Israeli-born Canadian producer-director Simcha Jacobovici (The Struma) debuts his new biblical history series The Naked Archaeologist on Monday night on Vision TV.

Filmed on location in Israel, Egypt and Greece, the documentary program takes a radically different approach to its theme, even employing dance and rap music (think Ali G. meets Indiana Jones, say the creators) to look at biblical archeology.

"My goal is to demystify the Bible in general and archeology in particular," says the Emmy-winning host Jacobovici.   "To brush away the cobwebs and burst academic bubbles."

Initial episodes include Delilah's People, Who Invented the Alphabet?, Jerusalem and the Black Prince and What Killed Herod?   (Monday, Sept. 5, Vision)

The '68 Mustang and the Cirque du soleil highlight coming week's TV fare, Brandon Sun, Canada, August 31, 2005.

cf. Jacobovici explores biblical archeology in new TV series, The Canadian Jewish News, September 01, 2005.

Fragile mummies crumble to dust in their display cases.

Rare artifacts sit randomly stacked in corners and hallways, or crowded onto shelves too small for them.

Labels are tattered, curling and faded, typewritten decades ago and apparently untouched since then.

Welcome to the Egyptian Museum: the world's largest and most important repository of ancient Egyptian art — and at the same time, a ramshackle, deteriorating mess...

Cairo's Egyptian Museum doesn't match the majesty of its treasures, Dayton Daily News, Ohio, USA, August 28, 2005.

Hours have been extended for the Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs exhibit, 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.

Tickets are now on sale for the following extended hours time slots [Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)]:

• Friday, September 2: 8 p.m., 9 p.m. and 10 p.m.
• Saturday, September 3: 8 p.m., 9 p.m., 10 p.m. and 11 p.m.
• Sunday, September 4: 8 p.m., 9 p.m., 10 p.m. and 11 p.m.
• Monday, September 5: 8 p.m.

Hours Extended for “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs” During Labor Day Weekend, Business Wire, USA, August 31, 2005.

Thousands of Americans booked their tickets for an exhibition of Egyptian treasures in Dayton, Ohio.

The number of ticket buyers for the exhibition "The [Quest] for Immortality" stood so far at 25,000.

Director of the Modern Art Museum, which hosts the exhibition, expected the number to reach 400,000 by January...

US newspapers urge Americans to visit Egyptian exhibition, State Information Service, Egypt, August 29, 2005.

A number of documents of Egyptian Princes and Sultans have been chosen to enter world memory register.

Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni said on Sunday that the International Advisory Committee for UNESCO's World Memory programme during a meeting in China recently selected a number of documents of Egypt's Sultans and Princes to be among the world memory register sponsored by UNESCO.

Documents of Egyptian Princes, Sultans selected by UNESCO, State Information Service, Egypt, August 29, 2005.

A team representing Japan's TV Man channel is currently visiting Egypt to shoot a tourist programme on archaeological sites in Aswan and in Saqqara — Giza.

Youssef Khaled, representative of the Japanese university of Waseda, said the delegation, which is visiting Aswan at the invitation of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) will shoot the programme in cooperation with SCA.

The programme is due to be aired on TV Man channel that covers Japan, China and most of the European countries with the aim of promoting tourism in Egypt.

Japan TV programme Aswan, Saqqara, State Information Service, Egypt, August 29, 2005.

A joint Egyptian-US archaeological team has discovered a 5,000-year-old funerary complex in Upper Egypt, the Egyptian Gazette reported Wednesday.

The tomb was found in the Kom al-Ahmer region near Edfu, some 97km south of the famous ancient city Luxor on the west bank of the Nile, Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, was quoted as saying.

Three mummies were found inside the tomb alongside a small flint statue of a cow's head and a ceramic funeral mask, Hawass added.

The tomb is believed to have belonged to one of the first rulers of the Greek city of Apollinopolis Magna, the ancient name of Edfu*.

Edfu was the capital of the second nome (Horus) of Upper Egypt.   The main attraction here is the Temple of Horus, which is widely considered to be the best preserved cult temple in Egypt.

Egypt discovers 5000-year-old tomb, Xinhua, China, August 31, 2005.

cf. Egypt discovers ancient tomb, People's Daily, China, August 31, 2005.

* The ancient Egyptian name for Edfu was not, of course, Apollinopolis Magna as that is the ancient Greek name.   The ancient Egyptians called the town Wetjeset-Hrw — “The Place Where Horus is Extolled”.   It also seems to go by the name Djeba.

The Dayton Art Institute is counting down the days before the Sept. 1 [2005] opening of its most expensive exhibit in museum history.   The museum hosted a preview of "Quest for Immortality: Treasures of Ancient Egypt" Tuesday morning and announced it already has sold 30,000 tickets...

30K tickets sold for Egypt exhibit, Dayton Business Journal, Ohio, USA, August 29, 2005.

This is the third part of this article about King Tut from the Marco Island Sun Times Florida.   The second part can be found here.

Howard Carter, A. C. Mace, his patron Lord Carnarvon, and Lady Evelyn Herbert, the lord's devoted companion in Egyptian digs, were eagerly awaiting this day, to enter the burial chamber in the Tomb of King Tutankhamen.

What would they find?

The first thing they found, lying beside a small hole in the door made by robbers in ancient times were portions of two necklaces, dropped by the thief.   Ancient Egyptian officials had resealed the doors...

Who was King Tut? - Part III, Marco Island Sun Times, Florida, USA, September 01, 2005.

PBS have a transcript of an interview with Bonnie Burnham, of the World Monuments Fund, which is also available in streaming video format.

The World Monuments Fund, a nonprofit organization, released a list of the 100 most endangered sites around the world in an effort to call attention to buildings and monuments threatened by natural disasters or pollution.   The fund's president discusses the organization's effort to save the world's architectural treasures.

One of the sites that we've had on several watch lists is the ancient Egyptian monuments at Luxor.   First, the Valley of Kings was listed and now the entire West Bank of the Nile...

World Monuments Fund releases a list of the 100 most endangered sites around the world, PBS, USA, August 23, 2005.

[Thomas Keyes] lived in Egypt for six months in 1990 and 1991, but [he] went there primarily to meet Egyptian people and study Arabic, not to visit ancient ruins.   Alexandria, the city where [he] had [his] apartment, was founded in 332 BC by Alexander the Great, who deposed Nectanebo II, the last of the Pharaohs, so there are no ruins there more ancient than the Greco-Roman period.

Still, about a week or so before [his] flight on Lufthansa Airlines to Frankfurt, Germany, [he] decided to make a quick tour of the pyramids, the Sphinx and the Egyptian Museum.   After all, who goes to Egypt without visiting the pyramids? ...

A Quick Tour Of The Pyramids, The Sphinx And The Egyptian Museum, Thomas Keyes, Useless Knowledge, USA, August 24, 2005.

One would not blame you, upon meeting Zahi Hawass, if you thought of Indiana Jones.

There's the outfit — the dusty jeans, the blue work shirt with rolled-up sleeves, the crumpled fedora that is sweat-stained to almost Hollywood perfection.   There's the confidence, too — he's a look-you-in-the-eye, take-charge lion of a man.   He is impatient with people being uninformed around him and assumes that if you're talking to him, you understand that he's important.

And he is important, beyond his willing cultivation of a dashing Indy image.   Hawass, 57, is Egypt's secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities — a key government post that makes him the country's chief promoter and protecter of its history.

That means he's in charge of every tomb, temple, museum, relic, archaeological dig and ancient site...

Official on mission to promote, protect Egypt's history, Dayton Daily News, Ohio, USA, August 29, 2005.

The entrance to Khnum-hotep's royal tomb yawns open, the rough-hewn passage inside dark, ominous and irresistible.   A slight figure brushes past the dimly lit columns and descends into the cool, shadowy depths, searching for a stone sarcophagus, hieroglyphics and his sixth-grade teacher.

Some 46,000 young Indiana Joneses get a hands-on taste of ancient Egypt every year, but they don't have to travel to Cairo to do it.   San Jose's Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum and Planetarium not only houses the largest Egyptian artefact collection west of the Mississippi, but also the building itself is practically enough to satisfy California's social studies curriculum standards for sixth-grade.

"It was always part of the vision," said museum manager Juanita Ortiz.   "A museum to share with the community." ...

Museum teaches visitors of all ages all about Egypt, Contra Costa Times, California, USA, August 28, 2005.

Filming for a major BBC series in Egypt has been hit, allegedly, by the 'Curse of the Pharaohs'.   Nonsense, says a Midland descendant of the tomb-openers.   Richard Edmonds meets John Carter.

When a member of your family happens to be the man who opened the fabulous tomb of Tutankhamun, it is obvious that the love of antiques is in your blood.

John Carter, a well-known dealer in the Black Country, is a descendant on his grandfather's side of the world famous Egyptologist, Howard Carter.

Antiques dealer John Carter He claims to have what he calls the "Carter Hunch".   He says that if he could sell it canned and labelled, he would be a billionaire...

John's hunch on the Carter Curse, Express and Star, UK, August 30, 2005.

In 30 B.C. (by some estimates), the seventh and most famous queen of ancient Egypt known as "Cleopatra" committed suicide.

Today in history, Indianapolis Star, Indiana, USA, August 30, 2005.

Concurrent with Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs at LACMA, the world premiere of "Egypt in Hollywood: A Retrospective 1898 — 2005" will open at The Hollywood Museum on Thursday, September 29, it was announced today by Donelle Dadigan, President and Founder.   Located in the lower level of the historic Max Factor Building, the exhibit presents the largest collection of Egypt-themed props, costumes, jewelry, photographs, and memorabilia ever assembled.

Dating from "La Fruite en Égypte" (France, 1898), the new exhibit is comprised of treasures from hundreds of movies including "The Mummy" (USA 1911, 1932, 1959 and 1999 versions), "Cleopatra" (1899, 1912, 1917, 1934, 1963 versions), "The Ten Commandments" (1923 and 1956 versions), "Charlie Chan in Egypt," "Caesar and Cleopatra," "Aida," "Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy," "Land of the Pharaohs," "The Spy Who Loved Me," "Death On the Nile," "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "Stargate," "The Prince of Egypt" and "The Scorpion King."

Artefacts include a wide variety of special effects-laden mummies, death masks and corpses, weapons including daggers and rifles, Cleopatra costumes designed for Elizabeth Taylor and Claudette Colbert, the throne chair designed for Elizabeth Taylor in "Cleopatra," sarcophagi from "Death On the Nile" and "The Mummy," and jewelry from both versions of "The Ten Commandments."   More than 50 posters from around the world and hundreds of movie stills round out the exhibit.

