last U.S. tour triggered mummy mania across the land, launches his comeback today at prices that might send his long-dead relatives spinning in their tombs.

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is the first and only western American stop in a four-city U.S. tour of "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs."

The exhibit of nearly 130 artifacts from the tombs of King Tut and several of his relatives includes a golden crown the boy king wore in death and probably in life and a gilded coffin believed to belong to his great-grandmother...

L.A.'s Egyptian museum show called one of history's greatest comebacks, The Sacramento Bee, California, USA, June 16, 2005.

The golden treasures of Egyptian boy king Tutankhamun's tomb are set to dazzle America for the first time in three decades with today's Hollywood- style launch of a unique exhibition in Los Angeles.

Tinseltown will collide with the land of legendary King Tut when the blockbuster exhibit Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs begins its 27-month US run at a gala in Los Angeles to be attended by a constellation of stars.

The show, which boasts 130 funerary objects some of which have rarely or never travelled out of Egypt before, opens its doors 26 years after the last US display of artefacts from Tutankhamun's tomb ended in 1976.

Organisers are hoping the show will become a phenomenon and break attendance records set by the 1976-79 show that gave birth to blockbuster exhibitions and haul in nearly 30 million dollars for Egypt's government.

"Since the discovery of his tomb in 1922, Tutankhamun has captured the hearts of people around the world," said Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities.

"Now Tutankhamun is back in the United States, giving a new generation the chance to learn first-hand about the life and magic of this ancient monarch," he told the AFP.

Today's opening is expected to feature a flashbulb-lit red carpet parade that organisers hope will be attended by luminaries including the likes of California's movie star governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Tut's treasures to dazzle LA, The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, June 16, 2005.

By Hassan Saadallah

The rise of subterranean water is a source of chronic headache for archaeologists in Egypt.   With most sites across the country endangered by rising water levels, officials were forced to work out plans to reduce the already gathered water or, in the worst cases, to dismantle the monument and reconstruct it on higher ground.

On the recommendation of Subterranean Water Research Institute studies, the Supreme Council for Antiquities (SCA) is currently supervising the implementation of such projects in several Upper Egyptian sites.

Commenting on the projects, Mohamed Abdul Fatah, head of the Central Administration for Egyptian Antiquities, said that the tomb of Osireion in Abydos, Sohag, had witnessed high subterranean water levels owing to large plantations in the vicinity of the archaeological site.   The lack of a sewerage project for the surrounding housing agglomeration has made the situation worse.   Fatah went on to say that the water has adversely affected reliefs on the walls of the tomb.

The Osirion, he explained, is constructed of huge granite blocks in the unique Fourth Dynasty construction which is interpreted as a cenotaph to the god Osiris.   The structure is entered via a long descending gallery and decorated with excerpts from the Book of Gates and the Book of the Dead.

Fatah affirmed that the project does not hinder in any way the comprehensive restoration project underway in Abydos.   He noted that pipelines in the western side will be installed ten metres after the end of the descending gallery.   No pipes are to be installed above the gallery on the northern side.

The Ashmunein area in Minya is another site being treated from subterranean water.   Despite the significance of the site throughout the ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman ages, it has suffered much in modern times from underground water.   The current project is proceeding smoothly as there are no archaeological hindrances, said Abdul Fatah.

Ashmunein was the capital of the 15th Upper Egyptian province, located to the west of the Nile.   It retains traces of temples dating to the Middle and New Kingdoms.   There are also remains of a Coptic basilica constructed on the foundations of a Ptolemaic temple built in the Greek architectural style.

SCA implements projects to treat subterranean water, The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, June 16, 2005.

One for the petrol-heads :-)

Across Wilshire Boulevard from the unearthed treasures of King Tut showcased at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, another museum is preparing to show off relics of its own.

On Saturday, the Petersen Automotive Museum unveils a lot of 20th century horsepower with its of heads of state exhibit called "Presidents, Popes and Potentates." ...

Petersen shows off relics across street from Tut exhibit, San Luis Obispo Tribune, California, USA, June 15, 2005.

The Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs exhibit opens today at the L.A. County Museum of Art.   If you don't have one of the nearly 300,000 tickets that have already been sold, don't fret.   There are still plenty of tickets available for the show that runs through Nov. 15, including some for dates in June...

Has King Tut has been whitewashed?, U-Daily News, California, USA, June 15, 2005.

Also from the same paper Tutmania II, U-Daily News, California, USA, June 15, 2005.

US black activists demanded Wednesday that a bust of Tutankhamun be removed from a landmark exhibition of artefacts from the Egyptian boy king's tomb because the statue portrays him as white...

Has King Tut has been whitewashed?, Middle East Online, Cyprus, June 16, 2005.

cf. Outraged black activists protest that King Tut has been whitewashed, AFP via Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates, June 16, 2005.

See also this letter in the Contra Costa Times (near the bottom of the page) - Deceitful propaganda, Contra Costa Times, California, June 15, 2005.

The golden treasures of Egyptian boy king Tutankhamun's tomb are set to dazzle America for the first time in three decades with Thursday's Hollywood- style launch of a unique exhibition.

Tinseltown will collide with the land of legendary King Tut when the blockbuster exhibit Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs begins its 27-month US run at a gala in Los Angeles to be attended by a constellation of stars...

The golden treasures of King Tut to dazzle US after 30 years, AFP via Yahoo! News, USA, June 15, 2005.

For the second time in about 30 years, King Tutankhamen will travel to US on a more than one-year visit.

The Boy King returns to the United States 26 years after his treasures dazzled 8 million museum visitors and created a new category of cultural event.

Egyptian ambassador in Washington Nabil Fahmi told MENA that hundreds of thousands of Americans have booked their tickets to visit King Tut...

Americans await King Tut's visit, State Information Service, Egypt, June 15, 2005.

The sequel was almost a quarter century in the making, but was well worth the wait, Hughes observes.

"We're trying to put Tutankhamun in his social, religious and political context," says Kathlyn Cooney, co-curator of the Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs exhibit, whose first stop is the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.   "That's what is different from the 1970s exhibition, which I like to call, 'All Tut, all the time.' " ...

King Tut, Act II, CBS News, USA, June 15, 2005.

Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs" opens its doors June 16, 2005, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the first of four venues during a 27-month tour of the United States.   The tour is organized by National Geographic, AEG Exhibitions, and Arts and Exhibitions International, with cooperation from the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, and sponsored by Northern Trust Corporation.

More than 250,000 tickets to the LACMA exhibition have been sold since sales began in March, an unprecedented presale number for the venue...

'Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs' Exhibition Debuts June 16 at LACMA, Yahoo! Finance, USA, June 15, 2005.

