By now any semi-conscious South Floridian knows that the titan-size "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs" exhibit is slated to open at Fort Lauderdale's Museum of Art in December. Boasting more than 130 priceless artefacts from Tut's tomb, unearthed in 1922, and from other royal burial sites of the 18th Dynasty, the multimedia show recently drew more than 850,000 viewers at the Federal Art Museum in Bonn, Germany. Its first U.S. sojourn begins today at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and it will eventually grace the Field Museum in Chicago and the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia during its 27-month tour.

But let's say you are a crazed Egyptophile. You yourself and wait six months to housing see Tut's silver trumpets, cloisonné daggers or his heart scarab, a solid gold breastplate inlaid with semi-precious stones and inscribed with the "heart spell" from the Book of the Dead. No worries. National Geographic, one of the tour's co-sponsors, offers you the official companion book to the exhibition titled, what else, ($35).

Written by Zahi Hawass, Egypt's premier archaeologist and secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, the 256-page volume offers eight chapters that meticulously chronicle the kingdoms and graves of the ancient pharaohs. More than 170 photographs accompany the text, along with maps of the region and a timeline.

Among a slew of prestigious findings, National Geographic explorer-in-residence Hawass is credited with overseeing the conservation of the Great Sphinx and the discoveries of the tombs of the Giza pyramid builders. He's consulted on a wide array of documentaries, feature films, television specials and articles. He's devoted his entire life to Egyptian archaeology, history and culture. So only a master of the obvious would need to point out that Hawass knows his stuff.

This is probably the reason that much of the text holds the same thrill one would find in a college reference book about Egypt. Yes, the account here is thorough. We learn the ancient Egyptians were beer drinkers and they believed gold to be the "flesh of the gods." We also learn that Tut's association with the heretic pharaoh Akhenaten, who many scholars believe to be the boy king's father, ensured the preservation of his tomb. Ticked off at Tut, maybe because of his blood bond with the despised Akhenaten, subsequent kings wiped his name from official records. With Tutankhamun's existence erased, his royal grave remained untouched by thieves and shrouded beneath the sands of the Valley of the Kings.

Tut tome whets the appetite for exhibit, Emma Trelles, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Florida, USA, June 16, 2005.

This is the fictional story of Khonso-Imhep, Head Musician of the Pharaoh's court during the 18th Dynasty, as he passes from life into the afterworld, complete with a trial that determines his fate. Through re-enactments and imagery on wall paintings, this film depicts the ancient Egyptian mummification process and the religious rituals involved in preparing a dead body. This story displays the unique funeral ceremonies surrounding the preparation of a mummy and portrays the religious beliefs involved, as well as the mummy's discovery by archaeologists.

Trial of a Mummy, The Archaeology Channel, USA, November 2006.

Blog posting. Sorry about the lack of updates yesterday. There was a problem with my blog hosting and all of the posts stacked up and didn't get processed until I sorted it out this lunchtime.

A Londonderry man is set to cause a storm of controversy among academics with a new book claiming the Pyramids were built thousands of years later than currently believed.

Major US non-fiction publisher Algora has now committed Emmet Sweeney's groundbreaking book, , to print.

The 51-year-old author, who has spent 20 years studying the mysteries of Egyptology and visiting ancient sites, also claims in his new book that many of the Pharaohs reigned a lot closer to the time of Christ than first thought.

Research conducted by Mr Sweeney, a University of Ulster graduate from Marlborough Street, found a number of similarities between Old Testament Biblical writings and those unearthed in Egypt, which were traditionally thought to have been much older...

Storm in a teacup more like! Check out the lively discussion at the Hall Of Maat.

Derry man to cause storm with book about Pyramids, The Belfast telegraph, Northern Ireland, UK, November 28, 2006.

The number of International tourists arriving in Egypt jumped approx. 20% in the month of October, to reach a record total of 855,000 visitors.

This number confirms the predictions of the Egyptian Minister of Tourism to end 2006 with a new record number, passing ahead of the already record year of 2005.

The Minister continues to deploy enormous means through an international publicity campaign destined to the principal tourist markets as well as an active cooperation with the Tour Operators of each market.

From Canada, 5500 tourists chose Egypt as their vacation destination during the month of October which means an increase of 46% compared with the same month in 2005. The biggest jump in the number of tourists from the principal markets came from Israel (+78%) followed by Poland (+53%).

Based on the total numbers of January through to October , English tourists will be at the head of the number of international visitors since they surpassed the one million tourists.

Number of Tourists to Egypt Jumps, TravelVideo.TV, Ontario, Canada, November 28, 2006.