“Egypt in Hollywood: A Retrospective 1898 — 2005” Opens at The Hollywood Museum September 29, 2005, Yahoo! Finance, USA, August 29, 2005.

An international research team from the University of Beijing have recovered a number of Egyptian art objects that were lost from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Catholic University of Leuven).

Leuvense onderzoekers vinden Egyptische kunstvoorwerpen terug in China, ArcheoNet, Belgium, August 24, 2005, via Explorator.

Translated version from Babel Fish.

A tourism article about Turin that mentions the Egyptian collection at the Mueso Egizio di Torino (Egyptian Museum of Turin).

A few blocks south of the Piazza, on Via Accademia delle Scienze, is the Museo Egizio and its 30,000-plus artifacts.   Turin officials consider it the equal of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and the British Museum in London, thanks in part to the statues of Ramses II and the sarcophagus of Nefertiti.   Although the Museo doesn't have a headliner to match the Rosetta Stone (London) or King Tut's gold (Cairo), it's certainly worth an hour or two...

Turin's turn: Olympics host city aims to be tourism contender, San Jose Mercury News, California, USA, August 28, 2005.

Two Ishi Hills Middle School teachers will be trekking to Egypt next spring to study a monumental solar eclipse amid an international audience.

...the two will join researchers in Egypt[, for a week next March and April,] for this eclipse that is not expected to occur for another 10 to 15 years.   Egypt is supposed to be the best place to see it, science officials said...

Teachers to visit Egypt for solar eclipse, Oroville Mercury-Register, California, USA, August 26, 2005.

How King Tut evolved from Cold War cultural ambassador to today's corporate pitchman.

...In 1976, when [Tut] first landed on these shores, cultural diplomacy between nations was a serious endeavor with high social purpose.   The general proposition then was that government is a problem-solver.

But societies change.   Today the establishment's answer to social problems, big and small, is private enterprise.

The difference between public purpose and private enterprise contains the seed for the critical commotion that has swirled around the Tut exhibition at LACMA — tumult that did not accompany the first American show of the pharaoh's artifacts.   Art museums used to be places of escape and refuge from the commercial world.   Now they're just another roadside attraction.   Tut is a marker for that shift...

The boy shill, Los Angeles Times, California, August 28, 2005.

The Kimbell Art Museum has announced that Hatshepsut, the most powerful female ruler of ancient Egypt, will be the subject of a show at the museum next year.   Hatshepsut was more than a queen regent warming the throne for her offspring.   She claimed the rights and full entitlements of pharaoh in the traditionally patriarchal society.   Her reign lasted for almost two decades (c. 1479-1458 B.C.).   Egypt — and its arts — prospered under her control.   Approximately 300 objects including statuary, reliefs, sculptures, ceremonial objects and jewelry will be included in the exhibit.   After her death, all images of her were destroyed by her stepson and nephew Tuthmosis III, who struck her name from the list of kings.   Before it opens at the Kimbell on Aug. 27, 2006, “Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh” will make stops at New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art and the deYoung Museum in San Francisco.

People watch: Here comes Hatshepsut, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas, USA, August 25, 2005.

“Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh” Probably no exhibition could outshine the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum's daring architectural reinvention of itself.   But “Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh” will open the spectacular new Herzog & de Meuron building with a crowd-pleasing bang.   With stellar antiquities of all kinds, "Hatshepsut" will reassess the reign and aftermath of ancient Egypt's only female ruler.   Oct. 15 – Feb. 5, M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco; (415) 750-3600

Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh, Fall Arts Preview, San Francisco Chronicle, California, USA, August 28, 2005.

The Museum’s Josef Wegner, Associate Curator in the Egyptian Section, has been interested in Egyptology since childhood.   Growing up in New Hampshire, he was long aware of the significant Egyptian collections housed at the Museum and the opportunities for academic training in Egyptology.   Wegner thus came to Penn in 1985 as an undergraduate and completed a double major in Egyptology and Anthropology...

Meet the Curators — Josef Wegner, Expedition Magazine, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Volume 47, Number 2, Summer 2005.

by Zahi Hawass

It was an important day in my life when we looked behind the secret door inside the Great Pyramid.   This was inside the southern "airshaft" in the Queen's Chamber.   The function of these airshafts was a mystery.   Those leading from the King's Chamber to the outside of the pyramid might have been magical tunnels so that the soul of Khufu could travel to join the imperishable stars.   But the shafts in the Queen's Chamber did not go to the outside, and now we had found this enigmatic door, or slab, blocking the southern shaft.

There was great interest from all over the world.   I had been in Hong Kong the month before, and everyone there was fascinated, and could not wait to see the investigation.   They set up big screens everywhere so that people could see the National Geographic show at 8 am.

We sent the robot into the shaft and it drilled a hole about 1.1 cm in diameter.   But we did not put the camera in.   We told the world that this great moment would be live, for everyone to see.   I never thought that we would find evidence for Atlantis or aliens, but I truly did not know what to expect.   My best guess was that there would be nothing there but empty space.   This would be important, however, because even empty space inside the Great Pyramid could be very interesting for archaeologists.

We made the TV programme live at 3 am Cairo time, which was 8 pm in the States and 8 am in China.   We began by talking about the development of the pyramids, from the tombs of the Early Dynastic Period to the first pyramid, the Step Pyramid of King Djoser, to the first true pyramid, built by Khufu's father Sneferu.   So we put the Great Pyramid into context, and showed that there were other pyramids before and after Khufu's.

We sent the camera into the hole that had been drilled through the first door at 4:50 am Cairo time.   Twenty-one centimetres behind this door was another limestone slab, this time without any handles.   This was a very important discovery, and a big surprise to me.

The Second Door, The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, August 29,2005.

Egypt Revealed: Life & Death in Ancient Egypt, a British Museum exhibition, investigates little-known facts about one of the world’s greatest civilisations and includes rarely seen ancient Egyptian artefacts.

Egyptian mummies provide an unparalleled source of scientific data, shedding light on physical appearance, family relationships, life expectancy, nutrition and health, disease and the causes of death.   They provide a unique insight into the complex process of mummification and the relationship between life and death in ancient Egypt.

For many years, the only way to extract data from mummies was to unwrap them — a destructive and irreversible process.   Modern non-invasive imaging techniques such as X-rays have now made it possible to look inside a mummy without disturbing the wrappings in any way.   Thanks to the latest advances in computer technology, we are now able to understand more and more about life in ancient Egypt...

The exhibition is on show at the Hancock Museum until April 23, 2006.

Mummies Unwrap the Ancient Past, Hexham Courant, UK, August 26, 2005, via EEF News.

Visitors to the Brooklyn Museum will want to have a look at a new long-term installation, "The Popularization of Ancient Egypt," which examines how Western writers and artists saw and recorded Egypt from the 1820s to the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922.   This is the second installment of "Egypt Through Other Eyes: Images from the Wilbour Library of Egyptology."   (The first part, "Early Travel and Exploration," covered the period from the sixteenth through the early nineteenth century.) ...

Wilbour's Legacy, Mark Rose, Archaeology Magazine, USA, Volume 58, Number 5, September / October 2005.

Working in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Sir William Flinders Petrie was one of the first in the field of archaeology to recognize that humble everyday objects could reveal as much about a culture as its great monuments.   In the half century that he excavated nearly 50 sites in the Nile Valley, Petrie amassed one of the largest collections of Egyptian material outside of Egypt.   Currently housed in an aging teaching museum at University College London (UCL), few of the 80,000 objects have been seen outside England.

Now, more than 220 of the most interesting pieces have begun a three-year tour of American museums, starting with Emory University's Michael C. Carlos Museum in Atlanta, which proposed and prepared "Excavating Egypt: Great Discoveries from the Petrie Museum."   The objects are touring while UCL builds a facility, slated to open in 2008, that will for the first time house the vast collection under one roof...

Petrie's Uncommon Collection, Mike Toner, Archaeology Magazine, USA, Volume 58, Number 5, September / October 2005.

More on the mosaic discovered in the Sinai including pictures.

An Egyptian-Polish excavation team working in Sinai has unearthed a multi-coloured mosaic floor 25km east of the Suez Canal, announced Supreme Council of Antiquities Secretary-General Zahi Hawass yesterday.

Hawass said that the 9x15m discovery, constructed of glass, pottery, limestone and marble, is the most beautiful antiquity discovered in the area.

It dates back to the second century...

Beautiful mosaic unearthed in Sinai, State Information Service, Egypt, August 25, 2005.

Airport authorities on Monday detained a British man for questioning after they found valuable manuscripts banned from export in his luggage.

Jim Douglas is believed to have been trying to board a flight to Paris with 66 Islamic manuscripts when custom officers stopped him for a detailed search of his luggage after an X-ray check of his baggage showed up "strange objects".

Antiquities experts called to the airport identified the manuscripts as being from the Islamic era and covered a wide range of topics from medicine to sorcery.   The manuscripts also included excerpts from the Gospels written in both Arabic and Coptic.

Egyptian law classifies manuscripts more than 100 years old as antiquities.

Newsreel: Archaeological arrest, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 757, August 25 - 31, 2005.

A profile of Zahi Hawass from Al-Ahram newspaper.

The walls of Zahi Hawass's office are covered with photographs, a great many of them of its occupant.   There he is in jeans, entering a narrow burial shaft in Saqqara.   And brushing sand from an exquisitely coloured mummy.   There are photographs of Hawass excavating in the Valley of the Golden Mummies, of Hawass sitting behind Champollion's desk in Paris, of Hawass lecturing President Hosni Mubarak and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder at the opening of the Tutankhamun exhibition in Bonn.   The few gaps between these images are punctuated by 19th-century drawings of the Giza Plateau, the Valley of the Kings, Abu Simbel and the Egyptian Museum that seem somehow to have insinuated themselves into this personal hall of fame.

On the desk is a plastic replica of Tutankhamun's skull, a marble model of the Pyramid of Senefru, the father of Khufu, and the bank of telephones that normally ring incessantly.   Indeed, securing two hours with Hawass without him fiddling with his mobile, or being constantly interrupted by the bank of telephones is itself a feat...

Zahi Hawass: A hat is a hat, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 757, August 25 - 31, 2005.

As a regular visitor to the sites in Luxor, the amount of destruction is becoming more and more obvious.  Seeing a stone lintel at Medinet Habu the other day, literally crumbling away before my eyes, I wondered how much is going to be left for my grandchildren to see.

The problem is caused by rising ground water which is eating away at the monuments.  This is not a new story.  It has been happening for some time...

The Destruction of Luxor's Heritage, Jane Akshar, Tour Egypt, Texas, USA, August 24, 2005.

