Archaeologists have found a hall in a Pharaonic tomb in the southern city of Luxor that they said could yield important information on how ancient Egyptians dug their tombs.

The Egyptian-Spanish team discovered the hall at Zira Abu Al Naga on the west bank of the Nile, as it was excavating the tomb site, the secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass, said on Thursday.

They believe that the tomb belonged to an official responsible for temple and tomb decorations during the rein of 18th dynasty (1580-1314 BC) Queen Hatshepsut, Hawass said...

Archaeologists unearth Pharaonic hall in Egypt, Middle East Times, Cyprus, March 31, 2006.

cf. Pharaonic tomb may hold ancient secrets, Sapa-AFP via Independent Online, South Africa, March 31, 2006.

And from the Egyptian Gazette we have.

by Hassan Saadallah

An Egyptian-Spanish archaeological team, operating on the West Bank in Luxor, have discovered a room housing the tomb of the foreman responsible for decorating all the temples and palaces in the ancient city of Thebes (modern-day Luxor) in the reign of Queen Hatshepsut (1502 - 1482 BC). The discovery, announced by Culture Minister Farouk Hosni, also includes a collection of wooden and clay artefacts.

According to Zahi Hawass, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, this important discovery sheds light on the design of the buildings that housed tombs in the 18th Dynasty. "The building is 34 metres long and there are many drawings carved on the walls, as well as the words of sermons Ancient Egyptians listened to at the time," he explained, adding that the finds will displayed in the Luxor Museum.

cf. New discovery in Luxor, The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, March 31, 2006.

By Jill Kamil

When two substantial books with similar titles featuring images on the cover that are almost the same are published by the same press in the space of a single year, one feels almost challenged to discover the difference between them, if only in order to guide potential readers...

, Richard H. Wilkinson, The American University in Cairo Press, Cairo, 2005, pp. 255.

, ed. Byron E. Shafer, The American University in Cairo Press, Cairo, 2005, pp. 335.

, Toby Wilkinson, Thames and Hudson, London, 2005, pp. 271.

Ancient temples and dictionaries, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 788, March 30 - April 05, 2006.

By Zahi Hawass

Several years ago I went to the Egyptian Museum and met its then director, Mamdouh El-Damati. I met a man in his office, a short man with dark skin named Refaat who spoke English with a saidi (Upper Egyptian) accent. After several minutes of conversation, I realised that he was super smart. I understood he had spent most of his life in Cambridge, England, and had married a charming English lady, Ashley, with whom he has a daughter and a son. El-Damati told me that Refaat supplied the museum with computers and other essentials needed for day-to-day activities. He had even sponsored the visits of several curators to the British Museum. I was very happy to meet him, but wondered what he wanted because I always believe there is no such thing as a free lunch. Refaat later came to my office with El-Damati and explained his entire programme, as well as his support for the museum.

I later received an invitation from Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum, to deliver a talk at the museum on the occasion of its 250th anniversary. I arrived at Heathrow Airport and found Refaat waiting for me with his driver. He stayed with me for most of my visit to London. I found out that the Egyptian Section of the British Museum depended on him to sponsor events. I also found out during this visit, for the first time, that sometimes there is a free meal...

Dig days: Refaat Rozeik, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 788, March 30 - April 05, 2006.

An ancient quarry rich in natural and cultural heritage is a potential site for nomination to the UNESCO's World Heritage List, says Nadja Tomoum.

Wadi Al-Hitan, the Whales Valley, known for its rich palaeontological history (especially for its skeletons of primitive whales and other vertebrate fossils), is included on the UNESCO World Heritage List as an area of outstanding natural history. It lies within the boundaries of the Lake Qarun nature reserve and forms part of the Wadi Al-Rayan Protected Area in the Fayoum governorate. In this area lies Widan Al-Faras, which may soon be the only ancient quarry left in Egypt that still bears traces of one of Egypt's oldest industries — stone cutting.

The Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), in response to a request to draw up a management plan for the protection and preservation of the quarries in the northern Fayoum, is now looking into the possibility of asking UNESCO to incorporate Widan Al-Faras within the Wadi Al-Rayan Protected Area. This spring, a survey of the ancient quarries at Widan Al-Faras carried out as part of the Quarry Scapes Project will be continued with the aim of assessing the risks to the site and developing practical and methodological guidelines for its conservation. This project is a joint initiative coordinated by the Norwegian Geological Survey and funded through the EU Commission to draw together academic and other institutions in Europe with partners in Egypt, Turkey and Jordan. The project has been established for the conservation of ancient stone quarry landscapes, mainly focussing on their documentation, conservation and heritage management...

Fayoum's ancient quarry under threat, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 788, March 30 - April 05, 2006.

On March 6, at the New School in New York, Michael Kimmelman, The Times's chief art critic, moderated a discussion about antiquities and their provenance. He opened by delving into the topic of the Euphronios krater, a 2,500-year-old Greek bowl that the Metropolitan Museum of Art has recently agreed to return to Italy. Here are excerpts, edited for clarity, from the conversation:

MICHAEL KIMMELMAN: Questions about whether the Euphronios krater was looted are nothing new.

PHILIPPE DE MONTEBELLO: Documents emerged out of the criminal trial against the Getty Museum. How Italy prosecuted its case in the United States is rather shabby. It was entirely through the press. For years, we wrote countless times to the Italian ministry, to the justice department there and so forth, asking for a direct dialogue and really never got it. I went with our secretary and counsel Sharon Cott in 1999 and it led to nothing. I was there in 2003 to discuss the whole issue of the silver that the archaeologist Malcolm Bell said, on circumstantial evidence, came from Morgantina in Sicily, asking whether they had any hard information. I got blank stares...

Is It All Loot? Tackling The Antiquities Problem, New York Times, New York, USA, March 29, 2006.

cf. Stolen art met with public yawn, USA Today, Virginia, USA, March 29, 2006.

If it fell on you, it would definitely kill you.

The 4,000-pound stone sarcophagus lid from Egypt was one of Paul Johnson's recent challenges. He's the long-time director of exhibit design and fabrication at the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, and he had to figure out how to move and lift the ancient lid — on loan from the British Museum — without hurting anyone.

"This is a very physically active job," Johnson, 57, said. "I feel like I have to move a lot in order to think. It can wear you out."

The hieroglyph-covered lid of Pakap, a high official, was lying horizontally and didn't have its mounts installed correctly. Because of spacing and delivery mix-ups, Johnson and his small staff had to tear down a wall, remove the lid, carefully lift it vertically, shift it into place and put the wall up again...

The Bowers Museum exhibit impresario, Orange County Register, California, USA, March 30, 2006.

Balancing on his head in the shadow of the ancient pyramids of Giza, a Dutch visitor tried to connect to the spiritual forces he said were swirling around the monuments during yesterday's solar eclipse.

“The eclipse is a special moment in time and the shape of the pyramids attracts a universal energy spiral,” Robin, who did not give his full name, said after meditating at the foot of the largest of the pharaonic mausoleums in the desert outside Cairo...

Eclipse casts a spell at the pyramids, Reuters via Gulf Times, Qatar, March 30, 2006.

cf. Eclipse prompts meditation at Egypt's pyramids, Reuters via Yahoo! News, USA, March 29, 2006.

cf. Do aliens live inside Egyptian pyramids?, Reuters via Hindustan Times, India, March 29, 2006.

Among the ruins of a 3,200-year-old palace near Athens, researchers are piecing together the story of legendary Greek warrior-king Ajax, hero of the Trojan War.

Archaeologist Yiannis Lolos found remains of the palace while hiking on the island of Salamis in 1999, and has led excavations there for the past six years.

Now, he's confident he's found the site where Ajax ruled, which has also provided evidence to support a theory that residents of the Mycenaean island kingdom fled to Cyprus after the king's death...

... Lolos is particularly pleased with a piece of a copper mail shirt stamped with the name of Pharaoh Ramses II, who ruled Egypt from 1279-1213 B.C.

"This is a unique find, which may have belonged to a Mycenaean mercenary soldier serving with the Egyptians," he said. "It could have been a souvenir, a mark of honour or even some kind of a medal..."

Archaeologist links ancient palace with Ajax, AP via USA Today, Virginia, USA, March 29, 2006.

Good news, Australia: after 30 years of doubt, experts have established that your mummy is a woman after all.

The prize specimen in the Australian Museum's small Egyptology collection was donated a century ago, with little information on what lay beneath the bandages.

The paintings on its willow sarcophagus depicted the death of a woman — but X-rays in the 1970s seemed to reveal a man's skeleton...

Unravelled: the mystery of Egypt's lady-in-waiting, The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia, March 30, 2006.

The following website has a couple of pictures of the statue they found.

EGIPTOLOGIA.pl. You can try translating it using Poltran.com

Egypt is topic of lecture Robert Littman, a professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, will give a presentation titled "The Valley of the Golden Mummies: The Bahariya Oasis, Mummies, Health and Disease in Ancient Egypt" at 7:30 p.m. April 7 [2006] in Room 238 of the Smith Memorial Student Union at Portland State University.

Littman's lecture, which is sponsored by the Archaeological Institute of America, is free and open to the public...

SCIENCE NEWS AND EVENTS, The Oregonian, Oregon, USA, March 29, 2006.

KARMA never sleeps. When people steal from other people, redress always comes, though maybe not for a long time and in unexpected forms. Because the history of art is, in large part, a history of theft, karmic action is always at work. Somewhere, it's always payback time.

We got a juicy taste of this recently, when the Metropolitan Museum of Art, after decades of stonewalling, agreed to return several possibly stolen — that is, illegally excavated — objects to Italy, one being the famous Euphronios krater. Yet the Met affair was small potatoes compared with orgies of art larceny in the not-so-distant past.

Under Napoleon, French armies hauled ton after ton of Pharaonic sculpture from Egypt and back to Paris. Around the same time, the British were shipping the Elgin marbles to London. Later in Africa, in 1897, British troops, in a punishing mood, stripped clean the ivories and bronzes from the altars and palaces of the West African kingdom of Benin and sent those exquisite objects home, too...

Who Owns Art?, The New York Times, New York, USA, march 29, 2006.

Egypt threatened Tuesday to take legal action against a US museum unless it returns an ancient mask in its collection that the authorities claim was stolen from a warehouse years ago.