Nancy Kneiding still remembers the "breathtaking" gold and turquoise artifacts that were part of the King Tut exhibit that came to Los Angeles in the 1970s.

Nearly 30 years later, the Palm Desert resident is going to share that with her family again...

Tickets sell fast for King Tut tour, The Desert Sun, California, USA, June 15, 2005.

If Tut was still alive, he'd probably be one happy boy king.

King Tutankhamun's immaculate Egyptian tomb was loaded with hundreds of luxurious, golden treasures admired by people from around the globe. And, starting today, 200 replicas of the items are on display for Winnipeggers...

[More]   The Winnipeg Sun, Saskatchewan, Canada, June 15, 2005.

Includes video footage!

It's the biggest comeback tour in over 3,000 years as the curtain rises again on one of history's most famous faces.   Nearly 30 years after his American debut, King Tut returns.

"Every piece in this exhibit will tell us a story and it will capture our hearts," says Dr. Zahi Hawass, the chairman of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities.

Over twice the size of Tut one, this is the first time most of the exhibit's 114 treasures have ever left home...

[More]   Today via MSNBC News, USA, June 13, 2005.

For five years, British archaeologist Howard Carter combed the sands of the Valley of the Kings to no avail, and his financial backer, Lord Carnavon, was tired of getting no results.   Carter's time was running out.

But on Nov. 22, 1922, the relentless archaeologist finally found what he had been after - the hidden tomb of King Tutankhamun.

News of the extraordinary find circled the world; Carter appeared like a hero on all counts.

But that very day, Carter's pet canary was killed by a snake, the first in a string of bad incidents.

Lord Carnavon was dead within six months of the tomb's discovery...

[More]   ABC News, USA, June 14, 2005.

No reason the out-of-town mummy should get all the attention; Dayton has one of its own, you know.

Her name is Nesiur (pronounced with a silent "n," as in "Essy-oor"), and she's been here since 1926, making a home at the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery.

She was found by Herbert E. Winlock, a noted archaeologist from that era who was digging for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.   He passed the mummy to Dr. J. Morton Howell of Dayton, who at the time was the U.S. Minister to Cairo...

[More]   Dayton Daily News, USA, June 09, 2005.

The gold carpet will be rolled out in Los Angeles, hundreds of ships adorned in gold finery will cruise the waters in Fort Lauderdale, [Florida], and the crème de la crème will raise their glasses among golden masks and sparkling jewels in Chicago.

No expense will be spared, no glamorous detail overlooked, as four museums lay out the royal treatment for a long-awaited visitor: King Tut...

[More]   ABC News, USA, June 14, 2005.

cf. King Tut Exhibition Premieres at LACMA; Premiere Party: “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs”, Business Wire, USA, June 13, 2005.

As National Geographic Channel highlights tomb raiders as part of its special on pharaohs this week, Dr LEE KAM HING looks at the age-old problem of tomb looting.

Long before the Lara Croft films, there were already tomb raiders.   Archaeologists entering King Tutankhamun's tomb in November 1922 found evidence that centuries ago robbers had broken into the place.   The plastered block to the tomb's entrance showed signs of being tampered with on at least two occasions.

Looters, in fact, entered the tomb of Egypt's famous boy pharaoh who ruled briefly from 1333BC to 1323BC within months of his burial.   But they were surprised by the guards.   The entrance was resealed...

[More]   The Star Online, Malaysia, June 12, 2005.

CT scanning is a non-invasive tool which produces three-dimensional images, and is thus superior to X-rays, which can only see one plane at a time.

The current investigation of King Tutankhamun's mummy was designed to confirm or refute the conclusions of previous examinations, and look for additional details that earlier investigators might have missed.

The scientists who analysed the CT scan images of Tutankhamun came together in a series of meetings to discuss their findings.

They were unanimous on almost all points and their conclusions are as follows...

[More]   New Straits Times, Malaysia, June 11, 2005.

Students at the city's Charter Elementary School West Campus recently showed off their knowledge of ancient Egypt.

"Archaeologists think King Tut died of an infection from a broken leg," said Nicole Batista, 9, of Davie.

"Some sarcophagi were made of up to 50 pounds of gold," said Blake Kelley, 9, of Pembroke Pines.   "Mummies were put in them so that germs, bacteria and sand couldn't get in.   When they were preparing the dead to be mummies, they took out all of the organs except the heart." ...

[More]   South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Florida, USA, June 10, >2005.

Local Egyptologist Walt Daugherty will delight in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's upcoming King Tut exhibit not only because of the glimpse it will give into the young king's elusive tomb, but also because it promises to give him a taste of his own past...

[More]   Santa Maria Times, California, USA, June 13, 2005.

"Good Morning America" will bring viewers the first look at "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs," the new exhibit of priceless objects from the 3,300-year-old tomb of the Egyptian boy pharaoh.

Don't miss ABC News' "Good Morning America" on Tuesday, June 14 when we give you the first look at the new King Tut exhibit...

[More]   ABC News, USA, June 09, 2005.

The King Tut exhibition set to open on June 16 in Los Angeles, bringing the boy king's treasures to the United States for the first time in a quarter-century, is in just about every sense a reflection of Zahi Hawass, the man who made the show possible.

Dr. Hawass, who controls Egypt's vast archaeological trove as secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, is part Indiana Jones, part P. T. Barnum - intent on dusting off Egypt's holdings through a mix of entertainment, commerce and archaeology.

Here to give a lecture before heading to the West Coast for the exhibition's inauguration on Thursday, Dr. Hawass, a trim, energetic man with white, wavy hair, was his usual swashbuckling self.   "I am very complicated - I'm like Tut," he told a reporter, striding out of a formal dinner.   "Yes. This should be the title of your article: The Mystery of Zahi Hawass." ...

[More]   New York Times, New York, USA, June 13, 2005.

Pharaohs may never have found the glorious afterlife they were expecting, but one thing about ancient Egypt is eternal - the popularity of King Tut.

The Boy King - and his bling - return to the United States 26 years after his treasures dazzled 8 million museum visitors and created a new category of cultural event: the museum blockbuster.

Even by today's over-the-top standards, the Tutankhamun collection is staggering...

[More]   AP via San Francisco Chronicle, California, USA, June 11, 2005.

cf. King Tut returns to dazzle with gold and high tech displays, AP via Miami Herald, Florida, USA, June 11, 2005.

cf. Boy King's bling, AP via Columbia Daily Tribune, Missouri, USA, June 12, 2005.

Denver billionaire Phil Anschutz and Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun aren't an obvious pairing, but they have teamed up for the new blockbuster art exhibit Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs opening June 16 in Los Angeles...

[More]   Denver Business Journal, Colorado, USA, June 10, >2005.