The Egyptian Embassy in Amman had contacts with the Jordanian authorities to bring back to Egypt a statue dating back to the Pharaonic era.

Jordanian Customs authorities seized the statue when a person tried to smuggle it on the Jordanian-Syrian borders.

Egypt's ambassador to Jordan Ahmad Rizq, said that contacts with the Jordanian officials were part of an agreement signed by the two countries last January.

Egyptian-Jordanian contacts to restore Pharaonic statue, State Information Service, Egypt, August 22, 2005.

A travel article from the pages of the Australian.

Aswan is Egypt's largest southern settlement, an oasis north of the Sudanese border.  The town is alive with the memory of French and British colonialism, and the ghosts of Napoleon, Kitchener, Winston Churchill and various princesses of Wales.  Elephantine Island — a resort island dotted with hotels, the Aswan museum and villages — is an archeology-lover's paradise that transports the visitor to ancient Egypt.

A vibrant Nubian community of African Egyptians enlivens Aswan with its linguistic and cultural heritage.  And the town's location, near the shores of man-made Lake Nasser and the Aswan Dam, makes it the beginning or end point of many an Egyptian odyssey through Luxor or Cairo...

Aswan curtain call, The Australian, Australia, August 20, 2005.

[T]he [Gulf Coast Exploreum] museum[, Mobile, Alabama,] will get a replica of the Rosetta stone from the British Museum in London to go along with "Mummy: the inside story," says Lipscomb.   A few factoids: The replica, created in 1999, is made of resin and papier-maché and is the size of the original, discovered in 1799.   The piece was made from a cast of the original.

Newsy notes and arty bits lighten 'dog day' mood: "Mummy" note, Mobile Register, Alabama, USA, August 21, 2005.

I've added the link to the bottom of the post now!

A priceless set of ancient jewellery, probably from Egypt, is the latest archaeological jackpot experts have struck on this southern Italian island.

Excavations at the 16th-century BC settlement of Mursia, on the north-western part of the isle, have uncovered a beautiful oriental style ring, necklace and pair of ear-rings.

The discovery comes on the back of a string of spectacular recent finds made here which date back to ancient Roman times...

Ancient Egypt gems on Italian isle, ANSA.it, Italy, August 25, 2005, via Mirabilis.ca.

Until now the image of Egyptian queen was associated mainly with such beauty ideals of the 20th century as Vivien Leigh, Sophia Loren and Elizabeth Taylor.   However, scientists knew long time ago that the queen did not looked impressive.   Either the taste of Roman emperors was different from ours or the beauty was not the main merit of the queen.   Still, sculptures of that period provide us with the image of petite big-nosed lady with bandy legs and a need for dentist's service.   Nevertheless, even researchers who were well informed of Cleopatra's imperfection could not imagine how ugly the first lady of Egypt had been...

Hollywood brightens up Cleopatra's looks to conceal her true ugliness, Pravda, Russia, August 25, 2005.

One week after [UK] A-level pupils were told they faced a "desperate scramble" for a dwindling number of university places, Ucas, the central admissions service, admitted yesterday that more than 20,000 places were still unfilled at 200 institutions.

Most striking, however, was the number of academically respectable universities that have still not filled courses in traditional and previously popular subjects such as American studies, ancient history, archaeology, classics, criminology, education, English, French, German and philosophy.

20,000 places left unfilled at universities, The Telegraph, UK, August 25, 2005.

Michaywé resident Judy King recently returned from England where she gave a presentation on her Isis Thesis at the third annual conference on New Directions in the Humanities at the University of Cambridge.   King was one of more than 200 presenters from all over the world.

Each room at the conference only allowed for a small group of about 30 people.

"I was happy with the turnout," said King, who added her presentation was filled.

"Everyone was wide-eyed and sort of confused because they were setting up new neural pathways," said King.   "They were piecing everything together, and they got the whole picture."

King's "whole picture" uses biosemiotics — biology interpreted as sign systems — to read and decode 870 Ancient Egyptian signs in eight funerary texts by assigning each Egyptian symbol with a biological twin.

After three years of research, King came to the conclusion that Egyptian gods and goddesses "point to different proteins and processes describing a specific chemical pathway."

King succinctly summarizes her complex theory with a handful of words: "What happens above, happens below."

King wrote both "The Isis Thesis" and a companion text which is a fictional text based on her thesis findings called "The Road from Orion" from her findings.

Word of her work is sparking some interest with the Discovery News, the Discovery Channel's on-line news source.

Back from Cambridge: Author returns from conference, Gaylord Herald Times, Michigan, USA, August 24, 2005.

cf. Previous post — Author links bacteria and Egyptian symbols.

Israel's many antiquities collectors should be interested in a single owner collection of antiquities from Capesthorne Hall in Cheshire that leads Christie's King Street sale on October 18.   The general sale will feature over 200 lots of Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Near Eastern artifacts, including a rare example of the earliest form of writing recording the beer-making process.

The general sale is led by the more than 3,000-year-old Egyptian granodiorite head of Sekhmet which means "the powerful."   Although this lioness deity was a symbol of destruction, she was also a protective goddess...

Auctions: Watched over by a lion goddess, The Jerusalem Post, Israel, August 19, 2005.

For the U.S. premiere of Mummy: The Inside Story, opening at the Houston Museum of Natural Science on Sept. 30, you'll get up close and personal with a real, dead mummy.

The star is Nesperennub, a well-preserved 2,800-year-old priest whose tomb has remained unopened since it was sealed by embalmers on the West Bank at Thebes around 800 B.C.   The man, age undetermined, was placed into a CT scanner; these multiple X-rays were then placed into a computer to create one 3-D virtual image.

Learn what forensic scientists did about his life (he had bad teeth) and death (he had a hole in his skull, suggesting disease).

Mummy's the word, The Miami Herald, Florida, USA, August 21, 2005.

A nine-metre-long Roman mosaic dating from the 2nd Century has been unearthed by an Egyptian-Polish archaeological team in northern Sinai, the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) said on Wednesday.

The mosaic was found while the archaeologists were restoring a Pelusium Roman theatre in an area 25km east of the Suez Canal.

"It is the most unique piece of mosaic ever found in Sinai," said SCA Secretary-General Zahi Hawass...

Archaeologists hail mosaic find in Sinai, IOL, South Africa, August 24, 2005.

A rather different story about the CT scans of the mummy of “Sherit”.

Ancient Egyptians developed the extensive process of mummification so that the bodies of the dead would not decompose in the afterlife and to give the spirit a body to guide them on their journey.

These days, mummification would probably be considered overkill as an attempt to preserve the dead, and technological approaches are preferred...

Computers are a dead technology, Contractor UK, UK, August 25, 2005.

Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni is to open next month the second hall for displaying the royal mummies at the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir square after the Ministry completed a project to develop display room 52 and fit it with modern technology.

Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities said 12 mummies will be displayed at the museum for the first time including mummies of Tuthmosis III known as the greatest warrior of Egypt and Amenhotep II, the most famous king of the 16 dynasty.

12 mummies to be displayed at Egyptian Museum, State Information Service, Egypt, August 24, 2005.

Contacts are being held with a number of countries to bring back to Egypt 2,000 artefacts reportedly displayed in 22 halls abroad.

Egypt recently received a number of artefacts from some countries including Britain, Australia and Canada.

Contacts to restore 2,000 pieces of antiquities, State Information Service, Egypt, August 23, 2005.

This is the second part of this article about King Tut from the Marco Island Sun Times Florida.   The first part can be found here.

...Carter said that in his life there will never be another day as wonderful as Nov. 26.   They worked throughout the morning.   In the middle of the afternoon, 30 feet down from the outer door they discovered a second sealed doorway, an exact replica of the first doorway.   Here again was evidence of disturbance.   This convinced them that they were about to open a cache put there by King Tut.   When at last the debris was removed, Carter made a small breach in the upper left-hand corner.   He let any foul air and noxious gases escape.   The chamber he peeked into was dark inside.   It did not contain rubbish as the other had, in fact it looked empty at first.   As his eyes grew accustomed to the light, he was struck dumb with amazement.

Lord Carnarvon, not able to wait any longer asked, "Can you see anything?" "Yes, wonderful things!" exclaimed Carter...

Who was King Tut and why was he so important? - Part II, Marco Island Sun Times Florida, USA, August 25, 2005.

Airport authorities detained a British man for questioning Monday after they allegedly found valuable Islamic and Coptic manuscripts in his luggage, officials said.

Douglas Ross was trying to board a flight to Paris when customs officers stopped him for a detailed search after he had passed through metal detectors, a security official said on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to make statements...

Egypt detains Briton over manuscripts, The Times-Picayune, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, August 22, 2005, via PaleoJudaica.

An Egyptian king rewrote history, obliterating three millennia. Today, thousands of visitors travel to Los Angeles to learn about one of the Egyptian kings history tried to forget: Tutankhamun...

Almost forgotten Egyptian king immortalized by museum exhibit, Arizona Daily Sun, Arizona, USA, August 20, 2005.   Requires subscription.

More on the CT scan of the mummy of “Sherit”.

Frame by frame, layer by layer, the images of a mummified Egyptian child who died two millenia ago spring to life on a 25-foot computer screen, revealing every remarkable detail of the skeletal remains, down to the last vertebrae.

The three-dimensional images, the result of high-resolution scans done at Stanford, reveal a girl of 4 to 5 years old with short, resin-coated black curls, a receding chin and an angular face reminiscent of her famous counterpart, King Tut.

“The scans are spectacular,” marveled Rebecca Fahrig, PhD, associate professor of radiology. “The fact that we were able to get such high-resolution images is pretty cool.   Some of the detail in the teeth is absolutely phenomenal.   You wouldn’t get that with a normal scanner.”

The girl, who has been dubbed, Sherit, ancient Egyptian for “little one,” has been a resident of the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose for the last 75 years—her story a complete mystery until now, said museum curator Lisa Schwappach-Shirriff...

Stanford Images Offer Unprecedented View Inside Mummy, Science Daily, USA, August 29, 2005.

MGH doctor helped analyze ancient Eygptian artifact, is director of hospital's High Resolution Volume CT lab.

To be at the forefront of medical imaging technology, Dr. Rajiv Gupta has made himself a truly interdisciplinary man.   He has integrated his studies of electrical engineering, physics, computer science, and medicine to advance the quality and applications of computer tomography in medicine.

Most recently, the self-taught student of Egyptology was part of a team at MGH that used their experimental imaging machine to take very detailed CT scans of a special patient — Djehutynakht, a 4,000 year old mummy artifact of an Egyptian governor from Boston's Museum of Fine Arts...