The St Louis Art Museum has a week to turn over the 19th dynasty (1307-1196 BC) mask of Ka-nefer-nefer or face legal action, according to Zahi Hawass, secretary general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA).

"I have informed the American side in a letter that if they do no respond to our request we will take the necessary legal measures and file a case in a US court and inform Interpol," the antiquities chief said in a statement...

Egypt threatens to sue US museum over ancient mask, AFP via The Nation, Thailand, March 28, 2006.

Egypt is one of Africa's richest countries in terms of history. Egypt's history goes back to the ancient times before the Bible. The biblical and cultural history of Egypt is as diverse and intriguing as the undiscovered tombs and cities lying underneath the desert sand in Upper and Lower Egypt.

Cairo is a city full of life. One aspect I quickly noticed when I set foot in Cairo is the traffic. Cairo is home to over 16 million inhabitants of which an additional 2 million people commute into the city in the morning and depart at sunset. In spite of the city having huge multiple-lane spaghetti highways, the traffic is extremely heavy. As you approach the city centre, a highway of 3 lanes is tuned into 5. The most notorious motorists are the taxis. As one drives in the city, one of your hands will permanently remain on the horn. I thought Nairobi had the worst traffic congestion in Africa, but Egypt for sure makes Nairobi's traffic child-play...

The Great Pyramid Of Giza - A Monumental Structure, DailyIndia.com, India, March 27, 2006.

The Egyptian Tourist Authority has today launched its new official website www.egypt.travel.

The new portal provides information on everything from Egypt's historical and cultural attractions through to its beautiful beaches and activity based holidays including diving, safaris, yachting and golfing.

In addition, www.egypt.travel contains a news section with all the latest information on Egypt, a monthly events section highlighting all the main festivals and events taking place across the country through to the latest archaeological discoveries, such as the 3500 year old mummies found in Luxor.

www.egypt.travel also provides visitors with travel information such as visa requirements and useful phone numbers ensuring each visitor has all the necessary information to plan an enjoyable stay in Egypt...

Egyptian Tourist Authority Launches New Website, Travel Industry Wire, USA, March 28, 2006.

cf. Egyptian Tourist Authority Launches New Website, PR Newswire, USA, March 28, 2006.

History does not overflow with the names of composers and scientists who are women, but there is one arena in which women have done relatively well, says Met Egyptologist Dorothea Arnold, and that is national leadership.

Arnold ticks off just a few of the names — Elizabeth I of England, Maria Theresa of Austria, Catherine the Great of Russia. And, of course, Hatshepsut.

Hat Who?

The subject of an elegant and enlightening exhibit opening today at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan, Hatshepsut ruled Egypt for two decades (circa 1479-1458 B.C.) during the 18th Dynasty. She wasn't Egypt's first female ruler, nor was she most famously the last. That distinction belongs to the accomplished Cleopatra, who nonetheless drove Egypt into the controlling arms of Rome...

When Egypt was a woman, The Journal News, New York, USA, March 28, 2006.

This big, sumptuous block buster is our generation's answer to the famous — or infamous — King Tut blockbuster assembled at the Met back in 1976.

Or, if you want, it is the response of the present director, Philippe de Montebello, to Thomas Hoving, his predecessor and the man largely responsible for bringing King Tut to our shores.

The differences between the two exhibitions are quite clear. The earlier one lingers in the collective memory of the art world as a gaudy crowd-pleaser, intended to hike attendance figures with an abundance of gold jewellery. It also seemed to be utterly typical of Hoving's boisterous, bull-in-the-china shop tenure at the Met.

By contrast, Hatshepsut, which opens today, is an exercise in scholarship and restraint. The gold does not gleam as brightly as it did 30 years ago, and in its place you are apt to find sober gray granite, which, despite its supreme artistry, does not entice quite like the gleam of gold...

SHE'S NO TUT, New York Post, New York, USA, March 28, 2006.

Archaeologists claim to have unearthed the remains of the 3,500-year-old palace of Ajax, the warrior-king who according to Homer's Iliad was one of the most revered fighters in the Trojan War.

Classicists hailed the discovery, made on a small Greek island, as evidence that the myths recounted by Homer in his epic poem were based on historical fact...

... Several relics of oriental and Cypriot origin were found at the site at Kanakia, such as bronze armour strips stamped with the emblem of Pharaoh Rameses II of Egypt, indicating trade or possible war in the 13th century BC...

Palace of Homer's hero rises out of the myths, The Times, UK, March 28, 2006.

cf. Palace of Trojan War hero found in Athens, AFP via Independent Online, South Africa, March 28, 2006.

cf. 'Palace of Ajax' found in Greece, BBC News, UK, March 28, 2006.

Dr. Nicholas Reeves has posted a five part article detailing the work done by the Amarna Royal Tombs Project in the Valley of the Kings. This includes pictures of the ground penetrating radar results from directly above KV63.

Unlike most excavations which have worked in Egypt the Amarna Royal Tombs Project is not a national enterprise but a determinedly international collaboration. Between 1998 and 2002 ARTP fielded annually for several months a uniquely qualified team of some thirty archaeologists and technical staff drawn from Egypt and Africa, the United States, Japan and a range of European countries. Because of this international character the project was able to draw freely upon the immense goodwill of several countries, in particular Japan where generous financial and material support from a number of major companies — including Kajima, Pasco, Sony and Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) — was ably coordinated by our Associate Project Director Yumiko Ueno (formerly Institute of Silk Road Studies, Kamakura; currently Ancient Orient Museum, Tokyo)...

Amarna Royal Tombs Project, Dr. Nicholas Reeves, Valley of the Kings Foundation, UK, March 16 - 23, 2006.

by Hassan Saadallah

Tutankhamun's death at the age of 19, only 10 years into his reign, didn't give him the chance to achieve anything remarkable. He can therefore be described as one of the least of Ancient Egypt's kings. Nevertheless, he is also the greatest, if his enduring worldwide popularity is anything to go by.

"The mystery of his life still eludes us — the shadows move, but the dark is never quite dispersed."

These words of archaeologist Howard Carter, the man who found the tomb of King Tut in 1922, eloquently sum up our fascination with the young Pharaoh — and the reason why millions will flock to the exhibition called 'Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs', being held in Philadelphia and three other US cities.

Wonderful treasures have been found in Tut's tomb and the tombs of other royalty in Egypt's Valley of the Kings and at other ancient Egyptian sites.

We're talking about priceless artefacts — exquisite works of art in stone, wood, earthenware, gold and jewels - beautifully preserved, even after around 3,500 years.

More importantly, these objects have helped us piece together the story of a civilisation: how the people lived, how they worshipped and how they prepared for the afterlife.

The hieroglyphs in the catacombs of King Tut have enabled us to reveal the truth behind the mysterious death of King Tut, a stunning puzzle fit to perplex the most experienced detective.

And by the way, the curse of Tutankhamun lives on. Why else was there a violent storm when a tomb was recently opened in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor? What else would account for the fact that the expensive, high-tech X-ray machine suddenly broke down for no good reason, while specialists were still examining the tomb?

"The project to examine the ancient mummies consists of four stages," says Zahi Hawass, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities.

"The first stage involves examining the photographs of the five mummies discovered in the Valley of the Kings. Then the second stage in September will witness 10,000 'ordinary' [i.e. non-royal] mummies being transferred to el-Fostat [in Old Cairo] for treatment.

"In the third stage, we're going to study the golden mummies discovered in Bahariya Oasis. The fourth stage of this exclusively Egyptian project will involve further study of the royal mummies," Hawass adds.

Clearly, the local authorities are taking great care of these priceless treasures, an irreplaceable part of Egypt's rich heritage. But be assured of one thing: sooner or later, the curse of King Tut is sure to strike again.

The curse returns, The Egyptian Mail, Egypt, March 25, 2006.

by Zahi Hawass

The next area we began to clear was northeast of the tomb of Djed-Khonsu-ef-ankh. To our surprise, this work revealed the tomb of Ped-Isis, father of Djed-Khonsu-ef-ankh.

This is one of the oldest tombs here. It was built in the same style as the tomb of Naesa, with the burial chamber continuing an anthropoid sarcophagus and an inner chamber. Unfortunately, the entrance to the tomb had been completely destroyed because it was used as sewer by one of the houses above. We even found sewage inside the sarcophagus.

The water from the houses above has also destroyed the beautiful scenes that had once adorned the walls. Most of them had come away from the walls and we found pieces on the ground. However, these fragments do give us a small glimpse of how beautiful these scenes must have been. Fakhry believed that Ped-Isis had also been the governor of Bahariya after his father, Ped-Amun.

The anthropoid sarcophagus found in the tomb was crafted from local sandstone, and measured seven feet three inches long. Depicted on the sarcophagus is Ped-Isis with a priestly beard. This tells us that he was also a high priest of Amun-Re. The lid of the sarcophagus had been broken into three pieces and the mummy was almost completely deteriorated. When he cleaned the sarcophagus we found six wadjet-eyes of varying sizes, an amethyst scarab, four turquoise djed-pillar amulets and five carnelian amulets in different shapes.

But the biggest surprise was that we found approximately thirty shawabtis to the right of the sarcophagus that had been incorrectly carved. Each measured an inch high and inscribed on them it read: "The Osiris, Ped-Isis, born of Amun-Itieb." This is a mistake in the carving, for it should read: "The Osiris, Ped-Isis, born of Ped-Amun and not Amun-Itieb.

The tomb of Ped-Isis, The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, March 27, 2006.

Egyptian sunken monuments recently retrieved will tour a number of European cities according to an agreement signed between the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) and the European Institute for Sunken Archaeology in Alexandria.

Berlin and Paris will receive the Egyptian monuments between May 2006 and March 2007. Head of the institute Franck Goddio told MENA he requested an extension of the exhibition to visit two other European cities. The artefacts to be on display were selected by a joint Egyptian-European committee of specialists, he added.

For his part, SCA Secretary General Zahi Hawass said that the project for retrieving sunken monuments has so far succeeded in reclaiming some 400 antiquities dating back to the reign of Cleopatra VII.

