At the southeast corner of the Great Pyramid was a large mound of sand. In 1991, I told my assistant to begin clearing this so that we could see what was underneath and we found a pyramid! I was thrilled. Petrie had excavated in this area in 1881; the American archaeologist George Reisner had been here in the early 1900s; and Selim Hassan had done further clearance in 1940. So we had expectations of finding anything new, especially something as important as a pyramid.

When I examined the newly discovered monument, I saw that it had a square base, the typical shape for a pyramid; its position, at the southeast corner of the upper pyramid complex, identified it immediately as Khufu's missing satellite pyramid. The satellite pyramid is an important element of the Old Kingdom pyramid complex, but its function is still subject to debate. Some scholars think it was a symbolic burial place for the ka, or spirit double, of the king; others think it was for the burial of the king's placenta, canopic jars, or crowns; and still others believe it was a solar symbol. I believe that it might have been connected with the Sed Festival, a celebration whose exact meaning is still uncertain. It is often called the royal jubilee, as it was generally celebrated for the first time after thirty years of rule. Some historians think it reconfirmed the king as ruler, guaranteed his royal power, or renewed his life and his strength. I believe the festival was held by the king to commemorate his victories and announce that he had finished all that the gods had asked him to do. The pyramid complexes of Khufu's immediate predecessors and successors all have satellite pyramids south of their main pyramids. In pyramid complexes during the rest of the Old Kingdom, the satellite pyramid is typically placed at the southeast corner of the pyramid enclosure. The fact that Khufu did not have a satellite pyramid was always a mystery, and this new find fills a major gap in our knowledge of the development of the pyramid complex.

Discovery of Khufu's missing satellite pyramid, Zahi Hawass, The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt, June 19, 2006.

Americans continue to visit Egypt in numbers not seen since record setting 2000. The trend continued in May 2006 when 18,935 Americans visited Egypt, a 16.3% increase over the same period in 2005.

Egypt has continued to experience double-digit growth, over 2005, from American tourists. In 2006, 98,388 Americans have visited Egypt, an extraordinary increase of 20.9% over last year's 81,398 for the same period.

"We continue to see great growth from the United States as Americans rediscover the wonders of Egypt, from the Great Sphinx to the spectacular beaches in Sharm El-Sheikh," said Mr. Ayden Nour, Consul - Director, USA & Latin America of the Egyptian Tourist Authority.

He noted that American interest in Egypt is high, as three exhibits travel across the U.S. Leading the way is the King Tutankhamun touring exhibit, “Tutankhamun & The Golden Age of the Pharaohs,” which is expected to attract record-setting numbers for the Field Museum in Chicago. “Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh” is now open at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. “The Quest for Immortality: Treasures of Ancient Egypt” opened this month at the Frist Museum of Visual Arts in Nashville...

Egypt Continues to Experience Double-Digit Growth in U.S. Tourism in 2006 , PR Newswire, USA, June 20, 2006.

An internal review by the J. Paul Getty Trust has found that 350 Greek, Roman and Etruscan artefacts in its museum's prized antiquities collection were purchased from dealers identified by foreign authorities as being suspected or convicted of dealing in looted artefacts.

The review, conducted last year to gauge the Getty's exposure to claims against objects in its collection, shows that the trust purchased far more pieces from suspect dealers than has been previously disclosed.

The assessment valued the 350 vases, urns, statues and other sculptures at close to $100 million. That is in addition to 52 items in the Getty collection that Italy has demanded back, contending they were illegally excavated and exported.

The assessment does not address the question of whether any of the 350 objects were purchased illegally, nor does it evaluate their artistic significance. But Getty records show that they include 35 of the museum's 104 masterpieces...

Getty's List of Doubts Multiplies, Los Angeles Times, California, USA, June 18, 2006.

cf. Getty museum admits 350 more treasures may be looted , The Guardian, UK, June 19, 2006.

One might have thought that the Ice Age Bosnian pyramid story would collapse like a bad soufflé, but no. Mainstream media has become somewhat more critical of stories emanating from Visoko, but much of the real work in dissecting the claims has appeared on blogs and message boards, such as The Hall of Ma'at (see "Pseudoscience in Cyberspace"). Unfortunately, the mainstream folks haven't picked up on much of this. Meanwhile, the professional community has become more outspoken, notably with a recent field trip to the site by Anthony Harding, who is president of the European Association of Archaeologists, and in response to a proposed UNESCO mission to the site.