Who's this Mummy?, India New England News, Massachusetts, USA, August 01, 2005, via Archeo-News-Blog.

cf. MGH helps ID a mummy, MGH Hotline, Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts, USA, June 24, 2005.

The government is to launch within the next few days the development project of the Wadi Hittan (Whales Valley) nature reserve in Rayan Valley in Fayoum governorate.

The project aims at placing this area on the environmental tourist map after it has been registered as the first Egyptian site on UNESCO list of world natural heritage...

Wadi Hittan Nature Reserve developed, placed on tourist map, State Information Service, Egypt, August 20, 2005.

A joint Egyptian-German mission have found wooden artefact, coins and old manuscripts in Minya governorate, 250 kilometers south of Cairo, Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni said on Thursday.

The finds date back to the Ptolemaic and Roman ages, said Culture Minister Farouk Hosni, noting that the wooden statues are in bad shape.

Some of the coins, Hosni added, are in good shape, and they date back to the time of Cleopatra, an Egyptian queen noted for her beauty and charisma.

Archaeological finds unearthed in Egypt, State Information Service, Egypt, August 19, 2005.

Prime Minister Ahmad Nazif discussed on Sunday a report on plans to develop Fatimid (Islamic) Cairo.

Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni said that some 76 Islamic sites in Fatimid Cairo have been renovated so far, adding that measures were underway to restore 28 others.

He said Al-Moez street in Fatimid Cairo will be reopened after completion of development work.

In another meeting, the prime minister reviewed a report on plans to develop the Upper Egyptian City of Luxor with the aim of attracting more tourists to the city.

New projects worth L.E. 375 million will be carried out in the city as part of the development plan.

76 ancient sites restored in Fatimid Cairo, State Information Service, Egypt, August 22, 2005.

The writing's on the wall, in a dead cursive script.

Northern Arizona University history professor Gene Cruz-Uribe studies a language no longer written, but the marks of which can still be found in quarries, temples and tombs in Egypt.

"You mostly find prayers or a culture related to prayers," Cruz Uribe said.

He was in Egypt this summer reading the prayers of people who wanted to live forever.   Ancient people wrote their names on the wall, in hopes people would read their names, he said.

It was thought their spirit would live eternally in the afterworld if their names were spoken.

This cursive language is Demotic, a language used later than the hieroglyphics most people associate with ancient Egypt. It was used from 700 B.C. to 200 A.D...

Prof finds insight into Egyptians in dead language, Arizona Daily Sun, ARizona, USA, August 20, 2005, via Archaeologica.   Requires subscription.   Tip: Click the Google It! link above and select the azdailysun.com story from the Google cache to get the full article.

The new issue of KMT landed on my doormat whilst I was away.   There follows a summary of its contents.

• Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh by Dennis Forbes
  An unprecedented presentation of the female king & her times is the inaugural exhibition at San Francisco's new M.H. de Young Museum.
• Maatkare Hatshepsut by Dennis Forbes
  History's first great woman profiled.
• The Art of Medicine in Ancient Egypt by James P. Allen
  A new exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of objects from the MMA collection.
• Ancient Egyptian Art for the Afterlife by Peter Lacovara
  Selections from an American private collection exhibited at the Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina.
• The Petrie Museum by Sally MacDonald
  A world-class collection at risk.   Petrie Museum.
• Virtual Pyramids — Real Research by Peter Der Manuelian
  The Giza Archives Project goes live online.

KMT, Volume 16, Number 3, Fall 2005.

The discovery of the un-looted tomb of Amenhotep I that was announced in Pravda the other day appears to be the result of poor translation and not, as I supposed, Zahi hyping it before a discovery had been made.   Sorry Zahi.

Poor translation lead to the news in the Russian media about the discovery, which had not been made actually.

The Egyptian archaeology provides us with a lot of surprises and unexpected discoveries every year.   However, sometimes a "sensation" turns out to just journalists' mistake.   This is what happened with the supposedly discovered untouched tomb of the king Amenhotep I that was even compared with the discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb.   Poor translation and misinterpretation of the words of Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt, lead to the news in the Russian media about the discovery, which had not been made actually...

The lost tomb of 'the father of Egypt'. Discovery that has never been made, Pravda, Russia, August 23, 2005.

cf. Scientists discover non-looted tomb of Egyptian Pharaoh.

Nasser Rabbat examines the interplay between architecture and politics at the Muhammad Ali Mosque.

In 1949, Gaston Wiet the French director of the Museum of Islamic Arts in Cairo and one of the most powerful doyens of heritage in Egypt published a book entitled Mohammed Ali et les beaux-arts. The book, which was part of the centennial of Muhammad Ali's death and therefore predictably laudatory, emphasises the Pasha's patronage of European artistic and architectural styles as well as his budding interest in antiquarianism as significant aspects of his overall modernisation through Westernisation project. Wiet, however, was perplexed by Muhammad Ali's greatest architectural achievement, his Great Mosque at the Citadel of Cairo. For, in contrast to his other commissions, it exhibited distinct archaic Ottoman elements. Wiet was also poignantly aware that an original design for a mosque at the same spot by one of his illustrious compatriots, Pascal-Xavier Coste, the architect from Marseilles who lived and worked in Egypt for almost ten years (1817-1827), was discarded without explanation in favor of the Ottoman edifice...

A mosque and an imperial dream, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 756, 18 - 24 August 2005.

Five restored Mameluke and Ottoman buildings in Cairo's Al-Hussein district reopened to the public last Sunday.   Nevine El-Aref attended the inaugural ceremony.

The mosque and madrassa of Al-Malek Al-Jukandar, the sabil-kuttab of Amin Effendi Hezaa, the Um Al-Gholam Mosque and the Bazdar and Maghlawi sabils have finally reappeared in all their finery after years of neglect and deterioration.

The buildings reflect the brilliance of the Mameluke and Ottoman periods, when Islamic architecture flourished across mediaeval Cairo.   However all five monuments were suffering from the same classic problems: leakage of subterranean water, misuse by the area's residents, structural deterioration and serious environmental damage from air pollution, humidity and decaying foundations, and not least the effects of the 1992 earthquake which caused cracking to all five monuments and the collapse of some archaeological elements.   The original floors of all the buildings had completely vanished, as well as parts of their mashrabiya (wooden lattice work) façades...

Take five, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 756, 18 - 24 August 2005.

As difficult as it may be to believe, there were no ancient Egyptian artifacts neither a sarcophagus nor a mummy found in Missoula's South Hills.

In fact, the man who claimed to have found the artifacts in a Missoulian classified ad that ran Monday and Tuesday said he didn't even know how to spell sarcophagus when he decided to pull off the hoax.   The ad read, "Found: Ancient Egyptian Sarcophagus w/mummy & other important artifacts. S. Hills area," followed by a Los Angeles-area telephone number...

Mummy hoax meant to cheer up Missoulians, The Missoulian, Montana, August 18, 2005.

For the fourth consecutive year Swansea University has seen an increase in the number of applications, with a rise of 15% in September 2005.   Most other Welsh Higher Education institutions have seen increases, although there is no consensus over the reasons for this growth.

[One] major factor has been the introduction of a number of new degree programmes.   There have been some remarkable success stories, none more spectacular than the growth in Egyptology.

Triggered by the building of the Egypt Centre, which houses the Wellcome museum collection, the Egyptology degree has attracted hundreds of applications and helped to boost and transform a Classics and Ancient History Department which was struggling to compete with prestigious universities for students of Greek and Latin...

Why Swansea is so popular, icWales, UK, August 18, 2005.

"A comprehensive investment plan for all Fayoum Governorate's natural and heritage sites is urgently needed," Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif said Tuesday.

"A plan is needed to utilize Fayoum's ecological sites and push forward its development process," Nazif told a ministerial meeting.

Nazif also stated that Wadi'Hetan (Jaws Valley) should be considered as a natural reserve; it is the first Egyptian natural heritage site to be registered on the UNESCO list.

"We should, make use of this international site to encourage ecological tourism whose importance is increasing everyday," added Nazif.

PM calls for protecting Fayoum ecological sites, State Information Service, Egypt, August 17, 2005.

Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif will consider next Sunday the latest developments in Cairo antiquities renovation project implemented by the Ministry of Culture.

Nazif is expected to meet with ministers concerned and Cairo Governor.

Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni said about 80 percent of the Islamic antiquities in Cairo were renovated in a way that the sites of these antiquities require a new development plan.

In a related development, the Minister will open today six Islamic antiquities sites after renovation including Beit Al-Qadi Gate and Najmuldin Ayoub Dome.

Nazif considers Cairo antiquities renovation, State Information Service, Egypt, August 18, 2005.

Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni said his ministry will organise a world celebration late in December to mark the opening of the two facilities at a new large museum.

When completed the museum, established on a surface of 117 feddans on Alexandria desert road, would hopefully be the largest museum in the world.

The Minister said after a meeting of the higher committee that supervises the project, under Zahi Hawass, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, that the two facilities are restoration centre and a power generating station that serve the project.

He said a large area of the project has been afforested.   The project's cost is estimated at LE 550 million.

Two sites at major Egyptian museum to be opened late December, State Information Service, Egypt, August 18, 2005.

Watch where you step if you're visiting the Dayton Art Institute in the next few days. The place looks like a construction site.

Galleries are filled with huge wooden boxes, gantry cranes, chain pulleys, wood scraps, chunks of drywall, half-constructed exhibit cases, tools, plastic paint buckets and pieces of packing foam.   Electrical cords snake through hallways.

A forklift holds centre stage in the middle of one gallery, moving — very, very slowly — amongst 3,500-year-old pieces of Egyptian stone and statuary.

The gold, jewels, coffins and stonework that make up the DAI's biggest exhibition, Quest for Immortality: Treasures from Ancient Egypt, have arrived and are coming out of their crates.   And even though the staff has just 10 days to get everything finished, this is anything but a rush job...

DAI's largest exhibit about to be unveiled, Dayton Daily News, Ohio, USA, August 18, 2005.

cf. Quest for Immortality: Treasures from Ancient Egypt.

... After feeling exalted of what our ancient ancestors accomplished, the reality of the blatant denial of Afrikan people smacks you right square in the face on seeing this figure of a white Tutankhamun.   It is the last thing one sees when leaving the exhibition.   We have Dr. Zahi Hawass to thank for this, the head of antiquities in Kemet (Egypt), who categorically states that the ancient Kamites (Egyptians) were not Black...

Assessing the King Tut Exhibition: Another Name For Traveling Cultural Genocide, Kwaku Person-Lynn, Ph.D., EUR Web, August 03, 2005.