Egyptian sunken monuments on EU tour, State Information Service, Egypt, March 25, 2006.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has allocated $ 40 million to restore and develop Luxor's Western Bank. The project will be carried out in cooperation with the (SCA) Supreme Council for Antiquities, SCA Secretary General Zahi Hawass told reporters on the sidelines of the Hatshepsut Exhibition in the New York-based Metropolitan Museum of Arts said that the aid will be mainly used to restore the Valley of Kings and Queens. Hawass said that an international centre for tourists will be set up to brief them on the ancient history of Egypt.

"It will be established outside the monuments area," he noted. The USAID has allocated $ 5 million to restore and develop Luxor's Eastern Bank.

USAID to restore, develop Luxor's Western Bank, State Information Service, Egypt, March 25, 2006.

The true mummy of ancient Egyptian queen Hatshepsut was discovered in the third floor of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Secretary General of Supreme Council for Antiquities Zahi Hawass revealed on Thursday.

The mummy was missing among thousands of artefacts lying in the museum, he said during his lecture at the New York-based Metropolitan Museum of Arts.

He said for decades archaeologists believed that a mummy found in Luxor was that of the Egyptian queen. It was a streak of luck, he said, to find this mummy...

Hatshepsut mummy found, State Information Service, Egypt, March 24, 2006.

They must have thought they had a bargain: a £1 million artefact carved 3,300 years ago by Ancient Egyptian artisans for just £440,000.

Inspected by the British Museum and sold through Christie’s, the Amarna Princess was one of only three known examples of the period. The reason for the knock-down price? Its mysterious owners wanted the piece to remain in Bolton.

But a police inquiry now suggests that the alabaster sculpture has less to do with Ancient Egypt and more to do with Bolton circa 2003.

Scotland Yard’s Arts and Antiques squad began an investigation two weeks ago when the British Museum reported the arrival of a suspicious Syrian relief. Curators who had been asked to inspect the relief for a private client observed that it had come from a similar source to the Amarna Princess. Police seized the relief and two other objects in London and impounded the Princess...

The ancient Egypt statue from Bolton (circa 2003), The Times, UK, March 27, 2006.

Due to a blog crash yesterday, four of my posts have disappeared down a black hole! I'll repost them straight after this post.

The 18th Dynasty pharaoh Hatshepsut surely wins the prize for gutsiest cross-dresser of all time, if only because she played for the highest stakes. Hatshepsut ruled Egypt for two decades (from 1479 to 1458 BCE), which makes her the first major female head of state - the first one we know about, anyway. While women could be leaders in ancient Egypt, a pharaoh was by definition male. So Hatshepsut had to invent a hybrid gender, presenting a challenge to the sculptors charged with translating her flesh into stone.

Hatshepsut's fluid identity is the focus of a captivating and opportune exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum that focuses both on the fruitful period of her reign and on shifting representations of the woman herself.

The daughter of one pharaoh, and queen to another, Hatshepsut ruled after her husband's death, acting as regent for a stepson. Up to that point, her trajectory was not unusual. Women had ruled Egypt before as "mothers of the king," keeping the dynasty intact while their young charges matured...

Our pharaoh lady, Newsday, New York, March 26, 2006.

The Tutankhamun road show is skipping New York, but it's only fair. He ravished the city 30 years ago with an unprecedented showcase at the Metropolitan Museum; so ridiculously popular, tickets were distributed by lottery.

And yet, some special Egyptian excitement was required this year, the 100th anniversary of the Metropolitan's department of Egyptian art — a great, great part of the museum. Undoubtedly New Yorkers take it for granted.

But not this spring.

On Tuesday, the museum will open "Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh," a big undertaking about one of the first named, self-made female big shots in history...

Mrs. Big Shot, Staten Island Advance, New York, March 26, 2006.

A thing is mysterious if you don't know what or how to feel about it, and wish you did. Mystery is a lack not of information but of meaning. Indeed, greater knowledge of certain subjects can intensify rather than soothe emotional itchiness about them, as witness the exhibition “Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh,” at the Metropolitan Museum. Hatshepsut led Egypt for two decades, during one of its imperial peak periods, the Eighteenth Dynasty, close to thirty-five hundred years ago, first as regent for her stepson and nephew, Tuthmose III, and then as the officially co-ruling but apparently unimpeded king — she assumes male attributes in her later depictions, including the distinctive headdress and ceremonial beard...

RULE LIKE AN EGYPTIAN, The New Yorker, New York, March 27, 2006.

If you've been procrastinating about seeing the King Tut exhibit in Fort Lauderdale, time is running out.

Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs ends April 23, after which the gilded and bejewelled possessions of ancient Egypt's boy king and his contemporaries will head for Chicago.

On display now at Fort Lauderdale's Museum of Art are more than 130 objects from the tombs of Tut and other 18th Dynasty royals and well-to-do Egyptians. Fifty of the artifacts are from Tut's tomb, including his royal diadem — a gold crown that encircled the head of his mummified body — and solid gold canopic coffinettes that contained his mummified internal organs.

When the exhibit opened in December, the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau dubbed Tut "the king of bling." "That's because you walk in there and all you see is gold and shine and bling," says Nicki Grossman, bureau president. "Virtually every piece is outstanding when you look at it..."

Opulence on exhibit in 'King Tut', Orlando Sentinel, Florida, March 25, 2006.

In February, I visited the world-famous King Tut exhibit in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It's on display until April 23 [2006] when it moves to Chicago and then Philadelphia.

The extraordinary artifacts from an ancient royal Egyptian tomb will remain in the United States until September 2007, and if the large Florida crowds are an indicator of public interest, the exhibit will attract throngs at its next two American venues.

Tut — his full name was Tutankhamun — was a "boy-king" who at age 8, scholars believe, succeeded to the throne about 1333 BCE Tut ruled for about nine years before his own death, the cause of which remains a medical and historical mystery...

Tut's gold creates new way to see Passover, Winston-Salem Journal, North Carolina, March 25, 2006.

If you still have energy after touring the Heritage Hill area, Grand Rapids has several great museums in the downtown area.

Adults and children will enjoy "Treasures of Ancient Egypt: The Quest for Immortality," the largest collection of ancient objects ever to leave Egypt for North America. It is at the Grand Rapids Public Museum until May 7 [2006]. Many of the items on exhibit never have appeared in the United States.

On view are such artifacts as an 18th-dynasty quartzite portrait statue of Amenhotep, the architect who oversaw the construction of the temple of Karnak at Thebes and a rare surviving gold funerary mask, this one dating back to the 21st dynasty of Wenudjebauendjed. Other treasures on display include gold and precious stones jewellery created for the pharaoh Shoshenq I (945-924, BCE)...

Some tips to complete your trip to G.R., Everything Michigan, Michigan, March 19, 2006.

President Hosni Mubarak is due to inaugurate the recently renovated Coptic Museum, part of the Religious Complex at Old Cairo, within the next few days. The Museum has been overhauled and restored by the Ministry of Culture and the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA).

"The Coptic Museum is one of the most important museums in Egypt, as well as internationally. It contains many unique antiquities dating back to early Coptic times. The restoration work was done by top Egyptian and Italian archaeologists," stressed Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni.

SCA Chairman Zahi Hawass said that the old building has been completely restored, including the walls, ceilings, doors and windows. "A number of new glass displays have been added, with state-of-the-art lighting and security. Meanwhile, restoration work on the new building of the Museum, which opened in 1947, is currently underway.

"It consists of 17 showrooms and is linked to the old building by an interior passageway, which is very convenient for visitors," he explained, adding that the inaugural ceremony will include the screening of a documentary about the history of the Museum and an exhibition of rare photos. There will also be a book containing the names everyone involved in the restoration.

The upgrading of the Coptic Museum, founded by Morqos Pasha in 1908, has hit LE28 million , including better security in the showrooms; improving the gardens surrounding it and the creation of a data centre and lab for restoration work.

LE28m to restore Coptic Museum, The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, March 24, 2006.

Al-Salloum on the Egyptian-Libyan border will witness a full eclipse of the sun at 12:40 p.m. (10:40 GMT) on March 29, the Egyptian Gazette reported Thursday.

As many as 15,000 spectators who will travel to Egypt from all over the world will watch the unusual event, said the newspaper.

The Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) will organize a ceremony to mark the eclipse, including an exhibition of 55 ancient artefacts.

The main attraction will be a sundial that dates back to Pharaonic times, reflecting pharaohs' interest in studying the movement of the sun and other stars.

Meanwhile, the SCA is planning to develop archaeological attractions at Mersa Matrouh, 550 km northwest of Cairo, including the famous scene of Cleopatra's Bath.

SCA Secretary-General Zahi Hawass was quoted as saying that there are many significant monuments in Matrouh Governorate, including the Mountain of the Dead, which contains tombs dating back to the 26th Dynasty, about 2,500 years ago.

Total Eclipse to occur on Egyptian-Libyan border, People's Daily, China, March 24, 2006.

A total of 272 artefacts from the British Museum, representing the ancient civilizations around the world, have been on show in the Capital Museum of Beijing March 18 [2006].

Chinese audiences have the opportunity to enjoy the collection without going abroad after the exhibit titled "Treasures of the World's Cultures" opened on Saturday.

The world's oldest tool from Africa, a 3,000-year-old mummy, ancient Egyptian tablets, Greek busts and Roman sculptures, among other treasures, are on show.

The intention of the British Museum is to bring the whole world into one building, said Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum, at the opening ceremony, adding that the British Museum is "not a museum of the whole world, but for the whole world..."

Artefacts from British Museum on display, China Daily, China, March 21, 2006.

cf. Artefacts from British Museum on display in Beijing, Shanghai Daily, China, March 19, 2006.

New York City is refusing to address an Egyptian official's request that the city return Cleopatra's Needle in Central Park because the ancient obelisk is being neglected.

Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt's Supreme Council on Antiquities, wrote to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to protest the city's care of the 71-foot obelisk, a gift from Egypt to the U.S. 126 years ago, the state-run Egyptian newspaper Al-Akhbar reported.

Hawass, who has waged a campaign since 2002 to recover Egyptian antiquities abroad, said weather is damaging the monument and that the city should give it back, the newspaper said.

The city parks department, charged with maintaining the obelisk, dismissed the claims that it was neglecting the artefact...

New York City Says It Isn't Neglecting Cleopatra's Needle, Bloomberg, New York, USA, March 24, 2006.

A crowded Seoul theme park is not usually a place for getting in touch with ancient Egyptian culture, but Lotte World in southern Seoul is making an exception.