The high-tech city boasts a large cache of Egyptian treasures, as well as a puzzle from California's past.

The armless goddess, like an Egyptian Venus de Milo, stared out from behind protective glass. This 18-inch likeness of Neith, the goddess of war, was carved of wood 2,500 years ago.

"If she could speak," my mother said, "she would say, 'Rah-em-pet,' which means 'The sun is in the sky.' "   A free workshop in hieroglyphics had turned her into an instant expert on the everyday sayings of Egyptian deities...

[More]   Los Angeles Times, California, USA, June 12, 2005.

A Welsh university could soon be turning out a new generation of Indiana Joneses after appointing one of the world's leading experts in lost tombs.

This week, the University of Wales, Swansea, has welcomed a new Chair of Egyptology, Professor Thomas Schneider, a world renowned expert in the field.

He wants to obtain excavation licences from Egyptian authorities so some of the 200 Egyptology students in Swansea can do "hands-on" discovery work in ancient tombs and catacombs...

[More]   icWales, UK, June 10, 2005.

Archaeologist and Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities Zahi Hawass is credited with such major discoveries as the tombs of Giza and the Saqqara Pyramids.   As a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence he recently helped to reopen the tomb of Tutankhamun so that the mummy could undergo a CT scan to determine the cause of death for a National Geographic Channel documentary.   He recently talked with 'Taipei Times' staff reporter Gavin Phipps about the world's fascination with ancient Egypt and the curse of the pharaohs...

[More]   Taipei Times, Taiwan, June 11, 2005.

That Indiana Jones hat and roguish smile are more than a tad familiar, but Zahi Hawass ... isn't a movie-star: He's more, he's the real thing.

The man has dominion over Egypt's famous ancient monuments, discoveries like the fabulously-named Valley of the Golden Mummies under his belt, and an outspoken personality that television viewers so love but harassed museum curators around the world dread...

[More]   Today Online, Singapore, June 11, 2005.

The legendary King Tutankhamun has been the source of intrigue for nearly a century, for he is an object of fascination since the discovery of his tomb in 1922.   His mysterious demise and the rumoured "curse" on those involved with the discovery are shrouded in mystery.

Now, find out more about the pharaoh in Tut Resurrected in a world premiere tomorrow at 6pm on National Geographic Channel (Astro Channel 52).   The two-hour special, airing in conjunction with the channel's "Pharaohs Week", follows leading archaeologist Dr Zahi Hawass and a team of international scientists as they examine King Tut to find out what caused his death more than 3,000 years ago...

[More]   New Straits Times, Malaysia, June 11, 2005.

Love him or hate him, Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities secretary-general Dr Zahi Hawass, the man who reigns supreme over Egyptology, is a hero.   JOAN LAU writes.

Here are three things you probably don't know about Cairo (well, at least I didn't!): it's really cold in April (I thought Egypt is desert-hot and was really taken aback to step out of the airport into a freezing night... stupid me.   The only consolation?   I was not the only one who thought that.), the Nile is really blue and Dr Zahi Hawass is really a god (well, it felt that way to me... more on that later)....

[More]   New Straits Times, Malaysia, June 11, 2005.

Pharaohs may never have found the glorious afterlife they were expecting, but one thing about ancient Egypt is eternal — the popularity of King Tut.

The Boy King — and his bling — return to the United States 26 years after his treasures dazzled 8 million museum visitors and created a new category of cultural event: the museum blockbuster...

[More]   Indiana Daily Student, Indiana, USA, June 09, 2005.

Jimmy Dunn over at Tour Egypt has started a blog system on his website.   It contains one master blog and several sub-blogs (categories I suppose) and Jimmy is asking for "a few more good bloggers" to suggest categories and maintain blogs for these categories.

The master blog can be found here (Tour Egypt Master Blog) and currently has sub-categories of Luxor News Blog edited by Jane Akshar of Flats in Luxor and Message Center Reporter.   All of the blogs allow comments and have RSS 2.0 feeds.

For more information check out this feature story The Tour Egypt Blog System Wants YOU, Tour Egypt, undated.

Dr. Zahi Hawass has opened an exhibition in the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square showing a number of Fayoum portraits.

The exhibition is set to go on display for two months. It includes 12 portraits and 7 busts considered of major significance.

Dr. Hawass said that the first such portrait replacing mummy masks and busts date back to the first century A.D. Pharaohs used them to help their souls recognize their bodies in the after-life...

[More], Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, June 09, 2005.

Minister of Culture Dr. Farouk Hosni confirmed that work is going on to establish Civilization Museum at Al-Fostat saying that the museum establishments will end in 6 months to be followed by preparing the museum from inside.

Hosni said the stage of establishments would cost LE 317 million and that the second stage would cost LE 250 million, thus the total cost of the museum amounts to LE 567 million funded wholly by Save Nubia Fund (SNF) under the supervision of the UNESCO...

[More], Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, June 09, 2005.

The ancient Egyptians produced statues by the bargeload, yet their feet were probably no more beautiful than yours or mine.

Luckily for sculptors of the day, there was a ready way around the natural irregularities of human anatomy: the standardized foot.

Fuyuki Matsumura, curator of the Nagoya City Museum, pointed out one such foot in "L'Homme Egyptien," an exhibition of ancient Egyptian art from the Louvre that began a tour of Japan at his museum.   The show recently moved on to the Fukuoka City Museum in Fukuoka and will stop at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum later this year...

[Source]   Daily Yomiuri, Japan, June 09, 2005.

cf. The Gateway to Ancient Egypt, Yokohama Museum of Eurasian Cultures.

By Hassan Saadallah

The rare statue of King Neferhotep of the 13th Dynasty, recently discovered beneath the foundations of the southern obelisk of Queen Hatshepsut at Karnak Temple, will not be moved from its place.

Dr Zahi Hawass, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council for Antiquities (SCA), said at a press conference early this week that the limestone statue is life-size and depicts the king in a standing position wearing the royal crown ornamented by a cobra.

The position of the 3600 year-old statue was so awkward an ad-hoc committee was formed to decide whether the statue should be moved out of its ditch or kept in place to protect the obelisk.   The committee has opted to leave the statue temporarily until the obelisk is reinforced.

Dr Hawass said that the position of the statue might prove the existence of an important structure that goes back to the pre-Modern Kingdom - this being likely given that parts of a huge such structure already having been found.   Dr Hawass revealed that the statue is the second of its kind belonging to King Neferhotep to have been found.   The first was found in 1904 among the cachet of the Karnak courtyard which is currently on display in the Egyptian Museum.

