Jane Akshar has posted some photographs of the new visitor centre in the Valley of the Kings on her blog.

photos from the new Valley of Kings visitors centre, Jane Akshar, Luxor News, Luxor, Egypt, December 24, 2006.

Strange specimens of natural glass found in the Egyptian desert are products of a meteorite slamming into Earth between 100,000 and 200,000 years ago, scientists have concluded.

The glass — known locally as Dakhla glass — represents the first clear evidence of a meteorite striking an area populated by humans.

At the time of the impact, the Dakhla Oasis, located in the western part of modern-day Egypt, resembled the African savanna and was inhabited by early humans, according to archaeological evidence...

"This meteorite event would have been catastrophic for all living things," said Maxine Kleindienst, an anthropologist at the University of Toronto in Canada.

"Even a relatively small impact would have exterminated all life for [several] miles..."

Mysterious Egyptian Glass Formed by Meteorite Strike, Study Says, Stefan Lovgren, National Geographic News, District of Columbia, USA, December 21, 2006.

Previously:

More on Meteorite Crash Helped Form King Tut Necklace, June 30, 2006.

King Tut’s glass beetle came from outer space, June 27, 2006.

“I’m no Indiana Jones,” says Franck Goddio, the French economist-turned-archaeologist who curated “Egypt’s Sunken Treasures” at the Grand Palais in Paris.

The slow-talking 59-year-old heads the team that has spent 14 years recovering the artefacts on show. Goddio graduated in statistics and learned archaeology on the job, prompting some scepticism in the small world of archaeologists and Egyptologists.

“My job is to avoid adventure, it’s the last thing I want,” he said in an interview at the Grand Palais, where almost 500 of his underwater discoveries are on show through Jan. 7 [2007]. “Things must happen as planned. I don't let chance drive my work...”

Finder of 'Egypt's Sunken Treasures' Says He's No Swashbuckler, Helene Fouquet, Bloomberg, New York, USA, December 28, 2006.

In a few weeks, beginning in February, King Tut will debut at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. ARCHAEOLOGY's Tracy Spurrier spoke to Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, and curator David Silverman of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology about how the exhibition was brought together.

How and why did you choose these particular artefacts out of the hundreds collected from the tomb? Why did you decide to include pieces from the 18th Dynasty before Tutankhamun?

We thought from the beginning that it's not good to send just Tutankhamun, because we want people to known about 18th Dynasty before his reign, so that they can understand the history. It is important to see him in his proper context, not just as a treasure. These pieces belonged to the ancestors of Tut. Some artefacts from Tut's tomb cannot travel, like the mask and the coffin, but these other pieces fit with the scenario of this exhibition and people can appreciate them...

Tut Talk , Archaeology Magazine, Archaeological Institute of America, USA, December 11, 2006.

How do you know it's been an extraordinary year in archaeology? When the discovery of the earliest Maya writing and a 2,500-year-old sarcophagus decorated with scenes from the Iliad don't crack ARCHAEOLOGY's Top 10 list:

• 1. Valley of the Kings Tomb
  KV63 was the first tomb to be excavated in the Valley of the Kings since Tutankhamun's in 1922. The chamber held seven 18th Dynasty coffins.
• ...

Top 10 Discoveries of 2006, Archaeology Magazine, Archaeological Institute of America, USA, Volume 60, Number 1, January / February 2007.

Money in Egypt is confusing! It shouldn't be but it is. Because I ended up dealing in four currencies and having to know roughly the translation from each to Egyptian and Sterling. English Sterling (GBP), US Dollars (USD), Euros (EUR) and Egyptian Pounds (EGP - locally written as LE).

The rates at the moment are approximately 1 GBP = 11 EGP, 1 EUR = 7.5 EGP, and 1 USD = 5.7 EGP. So to make it easy on the mental arithmetic use 10, 7.5, and 5 for reasonable approximations.

One problem I faced was that my hotel, the Holiday Inn Safaga Palace, was mainly a German resort so the bureau de change in the hotel refused to accept my sterling travellers cheques! The guy sat there for ten minutes leafing back-and-forth through huge volumes on spotting forged travellers cheques before asking if I had a euro or dollar cheques. Luckily there was a cash machine in the hotel as well.

Previously:

Back from Egypt - I, December 27, 2006.

The latest issue of Ancient Egypt Magazine is out now. Below is a summary of its contents.

• The Writing is on the Wall ...
  ... but should it be? AE reveals the growing problem of modern graffiti at some of the most important archaeological sites in Egypt.
• From our Egypt Correspondent
  Ayman Wahby Taher with the latest news from Egypt, including the moving of the Rameses II statue.
• Photo Feature: more on the Imhotep Museum at Saqqara
  AE presents unique photographs of some of the stunning exhibits at the new museum at Saqqara.
• Dying to be Egyptian
  Elisabeth Kerner looks at some of the lesser-known cemeteries in London, with their “Egyptianising” architecture.
• The Tomb of Harwa at Thebes
  Chris Naunton writes about the excavations and finds in one of the largest private tombs (dating to the Twenty-sixth Dynasty) in the Theban Necropolis.
• Mary Chubb: Writer and Archaeologist
  A brief biography by Elizabeth Griesman.
• Ancient Egyptian Technology
  Denys Stocks, in the first of three articles, reveals how the ancient Egyptians cut and carved the hardest of stones for their monuments and statues.
• Friends of Nekhen News
  Renée Friedman looks at the many and varied finds from the ancient city of Hierakonpolis and what they reveal about the inhabitants.
• Per Mesut: for younger readers
  In this edition, Hilary Wilson looks at baskets.

Ancient Egypt Magazine, Empire Publications, Manchester, UK, Volume 7, No. 3, Issue 39, December / January 2007.

Subscribe to Ancient Egypt Magazine via Amazon.com.

The new issue of KMT is out now. A summary of its contents appears below.

• Amarna, Egypt's Place in the Sun
  The University of Pennsylvania's Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology Showcase the Amarna Period.
• Examining the Mystery of the Niagara Falls Mummy
  by Dylan Bickerstaff. The Case Against Rameses I.
• Egypt on Merseyside
  by Lucy Gordan-Rastelli. A Visit to the Egyptian Collection in Liverpool.
• The Obelisks of Rome
  by Aidan Dodson. A Guide to the Eternal City's Many Needles of the Sun.
• New York's Obelisk
  Cleopatra's Needle: How It Got There A Pictorial Essay.
• Smiting: A Family Affair
  by Earl L. Ertman. Like Everything Else in His Reign, Akhenaten Changed an Ancient Ritual.
• Djehuty, Moon-God & Divine Scribe
  Ninth in the Series: The Egyptian Pantheon.
• Vladimir S. Golenischev
  by Victor M. Solkin. 150th Anniversary of the Egyptologist You Probably Have Never heard Of.

KMT, KMT Communications Inc., Sebastopol, California, USA, Volume 17, Number 4, Winter 2006 - 07.

Subscribe to KMT Magazine via Amazon.com.