Since late February, the Adventure section of the spacious theme park in Chamsil has been holding an exhibition featuring some 100 replicas of artefacts from ancient civilization in Egypt in the third floor of Rainbow Plaza.

On display are statuettes of prominent pharaohs such as Rameses and Tuthmosis as well as the variations of famous Gods such as Isis, Anubis, and Selket. The golden mask and throne of Tutankhamun and the Rosetta Stone are also not to be missed...

Seoul Theme Park Displays Egyptian Artefacts, The Korea Times, Korea, March 19, 2006.

the sun blasts an early warning as you leave the airport and meet your guide for the day. Anticipation is heightened by so many recommendations that you visit the Valley of the Kings, but you wonder whether the realisation will justify them.

First stop is the Colossi of Memnon with its two gigantic statues that welcome visitors to West Thebes at Kamal-Hetan. You are impressed, but this is merely an entree. The delights that follow leave you in awe of Egypt and its history.

For another eight hours, your mind tries to absorb a torrent of information at the Temple of Luxor, also known as the southern Harem of Amun and once a venue for complex liturgical rites; the Temple of Amun-Re; the Deir al-Bahari complex, a grandiose temple in a valley that the ancient Egyptians considered sacred to the goddess Hathor. And then you head for the Valley of Kings. By far the most breathtaking in its isolation in the desert...

Tut, Tut - I'm not only here for the golf, Unison, Ireland, March 19, 2006. Requires subscription. A non subscription version of the story can be pulled from the Google cache here: Tut, Tut - I'm not only here for the golf.

The civilisation of ancient Egypt lasted longer than the entire span of what we have come to accept as 'recorded history': Over 7,000 years, the ancient Egyptians developed esoteric practices that contemporary scientists are still trying to unravel.

Priests in ancient Egypt enjoyed a unique position in society, as their people had close links with their gods. A priest in those days was often called 'hem netjer' or a servant of the god.

Priests played a vital role in religious rituals, which were extended to the practice of magic. They performed magical rites for gods in their temples, in order to ensure that their presence would continue on Earth, maintaining the harmony and order of the world as it had been created.

Physician, priest and magician were one in ancient Egypt. It would not be unusual, for example, for a patient to have a dog bite treated with a paste of berries and honey and then bandaged, after which the priest would utter an incantation over the wound and give the patient a magical amulet to wear.

Healing was an art that was addressed on many levels. The sanctuaries of the gods often had sanatoria attached to them, allowing physician-priests to perform 'miraculous healings'.

In those days, amulets were small objects that ancient Egyptians wore, carried or offered to a deity, in the belief that they would impart a magical kind of protection to the wearer.

In ancient Egypt, amulets might be carried, used in necklaces, bracelets, rings, or even small statues. They were often placed among a mummy's bandages to ensure the deceased a safe, healthy and productive afterlife.

Egyptian amulets functioned in a number of ways. Symbols and deities generally conferred the powers they represented. Small models that represented known objects, such as headrests or arms and legs, served to ensure those items were made available to the individual or that a specific need could be addressed.

Magic contained in an amulet could be understood not only from its shape. Material, colour, rarity, the grouping of several forms, and words said or ingredients rubbed over the amulet could all be the source for magic that granted the possessor's wish.

The power of the ancient Egyptian priest, The Egyptian Mail, Egypt, March 18, 2006.

When the Metropolitan Museum of Art struck an accord with Italy last month to return antiquities in exchange for long-term loans, both sides said they hoped the agreement would serve as a model for future disputes between nations and museums.

Many cultural observers saw the pact as beneficial both for Italy and the Met. Now, as American museums are facing increased claims against objects in their collections, one leading diplomat is rejecting that framework as an unacceptable compromise...

Egypt Moves To Claim Mask From St. Louis Museum, The New York Sun, New York, USA, March 24, 2006. Subscription required.

Egypt is close to eliminating elephantiasis — one of the world's most disfiguring diseases — which has plagued the country since the time of the pharaohs, scientists said on Friday.

The condition, known officially as lymphatic filariasis (LF), is caused by a microscopic parasitic worm spread by mosquitoes. It can cause devastating symptoms such as grotesquely swollen limbs, as well as fevers and pain...

... An autopsy on the 3,000-year-old mummified body of Natsef-Amun, an Egyptian priest during the time of Rameses XI, revealed the presence of filarial worms...

Elephantiasis on its way out, Reuters via News 24, South Africa, March 24, 2006.

The Chicago-based Field Museum has invited President Hosni Mubarak to open the Golden Pharaoh Exhibition in mid May, "Secretary General of the Supreme Council for Antiquities Zahi Hawass said on Tuesday 23/03/2006 at a press conference in the New York-based Metropolitan Museum of Arts.

He added that Egyptian fairs in the United States helped increase the number of American tourists in Egypt.

He said fair revenues over the past three years reached up to EP86 million from 18 Egyptian fairs hosted by the US and Europe.

Moreover, the exhibition of "Hatshepsut from Queen to Pharaoh" is to open in New York next Tuesday, marking the 100th anniversary of creating the Department of Egyptian Art in the museum...

Mubarak invited to open Golden Pharaohs Exhibition in Chicago, State Information Service, Egypt, March 22, 2006.

The daily pleasures and challenges of the Ancient Egyptians are brought back to life in a new show at Turin's Egyptology Museum.

The exhibition centres on the lives of a wealthy couple, an 11th Dynasty (2,000 BC) King's Treasurer called Iti and his wife Neferu — but also evokes the existence of more common people.

The burial chamber of Iti's tomb, excavated in 1911 by Turin archaeologists, includes alabaster and terracotta vessels and a bronze mirror belonging to Neferu...

Ancient Egypt relives in Turin, ANSA, Italy, March 22, 2006.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's enormous, glorious show "Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh" begins in the Great Hall with the Met's own colossal pink granite "Sphinx of Hatshepsut" (c. 1472-58 B.C.E.). One of the great pleasures of this exhibition, other than the fact that the show celebrates, for the first time, one of the greatest and least understood periods of Egyptian art, is that it frees up sculptures that can sometimes feel cramped in the museum's well-endowed yet overcrowded Egyptian galleries.

"Sphinx of Hatshepsut," like many other Met masterpieces included in the exhibition, has never looked better out of situ. Once part of a line of sphinxes that guarded Hatshepsut's great mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahari, across the Nile from modern Luxor, the 11-foot-long sculpture now faces the centre of the Great Hall. It depicts the queen/king as a sphinx with a lion's body and a royal portrait head, commanding the entire space with grace and grandeur...

Now, Hatshepsut: A Glorious Show Breaks Ground, The New York Sun, New York, USA, March 23, 2006.

After a long closure the Coptic Museum in Old Cairo is soon expected to be officially re-inaugurated by President Mubarak, Nevine El-Aref reports.

Serenity has at last descended on Old Cairo's religious compound (Mogamaa Al-Adian) with the roar of loaders and tractor that have blocked the entrance to the Coptic Museum during renovation gone for good. The Coptic Museum, with a limestone façade that bears a resemblance to that of Al-Aqmar Mosque, is being titivated for a grand opening. After 30 months of total restoration the elegant landmark is to have its official inauguration, completing the attraction of the area's religious centre which includes the Amr Ibn Al-'As Mosque, the Jewish Synagogue of Beni-Ezra and a number of old churches.

"This restoration of the Coptic Museum was an ambitious scheme," Culture Minister Farouk Hosni says. "It is one of Cairo's oldest, and [its restoration] is an indication of the government's commitment to preserving the nation's Coptic shrine, as well as its pharaonic and Islamic heritage..."

Face of Old Cairo restored, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 787, March 23 - 29, 2006.

The Nile stretches 6700km and 5000 years of recorded history. It is, quite simply, fascinating, and cruising from Aswan to Luxor is a fabulous way to see some sights.

Aswan is awesome. From massive Lake Nasser to the white-domed Nubian houses, from the Temple of Philae with its huge columns to the grand Old Cataract Hotel where Agatha Christie set scenes for Death On The Nile, it is indeed history writ large.

Among mind-boggling enigmas left behind by the ancient Egyptians is the unfinished obelisk — a 1000-tonne towering granite column.

It was abandoned when it cracked but how were the artisans going to move a piece of granite weighing as much as three jumbo jets? ...

Nile cruise to past glories, News Interactive, Australia, March 19, 2006.

A chance trick of the light has provided proof that the town of Al-Qasr in the Dakhleh Oasis was once a Roman fortress. Jenny Jobbins witnessed the evidence.

A chance trick of the light has provided proof that the town of Al-Qasr in the Dakhleh Oasis was once a Roman fortress. Jenny Jobbins witnessed the evidence.

The town of Al-Qasr, otherwise known as Qasr Dakhleh, lies in Dakhleh Oasis deep in the Western Desert 450kms due west of Luxor. Despite its remote setting it has had a colourful history: Romans exploited the oasis for agricultural produce; Libyans, including the Sanusi, made conquering raids; and it was not far from the infamous Darb Al-Arbain slave route. In the picturesque mediaeval section of the town narrow, partly covered streets wind past heavy ancient doors topped with elaborate lintels, and here and there through an open doorway can be glimpsed old grinding stones or a staircase leading to a crumbling roof...

Surface evidence, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 787, March 23 - 29, 2006.

A Polish archaeological excavation team, [from the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology,] have unearthed the biggest brewery used by ancient Egyptians in the Nile Delta before the first monarch ever ruled the country, Egyptian minister of culture Farouk Hosni announced on Wednesday.

The site discovered in Tall al-Farkha in the northern province of Dakahliya on March 8 dates back to around 3500BC, a period known as Naqada II D and C, the minister said.

The Polish archaeologists, who have been working in the area since 1998, also discovered a cemetery with 33 graves belonging to middle and lower class ancient Egyptians...

Archaeologists unearth ancient brewery, Sapa-dpa via Independent Online, South Africa, March 23, 2006.

cf. Polish archaeologists unearth biggest ancient brewery in Egypt, Sapa via African News Dimension, South Africa, March 22, 2006.

cf. Ancient brewery discovered, Sapa-dpa via Finance 24, South Africa, March 22, 2006.

Archaeologists in Egypt have unearthed two 5,000-year-old wooden statues, complete with gold wrapping paper, believed to be the oldest such artefacts ever found, the team said.