Travelers and art enthusiasts are invited to join the Huntsville Museum of Art for an ArtSafari to Fort Lauderdale to see Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of Pharaohs at the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art, the Vizcaya Hose and Gardens, the Deering Estate, Fairchild Botanical Garden, and the Flagler Museum.   The trip is planned for January 16-20, 2006.

The highlight of the trip will take place on Wednesday, January 18, with a visit to the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art to see Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs (www.moafl.org)...

HMA ArtSafari to King Tut Exhibition in Florida, WAAY-31, Alabama, USA, August 12, 2005.

Ranchos residents Jeff and Linda Soule recently returned from a three-day trip to Los Angeles specifically to view this exhibit.

Linda read about the exhibition in the newspaper earlier this year and knew she had to see it.

"A friend visited the exhibit the last time it was here and he raved about it," Linda said.

This time around, over 130 artifacts from King Tut's grave are showcased.   There are more than 70 artifacts from other royal graves displayed as well.

On a scale of 1-10, Linda rates the experience an 11.   Highlights of the trip included "phenomenal" jewelry with intricate inlay work, the sarcophagus of an ancient pharaoh, and a fan of gilded wood that depicts King Tut hunting two ostriches...

Ranchos couple views treasures of King Tut's tomb, The Record-Courier, Nevada, August 12, 2005.

A visiting scientist from Cairo, Egypt will display replicas of Egyptian artifacts and other items at the Tifton-Tift County Public Library Saturday.

From 9 a.m. to noon, Dr. Salama Ouf will show his collection of pieces from Egyptian history at the library. His collection includes paintings on papyrus and metallic sculptures.

“I’m here as a visiting professor for three months at the Coastal Plain Experiment Station,” said Ouf...

Library to show Egyptian art, The Tifton Gazette, Georgia, USA, August 12, 2005.

And so I, like thousands of others, was attracted to the latest Los Angeles County Museum of Art extravaganza — a traveling exhibit called Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, on display from June 16 to Nov. 11.

While I enjoyed the exhibit, my overall impression was that there was too much toot and not enough Tut — lots of hype for an exhibit was that was just mediocre.   I searched the Web and reviewed the exhibits on King Tut at the world's best museum of Egyptology — the Egyptian Museum in Cairo — which loaned the items to the U.S. for this traveling museum show.   It loaned perhaps 20 percent of its Tut artifacts, but the best of the collection, including the boy king's golden death mask and the multiple golden coffins and sarcophagi, remained behind...

Too much toot and not enough King Tut, Ventura County Star, California, USA, August 14, 2005.

The Northern California Chapter of the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE/NC) present this upcoming free lecture, which is open to the public, to promote a better understanding of Egyptian art, culture and religion both historic and contemporary.

“On Closer Inspection: The Egyptian Blue Lotus... New Discoveries”, Jonathan Meader, August 21, 2005, 2:30 PM, Room 370 Dwinelle Hall, U. C. Berkeley Campus.

ARCE/Northern California Programs.

Among the peoples of the ancient world, the Egyptians occupy a unique position with their approach to death and the possibility of resurrection, particularly since so much of the evidence that has survived over thousands of years comes from a funerary context.

The largest and most comprehensive collection of ancient Egyptian funerary material outside of Cairo is housed at the British Museum.   As part of a joint venture with the British Museum, the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, California has drawn upon this world-famous collection of mummies and funerary objects to present the exhibition Mummies: Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt ... Treasures from the British Museum, which opened on April 17, 2005...

Mummies from the British Museum shown in California exhibition, Middle East Times, Cyprus, August 16, 2005.

What do Cornish hens and ancient Egyptian mummies have in common?

Both, thanks to a hands-on project at Cason Lane Academy, have been treated the same way to help preserve them, and sixth-graders in teacher Mary Melvin's class can tell you how and why the former civilization did it...

Kentucky fried Cheops?, Murfreesboro Daily News Journal, Tennessee, USA, August 17, 2005.

Who was King Tut?   Why is his name spelled differently, at different times?   Why was he so important?

Tutankhamun, served as king of Egypt from about 1347 B.C. until his death in 1399 B.C.   When he was a boy, he worshipped Aten the sun god as did rulers before him, Akhenaten and Amenhotep III.   It was Akhenaten who made the new religion the sole religion in Egypt.   As a boy, Tut spelled his name Tutankaten, meaning "the living image of Aten" or "the life of Aten is pleasing."

Tutankaten became king when he was only nine years old.   Four years later the boy king took the name Tutankhamun and restored the old religion...

Who was King Tut and why was he so important? - Part I, Marco Island Sun Times, Florida, USA, August 18, 2005.

Zahi hypes up the Amenhotep I dig before the archaeologists have even found anything.

The tomb of King Amenhotep I became the second non-looted tomb after the one of King Tut.

Joint Egyptian-Polish expedition started the dig of fully preserved tomb of Pharaoh Amenhotep I in Kings Valley near Luxor.   According to Dr. Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt, archaeologists are close to the greatest discovery.   He considers the discovery in Dra Abu al-Naga region as important as the discovery of Tutankhamun tomb in 1922.

Precious treasures and rarities will be presumably found at the burial place of Amenhotep I.   "We cannot even imagine the abundance and value of treasures and rarities and the amount of gold which we may find in the tomb of Amenhotep I", Zahi Hawass says enthusiastically...    My emphasis.

Scientists discover non-looted tomb of Egyptian Pharaoh, Pravda, Russia, August 17, 2005.

Linda Woods, of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, has written to let us know of the re-launching of their Web site, www.mfa.org.

“A notable, new feature of the re-launch is an improved and expanded Giza Pyramid Archive which contains thousands of important photos, diary pages, maps, and panoramic views of sites from the MFA/ Harvard University excavations from 1902 to 1947.”
MFA Boston: Art of the Ancient World: Egyptian Art

Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni has sanctioned project to develop Saint Catherine Monastery in South Sinai and the nearby area at a total cost of LE 25 Million in 24 months.

Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities said that the renovation project will be carried out in four stages.

Saint Catherine Monastery to be restored in 24 months, State Information Service, Egypt, August 15, 2005.

A roundup of the recent Egyptian travel and antiquity news from TravelVideo.TV.

1400 Pharaonic artefacts displayed at Sharm El Sheikh Museum & Other Egypt Antiquity News, TravelVideo.TV, Canada, August 15, 2005.

Reading Mark Turner’s story about attending the King Tut exhibit reminds me of my adventures at the Ramses exhibit in Dallas years and years ago.

It was in 1989, I think, give or take a year, when my youngest daughter read that the world renown Ramses the Great exhibit was going to stop in Dallas and she wanted to go. Seeing that it would be at the Dallas Museum of Natural History for several more months, I agreed to take her. Then promptly forgot all about it.

A month or so later, she mentioned that the coming weekend was the final chance to see the exhibit...

Neither Here Nor There: I had a date with Ramses the Great, Plainview Daily Herald, Texas, USA, August 14, 2005.

The hair is of biblical proportions: long and silvery, straight out of "The Ten Commandments"; the famous eyes scanning the script are Dr. Zhivago's.   But the voice, softly evoking Egypt in a Beverly Hills hotel lobby, is unmistakably that of Omar Sharif, and he is preparing for a new role, this one entirely off-screen.

With just days to go before the L.A. opening of "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs," Sharif was in town to lend his voice to a countryman, the boy king.   In a few hours, he would head to a Santa Monica, California, studio to record the English-language version of the museum audio guide for Tut.

But first: Does Mr. Sharif know that when Tut's treasures last came to the United States, in the 1970s, the now-deceased Orson Welles recorded an audio guide for that show?

The actor, 73, groaned. "I can't compete with that," he joked...

Star power now leads museum-goers, The Seattle Times, Washington, USA, August 15, 2005.

Judy Kay King spent the last four years decoding ancient Egyptian symbols and interpreting the results through biosemiotics, a biological science of signs and messages in living systems.

King's new book, "The Isis Thesis," takes images found in ancient Egyptian artwork and compares them to the microscopic shapes of bacteria and viruses. Not only do many images match, King said, but the mythological stories are metaphors for the molecular biology of the bacteria and viruses...

Author links bacteria and Egyptian symbols, Traverse City Record Eagle, Michigan, USA, August 06, 2005, via ArchNews.

cf. Isis Thesis Home Page.

Egypt Through Other Eyes: The Popularization of Ancient Eygpt, presenting more than thirty books, ranging from the commercial to the commemorative, focusing on Western fascination with ancient Egypt will be on view in the ancient Egyptian galleries of the Brooklyn Museum.   The long-term installation, including many works that have never before been on public view, is the latest in a series of exhibitions presenting rare material from both the world-renowned Wilbour Library of Egyptology and from the Museum’s holdings of ancient Egyptian art...

Exhibition of Rare Material from Wilbour Library, Art Daily, August 15, 2005.

cf. Exhibition of Rare Material from Wilbour Library of Egyptology Opens August 12, Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA, July 2005.

Mexico and Egypt share a rare historical distinction: a superabundance of monumental pyramids and other relics of ancient civilizations.   But although foreign experts have helped lead the exploration of Egypt's rich archeology for more than a century, specialists from Mexico have never been invited.   Until now.

For the first time, a Mexican archeological team has been selected by Egypt's top antiquities authorities to work in the famous Upper Nile Valley.

The group was chosen to refurbish the so-called Tomb of Puimre, or TT39, one of the country's most important unrestored burial chambers.

The team, selected by the Egyptian government's Supreme Council of Antiquities and made up mainly of scientists from the University of the Valley of Mexico, in March will begin a five-year renovation project to make the site suitable for the public to visit...

Building a Modern Partnership on Relics, Los Angeles Times, California, USA, August 13, 2005.

A write up of an at an international conference at Auckland University July 13-16 which focused on the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus.

Cleopatra dallied with Romans from Julius Caesar to Mark Antony to save her skin and fabulous lifestyle.   For scarcely less pressing reasons, at least of political exigency, her male forebears in the Ptolemaic dynasty felt forced into bed with their sisters to secure their power base as foreign occupiers on the Nile by an untroubled succession.

No particular proclivity for "pushing the prong into forbidden fleshpots" — to quote a Ptolemaic poet who paid for such frankness with his life — led to Ptolemy II marrying his bossy elder sister Arsinoe II in 274 BC...

Sad stories of the birth of kings, Athens News, Greece, July 29, 2005, via rogueclassicism.

The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology is facing a predicament.

Or is that the University Museum?

Or the University of Pennsylvania Museum?

Or the Penn Museum?

Or the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology?

Or that funky museum with the 12-ton sphinx and Egyptian mummies across the river?

Whatever you call it, the museum finds itself with too many names, a logo most people don't get, and no image that captures what it is...

