What could be better than touring the King Tut exhibit with Egyptian-born actor Omar Sharif?

Maybe touring with Julie Christie, circa Doctor Zhivago. But that would certainly have distracted me from the artefacts.

Sharif narrates the superb audio tour accompanying “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs,” which will open this month at Chicago’s Field Museum.

A good audio tour can help even the most fascinating exhibition — and can make or break lesser shows...

Audio tours can enliven any exhibit if done well, The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio, USA, May 07, 2006.

Millions viewed King Tut’s treasures when they first toured America in the late 1970s. Now, almost 30 years later, Tut has another blockbuster exhibition travelling the country.

Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs includes more than 130 artefacts — all more than 3,000 years old — from the tomb of Tut and other Egyptian royals, including a gilded miniature coffin that held Tut’s liver. The exhibit also includes a golden sarcophagus from the tomb of his great-grandparents.

Most of the artefacts were not part of the 1977 exhibition, and many have never left Egypt before.

"Tutankhamun" will open at Chicago’s Field Museum on May 26 [2006] and run through Jan. 1 [2007]...

The return of Tut, The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio, USA, May 07, 2006.

It is not a cliché to call Zahi Hawass a modern-day Indiana Jones. Time magazine called him “The Man.”

As head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, Hawass has complete control and free reign over Egypt’s myriad of relics, tombs and pyramids. And the adventurer, scholar and preservation crusader has become the international face of Egyptology with his archaeological discoveries and ground-breaking research.

Fresh from recent explorations in Egypt, Hawass will speak at TPAC’s James K. Polk Theater at 7 p.m. June 15 [2006]. Tickets go on sale today and are expected to sell out. Hawass’ presentation, “Recent Discoveries in Egypt” will detail his latest anecdotes about hidden treasures found near the tomb of King Tut as well as new findings of how the young king really died; two intact tombs found at Giza and a new pyramid found at Saqqara; and the discovery of 105 perfectly preserved mummies in the Valley of the Golden Mummies, said Julie Roberts, the Frist Center for the Visual Arts’ manager of public programs...

Egyptologist to share Egypt’s greatest secrets at the Frist, The Nashville City Paper, Tennessee, USA, May 08, 2006.

If the local social scene has seemed just a little dull lately, don't despair — we've heard about a very special guy nearby who's just dying to meet you.

You could say he's a little wrapped up in himself, but there's no denying that this gent has been around. For a long time.

Meet ... Nesperennub...

Nesperennub is the captivating, if quiet, star of the Gulf Coast Exploreum's latest international exhibition, "Mummy: The Inside Story..."

Inside the mummy, Pensacola News Journal, Florida, USA, May 08, 2006.

The Greek authorities said Thursday that they would press charges against Marion True, the former antiquities curator at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, for illegal possession of 29 ancient artefacts police officers found this spring in her Greek villa.

George Gligoris, head of a special police unit that investigates antiquities smuggling, said that the scope of the charges would hinge on archaeologist appraisals of the objects. If their value is determined to be less than $96,000 , he said, Ms. True could simply face a misdemeanor charge punishable by fines.

If they are worth considerably more, Mr. Gligoris said, Ms. True could face a criminal trial that carried potential penalties including imprisonment.

"This shouldn't come as a surprise," he said. "None of these items were registered with local archaeological authorities as the law requires..."

... Greek officials have not suggested that any of the objects in Ms. True's summer villa on Paros, in the Cyclades Islands, were intended for the Getty. Ms. True has said through her lawyer that all the antiquities were in the villa when she bought it in 1995...

Greek Officials Planning to Bring Charges Against Ex-Curator, The New York Times, New York, USA, may 05, 2006.

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

• Spectacular Turin: The Reopening of the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities
  Dalu Jones
• Life & Death in Ancient Egypt: The Contribution of Modern Science
  Rosalie David
• The Conservation and Deaccessioning of The Ancient World
  Jerome M. Eisenberg, Ph.D
• New Finds & Sphinxes at Hadrian’s Villa, Tivoli
  Dalu Jones
• Statue of the Priest Pe-shery-aset Reunited with his Sarcophagus and Mummy in Genoa
  Dalu Jones
• News from Egypt
  Jerome M. Eisenberg, Ph.D.

Minerva Magazine, London, UK, Volume 17, Number 3, May / June 2006.

Subscribe to Minerva Magazine via Amazon.com.