The statues, which depict two nude men with precious stones around their eyes, were found by a Polish team, [from the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology,] in the northern Nile Delta region of Daqahliya, said a statement by chief archaeologist Krzysztof Ciałowicz.

The effigies are believed to date from Egypt's predynastic era (3,700-3,200 BC), before Egypt started to unify under the pharaohs.

Cialowicz said his team had also found remnants of gold-coated paper that experts said was used to wrap the wooden statues, believed to be the oldest such artefacts discovered to date...

Oldest wooden statues found in Egypt, AFP via Yahoo! News, USA, March 22, 2006.

cf. Ancient wooden statues found near Nile Delta, Sapa-AFP via Independent Online, South Africa, March 23, 2006.

cf. Archaeologists unearth statues, News 24, South Africa, March 23, 2006.

In February, a headline-grabbing announcement came out of Egypt. Excavators had uncovered what appeared to be the first ancient tomb to be found in the Valley of the Kings since the discovery of King Tutankhamen's in 1922. Because all burials there were done by order of the pharaohs, the bodies stood a good chance of being royalty. But last week, Egyptian authorities changed their assessment and said the chamber was not a tomb. So what is it? Carter Lupton, Milwaukee Public Museum curator of ancient history, was one of the few researchers allowed to visit the new find. He talked to Journal Sentinel reporter Jackie Loohauis...

Ancient Egyptian chamber raises questions — and new interest, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin, USA, March 21, 2006.

The Bowen Branch of the Detroit Public Library held a workshop on Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs and Culture on Thursday as part of Black History Month. Joan Gartland, one of the librarians at the Bowen Branch, led the workshop and discussion.

In a brightly lit section of the library, residents from all across metropolitan Detroit were in attendance, including Wayne State alumni Medgar Clark-Alum.

Gartland discussed the approximate date of the recently found tomb in the Valley of the Kings at Luxor and the curses of tomb raiders...

Deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, The South End, Wayne State University, Michigan, USA, February 20, 2006.

Egyptologist Salima Ikram discusses ancient rock art discovered this field season in the forbidding Western Desert.

Best known for her work on ancient human and animal mummies with the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Salima Ikram is also co-director of the North Kharga Oasis Survey (NKOS), which is documenting for the first time the myriad forts the Romans built on the edge of Egypt's Western Desert, the empire's African frontier in the third and fourth centuries A.D. For the past five years, Ikram and her partner Corinna Rossi have catalogued the forts, their extensive system of aqueduct-fed fields, and the hundreds of tombs surrounding them. About 100 miles west of Luxor, these sites are isolated and have generally been safe from looters and careless adventure tourists, but two years ago one fort suffered terrible destruction when looters bulldozed its temple in search of gold. Ikram found the damage months later while taking potential NKOS funders on a tour of the forts. She was devastated. "It's terrible when you see your temples turned into piles of dirt," she said. "I was in tears."

On a more positive note, unexpected archaeological finds have turned up on travel routes between this fort, known as Ayn Amur, and one called Umm el-Dabadib, in the northern region of the Kharga Oasis: large sandstone rocks with beautifully etched petroglyphs. Most are found at two sites the archaeologists dubbed Split Rock and Snake Valley...

Rock the Oasis, Archaeology Magazine, New York, USA, March 13, 2006.

cf. In Egypt, Archaeologists Fly Kites to Detect Ancient Sites, National Geographic News, District of Columbia, USA, September 24, 2003.

... It has now emerged that detectives from the Metropolitan Police's Art and Antiques Unit arrested two Bolton men in the town last week on suspicion of forgery in connection with the statue...

... A spokesman said detectives removed the statue from public display at the gallery in connection with an "ongoing investigation" and revealed "a small number of other items" were also removed from the British Museum in connection with the inquiry...

£500,000 statue in police 'fake' probe, The Manchester Evening News, UK, March 21, 2006.

Archaeologists working in Luxor, Egypt, have unearthed 17 statues of an ancient Egyptian goddess with the head of a lion and the body of a woman.

The Egyptian-German team made the discovery while doing restoration work at the temple of Pharaoh Amenhotep III on the Nile's west bank in southern Egypt.

Six additional statues of the goddess, called Sekhmet, had been found at the same site shortly before this latest discovery...

Click on the photograph, right, for eight pictures of the dig from the Yahoo! News Archaeology and Anthropology slideshow.

Egyptian Temple Yields 17 Statues of Lion-Headed Goddess, National Geographic News, District of Columbia, USA, march 14, 2006.

Britain's Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, are visiting Egypt and have amongst other things visited the Cairo Museum.

Click on the photograph, right, for four pictures of the visit from the Yahoo! News Archaeology and Anthropology slideshow.

Barefoot Camilla wears veil for mosque visit, The Telegraph, UK, March 21, 2006.

cf. British Prince visits Egypt, Xinhua, China, March 21, 2006.

A statue of an Egyptian princess, thought to be 3,300 years old and worth £1million, has been exposed as a fake...

... Councillor Barbara Ronson said: "It has come as a real shock to learn that this is a fake. The people responsible for buying it thought all the necessary checks had been carried out. A police investigation is under way, but it appears that this is related to other fakes in London."

Angela Thomas, [former] keeper of Egyptology at Bolton, said when the statue was bought by the council from a private collector: "Pieces like this are extremely rare."

Two held as '£1m Egyptian statue' is found to be a fake, The Daily Mirror, UK, march 21, 2006.

Frausters beware: fake statues can now be unmasked using X-rays. The technique can also reveal information about how metal and ceramic artefacts were made, without harming them.

At present, distinguishing between genuine porcelain antiques and fakes means drilling into samples to test them (New Scientist, 26 September 2005, p 21). Museums and collectors are reluctant to do this as it risks damaging the pieces, says Franco Rustichelli, a materials scientist at the Polytechnic University of the Marche in Ancona, Italy. Conventional X-ray images can reveal the different materials inside an object, but do not provide much information about antiques made from a single substance, he says...

Fake statues unmasked with X-rays, New Scientist Magazine, UK, issue 2543, March 20, 2006, p. 27.

Tutankhamun, known as “King Tut,” is making a comeback. The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago will feature a special exhibit, “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs,” from May 26 [2006] through the end of the year.

“We’re really excited about the exhibit,” said David Foster, project management director for the museum.

The museum will feature almost 120 artifacts from ancient Egypt, from Tut’s tomb and from those of his royal ancestors.

“One room is breathtaking, lots of golden objects from the tomb of who would have been (Tut’s) great-grandparents,” said Foster...

‘Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs’ opens May 26 in Chicago – one of only four U.S. cities to have the exhibit, The Fort Wayne News-Sentinel, Indiana, USA, March 18, 2006.

by Zahi Hawass

After the discovery of the tomb of Djed-Khonsu-ef-ankh, my adventures were far from over. A break in the shaft leading from his tomb brought us to a room full of sand and a second sealed chamber. About a foot in, I glimpsed the head and an alabaster sarcophagus. As I pushed forward, the wire of the lamp snapped, and I got a shock that knocked me unconscious.

A few minutes later, I opened my eyes and saw my assistants looking down at me and asking, "What happened? Are you all right?" I stood up and told them that I was OK and said "If I had died, this would have made the headlines in all the papers: "Curse of the Pharaohs Strikes Again!" But, I could not believe that I was safe, for the next few hours I continued to feel the electricity shaking my body.

The tomb belonged to Naesa II, wife of Djed-Khonsu-ef-ankh. Inside we discovered 239 shawabtis and 103 pieces of gold. We named this tomb the Golden Tomb.

Unfortunately, tomb robbers had damaged Naesa's mummy, but we ascertained she was four and half feet tall, and lived to old age. Her sarcophagus, like that of her husband's, was surrounded with hematite powder. It completely blocked my ears and gave me an ear infection, although I was not aware of it. I returned to Cairo for my son Karim's graduation from college and also attended a party arranged by the American University Press in Cairo for their authors. Mark Linz, the head of the press, asked me to give a speech.

As Mark introduced me, I became dizzy and fell. I could not get up nor answer, but I could hear everyone talking. I was afraid I would die!

Mark and his assistant called an ambulance. By the time they arrived, I had recovered a little. The ambulance took me to the emergency room, and they found nothing wrong with me. I went home, but continued to feel dizzy. Finally they discovered I had an ear infection and put me on antibiotics. A week later, I was better.

The golden tomb, The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, March 20, 2006.

Two men have been bailed by police investigating the alleged forgery of a valuable Egyptian statue.

The 3,300-year-old Amarna Princess was bought by Bolton Museum nearly three years ago for £440,000 to add to its existing Egyptology collection.

The 52cm-high sculpture is believed to be one of the daughters of the Pharaoh Akhenaten and his queen, Nefertiti.

Metropolitan Police Art & Antiques Unit arrested two Bolton men aged 83 and 46 on suspicion of forgery last week...

Egyptian statue in forgery claim, BBC News, UK, March 20, 2006. [Update] BBC have a video showing the statue and an interview with Egyptologist Angela P. Thomas which can be found here: Egyptian statue in forgery claim.

cf. Museum secures rare Egyptian sculpture, BBC News, UK, September 30, 2003.

Leading pyramid experts from Egypt will visit the archaeological site in Visoko in May and August this year at the invitation by the “Archaeological Park: the Bosnian Pyramid of Sun” Foundation.

Head of the Egyptian Archaeology Department at the Ain Shems University PhD Shafia Bedir and PhD Ali Abdallah Berekat will visit BiH.

They will spend four weeks working with their BiH colleagues at the site of the Bosnian Pyramid of Sun in an effort to confirm scientific results.

“We are very pleased with the results of talks held with our Egyptian colleagues. Egypt is famous for its pyramids. They have acted as true gentlemen in deciding to take part in the international verification of our research”, Foundation Steering Board member Senad Hodovic said.

EGYPTIAN EXPERTS TO VISIT THE BOSNIAN PYRAMID OF SUN, FENA, Bosnia and Herzegovina, March 17, 2006.

cf. Official site: Bosnian Pyramids.

Another monumental piece of art has made its way to the Great Hall of the Metropolitan Museum: a colossal sphinx of Hatshepsut was installed this week to herald the exhibition "Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh," which opens on March 28 [2006].