The Head of the Egyptian Antiquities Sector, Sabri Abdul Aziz, said the hands of the statue appear to have been originally interlocked with another statue.   However, the second statue has yet to be excavated upon the approval of the Standing Antiquities Committee.   He added that to unearth the statues, the chapel surrounding the obelisk would need to be dismantled.

Dr Hawass' press conference was held on the sidelines of the meetings of the Egyptian-French committee assigned to save the Karnak Temple.   The committee reviewed project accomplishments so far including the restoration of the Priests' Residences in the vicinity of the Sacred Lake, the northern wing of the fourth pylon, and parts of the reliefs found on the outer part of the Hypostyle Hall.

[Source]   The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, June 09, 2005.

By Hassan Saadallah

Rosetta lies in the western Delta and gained its worldwide fame from being the town in which the Rosetta Stone - a black basalt slab that enabled the deciphering of hieroglyphics - was found.   But that is not all Rosetta holds, embracing also Egypt's largest number of Islamic structures outside of Cairo.

Rosetta houses a unique collection of twenty historic mansions, ten mosques, a public bath, a mill, a citadel, a gate and remains of an old wall.   These all date back to the Ottoman age with the exception of the citadel and the gate which belong to the Memluk age.   These structures are built from a kind of brick which as of yet the experts have failed to understand how it was produced.

Although several of these structures have undergone restoration projects, a much more comprehensive project is still needed owing to their dilapidated condition.   Most of the mansions have large wall fissures with disintegrated floors.

Dr Zahi Hawass, Secretary-General of the SCA, said that a plan is soon to be administered which will restore the architectural and ornamental aspects of Rosetta's Islamic treasure.   This will include replacing some of the buildings' existing wooden ceilings with new ceilings of the same pattern.

From the inside, the painting used will be the same as the original material in order to convey the same impression of age.   Rust will be also removed from the ironware in houses which will then be coated with Vaseline to protect them.

The mansions of Rosetta reflect the architectural boom in the city during the Ottoman age.   They display excellence both in carpentry work and architecture.

Among the houses to be restored is a three-story building constructed in 1808 and named after its owner, Osman Al Amasyli, who was a soldier in the Turkish army.   The mill is named after its owner Abu Shahin and belongs to the 9th Century.   The mill built by Osman Agha was powered by horses.

The house of Al Maizouni, built in 1740, belonged to the father of Zbeida, the wife of Mino, the third commander of the French expedition in Egypt.   The four-storey mansion of Arab Killy, built by the governor of Rosetta in the first half of the 18th Century, is also part of the restoration plan.

The Bath of Azuz is over 100 years old and comprises two wings.   The first wing, the reception wing, leads to a corridor with a marble fountain in the centre.   At the end of the corridor lies a wooden compartment where the master of the place would sit to receive people.   The second wing was flanked by bathing rooms and had a marble floor ornamented by another fountain.   The ceilings of both wings were domes with glass windows to allow adequate lighting.   Annexed to the bath building was a small house used as a residence for the bath owner and its workers.

The mosques of Ali Al Mahali and Al Abbas, constructed in 1721 and 1809 respectively, are two of the city's mosques included in the restoration plan.

Reports show that the Qaitbay citadel of Rosetta is in dire need of restoration as parts of it have collapsed.   But before embarking upon the project, a barrier is to be built around the citadel to prevent water leakage within.   The citadel resembles in design the interior fortress of Alexandria citadel, which also bears the name of Qaitbay.   It was in the citadel of Rosetta that an officer of the French expedition found the Rosetta stone in 1799.

[Source]   The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, June 09, 2005.

Some of Egypt's stolen antiquities might be returned.   Switzerland has recently become party to an international agreement on the prevention of antiquity smuggling.   The agreement would give the Egyptians a carte blanche to demand a return of their country's monuments which had been smuggled to Switzerland in the past.   Local antiquities' experts are blithe.

"The Swiss signing the agreement would of course benefit Egypt," says Chairman of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) Dr Zahi Hawass.   "There are big antiquities' smugglers in that country."

Hawass explains that in the course of the next few weeks the Egyptian government is due to take measures to retrieve Egyptian antiquities that had been smuggled to Switzerland in the past.   He also refers to a problem in relation to unregistered relics.   Because they are unregistered, the authorities might find it difficult to trace them.

Away from Hawass' euphoria, a question might be asked now: how exactly did the antiquities get out of Egypt in the first place?   How did they reach the hands of the smugglers thousands of miles away in Switzerland and other parts of Europe?   Can't we protect our own heritage regardless of whether other countries sign an agreement or not?

"An end to the smuggling of antiquities must start in Egypt itself," suggests antiquities' expert, Dr Mohamed Ibrahim Bakr.   "The retribution for smugglers must be very big in a way to scare them away from such actions.

"We've been waiting for a long time for the Swiss to sign the agreement on the prevention of antiquities' smuggling," Bakr says.   "The agreement would put an end to antiquities' smuggling to this country," he adds in a recent interview with Rose el-Youssef magazine.

"Switzerland is famous for smuggled antiquities auctions," says Dr Ibrahim al-Nawawi, an adviser to the SCA.   "The government there has previously devised plans with the aim of legalising this kind of activity, which turned into a huge source of national income.

"The signing of the agreement is a severe slap on the face of antiquities smugglers and money launderers in this country," al-Nawawi adds.   "Egypt must act swiftly to retain its stolen monuments."

Egypt has recently decided not to cooperate with archaeological expeditions from museums or universities that have in the past smuggled antiquities from Egypt.

"It is time the government approves the new Antiquities Law," demands al- Nawawi.   "We must tighten the grip on our monuments internally.   Internal laws must precede the search for the stolen antiquities outside our own country."

Antiquities' expert Ibrahim Abdel Magid is overjoyed.   The signing of the agreement on the prevention of the smuggling of antiquities is to him of special importance.

"Most of the big antiquities' smuggling cases are related to Switzerland," says Abdel Magid.

Abdel Magid tells that when he was in Switzerland recently, he came across a booklet for a Swiss special monument fair.   Turning the pages of the booklet, which contained the photos and information about the relics displayed in the fair, he discovered that the contents included around 500 original Egyptian relics including pure gold ones.

"Egypt can recover thousands of its stolen antiquities in the light of the new agreement," says Abdel Magid.

[Source]   The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, June 08, 2005.

In 1978, on the heels of the first Star Wars, the Tutankhamun exhibit opened at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art with blockbuster lines and electricity usually reserved for Hollywood premieres.

The exhibit celebrating the discoveries of a boy pharaoh became the biggest show in the history of the museum, whose front at the time resembled nothing like the present facade.

More than 50,000 visitors a week saw that exhibit in Los Angeles and six other cities in what became a King Tut craze in pop culture, including a Top 40 hit by comedian Steve Martin.

