Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt and Director of excavations at the Giza Pyramids, Saqqara, and Bahariya Oasis, offers a special public talk, “The Riddle of the Pyramids and the Magic of King Tut,” Thursday, February 1 [2007] at 6:00 p.m. in the Harrison Auditorium of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Philadelphia...

In the news, University of Pennsylvania, Tennessee, USA, January 09, 2007.

On Feb. 14 [2007], Penn Staters will have a special viewing of Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs exhibit at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. Before the 8 p.m. tour, Penn State’s internationally renowned Egyptologist Donald Redford will discuss ancient Egypt and King Tut at a dessert reception. This program already is at capacity, although those interested in attending can join a waiting list.

Alumni Association event to showcase student talent, Penn State Live, University of Pennsylvania, Tennessee, USA, January 15, 2007.

Egyptologist Betsy Bryan and her crew are once again sharing their work with the world through an online diary, a digital window into day-to-day life on an archaeological dig. Starting about Friday, Jan. 19 [2007], and running through late February, visitors to “Hopkins in Egypt Today” at www.jhu.edu/neareast/egypttoday.html will find photos of Bryan and her colleagues working on The Johns Hopkins University’s 12th annual expedition in Luxor. Bryan will continue to explore the Egyptian New Kingdom (1567 to 1085 B.C.E.), known as the “golden age” of Egyptian temple building.

According to Bryan, modern-day Luxor is rich in finds from the New Kingdom, like last year’s major discovery: a 3,400-year-old nearly intact statue of Queen Tiy, one of the queens of the powerful king Amenhotep III. In an audio slide show — accessible using Windows Media Player at www.jhu.edu/news_info/realmedia/egypt_2007.wmv — [2'33"] Bryan recalls the discovery of the statue, which she calls "one of the true masterpieces of Egyptian art..."

Archaeologists Bring Egyptian Excavation to the Web, Johns Hopkins University via Newswise, January 18, 2007.

Previously:

Archaeologists Bring Egyptian Excavation to the Web, January 05, 2006.

Egyptian excavation returns to the Web starting Jan. 15, January 12, 2005.

A retired Italian antiquities thief told a Rome court that tomb robbers provide an important service by saving ancient art and helping to preserve a historical record...

“I saved hundreds and hundreds of works that otherwise would have ended up buried under cement,” Casasanta said. “I found thousands of pieces of art that are considered part of Western civilization’s heritage...”

“For years we were art experts, then came a day when we became delinquents,” Casasanta said.

He described the trade’s hierarchy of clandestine antiquities diggers and merchants. The “excavators” sold pieces to “small local merchants,” who did business with “other more important local merchants” — dealers on the international market, he said...

Italian Art Thief Says Tomb Raiders Provide Important Service, Adam L. Freeman, Bloomberg, UK, January 17, 2007.

In a move that seemed to gratify prosecutors, lawyers for a former curator of antiquities at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles who is on trial here asked on Wednesday that the court admit as evidence a letter in which the curator railed against her former employer.

In the Dec. 18 [2006] letter to three Getty officials, the former curator, Marion True, accused the Getty’s trust of having left her to “carry the burden” of the institution’s collecting practices, even though her superiors at the museum and the trust had “approved all of the acquisitions made during my tenure.”

Her letter — addressed to Deborah Marrow, then the Getty Trust’s acting chief executive; Michael Brand, the museum’s director; and Ron Hartwig, the trust’s spokesman — also faulted the museum for a “lack of courage and integrity...”

But the prosecutor leading Italy’s investigation, Paolo Ferri, said the letter presented in Ms. True’s defence worked against her by suggesting that she had knowingly taken part in acquisitions of illicit artefacts. “She accuses the Getty of having been aware of all her decisions,” he said, adding that she did not shun dubious purchases. “She didn’t pop out of nowhere,” he said, but was continuing an established practice...

Casting Blame for Looting in Trial of Getty Ex-Curator, Elisabetta Povoledo, The New York Times, New York, USA, January 18, 2007.

Previously: Ex-Getty curator says she's taking fall, January 02, 2007.