The Met has occasionally used its Great Hall as more than a grand entrance. Thomas Struth video portraits played there three years ago during his retrospective, and a 10-foot-long stone chimera appeared in 2004 for "China: Dawn of a Golden Age, 200-750 A.D." In April vases by the ceramicist Betty Woodman will be placed in the hall's neo-classical niches, as an introduction to an exhibition of her work.

The sphinx portrays Hatshepsut, who ruled Egypt from 1479 to 1458 B.C., with the body of a lion and a human head. Carved from red granite with traces of blue and yellow paint, she wears a nemes (the familiar headdress of an Egyptian ruler) and a royal beard.

"It had been in our galleries, but because of the show, there was no space," said Dorothea Arnold, the Met's curator of Egyptian art...

A Colossus Is Camping in the Met's Great Hall, The New York Times, New York, USA, March 17, 2006.

Egyptian queen Cleopatra used her hairstyles in calculated ways to enhance her power and fame, according to a book published recently by a Yale art history and classics professor.

Statues, coins and other existing depictions of the queen suggest Cleopatra (69-30 B.C.) wore at least three hairstyles, according to Diana Kleiner. The first, a "travelling" do that mimicked the hair of a Macedonian Greek queen, involved sectioning the hair into curls, which were then often pulled away from the face and gathered into a bun at the back.

The next was a coiffure resembling a melon, and the third was the regal Cleopatra in her royal Egyptian headdress, complete with a rearing cobra made of precious metal.

Cleopatra did not invent any of these styles, but she used them to her advantage, Kleiner indicated in her book " ..."

Cleopatra Worked Her Power Hair, Discovery Channel News, USA, March 17, 2006.

We need your input, and in doing so, you can help shape the stories we will be presenting on Tour Egypt over the coming year.

This year we celebrate 10 years of serving the tourist who travel to Egypt, and the tourist industry in Egypt, actually a rather long haul for almost any web site. Tour Egypt dates back to the very early days of the commercial internet itself, when the Ministry of Tourism and the Egyptian Tourism Authority requested our services in providing them with their official site...

Tell us What You Want to See on Tour Egypt, Jimmy Dunn, Tour Egypt, Texas, USA, March 09, 2006.

We attempted the faithful reproduction of the brewing processes depicted on the mural paintings in the tombs of Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep of the Old Kingdom and in the tomb of Kenamun of the New Kingdom of ancient Egypt using a common pathway. After multiple reproductions, we succeeded in brewing stable beer using both of the above processes. Surprisingly, the two processes were proven to be completely different. We also attempted to analyze the manufacturing processes depicted in the Kaemraef mural painting, as well as the Meketre models, of the Middle Kingdom. It was evident that the manufacturing process of the Kaemref mural painting belonged to the Niankhkhnum type, while the Meketre models fell under the Kenamun process. These results indicate that two ancient Egyptian beer-manufacturing processes coexisted for a long period of time in Upper and Lower Egypt...

Two Different Brewing Processes Revealed from Two Ancient Egyptian Mural Paintings, Hideto Ishida, Technical Quarterly, Master Brewers Association of the Americas, Minnesota, USA, Vol. 42, No. 4, 2005, pp. 273 - 282. Via EEF News and Archaeoblog.

The Giza Plateau was a hive of activity yesterday, reports Nevine El-Aref. In addition to the usual tourists roaming around the monuments, a group of Egyptian workmen, together with restorers and Egyptologists, were busy at work at the foot of the Sphinx, installing iron scaffolding around the body of the statue barely eight years after the decade-long project to restore it ended in 1998.

"The sphinx will always have to be looked after," Zahi Hawass, secretary- general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), told Al-Ahram Weekly. He explained that conservation work this time will include the re-casing of sections affected by air pollution and erosion as well as consolidating weak points in the statue's chest and neck...

Saving the Sphinx, again, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 786, March 16 - 22, 2006.

Juichi Takahara, the Minister and Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of Japan in Egypt, and Mutsuo Kawadoko, the Director, the Archaeological Mission of the Middle Eastern Culture Centre in Japan, sign today a contract of the Japanese Grant Assistance. Under this contract, the Embassy of Japan extends a grant amounting to 82,148 dollars for the construction of an exhibition hall with a storehouse for cultural properties excavated from ruins in Sinai Peninsula, according to a press release from the embassy in Cairo.

The Archaeological Mission of the Middle Eastern Culture Centre in Japan has been carrying out the Archaeological research of the cultural properties excavated from ruins in Sinai Peninsula such as Wadi al Tur, Mt Naqus, Raya and al Kilani from more than 20 years.

Among the objects unearthed at al Kilani were 4000 fragments of manuscripts. The work is throwing new light on early Islam, its development of social and commercial networks, and its relation with Christian, Coptic and Byzantine cultures. Through this grant aid, it is expected that these important cultural properties will be well exhibited in order to attract more visitors and enhance the understanding about the history of Sinai Peninsula and its importance.

Japanese grant for archaeological mission, The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, March 16, 2006.

Pravda revisit various tomb opening curse myths.

Raiders of Egyptian pyramids die mysterious deaths as they shatter pharaohs’ peace, Pravda, Russia, March 16, 2006.

The Book of the Dead is not a book about death. It is a book about life that conquered death. Strangely enough but such effective title that has become as known as pyramids, mummies and papyrus does not coincide with the content and the idea of the book at all. Moreover, its meaning is opposite to its original title. The Book of the Dead is just a part of the problem...

It has been a long time since the Europeans started thinking of the Ancient Egypt as of the land of dead where living people worshiped death and prepared to die long beforehand. Unfortunately, this old deception is present even in the modern mass culture (consider, The Mummy movie, for instance). It can be partly explained by the sources of our knowledge — more than 95 percent of the monuments of the Ancient Egypt are found in tombs.

At the same time, a non-expert will not associate all the Egyptian monuments with the world of the dead. Thus, for instance, the walls of some civilians' tombs show different aspects of life on Nile: agriculture, crafts, hunting, fishing etc. And they are shown rather gaily! Humorous pictures are not an exception here...

Egyptian Book of the Dead tells amazing stories of life, Pravda, Russia, February 08, 2006.

The new issue of Minerva magazine is available now. It contains one article that may be of interest to Egyptophiles as follows.

• The Getty Villa Reopened
  Jerome M. Eisenberg

Minerva Magazine, London, UK, Volume 17, Number 2, March / April 2006.

Subscribe to Minerva Magazine via Amazon.com.

Dr. Zahi Hawass, Head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, has signed an agreement giving Discovery Channel exclusive documentary television rights to the newly discovery KV63 tomb in the Valley of the Kings. Dr. Hawass has granted permission for news organizations to film and photograph, while Discovery Channel retains the only worldwide documentary television rights.

Effective immediately, Discovery Channel will chronicle each phase of the team of University of Memphis archaeologists as they explore KV63, culminating in a documentary to air on Discovery Channel in the US in early summer 2006. KV63 was first discovered on February 8, 2006 by a team of archaeologists from the University of Memphis...

Dr. Hawass stated, "This new discovery reveals more secrets from the Valley of the Kings. The valley has been silent for more than 83 years. Now the mystery begins, and the world will witness the magic of another great discovery..."

Dr. Zahi Hawass of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Grants Discovery Channel Exclusive Documentary Rights to Film KV63 in Valley of the Kings, PR Newswire via Yahoo! Finance, USA, March 15, 2006.

cf. Dr. Zahi Hawass of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Grants Discovery Channel Exclusive Documentary Rights to Film KV63 in Valley of the Kings, PR Newswire, USA, March 15, 2006.

On the Ides of March (or March 15), 44 B.C., Julius Caesar was assassinated, at the foot of a statue of Pompey where the senate was meeting...

The Ides of March, N.S. Gill, About Ancient / Classical History Blog, About.com, March 12, 2006.

cf. Ides of March Marked Murder of Julius Caesar, National Geographic News, District of Columbia, USA, March 12, 2004.

N.S. Gill has also recently posted a Cleopatra Study Guide.

... The drive from Nasr-city, where my hotel was located, to the Giza Plateau, west of the River Nile, bordering the Sahara Desert, where the pyramids stand, took about one hour on impressive multi-laned causeways that made me feel a tinge as I thought of our dilapidated roads.

We turned off the Pyramids Road – Shara El-Haram into a confusing maze of narrow roads before reaching an open unpaved area lined with shops selling hieroglyphics on papyrus, Egyptian jewellery and perfumes "extracted from Nile plants", as the sales pitch went...

The place was anything but sedate. A very busy market place in the middle of the desert was more like it. Horses, donkeys, camels and their handlers crowded the sandy place. Aggressive guides and hawkers competed for your attention...

Wonder At the Great Pyramids of Egypt, The Nation, Nairobi via allAfrica.com, March 12, 2006.

Europe's best ancient history documentaries are on show here this weekend at the debut edition of Rome's International Archaeology Cinema Festival.

The four-day event, which kicks off Friday at the city's posh new Auditorium Music Park, has a fascinating programme of film screenings, meetings with directors and debates.

"Paradoxically, our city has never had an archaeology cinema festival, though archaeology is an integral part of the territory," said Rome Culture Councillor Vincenzo Vita...

Archaeology film fest in Rome, ANSA, Italy, March 15, 2006.

The Great Sphinx of Giza, one of the most famous monuments of Pharaonic Egypt, is to get a facelift, the Egyptian ministry of culture said on Tuesday.

Restoration work on the noseless creature undertaken by the High Council for Antiquities is to focus on the beast's neck and chest, rendered fragile by the erosion of desert winds.

Egyptian antiquities boss Zahi Hawass said the last restoration work on the half-man half-lion statue was carried out in 1996...

Facelift on the cards for Giza Sphinx, Independent Online, South Africa, March 15, 2006.

cf. Egypt's Sphinx to get facelift, Yahoo! News, USA, March 14, 2006.

Well it appears that KV63 is not Nefertiti's burial, an Amarna cache, a Pharaoh's burial, or the burial of some nobles — all theories floated recently — but a mummification material cache. See earlier posts for more information. This is similar to the 'tomb' KV54 which is a cache containing Tutankhamun's embalming material and elements of his funerary meal. Now we have just got to figure out whose cache it is?

Jane Akshar has posted a transcript of the lecture that Dr Otto Schaden gave in Luxor last Thursday on her blog here: KV63 lecture by Otto Schaden.