Star Wars creator George Lucas himself toured the exhibit several times, later remarking to a friend that he was in awe of the Tut tomb discovery much the same way movie-goers were of the futuristic world he had created.

Now, 28 years later, coincidentally coming on the release of the third Star Wars prequel that completes that saga, the Tutankhamun exhibition returns to Los Angeles in which LACMA officials anticipate will be yet another blockbuster showing...

[More]   The L.A. Independent, California, June 08, 2005.

When a woman in Canada refused to return a valuable statue to the Cairo Museum, Dr Zahi Hawass, who was handling the negotiation, casually mentioned a curse said to be associated with the artefact. The next day the statue duly arrived at the Egyptian embassy in Canada.

The fear of the Pharaohs' curse has long been the stuff of fiction and films.   It is a subject that has stirred public imagination.   There are those who believe that the pharaohs placed a curse on whoever disturbed their place of eternal rest.

When Lord Carnavon died on 5 April 1923, barely six months after the expedition's discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb, it appears that there was indeed a curse...

[More]   The Star, Malaysia, June 08, 2005.

The teenaged king - who ruled briefly from BC 1333 to 1323 - was not the greatest of ancient Egypt's rulers.

Yet no pharaoh fascinates us as much.   Tutankhamun's golden funerary mask is, like the pyramids and the Sphinx, a recognizable image of Egypt's timelessness.   Over the years, selected treasures from his tomb have been exhibited in the United States and Europe, and these attract large number of visitors.

The King Tut enigma has been analysed in countless books and documentaries.   And this evening National Geographic Channel is premiering a two-hour special on Tutankhamun as part of the Pharaoh Week programmes...

[More]   The Star, Malaysia, June 08, 2005.

The CT Scan carried out on King Tutankhamun's mummy is an example of how National Geographic Channel is employing modern science and cutting- edge technology to gain exciting insights into seemingly old subjects.

In this case X-ray technology is used to determine the exact cause of death in Tutankhamun, a question that has long intrigued scholars.

Some 1,700 three-dimensional images of the mummy were obtained to help a team of radiologists, epidemiologists and forensic pathologists to determine the nature of the boy-king's injuries...

[More]   The Star, Malaysia, June 08, 2005.

King Tut never grows old. The boy king and his earthly treasures have endured 3,300 years thanks to ancient Egyptian burial practices.   But it's the millions of fascinated fans worldwide who have pored over his treasures since the discovery of his tomb in 1922 that keep King Tut mania alive.

"Part of it is the objects themselves are what make this such a fascinating story, and trying to reconstruct the period at a distance in time when there is a lot not known - the reign of this king, how he died, and who his family members were," said Nancy Thomas, curator for the Los Angeles County museum where the exhibit will debut in June.   "These unanswered questions are part of what make this period of Egyptian history so tantalizing..."

[More]   ABC News, USA, June 09, 2005.

National Geographic Channel digs through superstitions to reveal the real, ancient Egypt.

Ask most people to talk about ancient Egypt and you'll quickly hear four words: mummies, curses, pyramids, treasures.   Thanks to Hollywood movies that stretch history thin to weave horror, our knowledge of ancient Egypt is shaped largely by myths and superstitions.

Now, National Geographic Channel (NGC) hopes to change all that through several dedicated programmes that look at history through the microscope of science.

NGC's Pharaohs Week, on June 12 at 3pm, will be piecing together clues that reveal exciting new stories about ancient Egypt. The series runs until June 15...

[More]   Gulf News, UAE, June 07, 2005.

The Egyptian Museum in Cairo Tuesday inaugurated an exhibition of funerary portraits and death masks that display a fusion of Pharaonic and Greco-Roman cultures.

The centrepiece of the two-month show, entitled "Faces from the Past," is a collection of 15 Fayyoum portraits dating from the Roman era during the first centuries AD...

[More]   DPA via Washington's Classical 103.5, District of Columbia, USA, June 07, 2005.

African-American activists criticized the Board of Supervisors Tuesday for allowing a King Tut exhibition at the county Museum of Art, saying that renderings of the boy king as white are inaccurate.   The "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharoahs" exhibit opens a four-city, nationwide tour at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on June 16. Among the installations are three busts of Tut II reconstructed from the boy king's mummified corpse.

All of the busts, fashioned by three groups of researchers, show Tut as a caucasoid North African.   That representation led to Tuesday's protest by about a dozen speakers, who asked that the busts be removed from the exhibit...

[More]   MSNBC, USA, June 08, 2005.

cf. Official website for the King Tut Exhibition.

... Dead Sea products were deemed so valuable that numerous wars were fought for possession of the region. Queen Cleopatra, reputedly the most beautiful woman in the world in her day, was an ardent user of Dead Sea beauty formulations. Upon her request, Mark Antony conquered the entire area surrounding the Dead Sea for her. The last battle between the Romans and the people of Israel took place just off the western side of the Dead Sea, on Masada. Following the Roman conquest, historian Josephus Flavius noted that Roman travelers took back home as much Dead Sea salts as they could...

[More]   MoneyPlans, India, undated, via Paleojudaica.

Also Cleopatra's beauty secret, Jerusalem Post , Israel, Jan 29, 2004.

You can get Malki Dead Sea Natural Black Mud Mask Soap and Malki Dead Sea Natural Mineral Soap from Boots the chemist in the UK.   They are reputed to be good for eczema.

A life-sized statue of the 13th Dynasty Pharaoh Neferhotep I has emerged from the ruins of ancient Thebes in Luxor, Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities said on Saturday.

Buried for almost 3,600 years, the six-foot limestone statue shows the "beautiful and good" pharaoh - this is what Neferhotep means - wearing the royal head cloth...

[More]   Discovery Channel News, USA, June 06, 2005.

... Tut II is a Tinseltown production in the literal as well as a figurative sense: There are three executive producers, including National Geographic, those intrepid archaeologists/explorers of TV and magazine fame. There's Arts and Exhibitions International, a newcomer in the museum world that produces exhibits as profit-making entertainment extravaganzas.

And there's the Anschutz Entertainment Group, part of the empire of billionaire mogul Philip Anschutz, who makes family-friendly movies, owns sports teams and produces rock concerts for the likes of Paul McCartney, Prince and Usher...

[More]   USA Today via EarthLink.net, USA, June 07, 2005.

Also King Tut reigns again, USA Today, USA, June 06, 2005.

Donna Tytran is an amateur Egyptologist.   She volunteers with an agency that helps people in Egypt and has traveled there for the past three years.

"I've acquired a passion for Egyptian art and history," she says.

... on the way to the parking lot ... she spotted a "painting" of King Tut in a large brass frame.   Destined for the garage sale, she asked the ... man how much it was.   They finally settled on $5...

