by Zahi Hawass

After the re-discovery of the three tombs, we searched everything that Fakhry referred to in his work on the oasis; I felt that there had to be another room on the other side. If so, it was an area that had never been excavated. Could it be the missing tomb of Djed-Khonsu-ef-ankh for which Fakhry had searched?

April 20, 2000 I went to bed and dreamed of what would happen in the morning. In my dream I saw a room with end. It was full of smoke and I could not see anything. I was afraid and I called for help but no one came. Suddenly, I saw a face coming toward me. I was ready to fight but I could not move my arms or legs. The face came closer, and then I screamed, screamed again ... at that moment, I woke up-my face and body were sweating... I could not understand the meaning of this dream.

At 5:30am, I took part of my team to Sheikh Soby, the town built over the archaeological remains. I decided we would work on the consolidation and restoration of this tomb. Before we could open the burial chamber I first had to meet with the old lady who owned the house above the tomb. She agreed to demolish her house and we told her we would build her a new house made of stone, not mud brick, and that we would electrify it. All this would be done at our expense. I oversaw the construction and made sure it was everything that I had promised. She was pleased with her new house and we did the demolition and started excavating the site.

During the work, I kept thinking of Ahmed Fakhry's work written in his book about Bahariya. He said he hoped that the tomb of the governor of Bahariya, Djed-Khonsu-ef-ankh, would be discovered. We were close...

Discovery of Djed-Khonsu-ef-ankh — Governor of Bahariya (Part 2), The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, February 20,2006.

cf. Part 1 can be found here Discovery of Djed-Khonsu-ef-ankh - Governor of Bahariya (Part 1).

The latest issue of Ancient Egypt Magazine is out now. Below is a summary of its contents.

• Featured Pharaoh: Neferhotep I
  Following the recent discovery of a statue of Neferhotep I at Karnak, Wolfram Grajetzki examines the reign of this little-known ruler.
• The Friends of Nekhen
  The first of AE’s regular articles in support of excavations at Hierakonpolis. This report covers Pre-dynastic houses and temples.
• Past Articles and News Revisited
  AE looks again at some of the articles from recent issues, with updates covering the latest news and developments.
• Ancient Egypt in Madrid
  Cathy Brian reviews the Egyptian collection in the National Archaeological Museum and a complete Nubian Temple, both in the Spanish capital.
• Ancient Egypt on the Small Screen
  A review of recent British TV programmes about ancient Egypt.
• Granite? Gneiss? Greywacke? ... What stone is that?
  Geologist Birgit Schoer identifies some of the types of rock used in Egyptian sculpture and building.
• Archive Image: Egypt Then and Now
  The Colossi of Memnon in the last inundation of the Nile.
• The Cleaning of "Cleopatra’s Needle" in London
  A report on the cleaning and current condition of the obelisk of Thutmose III, written by Iain McLean, the Director of the specialist cleaning company, Antique Bronze Ltd.

Ancient Egypt Magazine, Empire Publications, Manchester, UK, Volume 6, No. 4, Issue 34, February / March 2006.

Subscribe to Ancient Egypt Magazine via Amazon.com.

A top Egyptian antiquities official is demanding the St. Louis Art Museum return the museum's mummy mask amid allegations that the mask (one of the museum's most prized antiquities) was stolen from Egypt in the late 1980s.

In a letter dated Feb. 14, Zahi Hawass, secretary general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, writes that the 3,000-year-old mask was "clearly stolen" from a storage room near the site where it was excavated in 1952. He charges that the mask is "legally the property of the Supreme Council of Antiquities'' and that it "must be returned immediately."

"I know that you have been aware of this for some time now, and am both surprised and disappointed that you did not contact me right away to set this matter straight," Hawass wrote to the museum...

Egyptian official demands return of the Art Museum's mummy mask, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Missouri, USA, February 16, 2006.

cf. Antiquities: Egypt, Phoenix, & SLAM, ArtsJournal.com, USA, February 16, 2006.

A couple of sites have been updated recently. Firstly a KV63 article has appeared on Zahi Hawass' website...

BREAKING NEWS: A Concealed Cachet in Luxor!!, Zahi Hawass, The Plateau, Guardians Egypt, Egypt, February 2006.

The Institute of Egyptian Art & Archaeology at the University of Memphis have put up some information about the discovery.

New Tomb Discovered in the Valley of the Kings, The Institute of Egyptian Art & Archaeology, University of Memphis, Tennessee, USA, February 2006.

Finally, the KV63 website has been updated with some pictures by Jane Akshar.

An Egyptologist from Ohio is among those helping unearth a tomb that's thousands of years old and the first discovered in eight decades in Egypt's Valley of the Kings.

Earl Ertman, 73, of Tallmadge, is an associate director on the project.

The retired University of Akron art professor has the job of identifying objects the researchers uncover.

"I'm dead tired," he said last week. "I haven't had any time off for a while..."

Ohio art professor has part in Egyptian tomb discovery, Ohio News Now, Ohio, USA, February 21, 2006.

Traditional Egyptologists date the mammoth monument — with the head of a man and the body of a lion — to about 2,500 B.C.

But Boston University geologist Robert Schoch, who spoke to a group of ancient-Egypt enthusiasts Saturday at the Wichita Museum of World Treasures, says his analysis shows the Sphinx got started at least two millennia earlier.

Schoch's theory spurred a controversy as big as the pyramids when he and author John Anthony West unveiled it in 1993 in an NBC documentary called "Mystery of the Sphinx..."

Geologist's eye on Sphinx's face, The Wichita Eagle, Kansas, USA, February 19, 2006.

Buy Pyramid Quest: Secrets of the Great Pyramid and the Dawn of Civilization by Robert M. Schoch from