First off, by way of summarizing it all, we are still awaiting any credible evidence that these hills are man-made pyramids and that they date to the end of the Ice Age. That's the big claim, and the burden of proof is on those making it. Semir Osmanagic says, "It's such a huge construction undertaking that the only answer is, yes, this is the work of a supercivilization" (see "Pyramid Scheme" in the July/August issue of ARCHAEOLOGY; abstract here). But where are the artefacts? Where are the settlements in which the people lived? Where are the dates?

"Not any evidence at all has been found," says Harding, quoted by the Associated Press. "I've seen the site, in my opinion it is entirely natural." But the same article, widely carried with slight variations (here is one example), still describes Osmanagic as "the amateur Bosnian archaeologist who has been investigating Latin American pyramids for 15 years." The conclusions reached by him, that the Maya originally came from outer space, identify the kind of researcher Mr. Osmangic is, but that's ignored by the reporter...

Bosnian "Pyramids" Update, Mark Rose, Archaeology Magazine, New York, USA, June 14, 2006.

The archaeological mystery has been solved! The latest research shows that the manuscript found by Polish archaeologists in the village of Gourna (Sheikh abd el-Gourna) near Luxor in Upper Egypt contains the entire biblical book of Isaiah in the Coptic translation. “This is the first complete translation of this book in Coptic” — says Prof. Ewa Wipszycka- Bravo of the Institute of Archaeology at Warsaw University.

In February last year, Tomasz Górecki heading the Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology at the Warsaw University mission in Gourna, made a unique find in the rubbish heap of a monastery. It consisted of two papyrus books in leather covers and a collection of parchment sheets bound by two bits of wood. This was the first discovery of Coptic manuscripts in Egypt since 1952, which are well preserved and supported by a well-researched archaeological context.

One of the books is the “Code of Pseudo-Basili” — the only preserved full text in Coptic, which is a collection of rules regulating Church life. The other contains the life of St. Pistentios, one of the Coptic bishops. Both texts date back to the 7th/8th centuries...

The Book of Isaiah under the sands of Egypt, Science & Scholarship in Poland, Poland, June 20, 2006.

The issue of provenance — or the history of an artwork's ownership — has never before been a more debated topic among archaeologists and attorneys, collectors and curators, museum directors and donors, nations and cultural groups.

It's occurring as the Metropolitan Museum of Art agrees to return ancient objects to Italy, a former American antiquities curator faces charges of knowingly buying stolen artefacts and museums continue to address claims about artwork stolen by Nazis up to 70 years ago.

The debate touches on issues of cultural heritage and history, of the aesthetic value of artwork versus the scholarly value of archaeology, a web of international laws and political motivations, and modern-day geographic borders that do not always correlate with ancient civilizations.

In other words, who owns cultural property? Who owns the past..?

Museums Wrestle With Antiquities Ownership, AP via San Francisco Chronicle, California, USA, June 18, 2006.

A religiously motivated attack on statues at a museum in Cairo has sparked outcry in Egypt and fuelled fears that the country is veering towards an Islamic state.

The attack on three artworks, by a black-clad and veiled woman screaming, "Infidels, infidels!" followed a fatwa issued by the Grand Mufti of Cairo, Ali Gomaa, which banned all decorative statues of living beings.

It led to furious criticism of the mufti from Egyptian liberals. In a televised debate with the mufti after the attack, one poet raged that "the prevalent religious discourse in the country encourages terror".

Although the ancient treasures of Egypt have been protected under Islam so far, an increasing extremism in the country could make statues such as the quartzite head of Nefertiti, the colossus of Amenhotep, and the golden death mask of Tutankhamen possible targets in future.

At the scene of the attack, in the villa and museum of the Egyptian sculptor, Hassan Heshmat, guards said they had been woken in the middle of the night by the woman's shouts and the sounds of destruction...

Statue attack fuels fears of an Islamist Egypt, The Telegraph, UK, June 18, 2006.

cf. After Bamiyan, Andrew Stuttaford, National Review, New York, USA, June 18, 2006.

The recipe for Midas Touch is based on residue archaeologists found 39 years ago in the tomb of the real King Midas, or at least a close relative.