... While I knew that the painting ... was on cloth, I thought it was a poster.   It never occurred to me that it could be a Hermes scarf...

[More]   The Detroit News, Michigan, USA, May 28, 2005.

Harrogate's Royal Pump Room Museum is running an exhibition entitled "Discover Ancient Egypt" where you can see Egyptian Jar, where they found the grime mentioned in the previous post, for yourself.   The exhibition runs until 4th September 2005.

Discover Ancient Egypt, Harrogate Borough Council.

Harrogate Royal Pump Room Museum, 24 House Museum.

cf. Tests show museum's 5000-year-old Egyptian vase is for real, 24 Hour Museum, UK, August 08, 2004.

Plans are underway to launch an innovative study to help engage prisoners at Whitemoor Prison in East Anglia with collections at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.

Dr Sally-Ann Ashton, Senior Assistant Keeper in the Department of Antiquities at the Fitzwilliam, was so inspired by the prisoners' reaction to lectures she gave there she is now seeking funds for a scheme to provide them with digital information.

Sally gave her first lecture at the prison last summer on Greek rulers in Egypt in which she showed how these Greeks wanted to be seen as Egyptian.   Her second lecture in April described how the Romans saw Egypt as part of Africa...

[More]   24 Hour Museum, UK, June 03, 2005.

Museum staff are appealing to the public after a number of ancient Egyptian artefacts were stolen from Abington Museum in Northampton.

The thieves broke in through a window on the night of May 29, 2005, and took artefacts from a late 19th/early 20th century collection.   The items formed an important part of the museum's Victorian style room, which remains open despite the thief (or thieves) smashing a glass cabinet of curiosities...

[More]   24 Hour Museum, UK, June 02, 2005.

IT has kept its secret for thousands of years but, in the end, ancient rituals proved no match for modern science.

For the past 36 years, an Egyptian jar has stood in the collection of a Harrogate museum and, for countless years before that, lay in the deserts of the Middle East.   But tests have proved that the residue inside is not just the grime of centuries, but is all that is left of a long-dead priest...

[More]   The Northern Echo, UK, June 03, 2005.

The mysteries behind the life and love of an Ancient Egyptian queen are unravelled in two competitive Hollywood film epics...

[More]   Egypt Today, Egypt, Volume 26, Issue 06, June 2005.

Two!   One starring Halle Berry none the less.   By the way, the other day it was reported that Hawass was going

to ban the John Heyman film as it was based on a book by Ahmed Osman.

cf. 'Nefertiti Queen of the Nile' halted due to controversy over supposed 'Jewish' roots, Al Bawaba, Jordan, May 30, 2005.

Buy "Moses and Akhenaten: The Secret History of Egypt at the Time of the Exodus", Ahmed Osman, Bear & Company, 2002, from amazon.co.uk, amazon.com, or amazon.ca.

Old Black Eyes is back, and his new tour is generating ticket sales- and controversy.

King Tut has been kicking up dust ever since British archeologist Howard Carter discovered his treasure-filled, 3,000-year-old tomb in 1922.   That notorious unearthing-it supposedly unleashed a curse that doomed several people around the dig-inspired Hollywood horror movies and spurred on the art deco craze.   The boy king's first U.S. tour, which began in 1976, was epic pop: it launched the era of museum blockbuster shows, with unprecedented crowds craning to see the tomb's gold and jeweled artifacts, while the cash registers ca-chinged in the nearby souvenir stalls.   When you're talking Tut, the line between scholarship and showmanship has always been pretty thin...

[More]   Newsweek via MSNBC, USA, June 05, 2005.

Queen Nefertiti travelled to Italy yesterday in a Pharaonic cortege on an Egyptian plane, to take part in the Egyptian tourist festival due to be held in Milan on June 18-19 under the auspices of the Egyptian Tourism Promotion Authority and EgyptAir.

"This festival targets the activation and attraction of the Italian tourists to Egypt", said Magdy Attiya, the tourist expert in charge of this festival, adding that "the festival will be held in Magda Palace, Milan's greatest theatres. This celebration will include folklore shows and Nefertiti's cortege that will be played by the Egyptian girl Randa Ghazi, who has the Italian nationality.

[More], Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, June 05, 2005.

Most of the articles state that the statue belongs to Neferhotep I but the Gulf Daily News article quotes Hawass as saying that it could be Neferhotep I or III.

Buried for nearly 3,600 years, a rare statue of Egypt's King Neferhotep I has been brought to light in the ruins of Thebes by a team of French archaeologists.

Officials said on Saturday that the statue was unusual in that the king is depicted holding hands with a double of himself, although the second part of the carving remains under the sand and its form has been determined by the use of imaging equipment...

[More]   AFP via Yahoo! News, USA, June 04, 2005.

The following slideshow contains three photographs.

cf. Ancient Egyptian statue discovered, Gulf Daily News, Bahrain, June 05, 2005.

cf. Statue of Egyptian pharaoh found after nearly 3,600 years, Japan Today, Japan, June 05, 2005.

cf. Newly-unearthed Pharaoh statue to stay in Karnak, Xinhua News Agency via China View, China, June 06, 2005.

cf. Statue of Neferhotep unearthed at Karnak Temple, State Information Service, Egypt, June 05, 2005.

cf. Statue of Egyptian pharaoh found after nearly 3,600 years, AFP via Tehran Times, Iran, June 06, 2005.

cf. Egyptian pharaoh statue found after 3,600 years!, AFP via Times of Oman, Oman, June 04, 2005.

Science magazine contains a review of the film and the accompanying book of the British Museum exhibition 'Mummy: The Inside Story' where the mummy of Nesperennub was unwrapped via CT scans and presented in 3D.

[More], Science, USA, Vol. 308, Issue 5727, 1415, 3 June 2005.

Buy Mummy: The Inside Story, John H. Taylor, British Museum Press, London, 2004 from Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, or Amazon.ca.   USA and Canada edition published by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York.

A week-long programme brings a different image of Egypt to Washington DC, reports Amina Elbendary.

"Egypt's Other Pasts: A Pilgrimage through the Splendors of Coptic, Greco-Roman and Islamic Legacies" opens next week in Washington DC.   As its organisers Brigitte Boulad-Kiesler and Sherine Mishriki explained to Al-Ahram Weekly the event aims at introducing the many sides of Egypt's legacy and identity to the American public.   Understanding the coexistence of these multiple sides of Egypt is a prerequisite, they believe, to better dialogue.   Running from 9 to 13 June, the programme will occupy several venues in the city...

[More]   Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 745, 2 - 8 June 2005.