A Penn treasure plays name that tomb, Philadelphia Inquirer, Pennsylvania, USA, August 11, 2005.

Noted Egyptologist Lisa Schwappach-Shirriff has discovered ancient texts which show 5000 year old tabloid-style gossip.

One ancient Egyptian text describes an unidentified king often visiting the home of one of his generals at night.   The often repeated phrase “in whose home there was no wife” suggests the king was having a gay affair.

Scwappach-Shirriff says that Ancient Egyptians gossiped about celebrities, and were interested in their sexuality among a number of other things — much like today’s tabloids.   She notes, however, that the gossip does not necessarily mean their culture was anti-gay.   The implicit disapproval, she says, is more likely about important people’s failure to produce heirs.

Ancient Egypt Gossiped About Gays, Gay NZ, New Zealand, August 15, 2005.

A gang who smuggled ancient Egyptian artefacts worth about $55 million out of Egypt were sentenced on Saturday to between 15 and 55 years in prison.

Some of antiquities were seized at Cairo airport, but many of the more than 57,000 articles were smuggled out.   Some have been returned, including artefacts sent back in July from Australia, where they were found for sale on the Internet.

Three men who were in custody received between 15 and 42 years in jail, a Cairo court ruling said.   One of the three was an official from the state's Supreme Council of Antiquities...

Smugglers of Egyptian antiquities sentenced, Reuters via San Diego >Union-Tribune, California, USA, August 13, 2005.

cf. Egypt antiquities smugglers get up to 55 years in jail, AFP via >Middle East Times, Cyprus, August 15, 2005.

cf. Cairo court hits smugglers with heavy jail-terms, Gulf News, UAE, August 14, 2005.

by Zahi Hawass

Many people who excavate in Egypt believe that the rules announced three years ago for foreign expeditions to Egypt are new rules, formulated for the first time.   Actually, almost all of these are old rules that have been on the books for years, but have never been enforced.   There are only two new rules: first, that there should be publications in Arabic of all excavation results; and second, that no new excavations can be started in Upper Egypt (although new concessions can be granted in the Delta).   All of the other rules were formulated long ago.

We are entering a new era in Egypt.   It is time to make protecting and caring for the monuments a priority, a job that requires the cooperation of all Egyptologists and scholars, both native and foreign.   All of us need to dedicate our time to this effort.

There are, however, people who complain about the rules.   Newspapers publish untrue statistics, claiming, for example, that the SCA has stopped over 100 expeditions from working.   This is completely untrue.   It is true that we no longer let anyone who wants to work in Egypt do so, and have turned down applications from people who are unqualified, or whose projects do not meet our clearly published criteria.

Who complains about these new rules?   One example is a group of amateurs from France who want to drill inside the Great Pyramid, doing damage to prove a theory that has no basis and no academic support.   Since the rules permit scholars to work only with the support of a reputable institution, they brought in a French Egyptologist to act as a dummy member of the team, simply to give them the authority to apply.   This Egyptologist is not an expert on pyramids, and the application was rejected by the Permanent Committee, with the advice of the top experts in the field of pyramid studies.

We need people to understand that we are not against anyone.   Our goal is to preserve the monuments of Egypt and protect our cultural heritage.   To achieve this goal, we need everyone to follow and respect our rules.   No more amateurs, no more non-scientific work.   But to those who work with us, and care about Egypt's past, present, and future, we say thank you.

Secrets from the Sand, The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, August 15, 2005.

"The reopening of "Das Egyptische Museum und Papyrussamlung" in Germany where the bust of Queen Nefertiti is exhibited was the focus of most German newspapers," reported the Middle East News Agency yesterday.

Das Egyptische Museum will continue to exhibit the precious Egyptian relics until October 2009, said Berliner Zeitung newspaper.

The relics will then be moved to another museum, it added...

Nefertiti focus of German papers, State Information Service, Egypt, August 14, 2005.

Bibliotheca Alexandrina will join a national project to issue an atlas of Egypt in cooperation with the Egyptian Scientific Society.

The atlas will expound Egypt's history, economic capabilities and role on the regional and international arenas.

The history section will explore the Egyptian people's contributions to world civilization over various epochs...

New Egypt atlas by Bibliotheca Alexandrina, State Information Service, Egypt, August 13, 2005.

Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni agreed to carry out a joint project with the Higher Council of Luxor City with the aim of reviving history and culture of the City, presenting it in form of an integrated panorama and turning it into an open museum with total costs of LE 250 Million.

He said the project, which starts late this month, will be carried out in stages.

He added that the project included lightning the western bank of the River Nile and reopening the Rameses Road.

Integrated project to turn Luxor into open museum, State Information Service, Egypt, August 12, 2005.

The British Museum exhibition Mummy: The Inside Story finishes this weekend.   The exhibition is then of on tour the United States.

First stop is the Houston Museum of Natural Science, Texas, from September 30th 2005 through until February 12th 2006.

Second stop is the Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center, Mobile, Alabama, from march 9th 2006 through until July 31st 2006.

After which the exhibition will tour several Asian cities, including Tokyo, in late 2006-07.

cf. 'Mummy' on its way to Mobile, The Mobile Register, Alabama, USA, August 07, 2005.

cf. Exploreum announces Major Exhibition for 2006, MSNBC, USA, August 03, 2005.

The British Museum exhibition Mummy: The Inside Story finishes this weekend, Sunday 14th August 2005, so this is your last chance to see it in the UK before it moves on to the USA.

The Cairo-based Egyptian Museum of Antiquities will open soon a second showroom for displaying more mummies to attract more visitors from the world, the Egyptian Gazette daily reported Tuesday.

Preparations for inaugurating a second showroom for mummies with a cost of 1.5 million Egyptian Pounds (259,067 US dollars) by the end of this year, Wafaa el-Seddiq, director general of the museum was quoted as saying.

The new showroom No. 52, which will display 12 newly discovered mummies, has been provided with the latest-state-of-the-art techniques to ensure the best display quality for the visitors...

Egyptian museum to open new mummy showroom, People's Daily, China, August 10, 2005, via EEF News.

Anyone seeking proof about how the world is still shrinking should drop by the GIS Laboratory in Room 116 of the College of Charleston's Hollings Science Center.

When Peter Piccione, Norm Levine and Kem Fronabarger are inside playing with the center's computers, they are manipulating geographic and satellite data to unravel secrets of some of the world's oldest building sites.

For more than 15 years, Piccione has been researching a necropolis perched on a hilltop in western Thebes, outside the modern city of Luxor...

Charleston professors study tombs of Egypt without leaving campus, Charleston Post and Courier, South Carolina, USA, August 08, 2005, via EEF News.

The priceless ancient bust of one of history's great beauties, Queen Nefertiti of Egypt, returned to Berlin's Museum Island for the first time since World War II.

The elegant limestone figure dating from 1347 BC was removed from its plinth in 1939 to protect it from bombing.   During the division of the city during the Cold War, it was displayed in a museum at the Schloss Charlottenburg palace in West Berlin.

Overnight Friday, the world-famous bust returned to the Museum Island complex in the east of the reunified capital ahead of the opening of a special exhibition of Egyptian artefacts at the city's Old Museum on Saturday.

Then in 2009, Nefertiti will move into the neighbouring, freshly renovated New Museum...

Nefertiti bust returns to pre-war perch in Berlin, AFP via Yahoo! News, USA, August 12, 2005.

cf. Nefertiti Returns to Pre-War Perch in Berlin, Deutsche Welle, Germany, August 12, 2005.

cf. A 3,000-year-old smile, DPA via Expatica, Germany, August 12, 2005.   This is a much longer article than the two above.

By Zahi Hawass

He was always known as Tutankhamun until he travelled to America, where they nicknamed him "Tut".   King Tut captured all hearts when he first visited America 26 years ago.   Last month, I travelled back to America with Tut for the opening of the exhibition, "Tut and the Golden Beyond".   I was interviewed on the popular TV programme "Good Morning America" about the exhibition, and during the interview the presenter asked me: "Why does Tut capture the heart of everyone?"

"It is because of his magic and mystery," I replied...

Dig Days: The Magic of Tut, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 755, 11 - 17 August 2005.

The deadline for Rameses II's departure from Bab Al-Hadid to the Grand Museum of Egypt is to be postponed.   Nevine El-Aref says that the lofty red granite statue will remain at the centre of Bab Al-Hadid Square for another 18 months despite two years of being smothered by a growing pile of iron scaffolding while he is packed up for departure.   His new home at the Grand Museum of Egypt overlooking the Giza Plateau is not yet ready to host such an illustrious resident.

"We cannot move the statue right now, since there are a dozen trucks, loaders and pieces of heavy equipment on site to dig the foundations of the museum's several buildings," Culture Minister Farouk Hosni said this week.   "It is impossible to expose the statue to another threat like the extensive vibrations caused by construction work." ...

Not moving yet, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 755, 11 - 17 August 2005.

Remains of a Hyksos treasure found early last week in a cachet within the foundation of the fortified city of Tharo in North Sinai will shed more light on Ahmose I's strategy during his famous war of liberation. Nevine El-Aref reports.

A team of archaeologists digging at Tel-Habuwa, near the town of Qantara East and three kilometres east of the Suez Canal, has made a significant discovery. The find comes as part of the search for more of the ancient forts that played a major role in protecting Egypt's eastern gateway to the Delta from foreign invasion.

Within the foundation structure of the Tharo fort, the starting point of Horus military road, Egyptian excavators this week chanced upon a cachet of limestone reliefs bearing names of two royal personalities and two seated statues of differing sizes...

King of the wild frontier, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 755, 11 - 17 August 2005.

Hassan Saadallah

Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni has approved a proposal to construct a 20 metre long mini-replica of the 3km long Rams Road that connects the Luxor and Karnak temples. The replica will be built in Luxor on the Nile's eastern bank.

The Rams Road is an avenue of ram-headed sphinxes leading from the Luxor Temple to the Great Temple of Amun-Ra at Karnak. With the ram being the symbol of fertility for the ancient Egyptians, the spirit of Amun-Ra is supposed to dwell in the ram-headed sphinx.

Apart from the ram-deities Khnum, Harsaphes [Heryshaf] and Amon, actual rams were once worshipped in many cities in recognition of their strength, virility and energy.

In another development, Minister Hosni announced that a huge project would be carried out to flood el-Bar el-Gharbi (the West Bank of the Nile) with light during nighttimes. While the temples and statues of the West Bank would be illuminated, the mountain area in particular would be lit up. This would enable tourists to enjoy the sight of "an open-air antiquity panorama at night," noted Hosni.