The Great Desert Circuit runs over 1,000 kilometres [621 miles] from Cairo to Asyut through the desert oases of Bahariya, Farafra, Dakhla [Dakhleh] and Kharga. Located 265 kilometres [165 miles] south of Cairo, Bahariya is a drive-thru geological museum. Its black and orange basin is littered with fossils of the Cretaceous-era sea creatures that lived here when it was an inland sea.

If fossils are your fancy, take a 4WD to Gebel Dist at the north end of the oasis, which is chock-full of them. Even dinosaur bones have been found here, including the remains of a huge herbivore dating back 94 million years. Unfortunately, they were stored in Germany and destroyed during the Second World War by Allied bombs.

Fossils are not the only surprises to be found in the Western Desert. Cairo’s travel agencies organize tours to Qarat El-Hilwa for a peek at the much-hyped cache of “golden” mummies of the Ptolemaic era, as Zahi Hawass defined them upon their discovery in the 1990s — though despite their rich exteriors, their embalming was actually much sloppier than in previous eras. You might also be able to wrangle a permit to visit on your own. A ticket can be purchased at the local antiquities inspectorate for LE 30 ...

The Great Desert Circuit, Egypt Today, Egypt, Volume 27, Issue 05, May 2006.

It's an old story: archaeologist unearths Egyptian mummy, mummy's penis goes missing, new technology arrives and locates the errant organ, Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities sits back with a satisfied smile on its face. When Tutankhamun was first discovered, by Howard Carter and his team in 1922, all his parts were present and correct, albeit in dire need of some moisturiser. Steeped as they were in Britain's glorious imperial traditions, the explorers were naturally less concerned with the niceties of preservation or respecting the peace of the ancient dead than with carting off as many valuables from the tomb as they could. Carter and his boys cut up the body into pieces, the better to prise free jewellery that was stuck to the mummified remains by that pesky embalming resin, severed the head, and used hot knives to detach the famous golden mask from the king's face.

After such uninhibited plundering, it should not perhaps have come as such a great surprise that when the mummy was x-rayed by experts at the University of Liverpool in 1968, it appeared that someone had made off with more than antique amulets...

Tutankhamun re-membered, The Guardian, UK, May 08, 2006.

... Al-Gilf Al-Kebir enjoys three main rock art sites: the Swimmers' Cave, Shaw's Cave and El-Mestekawi Cave. The Swimmers' was the first to be rediscovered, when Hungarian aristocrat and adventurer Count Almásy came upon it in 1933 naming the whole valley Wadi Soura, or the "Valley of Pictures". This cave features paintings of men swimming, thus suggesting the area once enjoyed plenty of water sources, such as rivers and lakes. Shaw's Cave on the other side contains paintings of cattle. And unlike those in the Swimmers' Cave, those in Shaw's remain in good condition.

El-Mestekawi Cave was discovered during an expedition similar to ours in 2002. It is by far the largest site among the three, both in terms of the number of paintings and engravings as well as in terms of variety. Not all the paintings are of the same colour, with some being painted over the other indicating different periods and thus adding to the site's value. Handprints dominate the half-buried wall with alternating paintings of human figures, different animals and representations of hunting scenes. There were also works of art so surprising that they left me truly puzzled and above all impressed, including one representation of a headless bull, repeated in various parts of the cave. Could this be the mystical water creature which, according to legend, had the power to bring rain?

Another image which we found particularly perplexing was that of the footprint. While handprints regularly act as background for other paintings in most parts of the cave, there are only two footprints — one engraved and another painted. If you stand right in the middle of the cave, lift your head slightly and you will find two adjacent carvings. Both are astounding, and appear to have been created by a highly imaginative avant-garde artist, or perhaps even an alien! I lost track of time as I stood in complete amazement in El-Mestekawi Cave, seeing priceless pieces of art as old as rock art. Indeed, this constituted an unmatched experience that left my soul indulged in mystical harmony.

Most unfortunately, some irresponsible tourists spray water on rock art in order to secure a more vibrant photograph. Although it works, there is also a hefty price to pay in the form an accelerated deterioration of the art itself. Having been dry for thousands of years, the sandstone on which most of the rock art is painted reacts negatively with water. Soon enough, the colours start to fade and the paint starts to peel. Water spraying and camera flashes are lethal when it comes to rock art, so please be very careful whenever present in such a crucially important site...

Into the heart of mystery, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 793, May 04 - 10, 2006.

... Though he was an emir, his father was a slave of Mongol origin who had been sent from Bukhara as tribute to the Abbasid court at Samaraa. In a matter of years the promising leader had risen to power, gaining Egypt's independence and commencing the Toulounid Dynasty (868-905 AD). His name was Emir Ahmed Ibn Touloun.

