A painting by Egyptologist Howard Carter is to be sold after being discovered at a charity antiques valuation event in Mid Wales.

The gouache by Carter (1874-1939), who discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings on November 4, 1922, is of Queen Senseneb from Deir el Bahari and is valued at up to £3,000 .

Signed by Carter and dated 1897, the painting was discovered by Halls Fine Art's William Lacey in Barmouth during a valuation event that raised over £200 for the town's Dragon Theatre and Community Centre...

Egypt art unearthed, icWales, UK, May 08, 2006.

Scientists now report new radiocarbon evidence to support the contention that the Late Bronze Age in the Aegean began in the 17th century B.C., at least a century before the date previously assumed by many scholars. The radiocarbon samples showed that the age extended from about 1700 B.C. to 1400 B.C.

If correct, the earlier date would require a critical re-examination of cultural and trade relationships at the time between Minoan Crete, Mycenaean Greece and Cyprus, on one hand, and the civilizations of Egypt and the rest of the Middle East.

It would mean that the Crete of the elaborate palaces that tourists flock to see and of the legends of King Minos reached an apex a century earlier than once thought.

Specifically, two independent radiocarbon studies set an earlier date for the volcanic eruption on the island of Thera, now known as Santorini, which set off tsunamis and spread ash and pumice throughout the Aegean and Mediterranean region...

Ancient Crete more ancient than thought?, John Noble Wilford, The New York Times via the Columbus Dispatch, Ohio, USA, May 09, 2006.

Egypt's tourism minister is confident the tourism industry will recover within the next couple of weeks, following the deadly attack on the Red Sea resort town of Dahab. Zoheir Garannah told Middle East Economic Digest we are confident people will continue to travel here. Egypt relies heavily on tourism revenues from the more than 8.6m visitors that come every year.

Egypt optimistic on tourism, AME Info fn, United Arab Emirates, May 09, 2006.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Taurus. They include ... Howard Carter, the Egyptologist who discovered the tomb of Tutankhamen, in 1873...

The Almanac: Today is Tuesday, May 9, Monster & Critics, UK, May 09, 2006.