The ancient alcoholic mixed beverage — a blend of wine, mead (fermented honey) and beer — was served to mourners at a funeral feast around 700 B.C. in Gordian, capital of the Phrygian kingdom, in what is today central Turkey.

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, perhaps America's most imaginative producer, began selling its "ancient ale" seven years ago, but it has just hit North Texas stores, and supply is sometimes short.

Archaeologists originally collected about a quarter-pound of the powdery residue from 157 Bronze Age drinking vessels and 100 drinking bowls found in the tomb. The residue sat in a basement office at the University of Pennsylvania until a molecular archaeologist named Patrick McGovern was told of the cache in 1997 and set to work analyzing it.

The reason I picked this up in my trawling of the news sites is for the following quote mentioning Tutankhamun.

Dogfish Head isn't the first commercial brewer to offer ancient suds.

Delwen Samuel, a Cambridge University archaeologist, similarly analyzed residue from Egyptian workers' settlements, circa 1500 to 1300 B.C. In 1996, the British brewer Scottish & Newcastle, best known for Newcastle Brown Ale, used the ingredients to craft Tutankhamun Ale, sold at a whopping $76 a bottle at Harrod's to aid Egyptian archaeological digs.

I had been meaning to blog this one for quite some time as I originally spotted it last year in USA Today — 'Extreme' brewers pour it on, USA Today, USA, August 04, 2006 — as this article had popped up again referencing Tutankhamun but getting it slightly confused stating the King Midas beer came from Tut's tomb.

Some so-called extreme brewers, such as Sam Calagione of Delaware-based Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, are doing things that are unclassifiable. His Midas Touch Golden Elixir beer is inspired from an analysis of residue found on crockery in King Tut's tomb; his Pangea incorporates ingredients from each of the world's seven continents; and he's working on a version of tej, an African beverage flavoured with hops and honey.

Midas Touch takes beer drinker on archaeological adventure, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas, USA, June 07, 2006.

cf. Midas Touch takes beer drinker on archaeological adventure, Bellville News Democrat, California, USA, June 12, 2006.

cf. Stone Age Beer, Larry Gallagher, Discover = Magazine, Vol. 26, No. 11, November 2005.

cf. The Midas touch: academic research into the origins of beer has produced drinkable versions of the ancient brews, Gregg Glaser, Modern Brewery Age, November 11, 2002.

cf. Recreating King Midas' Golden Elixir: in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania, an American brewer makes a beer for the ages, Gregg Glaser, Modern Brewery Age, July 22, 2002.

The most exciting discovery I ever made was that of the secret doors deep inside the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza. The story goes back to 1993, when I closed the Great Pyramid for a full year to prevent damage from any further humidity inside of the Pyramid. The humidity was being created by visitors wandering inside the amazing structure, each of whom was emitting 20 grams of water through breathing.

I thought I should create a ventilation system for the Pyramid, and for this reason alone I decided to close it.

I lived in a rest house near the Great Pyramid for years and quickly became accustomed to watching its magic at both sunrise and at sunset. Even when I entered the Pyramid in the evening to meditate or to observe the construction of the Grand Gallery, I wondered if it held any further secrets to be discovered - I even began to clean the five chambers located above the King's Chamber to see the inscriptions they held, and removed stone rubble from the site. At the same time as we were doing this work, we found out that many New Age people and other pyramidiots, as I call them, were making up stories that I was actually hiding within the chambers things that belonged to some lost civilization..!

From the Notebook of Dr. Zahi Hawass, Egypt Today, Egypt, Volume 27, Issue 06, June 2006.

In what is turning into the ‘Da Vinci Code’ of the Egyptology world, Dr. Zahi Hawass, head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), has upped the ante in the Ka Nefer Nefer controversy.

The head of the SCA announced last month that he would start legal proceedings against the St. Louis Art Museum (SLAM) to recover a thirteenth-century-BC funerary mask he alleges was stolen from Egypt.

The well-preserved wood and plaster mask of Ka Nefer Nefer was discovered in Saqqara by an Egyptian excavator in 1952. According to Hawass, the mask was documented as being in storage at the Saqqara inspectorate until 1959, when it was to be transferred for display at the Egyptian Museum.

“According to the museum’s files, the mask never entered the museum and it has not been seen in Egypt since that time,” Hawass says.