"The light project will open the door for more tourists to visit the site at night, many of whom will find it far too hot to visit during the burning heat of the day, especially during the summer months. This will also be important for the 2000 to 3000 people who come to Luxor daily on a one-day visit," Hosni said.

Rams Road replica for Luxor, Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, August 11, 2005.

Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni agreed to allow an Egyptian-Polish mission to exacavate Amenhotep I tomb in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor.

Amenhotep I tomb to be excavated, State Information Service, Egypt, August 10, 2005.

It wasn't exactly what Jonathan and Mary Brown were expecting.   The British couple were shocked by their first visit to the old Egyptian Museum, set in the heart of Cairo's busiest downtown square.

"It breaks my heart seeing the monuments kept that way," said Jonathan Brown, a retired real estate investor.   "I got into the museum and didn't know which way to go.   I couldn't find user-friendly maps, no illustrations.   It's also very noisy here.   I felt I was at a circus, not a museum."

When the Egyptian Museum was built about 100 years ago, it was host to only 10,000 artifacts.   The architecture was French colonial, with a lush, cozy garden and a Nile view.

Today, the museum is surrounded by a concrete jungle of overpasses, skyscrapers, five-star hotels and an endless stream of cars...

Visitors tut-tut over Cairo museum's condition, Indianapolis Star, Indiana, USA, August 10, 2005.

The Humboldt Arts Council and Morris Graves Museum of Art will sponsor an overnight art tour to Los Angeles in September.

Museum Director-Curator Jemima Harr will be the leader of this artistic adventure. Departing Sept. 9 and returning Sept. 10, the group will visit the King Tutankhamun exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Getty Museum and the Hollywood Bowl for a performance of “ A Night at the Copa.” ...

Museum is sponsoring trip to King Tut exhibit, Times-Standard, California, USA, August 09, 2005.

Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni will open early next month Imhotep Museum in Saqqara, Giza.

Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) Zahi Hawass said the museum will be the first of its type in Egypt as it tells the life story of the "Pharaonic Architect"...

Imhotep museum opens next month, State Information Service, Egypt, August 09, 2005.

The European Union (EU) approved a grant of 75,000 euro to the Supreme Council of Antiquities SCA for restoring a number of antiques at the Egyptian Museum.

The project will last for three years for restoring 10,000 antiques, according to SCA Secretary-General Zahi Hawass.

EU grant to restore 10,000 artefacts, State Information Service, Egypt, August 08, 2005.

The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority has undertaken an £8bn project to dismantle 26 research reactors and bury nuclear waste (that will remain dangerous for thousands of years) in concrete bunkers and storage facilities.

The problem is that the details of the dismantling and the dangers in handling of the plutonium, uranium and other wastes are outlined on computer software that will become outdated in a decade.

Fortunately, someone remembered their ancient history — and the papyrus scrolls beloved of the Egyptians.   When stored in the right conditions, the scrolls can preserve readable records for millennia, making them perfect for the nuclear waste industry...

Ancient Egypt provides key to storing nuclear heritage, The Guardian, UK, August 09, 2005.

cf. How papyrus can safeguard nuclear waste, The Register, UK, August 09, 2005.

The remains of an ancient church and monks' retreats that date back to the early years of monasticism have been discovered in a Coptic Christian monastery in the Red Sea area, officials said Saturday.

Workers from Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities found the ruins while restoring the foundations of the Apostles Church at St. Anthony's Monastery.   The remains are about 2 or 2 1/2 yards underground, said the head of the council, Zahi Hawass...

Remains of Ancient Church Found in Egypt, AP via Herald Tribune, Florida, USA, August 06, 2005.

cf. Renovators in Egypt say they find oldest monk cell, Reuters, UK, August 08, 2005.

cf. Egypt announces new archaeological finds, State Information Service, Egypt, August 07, 2005.

Ancient Egyptians gossiped about a bald queen, royals who had affairs, missing bodies, homosexuality, harem intrigue and more, according to a noted Egyptologist.

Lisa Schwappach-Shirriff, curator of California's Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, which houses North America's largest collection of Egyptian artefacts, recently found evidence for tabloid-like gossip in the museum's eclectic archives and elsewhere.   The findings suggest humans always have enjoyed chatting about personal or sensational information concerning others...

Egyptologist Discovers Ancient Gossip, Discovery Channel News, USA, August 08, 2005.

World-renowned Egyptian archaeologist Dr. Zahi Hawass will speak at the Siebens-Binz SNC Tahoe Forum on Wednesday, September 7 from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. on the Sierra Nevada College campus at Lake Tahoe, Hwy 28 and Country Club Dr. in Incline Village, NV. The Forum is free and open to the public.

Immediately following the presentation, Dr. Hawass will show slides of current discoveries and sign copies of his most recent book: Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, the official companion book to the exhibition, currently touring the United States and sponsored by National Geographic.   Dr. Hawass has been interviewed extensively on CNN, NBC's TODAY Show, CBS Sunday Morning, and other programs in connection with the recent CT scans of King Tut's face...

Archaeologist Zahi Hawass to Speak at Siebens-Binz SNC Tahoe Forum PR Newswire via Yahoo! Financial News, August 08, 2005.

The latest edition of Focus Magazine has seven page article entitle Discovering Ancient Egypt.   This article accompanies the forthcoming BBC six part docu-drama on the ‘discoverers’ of ancient Egypt, simply titled Egypt and due to air some time in October, with two episodes dedicated to each of Giavanni Battista Belzoni, Jean-François Champollion, and Howard Carter.   The article is written by Paul Bradshaw, the producer of the series, and contains box-outs entitled “Dead mummies come alive: Is this the face of Tutankhamun?” about the Tutankhamun CT scan and subsequent facial recreation; “The golden casked mummy: The most beautiful mummy ever” about the ‘beautiful’ gilded mummy that was discovered in Saqqara recently; “Cracking the code” about the decipherment of hieroglyphs; and “Ask the expert” where Dr. Aidan Dodson of Bristol University answers some questions.

BBC Focus Magazine, BBC Worldwide Publishing, UK, No. 254, September 2005.

As with most BBC series this one is also accompanied by a book to be published on October 6, 2005, this time by Joyce Tyldesley.   The book goes by the title Egypt, How a lost civilisation was rediscovered in the UK and Egypt, Discovering the Secrets of a Lost Past in Canada.

Pre-order the book from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.ca.   At the time of writing the book was not listed on the Amazon.com website.

The latest edition of Ancient Egypt Magazine has arrived and contrary to what the front cover says it is volume 6 number 1 and not volume 5 number 7.   A summary of the contents follows.

• The Oriental Museum in Durham
  Karen Exell tells how the collection was formed and looks at some of the more important exhibits.
• Who were Nefertiti's Parents?
  Marshall Hindley discusses the possible parentage of one of Egypt's most famous Queens.
• Replica Tomb of Thutmose III
  Nacho Ares describes the project to create a full-sized replica tomb of Thutmose II, soon to be on display in Edinburgh.
• Reconstructing the Face of Tutankhamun
  A report from the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities on the facial reconstruction of Tutankhamun following the recent CT scan.
• Meretamun at Akhmim
  The story of the discovery and restoration of a remarkable colossal statue of Queen Meryetamun, daughter and Great Royal Wife of Rameses II, told by Ayman Wahby Taher.
• A river full of water ... but was it safe to drink?
  Jo Morris investigates where the ancient Egyptians obtained their drinking water.
• Dressing Nefertiti: Ancient Egyptian Costumes on Television
  Egyptology Clothing Consultant Janet Johnstone describes the problems of designing reproductions of ancient costumes for television programmes and films.
• Archive Image
  Old and new images of the obelisk of King Senuseret I at Heliopolis.
• News of the Friends of the Petrie Museum
• Defending Egypt from Chaos: Rameses III and his Battles
  Nicholas Wernick looks at the military campaigns of Rameses III, as detailed in his temple at Medinet Habu, to determine if he was truly one of the great warrior pharaohs.

Ancient Egypt Magazine, UK, Volume 6, No 1, August / September 2005.

More on the CT scanning of the mummy “Sherit”.

Using 3D Models Rendered With Unprecedented Realism on SGI Computers, Stanford Researchers Put Age, Sex and Face to Child Who Lived During Time of Christ.

Two thousand years ago in the sands of Egypt, grieving parents put their tiny child to rest in a way that was customary even during the time of Christ.   They removed all of the youth's organs except for the heart, packed the remains in salt to cure them, and wrapped them in linen coated with perfumed resin.   Like all Egyptians of the age, they were certain that their careful efforts would prepare their loved one to someday come back to life.

Today in Silicon Valley, a team of world-renowned experts proved those parents right — although the mummy's high-tech resurrection may not quite be what ancient Egyptians had in mind...

Scientists Reach Back 2,000 Years to Bring Rare Child Mummy Back to Life, Yahoo! Finance News, USA, August 03, 2005.

cf. Scientists Reach Back 2,000 Years to Bring Rare Child Mummy Back to Life, PR Newswire, USA, August 03, 2005.   Includes video footage.

cf. Egyptian mummy brought to virtual life in US technology Mecca, AFP via Yahoo! News, USA, August 05, 2005.

The Illustrated Guide to Luxor Tombs, Temples, and Museums, AUC Press, 2005
by Kent R. Weeks

This book is much more than just a guide to the sites of the ancient city of Luxor. It includes, in extensive detail, information about the tombs and temples of certain areas that are unavailable in regular guidebooks.   Every single page features at least one illustration — ranging from maps, photographs, paintings and drawings — corresponding to the respective site being discussed.   The guide is organized by monument, and the sites on the West Bank of the Nile are ordered chronologically by type (temple, royal tomb, private tomb).   The information is easy to follow and a glossary of Egyptology terms is included to further help the reader.   It is ideal for any traveller wishing to obtain a deeper understanding of the area, but can be equally enjoyed by those who only dream of visiting Luxor.

History, Art and Tradition, Egypt Today, Egypt, August 2005.

This books goes by the title “The Treasures of Luxor and the Valley of the Kings” elsewhere in the world.   Buy it from Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, or Amazon.ca.

It’s an election year. There’s a new constitution.   The opposition and the State are in conflict.   Rowdy elections are the talk of the town. 2005?   Not quite.   The year was 1923, and the conflict of the day was over who would control King Tut’s tomb.

The year 1923 was a turbulent one for Egypt that should ... sound fairly familiar today.   That year, the constitution was promulgated after lengthy debate; rowdy elections had just closed; and the rift between King Fouad and nationalist leader Saad Zaghloul was widening.

