Marking the final weeks in Los Angeles, an extensive exhibition of more than 130 artefacts from the tomb of the celebrated Pharaoh Tutankhamun (King Tut), other Valley of the Kings tombs and additional ancient sites is visiting the United States on a 27-month tour. The Los Angeles exhibit is open now and only runs until November 15. It will be the exhibit's only stop west of the Mississippi.

Organized by National Geographic and sponsored by Northern Trust — Marking the final weeks in Los Angeles, an extensive exhibition of more than 130 artefacts from the tomb of the celebrated Pharaoh Tutankhamun (King Tut), other Valley of the Kings tombs and additional ancient sites is visiting the United States on a 27-month tour. The Los Angeles exhibit is open now and only runs until November 15 [2005]. It will be the exhibit’s only stop west of the Mississippi.

Featured treasures in the exhibit, which are all between 3,300 and 3,500 years old, include Tutankhamun’s royal diadem — the gold crown discovered encircling the head of the king’s mummified body that he likely wore while living — and one of the gold and precious stone inlaid coffinettes that contained his mummified internal organs...

Last Chance To See King Tut In Los Angeles, PR Web, USA, October 20, 2005.

Currently the L.A. area is hosting two world-class exhibitions of ancient Egyptian artefacts: King Tut has taken up residence in Mid-Wilshire in the LACMA annex. Less than an hour away, in Santa Ana (of the eponymous hot winds), the Bowers Museum is showcasing one of the greatest exhibits of mummies ever seen in the United States from the collection of the British Museum.

Together, the two exhibitions offer more Egyptian artefacts and mummies on view in America than at any time since Boris Karloff played Im-ho-Tep [in 1932 classic The Mummy]. Since Howard Carter first uncovered Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922, we have always known more about how ancient Egyptians died than how they lived. Our fascination has manifested itself in comedy and horror, scholarship and satire: from Abbott & Costello to the recent Brendan Fraser resurrections; from the Saturday morning cartoon “Tutenstein” to the record-breaking ticket sales for past and current Tut exhibitions...

Who’s Your Mummy?, The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, California, USA, October 21, 2005.

When the new M.H. de Young Museum in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park opens Saturday (Oct. 15), it will feature contributions by the University of California, Berkeley – on the grounds outside and in a major exhibit inside.

The landscaping of the nearly five acres surrounding the public art museum is the handiwork of Walter Hood, an award-winning UC Berkeley professor of landscape architecture and environmental planning.

Meanwhile, an exhibit on the female pharaoh Hatshepsut reflects consultation by Cathleen Keller, a UC Berkeley associate professor of Near Eastern Studies.

That exhibit also includes a piece of ancient medical papyri from The Bancroft Library's Center for the Tebtunis Papyri, as well as an ancient bronze and ivory dagger and an ivory clapper musical instrument excavated from Southern Egypt around the turn of the [century]...

New de Young museum features UC Berkeley contributions, UC Berkeley News, University of California, California, USA, October 14, 2005.

The rulers of ancient Egypt had different family values than those in rhetorical play these days.

Like European royalty before the Enlightenment, the Egyptian dynasts concerned themselves above all with succession. It mattered so much that marriages within the royal cohort frequently crossed boundaries deemed inviolable by modern morality and psychology.

The familial closed circle of access to kingship brought Hatshepsut to the throne in 1475, B.C., apparently by dint of circumstance and her own initiative...

How Hatshepsut became pharaoh in a man's world, San Francisco Chronicle, California, USA, October 15, 2005.

The BBC is investigating how its big new docudrama Egypt has overspent by millions of pounds.

As the corporation tries to be more cost-conscious in the run-up to charter renewal, it has emerged that despite an agreed increase in its budget, costs are still rising on the epic series on the wonders of the ancient world.

The corporation is now investigating internally how the eagerly awaited Egypt's overspend happened.

It's understood that the initial budget for the co-production between the BBC and America's The Learning Channel was around £6.5m[*].

But problems filming on location in Egypt, including the weather and illness, meant costs for the six-part series have spiralled...

cf. BBC investigates epic Egyptian overspend, The Guardian, UK, October 14, 2005. Requires subscription.

cf. BBC creates digital mini-programme to support Egypt series, New Media Age, UK, October 13, 2005. Requires subscription.

A prominent Egyptian archaeologist has refuted the widely held belief that the sun illuminates the inner sanctum of the main temple at Abu Simbel only on 22 February and 22 October – the birthday and the date of the coronation of Pharaoh Rameses II.

On those two days every year the sun's rays shine on seated statues of the sun gods Re-Horakhty and Amun-Re, and a statue of Rameses II. The statues sit in the company of the Theban god of darkness, Ptah, which is shrouded in shadow all year round.

"The sun lights up the statues on the two days in the year that mark the beginning of 'summer' and 'winter' according to pharaonic agricultural calendar," archaeologist Mohamed Hamid told the Middle East News Agency.

Abu Simbel will witness a rare phenomenon when the rays of the sun penetrate the darkness for more than 60 metres inside the temple to illuminate the seated three statues except for that of Ptah that remains in the dark all year round, he added.

Face of Rameses lights up tomorrow, The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, October 21, 2005.