Hawass says he is working with Egypt’s Attorney General to file a lawsuit against the museum in a St. Louis court. He is also seeking help from Interpol, turning over “all the evidence that [proves] Egypt’s possession of the mask.”

SLAM will be blacklisted from scientific cooperation with the SCA until the mask is returned...

Egypt Wants KA, Egypt Today, Egypt, Volume 27, Issue 06, June 2006.

Hurghada to get a Museum

Hurghada will soon be home to a the first national museum on the Red Sea coast, the Ministry of Culture announced last month, saying the facility will house antiquities discovered in the Eastern Desert.

Located on the water's edge to encompass submerged monuments as well, the 22,000-square-meter facility will have four display halls, artists' studios and performance spaces. The museum will give tourists heading to Hurghada from abroad the chance to sample the complete spectrum of Egyptian history - from Pharaonic through Islamic eras - at one destination.

Grand Egyptian Museum to open in 2011?

The government of Japan last month finalized a $300 million loan to Egypt for the construction of the new Grand Egyptian Museum on the Giza Plateau. Japan's ambassador to Cairo and Minister of International Cooperation Fayza Abul Naga inked the loan agreement at a public signing ceremony.

The Ministry of Culture had initially said that construction of the GEM should wrap up by the end of 2009, but the only building block now in place is the foundation stone set by President Hosni Mubarak in 2002.

Farouk Abdel Salam, first undersecretary of the Ministry of Culture, says that construction will start soon, adding that he expects the GEM to be ready for its first guests in 2011.

Culture 101, Egypt Today, Egypt, Volume 27, Issue 06, June 2006.

However, one of the tomb friezes in the tomb of Mereruka at Saqqara bears a representation of what I am convinced is an otter. It is depicted in a papyrus swamp lying on its belly, eating away at a fish that is held in its forepaws. The head is typically otter, with a blunt muzzle and very small ears, the tail is stout with a thick stock and the paws, holding the fish, simply cry out, “otter.” If it is an otter, and I am convinced, then perhaps either the Cape Clawless or the Spot-necked Otter extended north to the Delta in Pharaonic times. The draining of the vast papyrus swamps would certainly have lead to its demise and, given that there is, to my knowledge, only one such portrayal, it may have been rare and elusive even then...

The mongoose, too, appears in Pharaonic friezes, often in the act of thieving eggs from nests. It is an opportunistic hunter, also taking rodents, reptiles, frogs, insects and other invertebrates. But it is most renowned for tackling snakes, including poisonous ones. Across the border in Israel, researchers have shown that Egyptian Mongooses are important controllers of the venomous Palestine Viper...

Rats, Egypt Today, Egypt, Volume 27, Issue 06, June 2006.

Ancient Egypt's art of carving now rests on the shoulders of one man.

His hands are wiry, disproportionately so even for his ageing, slender frame, his fingers gnarled with years of hacking away at blocks of relentless stone. Yet his face is a fascinating contrast of spent passion and childlike enthusiasm. He gets his 12-year-old son Uday to massage his arms and fingers "Uday is the light of my life," says Mohammed El Adli, better known as Kelhe, one of only two (maybe three if you stretch the art) of Egypt's pharaonic (pertaining to the pharaohs) sculptors.

The art of carving of the ancient Egyptians, a civilisation that thrived for over 4000 years, looks set to die with him. In spite of the huge official attention that Egypt now pays to its antiquities, no help is offered to artists and craftsmen practising the art of the ancients. "I don't want my son to follow me, this is not family work," he says with sadness...

The last of the pharaonic sculptors, The Hindu Magazine, India, June 11, 2006.

Feedback from the recent Discovery Special has been very positive. Speaking for the whole team we thank everyone for their sincere encouragement and support.

Coffin ‘C’ has been completely cleared. Two long, un-inscribed limestone cornices were found at the head of the coffin along with a miniature bowl, one large storage jar, and some worked stone blocks.

Coffins ‘D’ and ‘F’ ˜ we are just beginning to examine so a report will be forthcoming soon.

Coffin ‘E’ (against the back wall of the chamber) has already received some conservation work. Resin-covered bands of texts are visible stretching across the torso, and extending midline towards the footboard. Intense conservation measures will be utilized to preserve these precious bands of texts in hopes of discovering names or cartouches. In the interim, we are considering x-raying (and other non-intrusive tools) this particular coffin and the infant coffin to determine contents and aid the team in formulating a timetable for examination...