Jane has also posted detail of Zahi's visit to the Valley of the Kings last Friday: Dr Zahi Hawass visits Luxor.

Finally, the official KV63 website has been updated with the latest from Dr Schaden: Otto's Dig Diary.

Things seemed bad enough when a loose shoelace sent Nick Flynn tumbling down a staircase at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. The ensuing crash-landing smashed three 300-year-old Qing Dynasty Chinese vases, (estimated value, when not in smithereens, £100,000 .)

Now documents obtained by this newspaper reveal that the museum will receive nothing in compensation for the smashed vases because it failed to get them insured...

In 1999 an Egyptian sarcophagus lid which had survived more than two millennia met its match in the form of a French teenager on a school exchange trip.

Attendants caught the 15-year-old trying to hide the three fragments detached by his attempt to lift it...

Whoops (again)! We didn't insure £100,000 vases, admits museum, The Telegraph, UK, March 12, 2006.

cf. Accident involving Chinese porcelain vases, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK, February 07, 2006.

An Egyptian mummy was taken to a Syracuse hospital by ambulance for a C-T scan.

The 2-thousand-year-old mummy, called Hen, usually is on display at the Cazenovia Library. Radiologist E-Mark Levinsohn and Crouse Hospital agreed to provide their services to help the library find out when and how the mummy died.

Cazenovia resident Robert James Hubbard brought the mummy to Cazenovia in 1894. He purchased it in Egypt for 200 pounds, the equivalent of about 2-thousand dollars today.

Images from the C-T scan will be carefully analyzed by Levinsohn. He said the pictures should reveal information about the mummy's physical health, how old she was, why she died and what she had in her.

Mummy has a CT scan at Syracuse hospital, AP via WCAX-TV, Vermont, USA, March 13(?), 2006.

by Hassan Saadallah

The renovations at the Coptic Museum in Old Cairo continue. They are a major project that will make the museum one of the best in the world.

The exhibitions and display halls are being overhauled and the museum will reopen next month.

The Coptic Museum contains precious Coptic monuments dating back many centuries. It also contains precious stones, metals, icons and manuscripts that tell us a lot about religion in Egypt before the dawn of Islam.

"The museum, located near Mari Girgis Underground Station, was constructed by Markos Pasha Semeika in 1910, in order to house the antiquities he'd collected from old churches and monasteries," says Mohamed Abdel-Fattah, head of the Museums Sector, adding that Semeika built an extension in 1950, comprising 17 halls for displaying 15,000 antiquities.

"The museum also contains many paintings and precious icon, as well as agricultural implements and medical instruments," Abdel-Fattah added, noting that Semeika decided to build this museum in Old Cairo near the Amr Ibn el-Aas Mosque, the Ben Ezra Synagogue and a number of Orthodox churches, representing the three heavenly religions.

Coptic Museum reopens soon, The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, March 14, 2006.

... Simply put, McLogan says, "An Egyptologist needs to go to Egypt every so often to stay current, and usually a sabbatical is the technique used to allow that professor to be able to keep current in their field. It makes them better teachers; it makes them better scholars; and it helps our students..."

Paying professors to not teach, WOOD TV-8, Michigan, USA, March 13, 2006.

"I couldn't have thought of anything better than this, I don't think I could have dreamed of anything better than this," said Sharon Nichols, a graduate student who assisted on the dig.

They found a room with 7 [*] human mummies and dozens of pottery vessels ... all just feet away from King Tut's tomb in the Valley of the Kings.

At first, they hesitated to go inside.

"You know you'd think you'd have this feeling of just wanting to rush inside but we didn't we felt very odd," Dr. Corcoran recalled...

University of Memphis team talks about find in Egypt, WMC-TV, Tennessee, USA, March 13, 2006. Video footage of the interview with Dr. Lorelei Corcoran and Sharon Nichols can be found here Egypt Discovery: Syan Rhodes.

cf. U of M pair bring home story of major discovery in Egypt, Commercial Appeal, Tennessee, USA, March 14, 2006.

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.

It took about 10 minutes before the first Whoa! echoed through the Gulf Coast Exploreum Thursday, the opening day of the downtown Mobile museums Mummy: the inside story exhibit.

The gasp arose from a crowd of students at the beginning of a 3-D movie in which the mummy Nesperennub's coffin and wrapping were peeled away to reveal the 3,000-year-old Egyptians skull, skeleton and jewellery.

After the show, the kids cheered before heading out to the rest of the exhibit. For us, hearing the applause was great, museum spokeswoman Shannon Lipscomb said. It made all the months of work worth it...

Gasps, applause greet Exploreum's 'Mummy' opening, The Mobile Register, Alabama, USA, March 10, 2006.

The Roman city of Leptis Magna, 78 miles east of Tripoli, is a World Heritage site and one of the highlights of a visit to Libya. Most of the archaeological site (open daily from 8am to 6pm) has been well protected for more than 1,000 years by a covering of sand. A better understanding of the layout is helped by the restoration work done by Italians over the last century.

Only about a third of the ancient city is uncovered, and even the extent of the Roman city inland is undetermined, due to modern buildings to the east of al-Khoms city.

The site was first developed in the sixth century BC, as a coastal trading post around the reef-protected mouth of Wadi Labda, by seafaring Phoenician traders from the eastern Mediterranean. Following the Roman defeat of the Phoenicians in the Third Punic War in 146BC, local desert tribes eyed the site enviously, but new Roman fortifications and a buffer zone of fortified farms on the fertile soil protected the important harbour and trading centre for hundreds of years...

Seaside ruins saved by sand, The Guardian, UK, March 10, 2006.

The International United Prehistoric Expedition has begun a new research season (January – March). Headed by Prof. Romuald Schild of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, it will investigate inaccessible parts of the Egyptian Western Desert.

The aim of the expedition is to catalogue the previously found, oldest megalithic objects in Africa, long rows and clusters of menhirs — tall upright stones. Prof. Schild explains there are hundreds of them in a field of ten square kilometres. Dating back to between 4500 B.C. and 3500-3400 B.C., they belong to the oldest such objects in the world.

He adds that the mission will also research an ancient sandstone quarry. Works will also take place south of Gebel Nabta, where traces of an early Neolithic hunting encampment have been found. Moreover, a preliminary survey will be held on both banks of the Nile stretching 50km between Aswan and Kom Ombo...

Cataloguing megaliths in the Western Desert in Egypt, Andrzej Markert, Nauka w Polsce, Poland, January 25, 2006.

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...

New Gallery Devoted to Ancient Nubia, Yahoo! News, USA, March 10, 2006.

The 27-year-old British archaeologist was making his first trip to Egypt, on a mission to uncover the truth about the Great Pyramid. When he moved into an abandoned tomb at Giza and slept on a hammock, everyone noticed the unconventional William Matthew Flinders Petrie.

Petrie became even harder to ignore after his 1880 adventure as he brought a scientific approach to excavations and, as a result, changed what the world knew about the ancient civilization.

Some of his best discoveries from the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology at University College London are now touring the United States. “Excavating Egypt” is at the Albany Institute of History & Art through June 4 [2006]...

Petrie’s Egypt, Times, Leader, Pennsylvania, USA, March 10, 2006.

Polish archaeologists completed their works on the grounds of the ancient Academy of Alexandria by uncovering three lecture halls — said Dr. Grzegorz Majcherek heading the Mediterranean Archaeology Centre of Warsaw University in Alexandria. The archaeologists plan to reconstruct the academy so that tourists will be able to visit it.

Nearly two years ago the Polish-Egyptian research mission discovered the remains of the academy, dating back to 5th-6th century B.C. So far archaeologists have unveiled thirteen auditoriums. The discovery was acknowledged worldwide as it was the first discovery of a university in this area of the Mediterranean. Work on it is continued.

“The vast complex consists of twenty auditoriums erected along a 180 metre long colonnade” — Dr. Majcherek explains. According to researchers, the halls could hold up to a few hundred students in total. The excavated auditoriums measure 6 by 11 metres with three rows of benches lined along the walls in a U shape. One of the halls is finished with a semi-circular apse containing additional benches for the lecturer...

Polish archaeologists will reconstruct the Academy of Alexandria, Szymon Łucyk, Nauka w Polsce, Poland, February 20, 2006, via EEF News.

Dr Szafrański, heading the mission of the Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology mission in Deir el Bahari, has taken a look inside. “Nobody has actually been inside the tomb; you can only see five sarcophaguses and pottery from a hole made near the chamber”.

Dr Szafrański explains that a vertical shaft 1.2 metres long and 1.7 metres wide, ending with a small corridor leads to the sealed entrance.

“The untouched seals indicate that the tomb went unnoticed by thieves, who looted many other Egyptian necropolises“ — he adds.

He also tells us that only one of the sarcophaguses is decorated. The decorations presumably date back to the 19th-20th dynasty, i.e. 1300-1070 B.C. He does not exclude the possibility that one of the sarcophaguses holds the body of a king...

Dr Szafrański: the tomb in the Valley of the Kings may belong to a ruler, Szymon Łucyk, Nauka w Polsce, Poland, February 21, 2006, via EEF News.

By Zahi Hawass

All of us remember George Herbert, Earl of Carnarvon, as the man who funded the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun. After several unproductive seasons in the Valley of the Kings, he was ready to give up. Unhappy, he called his archaeologist, Howard Carter, to Highclere, his castle in England. Carnarvon told Carter that he could not support any more excavations. He was ready to stop looking for Tutankhamun because he did not think they would ever find the tomb. Carter, however, was able to convince him to pay for one last season. In the first week of excavations the tomb was found, and a month later the earl's name went down in history as one of the discoverers of the almost-intact burial of the golden king.

Bruce Ludwig is a businessman who lives in Los Angeles. He is a great lover of Egypt, one of the truest of this breed, and is on the Board of Trustees of the American University in Cairo. Bruce is tall, with a white beard that makes him look like a movie star. I met him when I was a student at the University of Pennsylvania. He used to visit me a lot, and he would send me any news about archaeology in Egypt. He is a very smart man, and knows a lot about raising funds for the support of archaeology in Egypt.

He has supported and continues to support the work of two American Egyptologists...

Dig Days: Ludwig is the new Lord Carnarvon, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 785, March 09 - 15, 2006.

