A book review from the Washington Post.

Tutankhamun: The Mystery of the Boy King, by Zahi Hawass (National Geographic, $17.95, ages 9-12).   For aspiring young archaeologists, this will be, hands down, the picture book of the season.   The text is written by no less an authority than the director of excavations at the Giza Pyramids and head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, but it's accessible ("according to one Egyptologist, someone might have snuck up on Tutankhamun ... and hit him on the head") and imaginatively organized.   The opening chapter title, "Howard Carter, King Tut, and Me," introduces a trio of themes: the 1922 discovery of the teenage king's largely undisturbed tomb by a British archaeologist. Tut's life 3,000 years ago (much of it educated conjecture) and his modern afterlife as an object of scientific study; and finally, Hawass's own role in the saga.   For example, the veteran tomb-digger describes the thrill of directing, this past January, the CT scans of the mummy that enabled scientists to recreate Tut's face and scotch the rumor that he had been murdered.   Then there are the illustrations.   It is hard to say which are more memorable — the historical photos, including one of Carter opening the door to one of the sarcophagus's several protective shrines, or the new ones of the tomb's treasures, shot by National Geographic's photographer with such panache that the whole book brings to mind Carter's wondering words of 83 years ago: "Everywhere the gleam of gold!"

For Young Readers, Washington Post, District of Columbia, USA, June 26, 2005.

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

When King Tut's entombed treasures first visited the United States in 1976, they captured the public imagination.   By the time they had returned home three years later, some 8 million people had witnessed firsthand the glories of Egypt circa 1330 B.C.

It is a testament to the enduring buzz of that show and to the acumen of the new Tut extravaganza's organizers and promoters that more than 300,000 tickets had already been purchased to the return exhibit at its first U.S. venue, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, before opening day.

But the hype made me suspicious as I stood in line to view the exhibition last week.   Could the new Tut-bling possibly measure up to the old boy king's?   Could this show sate America's seemingly insatiable appetite for sensation? ...

Crossing the boundaries of time, Contra Costa Times, California, USA, June 26, 2005.

Wadi Al-Natrun, in fact, is steeped in religious history as it has in its vicinity four of the most important monasteries in Coptic history.   Anba Bishoi (the Monastery of St Bishoi), Abu Maqar (the Monastery of St Macarius), Al-Baramus (the Monastery of the Romans) and Al-Surian (Monastery of the Syrians) all date to the fourth century AD and are testimony to the endurance of the ancient Coptic Christian sect.   The desert has been the protector of their faith, for it was there that thousands of Christians retreated to escape Roman prosecution in the fourth century AD.   They lived in caves, built monasteries and developed the monastic tradition that was later adopted by European Christians...

Wadi Al-Natrun, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 749, 30 June - 6 July 2005.

In August 1998, an Egyptian archaeological mission working near Baltim stumbled upon the unique Islamic archeological site.   Dating as far back as the ninth century, it is considered the first well preserved mosque discovered in Lower Egypt...

Snap shot, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 749, 30 June - 6 July 2005.

In the framework of the Egyptian-Italian environmental cooperation programme, a twinning agreement has been signed between the Wadi Al-Rayan protectorate in Fayoum and the Italian National Park of the Gran Sasso and the Laga Mountains, writes Mahmoud Bakr.

According to Professor Mustafa Fouda, head of Nature Conservation at the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA), the Wadi Al-Rayan protectorate needs permanent supervision by trained personnel to ensure that environmental laws are enforced.   Rangers will be posted in the area to coordinate with locals and report any violations.   Experts, researchers and vehicles are needed to implement the environmental plan for the protectorate, he added...

Protecting ancient heritage, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 749, 30 June - 6 July 2005.

Basalt mining threatens one of the world's richest preserves of ancient fossils, writes Mahmoud Bakr.

If one were to imagine that Lake Qaroun is a miniature Mediterranean, that Wadi Al-Rayan is a miniature Red Sea, and that Bahr Youssef is a miniature Nile, then Fayoum, the governorate located 90 kilometres southeast of Cairo, is conceivably a miniature Egypt.   The locality is known to be rich in Roman and Greek ruins, but recently it has been hailed as a reserve of remarkable pre-historic findings...

Money versus history, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 749, 30 June - 6 July 2005.

The ancient Egyptians used lettuce as an aphrodisiac, according to an Italian researcher who claims to have solved a century-old archaeological puzzle.

Lettuce has been known for its mild sedative and painkilling effects since Greek and Roman times.

Yet Egyptian bas reliefs put a different spin on the use of lettuce: the plant appears as an offering to the ancient Egyptian deity Min.

Invariably depicted with a large, erect penis, Min was the god of fertility and sexuality.   For more than a century, archaeologists have wondered why a vegetable used to calm dreams was associated with the exuberant Min...

Egyptians ate lettuce to boost sex drive, ABC News, Australia, June 29,2005.

cf. Humble lettuce, a mighty aphrodisiac!, Yahoo! News, India, June 30, 2005.

cf. Lettuce Uncovered as Sexual Stimulant, Discovery Channel News, USA, June 28, 2005.

cf. Lettuce get frisky, Daily Mail, UK, June 30, 2005.

cf. Lettuce uncovered as sexual stimulant, FeshPlaza, Netherlands, June 29, 2005.

When archaeologists sift through the debris of a vanished culture, they should consider the ancient climate.   It can shed light on the bygone habitat and give plausibility to old myths.   It can also give a useful perspective on our own climatically uncertain times.

Take the biblical tale of Joseph.   The famous seven-year cycle of feast and famine appears to be one of Egypt's regular routines, according to Dmitri Kondrashov, Yizhak Feliks, and Michael Ghil at the University of California at Los Angeles.

The scientists used new statistical techniques to fill in gaps in 1,300 years of Nile River water levels recorded from AD 622 through 1922.   They then searched these data for climatically significant cycles.   Their results, reported in Geophysical Research Letters, suggest "quite strongly" that North Atlantic circulation influences East African climate.   The scientists add that "most strikingly," their analysis picked out a North Atlantic driven seven-year cycle of high and low river levels that is "possibly related to the biblical cycle of lean and fat years." ...

Clues of climate and the Bible's seven lean years, Christian Science Monitor, USA, June 30, 2005.

cf. Oscillatory modes of extended Nile River records (A.D. 622–1922), Kondrashov, D., Y. Feliks, and M. Ghil (2005), Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 32, No. 10, L10702, doi:10.1029/2004GL022156.