KV63: Otto's Dig Diary, Dr. Otto Schaden, Amenmesse Project, University of Memphis, Tennessee, June 10, 2006.

The door closes and one by one your group’s flashlights go out. Your guide says don’t panic, but you’re not too sure you won’t despite knowing this is just a game. Your adventure has begun at 5 W!TS TOMB. This 40-minute interactive challenge, along the lines of an amusement park simulation ride, is perfect for older kids and their families looking for something to do in Beantown that’s, well, different.

No strict American history lesson here. The premise of this attraction, located in the Fenway, is that you and your fellow explorers are on an archaeological dig in Egypt, trying to escape a pharaoh’s wrath as you figure out clues to get from one chamber to the next before time runs out. For anyone who loves “Indiana Jones” or any sort of adventure movie, this will be thrilling, putting you in the centre of the action...

TOMB will show you the mummy, The Boston Herald, Massachusetts, USA, June 15, 2006.

Archaeologists in the site of Iruña-Veleia have discovered an epigraphic set "among the most important of the Roman world" with drawings from the third century and a representation of a Calvary.

Archaeologists in the site of Iruña-Veleia have discovered an epigraphic set "among the most important of the Roman world," with a series of 270 inscriptions and drawings from the 3rd century and a representation of a Calvary, "the most ancient known up to this moment."

The managers of the archaeological site, located near the Alavan town of Nanclares de Oca, have officially unveiled these findings, identified and analysed last summer...

The Egypt expert of the University of Barcelona Montserrat Rius has explained that some Latin inscriptions refer to the ancient Egyptian history and its divinities, and has noted there are also hieroglyphic inscriptions "with a perfect layout" that make experts think they were taught to children.

In the findings, the "early and extraordinary testimonies of Christianisation" stand out. For instance, the presentation of a Calvary, "the most ancient known up to this moment," a small piece "between eight and ten square centimetres..."

Third century Roman inscriptions discovered in the Basque Country, eitb, Spain, June 08, 2006.

A good write up and debunking of some of the Bosnian 'pyramid' discoveries and claims.

Bosnian Pyramids: Absence of Evidence is not Evidence of Atlantis, Alun Salt, History News Network, USA, May 29, 2006.

Problems surrounding the Karnak Development Project still seem unsolved despite the reported approval of all concerned. Nevine El-Aref investigates the continuing controversy.

The mood at this year's annual meeting in Luxor between the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) and the French mission of the Centre Franco-Egyptien D'Étude des Temples de Karnak (CFEETK) was tense despite a friendly veneer. Some observers have reported that the planned Karnak Development Project drawn up by the SCA in collaboration with the Luxor City Council (LCC) was the cause of the underlying ill feeling, especially since part of the project's plan involves the demolition of the French mission's residential compound and the 19th-century-dig house of French Egyptologist George Legrain. Situated right on the doorstep of Karnak Temple, this colonial-style house carries a special symbolic meaning for the French.

According to Egyptologist Ali Radwan, co- director of the CFEETK scientific delegation with French Egyptologist Dominique Valbelle, the LE50 million project will protect the monument from progressive infringements as well as restoring the temple to its former glory. It will remove all encroachment from the forefront of the temple and allow excavation work to uncover the ancient harbour and canal that once connected it to the Nile. According to an old map, the Ancient Egyptians used this canal to gain access to the West Bank of the Nile in a position corresponding to Hatshepsut's Deir Al-Bahari Temple, which was built on the same axis.

Karnak's avenue of trees will be preserved, and a row of acacia and ficus will be planted to separate the temple from the road beside it. Bazaars beside the temple walls will be removed to what was formerly the Luxor stadium on the Nile Corniche..

A trifle over bazaars, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 799, June 15 - 21, 2006.

Where Egypt was concerned, Napoleon came, saw and only briefly conquered. But he had there his first taste of totalitarian domination over a large nation, which did not bode well for Europe. More to the point of "Napoleon on the Nile: Soldiers, Artists and the Rediscovery of Egypt," an engrossing exhibition at the Dahesh Museum of Art, he set in motion one of the most ambitious fact-finding missions in modern history. It was carried out by 150 handpicked scientists, artists and engineers, known as the savants, who accompanied the 55,000 troops of the Armée de l'Orient to Egypt.