While foreign journalists are descending on Egypt this month to cover a similar basket of political issues, the reporters washing up on the nation’s shores in 1923 were less interested in current affairs in Cairo than they were in all things ancient.   Their destination: Luxor, where they descended in droves for what most of them would later bill in their stories as the archaeological event of the century: The unlocking of the untouched tomb of King Tutankhamun, which had been discovered by archaeologists Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon...

The Lord and the King, Egypt Today, Egypt, Volume 26, Issue 08, August 2005.

A vocational training programme will revive and preserve mediaeval handicrafts in Islamic Cairo. Nevine El-Aref reports on the first phase of the project.

The majesty of Cairo's Islamic architecture has always attracted travellers, from historians to merchants who filled the souqs with all manner of products originating anywhere from China to Spain.   A peculiarly cosmopolitan atmosphere, it also attracted the most skilful craftsmen from all over the Islamic world; both cultural sophistication and political identity were expressed through art, the latter by virtue of caliphs patronising architecture and craftsmanship...

Crafting the past, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 754, 4 - 10 August 2005.

With the help of more than 60,000 CT scans, researchers have determined that a mummified Egyptian girl from a San Jose museum was probably about 4 1/2 years old, didn't suffer from chronic illnesses, had a small chin and got her insides ripped out by a right-handed person.

And, at least for eternity, she smelled nice.

The girl, born about the same time as Jesus and housed for decades in San Jose's Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, has been scrutinized the past three months by researchers led by Stanford University and Silicon Graphics of Mountain View, who unveiled 3-D models Wednesday...

Unraveling the life of a little mummy, San Francisco Chronicle, California, USA, August 04, 2005.

cf. Silicon Graphics Unwraps 2000-Year-Old Mummy, BIOS Magazine, UK, August 04, 2005.

cf. Child mummy 'unveiled' with scanning technology, The Mercury News, California, USA, August 03, 2005.

cf. Child Mummy Wows Egyptologists, Wired News, USA, August 03, 2005.

A recent study conducted by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics showed that the number of tourists who visited Egypt in the last four years stood at 24 million.

The total number of tourists surged up from 4.7 million tourists in 2001 to 5.2 million in 2002, 6 million tourists in 2003 and then to 8.2 million in 2004...

24 million tourists visited Egypt in last four years, State Information Service, Egypt, August 03, 2005.

The Old Testament may seem like an unlikely source from which to draw inspiration for a modern-day climatology study. But a story from the book of Genesis — in which Joseph predicts seven years of abundant crops, followed by seven years of famine for Egypt — drove researchers to scour centuries of water-level data for the Nile River to determine if such a cycle actually exists, and if so, what causes it.

Climatologists have already combed the abundant Nile River data and revealed a connection between patterns in the water-level cycles and Indo-Pacific Ocean patterns.   But large gaps in the data, especially after A.D. 1470, have left this analysis incomplete.   Now, Michael Ghil, a geophysicist at the University of California, Los Angeles, developed with colleagues what he calls an advanced technique to fill the gaps.   Analysis of the data, published in the May 24 Geophysical Research Letters, turns up evidence for a seven-year cycle that researchers say may be influenced by the North Atlantic ocean.

Ghil, working with Dmitri Kondrashov, the lead author, and Yizhak Feliks, attributes credit for the idea to Feliks, who thought of the possible biblical connection after visiting a Byzantine-period mosaic that was created a century or two before the start of the Nile River flood records in A.D. 622.   It shows a man clambering to etch onto a column — called a “nilometer” — the highest level reached by the Nile that year...

River of data decodes Nile cycles, Geotimes, Virginia, USA, August 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.

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

cf. A River Runs Through Egypt: Nile Floods and Civilization, Fekri A. Hassan, Geotimes, Virginia, USA, April 2005.

Rome and Israel was glorified or mildly tolerated, according to a new analysis of "the world's oldest profession."

The findings reveal that attitudes about sex, fidelity and women varied in early times.

Several scholars contributed to the analysis, which is published in the current Zmanim Hebrew historical quarterly...

Ancients Rarely Punished Prostitutes, Discovery Channel News, USA, August 03, 2005.

cf. Origins of the sex industry, Haaretz, Israel, July 29, 2005.

Zahi Hawass wants the Rosetta Stone back-among other things.

Egypt is once again calling for the return of several celebrated antiquities currently on display in museums across Europe and America, including the Rosetta stone, the famous granite slab that was crucial in deciphering hieroglyphics.

The campaign to recuperate priceless artefacts taken by colonial powers is not new.   But in recent weeks Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities and the public face of archaeology in Egypt, has grown more strident in his demands in a campaign that coincides with a world tour of Egyptology’s favourite son, King Tutankhamun.   Hawass has even threatened to shut down British and Belgian archaeological digs in Egypt if the artefacts are not returned...

Stolen treasures, Cairo Magazine, Egypt, July 28, 2005, via Explorator.

The Belfast man who stars in an BBC drama expected to hit our screens in the autumn has rejected claims it has been stuck by an ancient curse.

Stuart Graham fulfilled one of his career ambitions playing the complex character Howard Carter in the BBC's lavish recreation of the excavation of the Tutankhamun's tomb but was surprised when he opened yesterday morning's paper.

The Sunday Times carried a story about the drama being struck down by the supposed curse of the young Egyptian king and alleged it went massively over-budget and the crew faced all sorts of problems...

Tutankhamun's Curse 'Did Not Hit BBC Series', News Letter, Northern Ireland, UK, July 25, 2005.

Fans of Egyptian history can pay $25 admission plus a hundred or two in transportation costs to see the King Tutankhamen Exhibit on display in Los Angeles.

Or, they can suspend their disbelief for an afternoon and see a replica of the boy king's tomb at the Luxor for half the price and much less travel.   No, it's not the real thing, but it's surprisingly close.

The museum, which opened in 1993, consists of four rooms full of replicas that were crafted by artisans using the same tools, techniques and materials used by ancient Egyptians, said Gil Perez, director of rides and attractions at the Luxor...

Tut Redux, Las Vegas Review Journal, California, USA, August 01, 2005.

cf. Pharaonic Village.

The World Monuments Fund, a nonprofit that works to rescue and preserve imperiled places, recently released its global watch list of its 100 most endangered sites.   Places were selected by a panel of 10 experts in architecture, archeology, history, anthropology and other fields.

What's at risk: West Bank of the Nile River, Luxor, Egypt.   Archeological sites, including the Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens, burial sites of Egypt's New Kingdom rulers (1540-1075 BC), 40 temples and more.

Endangered by: Rising groundwater, theft, vandalism, uncontrolled tourism and development pressures.

Sites just clinging to existence, Los Angeles Times, Florida, USA, July 31, 2005.

cf. World Monuments Fund: West Bank.

A traveling exhibit of Egyptian antiquities will be at the Public Museum of Grand Rapids for more than three months.

Organized in part by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., "Treasures of Ancient Egypt: The Quest for Immortality" is scheduled to run Jan. 28 [2006] to May 7. [2006] It will cover two-thirds of the Van Andel Museum's third floor...

Public Museum of Grand Rapids to get Egyptian antiquities exhibit, AP via Tallahassee Democrat, Florida, USA, July 31, 2005.

A long-neglected area of Egyptian art — works associated with protection and healing — will be explored in the exhibition The Art of Medicine in Ancient Egypt, opening at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in fall, 2005.   By focusing on this fundamental, yet little known aspect of Egyptian art, the exhibition will provide a new perspective on some 65 of the most beautiful and intriguing works from the Museum's reowned collection.

The centerpiece will be the Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus — the sole borrowed work in the exhibition — which is on loan from the New York Academy of Medicine.   This manuscript, dating from the Second Intermediate Period, is one of only two complete medical texts from ancient Egypt.   Rarely seen even by Egyptologists, the manuscript's presentation at the Metropolitan represents its first public display in more than half a century.

Ancient Art At Museum, Neighbor Newspapers, New York, USA, August 03, 2005.

The Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) is currently running a competition for children in the governorates of Cairo, Alexandria, Ismailiya, Beni Suef, Luxor and Aswan.

"Called the Golden Pharaoh Children Festival", the competition aims at spreading awareness of the Ancient Egyptian civilization and the Pharaohs.

"We will go to children everywhere to teach them about their ancestors," SCA Secretary-General Zahi Hawass told The Gazette...

SCA launches Children's competition, State Information Service, Egypt, August 01, 2005.

Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni is to open three mosques noted for their archaeological richness in Al-Azhar district today.   This follows on from development under the auspices of the ongoing national project to save and develop archaeological sites...

3 old mosques restored, State Information Service, Egypt, July 31, 2005.

by Amr Emam

Statues and artefacts dating back to the time of Rameses II have been unearthed in Cairo.

Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) Dr Zahi Hawass told The Gazette yesterday that the items were found in Mataryia, a north eastern suburb of the capital.

Dr Hawass added that Mataryia was originally an important political and cultural centre in ancient times and was probably the location of one of the world's first universities.

An excavation team in Souk el-Khamis (Thursday Market) found the remains of a big temple and unearthed several statues.

Dr Hawass said SCA officials would be exploring the earth under the great Pyramid by the end of this year.

"We will send a robot camera under the structure to give us a hint about what might be there behind the stone doors of the great Pyramid," Dr Hawass said.

It is believed that discovering what lies behind these doors might help researchers answer many questions about the ancient Egyptians.

Dr Hawass noted that archaeologists also found six new chambers near to the great Pyramid. Inside one of these rooms, which are "intact", some 404 small statues were found.

"The statues, known as shwabti, were meant to answer questions for the deceased in the after- world," Dr Hawass said.

Rameses II artefacts unearthed in Cairo suburb, The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, July 31, 2005.

cf. Rameses II artefacts unearthed in Cairo suburb, State Information Service, Egypt, July 31, 2005.

A large number of Egyptologists have come together in support of Dr. Zahi Hawass and written to the editor of the Times with regard to the article that appeared in the Sunday Times on 22nd May 2005.

We are writing to express our regret about the injudicious and inaccurate May 22, 2005 article about Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary-General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities.

As archaeologists and epigraphers working at many sites throughout Egypt (in most cases for many years), we completely reject the assertion that Dr. Hawass has created an atmosphere of intimidation, so far as such foreign- sponsored work is concerned.   Dr. Hawass and his colleagues in the SCA have been unfailingly and generously supportive and cooperative as regards our projects.   In addition, Dr. Hawass and his colleagues have vigorously promoted the protection of archaeological sites and monuments throughout Egypt as the need for expanded land use has become necessary and acute.

From our perspective, Dr. Hawass is a most positive figure...

Generous support, The Times, UK, July 31, 2005.

cf. King Tut tut tut, The Times, UK, May 22, 2005.