Italy made good on its agreement to loan one of its treasures to the Museum of Fine Arts on Tuesday, turning over a 9-foot marble statue Eirene — goddess of peace — in exchange for the Boston institution returning 13 disputed antiquities to Rome this fall.

The statue dates to the first half of the first century and, like many Roman sculptures, is an adaptation of a Greek sculpture. The original bronze sculpture of the personification of Peace, holding the baby Ploutos, was made by Kephisodotos and dates to the 370s or 360s B.C.

The statue — which no longer has its arms or the infant — was excavated in 1986 from the garden of a Roman villa in the territory of Palombara Sabina. It will be on view to the public until 2009...

Italy loans piece to MFA in exchange for return of disputed art, AP via The Boston Herald, Massachusetts, USA, November 27, 2006.

Tests have started on a robot archaeologist due to be sent deep inside Egypt's largest pyramid, Cheops, to reveal secrets of the pyramid. A robot had been sent into Cheops in 2002 by Egyptian team in cooperation with a US University.

During the 2002 foray, three doors were discovered by robot archaeologist. When the robot first slipped through the pyramid's south passage, it encountered with a door with copper handlers.

When the robot penetrated through a 1 cm hole at the door, a second door was found about 21 cm from the first door.

As the robot slipped through, it was blocked with a passage that ends with a small door with copper handles.

The new 1 will be carried out by a team from Singapore and a joint group from Britain and Hong Kong. A makeshift milestone-built passage was specific designed to carry out the tests.

Tests begin to send robot archaeologist into Cheops, Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, December 01, 2006.

The Ancient Egyptians built their great Pyramids by pouring concrete into blocks high on the site rather than hauling up giant stones, according to a new Franco-American study.

The research, by materials scientists from national institutions, adds fuel to a theory that the pharaohs' craftsmen had enough skill and materials at hand to cast the two-tonne limestone blocks that dress the Cheops and other Pyramids.

Despite mounting support from scientists, Egyptologists have rejected the concrete claim, first made in the late 1970s by Joseph Davidovits, a French chemist.

The stones, say the historians and archaeologists, were all carved from nearby quarries, heaved up huge ramps and set in place by armies of workers. Some dissenters say that levers or pulleys were used, even though the wheel had not been invented at that time.

Until recently it was hard for geologists to distinguish between natural limestone and the kind that would have been made by reconstituting liquefied lime.

But according to Professor Gilles Hug, of the French National Aerospace Research Agency (Onera), and Professor Michel Barsoum, of Drexel University in Philadelphia, the covering of the great Pyramids at Giza consists of two types of stone: one from the quarries and one man-made...

Pyramids were built with concrete rather than rocks, scientists claim, Charles Bremner, The Times, UK, December 01, 2006.

cf. Scientist Says Concrete Was Used in Pyramids, John Noble Wilford, The New York Times, New York, USA, November 30, 2006.

cf. The Riddle of the Great Pyramids of Giza: Drexel Professor Finds Some Building Blocks Were Cast, Brian Rossiter, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, November 30, 2006.

A fifty-six page PDF document detailing the research can be found here: The Great Pyramids of Giza; Evidence for Cast Blocks, Michel W. Barsoum, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

Scholars have long believed that ancient Egypt was a genetic stew of ethnicity, as the fabled kingdom was both a center of international trade and often the victim of foreign invasions.

Now, new evidence suggests that may have been true even in the upper echelons of society, according to researchers who have used a blend of art and science to re-create what the ancients looked like in real life.

They have used CAT scans to model the skulls of seven mummies from various museums, including one unveiled yesterday at Philadelphia's Academy of Natural Sciences, revealing physical features that range from Mediterranean to African.

All seven were buried with the trappings of a high status in society, including two clearly connected to the priesthood, said project leader Jonathan Elias, director of the Harrisburg-based Akhmim Mummy Studies Consortium...

A new picture of ancient ethnic diversity, Tom Avril, The Philadelphia Enquirer, Pennsylvania, USA, December 01, 2006.

Q&A with the project leader Jonathan Elias: Ancient Egyptian society Using mummies to decipher social class.

Luxor's west bank necropolis is to be relieved of what is almost a century-old encroachment upon its grounds. On Saturday, 3,200 families from Al-Gourna will be relocated to the Al-Taref city on Luxor's outskirts. They will be leaving their hometown to explorers who are bent upon unearthing not less than 100 ancient Egyptian tombs expected to be found there.

Photo Caption: ANCIENT TERRAIN, FRESH FINDINGS, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 822, 30 November - 06 December 2006.

cf. Blog posting from Jane Akshar in Luxor: All Move, Jane Akshar, Luxor News via TourEgypt.net, Texas, USA, December 01, 2006.