Someone in America is offering the curse of King Tutankhamun for sale on eBay...

... In addition to working with other Englishmen and Americans, a lot of the actual excavation and digging was conducted by local laborers. One of these laborers, an Egyptian by the name of Ali Salameh, was a friend of my great grandfather's. During earlier excavations, Ali was one of the men in the group of people passing rocks and debris taken from the Pharaoh's tomb in order to clear the passage for entrance. Ali saved a handful of rocks while clearing the broken seal of Tutankhamun's tomb as a good luck talisman. In the winter of 1923, when my great grandfather was visiting Ali, he learned of the rocks, and showed great interest in them. As it customary in the Middle East, one always gives up what's theirs for their good friends, so Ali presented the stones (enclosed within a glass jar) to my great grandfather. Ever since, these rocks became a family relic that has been passed down, along with this story, to my grandfather, then myself. When I got it, I was strictly warned: "This is a double edged sword; it brings good luck when closed, but can bring grave misfortunes when opened - never open it..."

Curse of the Mummy of Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun, eBay, USA.

Thanks to Naissur Bara for tipping me off about this one.

Did daily life in Ancient Egypt involve rush hour panics to get to the pyramid building site, or protests over asses being exploited for their milk?

Those questions may be answered at Land of the Pharaohs, a new exhibition at the Atkinson Art Gallery beginning Monday, May 15 [2006].

The interactive display will show how people lived, and what they did to help them through everyday life, as well as the afterlife when it approached.

Museums from across the North West have donated exhibits to the display, complementing the Atkinson's existing collection.

Land of the Pharaohs runs until Saturday, July 22 [2006]. Admission is free.

Ancient Egyptian life in focus, icLiverpool, UK, May 05, 2006.

From time immemorial, tourists from Pliny the Elder to Napoleon Bonaparte have arrived at Giza's great pyramids only to be confronted in their majestic shadows by cries of "My friend! My friend!" from hoards of irritating, persistent camel touts intent on selling them a ride on their ungainly "ships of the desert." It's among every visitor's top 10 complaints about the country...

From the moment your taxi pulls onto the stretch of chaotic highway leading to the pyramids, you're a sitting target. Multitudes of teenage boys, employed by nearby stables, waylay taxi drivers, hammering on the hoods of cars and sticking their heads through open windows. "You need camel? Cheap price. Pay us, and entry to pyramids free!" This, of course, is one of the oldest scams in the book. And the assault by the touts, tricksters, and pushy salesmen continues up the steep hill to the pyramids' ticket office.

The camel touts who do infiltrate the fenced pyramids enclosure itself — a core group of around 20, comprised mostly of friends and family allegiances — are not as pushy as their sharkish counterparts outside. They work alone, sidling in and dotting themselves about the foot of the great Cheops Pyramid...

But smart white-suited tourist police, also mounted on camels, won't tolerate such solicitation, and thus repeat one curious ritual from dawn to dusk. Every half hour or so, a policeman spurs his snoozing steed into action, and lollops around the pyramid's base, chasing the touts away. The touts' camels reel and totter on their huge, two-toed feet, before breaking into an ungainly sprint as they disappear behind the nearest sandbank in a cloud of dust. Minutes later, they reappear and it all begins again...

The camel tout is as eternal as the pyramids, Christian Science Monitor, Massachusetts, USA, May 08, 2006.

Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak and Mrs. Bernadette Chirac, co-inaugurated Amenhotep Museum at Saqqara area...

New Treasure uncovered in Karnak temple...

Egyptian antiquarian among "People who Shape our World" list...

News about Antiquities from Egypt 06, TravelVideo.TV, Ontario, Canada, May 09, 2006.

He made a huge splash when he visited Chicago in 1977, then we didn't hear from him for more than three decades.

But now, King Tut is back and, to hear Field Museum curators tell it, he's not getting older, he's getting better.

The "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of Pharaohs" exhibition comes to Chicago later this month, 31 years after the Boy King's first visit caused a citywide frenzy. The display includes more than 130 priceless treasures from the tombs of the young ruler and his royal relatives.

Only a few pieces on the current tour were included in the 1977 blockbuster exhibit. Many have never left Egypt...

Tut II — Return of the king, The Chicago Daily Herald, Illinois, USA, May 10, 2006.

Officials at Chicago's Field Museum say they've already sold 170,000 advance tickets to the exhibit "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs."

It opens May 26 [2006] and runs through January 1 [2007].

Workers put the first artefact into place Tuesday. The nearly life-sized, painted wooden model of Tutankhamun was discovered in Egypt in the tomb of the boy king in the 1920s.

"There are CAT scans, reproductions of what his skull probably looked like, and then you get to see the real individual," said David Silverman, curator of Egyptology of the University of Pennsylvania...

You can find three photographs of the workers setting up the exhibition on Yahoo's Anthropology & Archaeology slideshow.

Museum: 170,000 King Tut Tickets Sold, NBC5 Chicago, Illinois, USA, May 09, 2006.

On April 29, at the annual meeting of the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE), Earl L. Ertman of the University of Akron and an associate director of Otto Schaden's University of Memphis team investigating KV-63 gave a brief update of the findings there. Ertman emphasized that the clearance of the KV-63 "burial chamber" was ongoing, with Schaden at work there now.

Concerning the KV-63 shaft, Ertman noted that it had an overhang similar to two 18th Dynasty tombs, KV-46 and KV-55. KV-46 was the tomb of Yuya and Tjuyu [Thuya / Thuyu / Tuyu] (parents of Queen Tiye, wife of Amenhotep III, and likely mother and grandmother, respectively, of Akhenaten and Tutankhamen). Many scholars believe KV-55 is the burial place of Smenkhkare, perhaps a younger brother or son of Akhenaten. Others, including Ertman, maintain it is Akhenaten's.

The fill of the shaft, on the south side consists of large stones, noticeably larger than the fill elsewhere. This, said Ertman, indicates KV-63 was probably entered at least once after being originally sealed...

KV 63: A Look at the New Tomb, Archaeology Magazine, New York, USA, May 01, 2006.

The KV63 dig diary has been updated with several more entries. There are also some new pictures on the pictures page.

Coffin G (the Youth Coffin) was bought up successfully. The coffin appears very solid and in good condition (no termite damage). The coffin does possess a very exquisite painted face. Of particular interest is the resin-coated underside of the lid, this is indeed unusual, and possibly points to an effort to conceal decoration and/or text.

Lid fragments, a side panel, and the mask from Coffin B were also removed from the chamber this week. The inside of Coffin B is filled with pot-sherds (some belonging to large storage jars and blue-painted ceramics), natron, small animal bones, linen, seals (object seals not to be confused with door seals), wood items, and additional funerary goods...

KV63: Otto's Dig Diary, Dr. Otto Schaden, Amenmesse Project, University of Memphis, Tennessee, May 09, 2006.

Well, this post was going to be just about Google Scholar, which has been around for some time, but upon investigating I find that Microsoft launched their own academic search tool a couple of weeks ago.

A good write up and comparison of Google Scholar and Microsoft Windows Live Academic can be found at ZDNet here: Google Scholar beta, ZDNet, UK, may 02, 2006.

The Google Scholar beta is a terrific search tool for students, teachers, scientists, librarians and journalists seeking articles within established academic journals. In our tests, we found that the Google Scholar beta sifts through more publications than does Windows Live Academic Search beta (although Microsoft plans to add more sources)...

A couple of news reports about Microsoft's new offering...

Microsoft launches Google Scholar rival, The Scientist, UK, April 25, 2006.

Microsoft's academic alternative to Google, The Australian, Australia, May 10, 2006.