Several international experts are claiming that a 3,000-year-old cartonnage mask on display at the St Louis Art Museum in the United States was smuggled out of Egypt. Nevine El-Aref relates its mysterious provenance.

At the southeast corner on the first floor of the St Louis Art Museum (SLAM) a 19th-Dynasty mummy mask stares proudly through glass-inlaid eyes. Her smiling face is smothered with gold and her head is adorned with startling black wig decorated with a gilded lotus flower. She is a noblewoman from the court of Pharaoh Ramses II called Ka-Nefer-Nefer, and in each hand she holds a wooden amulet signifying strength and position. A delicate scene carved in relief on her arms shows her successful ascent into the afterlife on the boat of the Great God Osiris.

For eight years now, since the mask was purchased from the Phoenix Art Gallery, Geneva, in 1998, Ka-Nefer-Nefer has been the SLAM's central attraction. Daily hundreds of people visit the museum just to admire this rare and fine example of ancient Egyptian heritage.

However, when it comes to bringing objects from abroad all is not smooth sailing, and early this week Egypt requested the mask's return...

Whose mask is it, anyway?, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 785, March 09 - 15, 2006.

cf. It is ours, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 785, March 09 - 15, 2006.

The global debate over the black market in ancient art is heating up.

At issue is whether art museums encourage looting of ancient sites when they buy works without detailed ownership histories, such as the large bronze statue of "Apollo the Lizard Slayer," bought in 2004 by the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Tuesday, the Archaeological Institute of America criticized guidelines on collecting of antiquities issued by the Association of Art Museum Directors, of which the Cleveland museum is a member.

"The need for museums to adopt acquisitions policies that recognize the connection between their acquisitions and the problem of looting of archaeological sites is pressing..."

Archaeologists urge museums to help curb looting of ancient art, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Ohio, USA, March 03, 2006.

cf. Archaeologists Call For Responsible Museum Acquisitions Policies, Archaeological Institute of America, Massachusetts, USA, February 28, 2006.

In London on Nov. 24, 1922, I was a little girl celebrating my fourth birthday. Two days later, Howard Carter made his momentous discovery: the tomb of Tutankhamen, an unbelievable experience.

This meant nothing to me at the time, but when I was 10, I went with my elementary school to see the tomb's artefacts at the British Museum and was duly impressed.

My next encounter with the King Tut was 30 years ago when I visited my son and his family in Washington, D.C. There was an exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution, and the museum had reproduced the steps leading to the tombs. Visitors were able to walk through and experience what Carter saw and the exhilaration he must have felt at the time. It was such a thrill and I was delighted to experience it with my family.

Last month, I went with a group from the Davie adult senior program to the Tutankhamen exhibit at the Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale, and all these memories flooded back. This exhibit is beautifully mounted and quite awe-inspiring. I thoroughly recommend it and hope all who see it enjoy it as much as I did.

King Tut exhibit wonderful déja vu, Joan Barren, The Miami Herald, Florida, USA, March 09, 2006.

Paramount Pictures has acquired the pitch King Tut from screenwriter Neil Crawford for studio-based Lorenzo di Bonaventura to produce, says Variety.

The story is described as an action-adventure/romance film, loosely based on Howard Carter's discovery of King Tut's treasures in 1922 Egypt.

At the studio, the project is being overseen by production co-president Brad Weston and executive Dan Levine.

Paramount Opens the King Tut Tomb, ComingSoon.net, March 09, 2006.

cf. Par ready to strut its Tut, Variety, USA, March 09, 2006. Subscription required.

Massive wooden planks, ropes, and cargo boxes found in a series of caverns near the Red Sea have been identified as parts of the oldest seafaring ships ever discovered.

The find supports evidence that ancient Egyptian mariners set sail on ocean waters as much as 4,000 years ago on voyages that spanned about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometres) each way.

Previously, the world's oldest known seafaring ship dated from 1300 B.C., and only small fragments of it are left.

The newly found ships likely carried sailors on missions to obtain incense and other treasures from a mysterious place the Egyptians called God's Land, or Punt.

"It's very exciting," said Steven Snape, an Egyptologist at Britain's University of Liverpool, who was not involved in the work.

"It looks as though they created ships in kit form, carried them over the desert, sailed to Punt, got what they required, and abandoned the ships," Snape said...

World's Oldest Ocean Vessels Discovered in Egypt, National Geographic News, District of Columbia, USA, March 07, 2006.

cf. World's oldest ship timbers found in Egyptian desert, EurekAlert, District of Columbia, USA, March 06, 2006.

History fans and students throughout Alabama are looking forward to meeting an unlikely but unforgettable visitor — a priest who has travelled across 6,000 miles and 3,000 years to reveal in dramatic detail how ancient Egyptians preserved and honoured their dead.

With “Mummy: the inside story,” The British Museum’s hit exhibition that showcases the mummy of Nesperennub, an ancient Egyptian cleric, the Gulf Coast Exploreum will play host to an array of priceless artefacts and high-tech visualizations that unravel the mystery of mummification. Currently on the U.S. leg of a world tour that later will include cities in Asia, “Mummy: the inside story” recently completed its showing at the Houston Museum of Natural Science and is set to open in Mobile, Alabama on March 9, 2006 for a six-month run.

“Calling this simply an ‘exhibition’ does not do justice to the extraordinary experiences that await visitors to this remarkable presentation,” said Exploreum Executive Director Michael Sullivan. “The interactive, 3D elements offer us an unforgettable chance to view, up close and in amazing detail, a world that has been clouded in mystery for thousands of years...”

SGI Technology Powers World Tour of British Museum’s Remarkable Mummy Exhibition, WebWire, Georgia, USA, March 08, 2006.

King Tut's case is closed, top Egyptologist Dr. Zahi Hawass has told Discovery News. Other, new exciting findings are waiting to be uncovered from the Egyptian sands.

In an exclusive interview with Discovery News, Hawass, chief of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities and one of the most famous Egyptologists in the world, said some shadows surrounding King Tut have now totally disappeared. Yet, he said, the dark will never be quite dispersed.

"We have carried out the deepest investigation on King Tut. We have to accept that some questions will never be answered," Hawass told Discovery News...

Egypt's Hawass Calls King Tut Case Closed, Discovery Channel News, New York, USA, march 07, 2006.

Ancient tombs in the Valley of Queens on the west bank of Luxor, 700 kilometres south of Cairo, are set to be renovated by a team of Egyptian and US experts, an Egyptian antiquities official said Tuesday.

Head of the Supreme Antiquities Council Zahi Hawass said that the council would coordinate with the US-based Getty Conservation Institute to renovate sites in the valley over a six-year period.

Getty Conservation Institute director Deborah Marrow said that the US team has been working on the restoration of Egyptian heritage since 1985.

Marrow said that the joint project would see a combined team document and assess 80 tombs using maps and photos. In addition, the team would also provide geographical and environmental information on the site and evaluate any potential dangers to the valley, she said...

It sounds very similar to what the Theban Mapping Project has done for the Valley of the Kings.

Ancient tombs to be renovated in southern Egypt, dpa via Monster & Critics, UK, March 07, 2006.

cf. Valley of the Queens gets a Getty assist, Los Angeles Times, California, USA, March 08, 2006.

cf. Joint mission will see Luxor tombs renovated, Sapa-dpa via Independent Online, South Africa, March 08, 2006.

Professor Betsy Bryan is studying sex and the single pharaoh.

She teaches a course at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore called "Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll in Ancient Egypt."

Her students analyze things like dirty hieroglyphics and love poems. Bryan says ancient Egyptians were a lot more fun than scholars may have thought.

She's discovered a spot where some of the partying took place. It was called the porch of drunkenness near the pyramids.

Bryan has an ulterior motive in teaching about partying like an Egyptian. She says it may interest more freshmen in majoring in Near Eastern studies.

Parties at the Pyramids, 6abc Action News, ???, USA, March 08, 2006.

Mobile's newest visitor is also the oldest, and he is definitely not a snowbird.

His name is Nesperennub, and he is 3,000 years old, give or take a few years, and he has come to share many of his innermost secrets — quite literally.

Nesperennub takes centre stage Thursday when the Gulf Coast Exploreum opens its new international exhibit, "Mummy: the inside story," which runs through July 31 [2006] at the museum in downtown Mobile...

Exploreum presents mummy exhibit, Mobile Register, Alabama, USA, March 08, 2006.

Fort Lauderdale's Museum of Art has ushered its 500,000th visitor into "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs." A London couple, Aidan and Maria Coletta, received an exhibition companion book penned by Egypt's secretary general of antiquities, Zahi Hawass; a King Tut pharaoh's hat; a Tut T-shirt; a box of See's chocolates and a sterling silver cartouche with the words "I love you" inscribed in hieroglyphs.

"It's a nice celebration for all involved," said Alexia Davis, promotions and public relations manager for the museum. "We all anticipated hitting this mark, but I don't know if we knew we'd hit it this early. It's a big number."

The spike in ticket sales is accompanied by unwavering media interest. Museum officials cite a flurry of Hispanic networks, which have filmed Tut's trove in recent weeks, including Univision, Telemundo and CNN en Español. "On a Sunday, you can be in the lobby and hear more Spanish being spoken than English," said communications manager Michael Mills...

King Ka-ching, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Florida, USA, march 08, 2006.

Whilst checking for the new issue of Minerva magazine I noticed that I hadn't posted that last one! It contains two articles of interest as follows.

• From Pharaohs to Emperors: Egyptian, Near Eastern & Classical Antiquities at Emory
  Peter Lacovara and Jasper Gaunt
• Egypt, Greece, Rome: Rejection & Contact
  Beatrix Gessler-Löhr

Minerva Magazine, London, UK, Volume 17, Number 1, January / February 2006.

Subscribe to Minerva Magazine via Amazon.com.

“Some people put on perfume in the morning,” he says. “My perfume is the sand. If I don’t smell the sand every day, I will die. Egypt is still so rich. I made a discovery recently in Saqqara. I haven’t announced it yet, but it will show that you can still discover cachets and” He pauses, and it’s the long, dramatic pause for which he is famous on international television. “and even whole pyramids in Egypt.”

This snippet comes from the end of the Egypt Today article posted yesterday. Thanks to Archaeologica for brining it to my attention.

Kings or Cooks?, Egypt Today, Egypt, Volume 27, Issue 03, March 2006.