New finds are bringing added understanding to the way ancient communities in Upper Egypt functioned, and to the importance of commerce and cultural development.   Nevine El-Aref has been finding out about a pre-dynastic funerary complex and new evidence concerning trade with the legendary land of Punt.

An American-Egyptian team working on the site of ancient Nekhen -- known in Greek times as Hierakonpolis -- in the area of Kom Al-Ahmar near the Upper Egyptian city of Edfu has found what is believed to be the largest pre-dynastic funerary complex ever found.   This major discovery, which dates back to the period identified as Naqada II (c. 3600 BC), is expected to cast more light on the period when Egypt was first developing into a nation.

The complex belonged to one of the early rulers of Nekhen, who undoubtedly also controlled a large portion of Upper Egypt.   It was enclosed within a well-preserved wall of wooden posts, and comprised a large rectangular tomb with the earliest known superstructure and a wooden offering table...

[More]   Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 745, 2 - 8 June 2005.

New finds are bringing added understanding to the way ancient communities in Upper Egypt functioned, and to the importance of commerce and cultural development.   Nevine El-Aref has been finding out about a pre-dynastic funerary complex and new evidence concerning trade with the legendary land of Punt.

The mysterious Land of Punt, at one time identified with the Somali coast and now thought to be located in the southern Sudan or the Eritrean region of Ethiopia, was Ancient Egypt's source of luxury products, the place from where they imported valuable items not available in their own country.

Regular missions set sail southwards through the Red Sea from the Fifth Dynasty or earlier, returning to Egypt with gold, ivory, ebony, gum and incense to be burned in temple rituals.   The hides of giraffe, panther and cheetah, which were worn by temple priests, were imported along with live animals -- either for the priests' own menageries or as religious sacrifices -- as well as the sacred cynocephalus or dog-faced baboon...

[More]   Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 745, 2 - 8 June 2005.

On a journey beginning in Egypt, I contemplated the ancient tradition of wine over a glass of Rubis d'Egypte, a fragrant rose wine from the vineyards in the Delta, while making my way up the Nile from Alexandria to Aswan.

They've been making alcoholic beverages in Egypt for millennia.   I am reliably told the ancient Egyptian term for wine was 'Irp', [is] an onomatopoeic play on words ... What's more, many of the tombs in the Valley of Kings have a wine cellar painted on the walls - with real or abstract amphora.   What kind of Pharaoh would want to spend the after-life in abstinence for all eternity? ...

[More], South African Wine News, South Africa, June 2, 2005.

Peter James has posted the full text of his article Naukratis Revisited on his Centuries of Darkness website in Adobe PDF format.

... The main difficulty [with the chronology] has always been to reconcile the literary evidence for the early history of Naukratis (principally Herodotus) with the results of excavation. While most archaeologists since Petrie have tended to date the earliest Greek pottery at the site to the mid or late 7th century BC, Herodotus stated that Naukratis was given to the Greeks as a trading colony by Pharaoh Amasis, whose reign began in 570 BC. This raises a clear philosophical dilemma, neatly characterised by Bowden: should the pottery dating correct Herodotus, or Herodotus correct the pottery dating? ...

[More], Hyperboreus: Studia Classica, Volume 9, Number 2, 2003, pp. 235 - 264, via rogueclassicism

Centuries of Darkness, Peter James, Jonathan Cape, 1991, pp. 434.

By Hassan Saadallah

'Museums as a Bridge of Culture' is a new title released by the SCA marking the role museums play in culture.   In his introduction to the book, Dr Zahi Hawass wrote that Egyptian items exhibited at The Louvre, The Metropolitan and other internationally renowned museums should be returned to Egypt.   Among these valuable artefacts are a statue of the architect of the Great Pyramid on display at Hildesheim Museum, the bust of Nefertari at Berlin Museum, the Rosetta Stone at the British Museum, and Hatshepsut Statue at The Metropolitan.

Dr Hawass talked about the policy of the Ministry of Culture in giving museums an educational utility in addition to its exhibition function.

The book also reviews the necessity for Egyptian museums to publicise the qualities of each other and thus attract more tourists to them as a whole.

Finally, the book offers a brief mention of the most significant monuments in the Arab world, including the Palace of Omran in Jordan, Al Baqi' cemetery in Saudi Arabia, the Tomb of Imam Ali in Iraq, and the Citadel of Rabat and Susa Fort in Tunisia.

[Source], The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, June 2, 2005.

By Hassan Saadallah

The Supreme Council for Antiquities (SCA) is working with a German University to restore the tomb of Mentuhotep, opposite the Hatshepsut temple in Luxor.   The SCA has paid much attention to the tomb since the 1980s given its size as one of the largest in Luxor.   Its architectural design is also similar to that of Pharaonic temples, displaying tall papyrus columns.

The tomb is in a bad condition due to a large part of the inscriptions having collapsed.   As Sabri Abdul Aziz, head of the Egyptian Antiquities Sector, explained the upper layer of the tomb is made of limestone followed by a layer of argil.   This has collapsed due to a combination of factors including subsidence, erosion and corrosion.   The limestone layer also suffers from many fissures.

Aziz added that reassembling the relief inscriptions requires high expertise in order to read the texts and compare them with texts in other tombs.   This requires a combination of the skills of reading hieroglyphics, restoration and geology being used together in a task likely to take about ten years.

Mentuhotep tomb belongs to a man described as Thebes' strongman and the fourth prophet of Amun.   He ruled Thebes in the reign of the Kushite Pharaoh Taharqo in the late period.   Treated as royalty he had his tomb carved in the rock and its walls covered with funerary texts.

Mentuhotep took precautions to hide his burial room by adding several rooms that finally lead to the real burial chamber through a cavity in the ceiling, blocked by a stone.   Yet, thieves still managed to find the room and steal its contents.

[Source], The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, June 2, 2005.

By Hassan Saadallah

Because Pharaoh Tutankhamen assumed rule as young as perhaps eight years old and died about ten years later, he did not accomplish anything notable during his reign and was therefore one of the little-known kings of ancient Egypt.   It was not until the discovery of his intact tomb by Howard Carter in 1922 that he became overnight the most famous of Egypt's rulers.

However, Tutankhamen's early death, his tomb and his mummy have been a source of controversy over the years.

Believing in a Pharaohs' curse, some people were convinced that the curse had affected those who have examined the mummy.

The examination of Tutankhamen's mummy is part of a huge four-stage project to examine several mummies.   The first stage will start next month and includes studying the outcome of the X-ray scans of five mummies; three at Amenhotep II tomb, a child's mummy from Tuthmosis IV tomb, and the mummy of Seti II.   The second stage, scheduled for September, involves the transfer of 10,000 non-regal mummies from storehouses and museums to Al Fustat in Cairo where they will be chemically treated before examination.   The third stage will focus on the golden mummies of Bahariya Oasis.   The final stage includes the resumption of the study of royal mummies.   Dr Hawass said that the project will be conducted entirely by Egyptians and that the scanning will be undertaken by a team from Qasr Al Aini, although an Austrian Institution is to review the results.