Landing at Alexandria on July 1, 1798, Napoleon intended to establish a colony, disrupt British trade with India, free the Egyptians from their Mameluke oppressors and impose liberty and equality on a benighted land. (The last goal sounds distressingly familiar.)

After he walked into Alexandria and forced the Mamelukes from Cairo, disaster struck on Aug. 1. The French had correctly faced the cannons on their 400 vessels out toward the sea in case of attack but incorrectly dropped anchor so far from shore that British ships, under Lord Nelson, easily intervened from the landward side and destroyed the French fleet.

After a period of what was basically a Mameluke insurgency aided and abetted by the British and the Ottoman Turks, Napoleon secretly fled to France on Oct. 11, 1799, leaving only a short note for his second in command, Jean Baptiste Kléber, a handwritten copy of which, by Kléber's chief of staff, is on display. Its first sentence (of only five) might have been that of a weekend houseguest called suddenly back to the city: "The news from Europe has caused me to decide to leave for France." He never returned...

When French Savants Were in Egypt's Land, New York Times, New York, USA, June 16, 2006.

When Christie's holds its antiquities sale today, one object whose photograph appears in the catalog will not be present: a 4,000-year-old Egyptian alabaster offering vessel pulled from the auction on Monday, after a Metropolitan Museum curator recognized the object and tipped off Christie's that it may have been stolen from a storage facility in Egypt. In an atmosphere in which the antiquities trade is already under suspicion because of rising concern about cultural patrimony and looted art, the case at Christie's highlights just how difficult it is to determine an object's provenance and authenticity.

The Met curator recognized the offering vessel in the catalog because he had taken part in excavating it in Egypt in 1979. And he knew the object had resided at a facility in Egypt. "I don't think it was a matter of [his] saying it was stolen," the Met's spokesman, Harold Holzer, said. "It was a matter of saying, 'The last I heard, the object was stored at this particular facility, and I thought I'd let you know.' And I think he was not surprised by the course that it then took..."

Antiquities: The Problem of Provenance, The New York Sun, New York, USA, June 16, 2006. Requires subscription.

I have had a catastrophic hard disk failure on my home machine that hosts the Radio Userland blogging software this morning [Thursday June 15th] so I'm not sure when the blog posts that follow this will appear.

Don't you just love Windows XP? Not being the average user I was aware this was going to happen and had made backups and have a new hard disk arriving soon, it just happened sooner than I expected. How did I know? The Windows Event Log is full of error messages like "the hard disk is reporting a bad sector" from the disk subsystem, errors from the NTFS subsystem, and warning messages from the disk subsystem again saying something along the lines of "the hard disk's controller is reporting imminent failure, please backup your data". Did XP once alert the user to this with some sort of warning message? Nope! I bet most average users do not even know that the Event Log even exists, so where would they be right now?

Update: Ordered the hard disk from dabs.com Thursday 15th and paid extra for next day delivery to my work address. Dabs didn't ship the item until Friday 16th telling the courier it was next working day delivery so it arrived Monday 19th. I was working a half day in the morning on Monday and it arrived in the afternoon after I had left so I finally got it Tuesday!

Luckily for me I had backed my blog directories and was able to recover, unfortunately it flushed all of the posts that were waiting! I'll repost those again after this.

Previously:

Hooray! I'm back online!, November 15, 2005.

Modern medical science has exposed the villainy of the crocodile mummy sellers of Hawara, more than 2,000 years after they defied the edict of a Pharaoh and turned neatly bandaged bundles of rubbish into a nice little earner.

Before the reopening this month of the Egyptian Galleries at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, curators took their animal and human mummies to the city's Addenbrooke's Hospital, as part of a £1.5m re-display of the internationally renowned collection, which dates in part back to the founding of the museum in 1816.

Analysis continues after the mummies were run through a CT scanner and other tests, but the preliminary results are startling. The two baby crocodile shaped mummies were originally sold to worshippers at the temple at Hawara, to be buried in ritual pits as an offering to the god Sobek. There was clearly a history of problems with the animal sellers: a pharaonic decree a century earlier had ordered that each mummy should contain the body of one animal...

Massive mummy fraud discovered after 2,000 years, The Guardian, UK, June 21, 2006.