As the Field Museum in downtown Chicago geared up for another blockbuster visit this spring by the golden treasures of King Tutankhamun, the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago quietly opened a new gallery devoted to ancient Nubia, the mysterious land from where all that gold came.

"Egypt didn't have any gold," explained Oriental Institute researcher Emily Teeter. "So when you look at the Tutankhamun art, you're seeing gold from Nubia, obtained either through trade or by conquest."

There's not much gold in the 600 artefacts on display in the new permanent gallery, but the collection contains treasure of a rarer kind: the fruits of 100 years of exploration and research into the poorly understood region that straddles the southern third of modern Egypt and the northern third of present-day Sudan...

Gallery devoted to ancient Nubia unearths untold history, AP via The Jackson Clarion-Ledger, Mississippi, USA, March 13, 2006.

by Zahi Hawass

The five hours we spent inside this tomb cannot be described. It was a true adventure in archaeology. They were among the best five years of my life.

It was very hot inside the chamber and the workers began to chant and I began to chant with them, "Hela hob, hela bob, hela hob," (an Arabic phrase to help with the rhythm).

We all pushed and lid began to move. At that moment, I thought about how this sarcophagus had lain here undisturbed for 2500 year.

I wanted to examine the lid and see if it was intact. I bent down, sweat was dripping into my eyes and the dust drifted into my ears, but I did not care. I peered in with my flashlight and Mahmoud asked me "What do you see?" I replied with excitement, " It seems that the sarcophagus is intact and has never been opened before!" A moment later, I saw everyone's faces turn to stone. There was a small hole, not made recently. It seemed to have been opened in the Roman Period. Surely the ancient robbers would not have been able to steal everything. I can smell gold in the room, and I always say that my nose can smell what comes from the past.

So, we continued moving the lid. Again, I heard the words "Hela hob, hela hob, hela bob," like thunder in my ears, which were now full of dust and yellow powder.

Finally the lid moved two feet and we could see a spotted alabaster inner sarcophagus inside. Everyone screamed with joy. Inside the alabaster sarcophagus we found a third coffin made of wood and within the wooden coffin was the mummy of the governor.

Around the mummy we collected twenty-two amulets, eight of gold, others of faience and amethyst. They were all in the forms of gods and goddesses. We also found two canopic jars, charcoal left by the Roman thieves, and an amphora they had used to raise the lid.

After this discovery, I am determined to find the tombs of his brother, father, and mother.

Djed-Khonsu-ef-ankh - Governor of Bahariya (Part 5), The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, March 13, 2006.

US museums have come under fire over the way they acquire antiquities after Greece, Italy and Peru have demanded the return of ancient pieces from American institutions.

European museums have usually been the ones needing to answer over their acquisitions of artefacts collected during colonial days, but American institutions have faced demands for the return of allegedly looted antiquities.

To improve the transparency of acquisitions, the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) released new guidelines last month on loans of antiquities and ancient art...

US museums face scrutiny over acquisitions, AFP via Yahoo! News, USA, March 09, 2006.

Head of the Central Authority for Public Mobilization and Statistics, Brigadier General Abu Bakr al Gendi announced that Egypt is one of the first world countries to know census.

This is ensured by papyrus manuscripts, ancient monuments in Pharaonic temples, marking that the first census in Egypt was carried out in 3340 BC and in 3050 BC.

A census also took place in the era of Hesham Abdel Malek ben Marwan in the year 600 AD including the number of population, their ages and residences.

In modern ages, another census was made in 1800 AD under the auspices of the French Expedition.

Census known in Egypt since 3340 BC, State Information Service, Egypt, March 12, 2006.

A chamber discovered last month in the Valley of the Kings was a room used by the ancient Egyptians for mummifying pharaohs buried in the area, rather than a tomb, Egypt's top archaeologist said on Monday.

Zahi Hawass said five sarcophagi found in the chamber contained remnants of pottery, shrouds and materials used in mummification.

The team from the University of Memphis which discovered the chamber had also opened 10 sealed jars found there to discover other materials used in mummification.

"This ... is not a tomb for nobles or relatives of a king, as had been thought upon its discovery, but rather it is a room for mummification," Hawass said in a statement...

Pharaonic find was mummification room, not tomb, Reuters via Washington Post, District of Columbia, USA, March 13, 2006.

A painting by famous Egyptologist Howard Carter is to be valued after it turned up at a charity antiques event in Mid Wales.

The gouache by Carter (1874-1939), who famously discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings in 1922, is of Queen Senseneb. Signed by Carter and dated 1897, it was discovered at Halls Fine Art’s version of the Antiques Roadshow, in Barmouth.

Owners Barry and Barbara Rampton from Barmouth were told similar works had raised £6,000 . The event raised £200 for the town’s Dragon Theatre and Community Centre.

Carter treasure found in auction, icWales, UK, March 13, 2006.

An Egyptian-German archaeological team has discovered 17 statues of Sekhmet, an ancient Egyptian goddess with the head of a lioness and the body of a woman.

The statues, estimated to be about 3,000 years old, were found during restoration work on the temple of Amenhotep III, in the southern city of Luxor, Culture Minister Farouk Hosni said in a statement Sunday.

Last week, the team discovered six similar black granite statues depicting Sekhmet seated on a throne and holding the "key of life" in her left hand. Two of those statues were broken, with only the lower parts found...

Click on the photograph above for seven photographs from the discovery.

Team Discovers 17 Ancient Egyptian Statues, AP via Yahoo! News, USA, March 13, 2006.

cf. Team Finds 17 Statues of Egyptian Goddess, AP via FOX News, USA, March 13, 2006.

UPDATED: Video of the find can be found at the BBC War goddess statues found in Egypt, BBC News, UK, March 13, 2006.