Commenting on the bust of King Tutankhamen which was created as a result of the recent X-ray scans yet which does not agree with the known features of Tutankhamen, Hawass said that the results of scanning were handed over to three teams from Egypt, France and the US.   None of the teams were informed as to whom the X-rays belonged so that they would not to be affected by the pre-conceived image of Tutankhamen.   The images produced by the three teams had so little in common that it was left to experts to decide which one was the closest to reality.   "Personally, I believe that the French model is the one," Hawass said.

Dr Zahi explained that the planned civilisation museum for Fustat is to include a wing for mummies that would display X-rays and perceived busts constructed for each king from CT scans.   In addition, miniature replicas would be produced of the most significant constructions of each king.

[Source], The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, June 2, 2005.

The Summer 2005 issue of KMT magazine is now available.   A summary of its contents follows.

• King Tut Returns by Zahi Hawass
  "Tutankhamun & the Golden Age of the Pharaohs" begins its U.S. 4- venue run in Los Angeles.
• Beyond the Tomb by Dennis Forbes
  The historical Tutankhamun from his monuments.
• "Mummies: Death & the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt" by Megan Shockro
  The Bowers Museum presents treasures from the British Museum.
• "Excavating Egypt" by Peter Lacovara
  Great discoveries from the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, University College, London.
• Ancient Egypt in "Little Paris" by Lucy Gordan-Rastelli
  Leipzig University's Antiquities Collection.
• Egyptian St. Petersburg by Victor V. Solkin & Vladimir N. Larchenko
  Egyptianizing architecture on the banks of the Nera River.

[KMT], KMT Communications Inc., Volume 16, Number 2, Summer 2005, California, USA.

A tourist travel article penned by a couple from India.

We arrived in Egypt and were, at once, absolutely enchanted and completely baffled.   We visited the Cairo museum and were buried under fascinating regalia of the death of a 4,000-year-old civilisation.   We went through halls full of coffins, caskets, tombstones, shrouds, mummified remains and death related jewellery...

[More]   Egypt Election Daily News, Egypt, May 31, 2005.

Apologies for the sporadic posting at the moment.   I am having problems with my internet connection and the posts are stacking-up and being applied in one go when the connection is re-established.

Hopefully normal service will be resumed shortly.

Mark.

I just had to blog this one!   It is reviewed by Aidan Dodson in the latest KMT magazine.

A highly original and educational twist on a much treasured tale.   The full and complete text of Beatrix Potter's world-famous and universally loved Tale of Peter Rabbit faithfully translated and transcribed page for page into the hieroglyphic script of an Egyptian of the Middle Kingdom.   The book is illustrated with all the original colour artwork by the author herself.   Based on the official centenary edition published in 2002, the translation combines the familiar face of the original with the British Museum's world-renowned expertise and scholarship.

Includes brief footnotes from the translators on the difficulties of turning Edwardian English into Ancient Egyptian.

The Tale of Peter Rabbit: Hieroglyph Edition, Beatrix Potter, translated by J.F. Nunn and R.B. Parkinson, British Museum Press, London, 2005, 0-7141-1969-5

Buy it from Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, or Amazon.ca.

Robert Twigger goes in search of rock art in the Egyptian desert, and discovers depictions of man's daily life from a time before the Pyramids were built

... The goal of the trip was to visit a cave.   In doing so we would be following in the tracks of Laszlo Almasy, the model for Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient.   Almasy was a homosexual Hungarian, founder of the Magyar boy scout movement, educated at Eastbourne School, a pilot and probable spy, and altogether more exotic than Ralph Fiennes.   He also discovered a rock-art site, the Cave of the Swimmers, which is where Kristin Scott Thomas dies in the film.   In real life, the place has graffiti from the Second World War next to ancient paintings of pot-bellied figures diving...

[More]   The Independent, UK, May 28, 2005.

This New York Times article attempts to set the record straight over recent Oxyrhynchus Papyri decipherment breakthroughs apparently announced in the Independent last month.

... Scholars have become accustomed to the decorous pace of the Oxyrhynchus work, which is published as it goes along, in a new volume every year or two...

... So in the small but passionate world that follows such things, it came as something of a shock when the British newspaper The Independent printed an article in April announcing a major Oxyrhynchus breakthrough...

... As is so often the case with British newspapers, the Independent article turned out to be both true and not true. It was right to say that new technology was indeed making it easier, in some cases, to read the Oxyrhynchus material, and that new discoveries were being made. But it was not right to say that the technology had just been discovered, or that it was functioning as a sort of Rosetta stone, or that so many new revelations were emerging as to herald "a second Renaissance..."

[More]   The New York Times, New York, USA, May 30, 2005.

cf. Imaging Technology Makes Ancient Text Readable, Washington Post, District of Columbia, US, May 30, 2005.

cf. NASA science uncovers texts of Trojan Wars, early gospel, Chicago Tribune, Illinois, US, May 19, 2005.

Via rogueclacissism and PaleoJudaica.

Crowds flocked to Tewkesbury Museum on Saturday for an Ancient Egypt day.   Visitors aged from nine to 90 learned to write in hieroglyphics and unravel the life of the Pharaohs.

They investigated the mysteries of the ancient Egyptians - such as why figures walk sideways, why bodies were mummified and why the pyramids were built.

Egyptologist and archaeologist Chris Kirby, the Barton Street museum's former curator, gave a talk about Tutankhamun...

[More]   Gloucestershire Echo, UK, May 30, 2005.

Far north of Khartoum, where modern steel bridges cross this legendary river, the architecture goes way back in time: thousand-year-old temples, towering pyramids, elaborate cities from civilizations that lived and died and were then buried by the surging sand.

The uncovering of these ancient wonders has proceeded slowly, but steadily over the past century as archaeologists have sifted through the earth for clues of the great Nilotic cultures that once flourished in Sudan...

[More]   International Herald Tribune, France, May 31, 2005, via Archaeologica.

Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni announced the discovery of grains warehouses dating back to the Greek and Romanian ages.   In addition, an old house dating back to the Ptolemaic age and the remnants of a house have been unearthed in Fayoum governorate.

Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities said a mission from Bologna University in Italy has discovered during excavation works some grain warehouses including nine boxes for storing wheat and cereals.

They also found some potteries and silos dating back to the Coptic era, added Hawass noting that the building had been renovated during the Coptic age.

[More], Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, May 30, 2005.