The Toulounid Dynasty was rather a short-lived one, surviving only for 26 years. Nonetheless, Ibn Touloun was determined to make his mark in history. He extended Egypt's capital with Cairo's first aqueduct, he built himself the Dome of Air Palace on a spur of the Muqqattem hills and called his newly established capital Al-Qatai, or "the wards". The most remarkable architecture and monumental achievement he left behind, however, was the mosque bearing his name — Ibn Touloun Mosque....

Snap Shot, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 793, May 04 - 10, 2006.

Dozens of documents were dissected in a courtroom here on Wednesday as prosecutors sought to weave the doings of art dealers, collectors and museums into what they argue is a broad criminal pattern: the trafficking of archaeological artefacts looted from Italian soil.

"This was one big swamp where many swam and many others came to drink," said the trial prosecutor, Paolo Ferri, summing up the day's testimony. "Marion True and Robert Hecht were part of this swamp. In fact Hecht was the biggest pike in the swamp."

Ms. True, the former antiquities curator at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, and Mr. Hecht, an American dealer, are being tried on charges of conspiring to deal in looted antiquities.

Much of Wednesday's testimony centred on Gianfranco Becchina, a Sicilian antiquities dealer working out of Basel, Switzerland, and his contacts with dealers, museums and collectors around the world. Mr. Becchina is not on trial but is under investigation in a related case...

Focus in Getty Trial Shifts to a Sicilian Antiquities Dealer, The New York Times, New York, USA, April 27, 2006.

Greece's culture minister said Wednesday that he will meet with J. Paul Getty Museum director Michael Brand in Athens to press Greece's claim for the return of four ancient artefacts from the Los Angeles museum.

Greece claims the artefacts are among thousands believed to have been illegally exported as part of a booming trade in the country's priceless archaeological heritage.

Culture Minister Giorgos Voulgarakis said he was "extremely interested in the matter of the return of the Greek antiquities."

The Getty confirmed the May 16 meeting, and said in a statement, "We believe these discussions should take place between Dr. Brand and Greek officials and we will have no further comment at this time..."

Greece asks Getty to return artefacts, AP via The Long Beach Press Telegram, Florida, USA, May 04, 2006.

Learning about ancient cultures may be as simple as reading the writing on the wall, if you're Eugene Cruz-Uribe.

Cruz-Uribe, a professor of history at Northern Arizona University, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to lecture and research at Egypt's South Valley University for the 2006-07 academic year, where he will continue his exploration of Egyptian graffiti.

Fondly known as the "Egypt Guy," Cruz-Uribe will teach ancient history at the university and will record Egyptian script from historic sites dating back from 600 B.C. until A.D 300. He said his findings reveal Egypt's reaction to its loss of internal control and its suppression by the Persians and later the Greeks and Romans.

"The research portion of my Fulbright is a project to record graffiti at the temple of Isis on the island of Philae at Aswan," Cruz-Uribe said...

'Egypt Guy' awarded Fulbright grant, Northern Arizona University, Arizona, USA, May 04, 2006.

Egypt and Japan sign a cooperation protocol to build the planned Grand Egyptian Museum, Nevine El-Aref reports.

It was a scenic evening at the Prince Taz Palace in Mediaeval Cairo, classical music tunes filled the air and a soft spring breeze played with the soaring palm tree branches in the courtyard. Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, Culture Minister Farouk Hosni and Fayza Abul-Naga, minister of state for foreign affairs, gathered at the palace's Mashrabiya terrace along with scores of Egyptian ministers, government officials and the Japanese ambassador to Egypt to exchange notes on a long-term loan offered by the Japanese government to help in the construction of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM). The loan provides $300 million of a total approximate budget projected at $550 million. Abul-Naga told reporters that the loan will be due after a 10-year grace period, to be settled in instalments through another 30 years with an interest rate of 1.5 per cent. "According to such an agreement, Japan has granted Egypt 70 per cent of the whole sum," she pointed out, adding that through the last three decades Japan has been a strong supporter of Egypt's development projects. On the morning of the same day, Japan also granted Egypt $40 million to finance the second phase of the Resist Industrial Pollution project. At the end of her speech Abul-Naga expressed her appreciation to the Japanese government for its support to help Egypt built such an important museum, which has been described internationally as "the project of the millennium"...

The museum of eternity, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 793, May 04 - 10, 2006.