The University of Chicago's Oriental Institute, known for antiquities scholarship, is using mapping software and spy-satellite photos to unravel the mysteries of how people lived, travelled and built civilizations.

The results could reveal findings as diverse as an ancient Egyptian settlement flooded by a dam, the routes explorers took to settle in Chicago's Beverly neighbourhood, and why Iraq is considered the cradle of civilization...

The project, called the Center for Ancient Middle Eastern Landscapes or CAMEL, uses geographical information systems (GIS), the same mapping technology as Google Earth, to pinpoint details of ancient sites and even date their origins. That's possible because GIS encompasses data and trends analysis, and the ability to look at the results on two- and three-dimensional maps...

James Henry Breasted, the institute's founder, was among early explorers who took photos from airplanes over sites in Egypt in 1920. In that era, cameras were also strapped onto kites and balloons to take aerial shots...

Institute takes a futuristic look at past, Sandra Guy, The Chicago Sun-Times, Illinois, USA, January 17, 2007.

Previously: CAMEL allows archaeologists to survey ancient cities without digging in the dirt, disturbing sites, October 20, 2005.

In our very first meeting, the tour guide for the Egypt trek nicknamed the participants "Habu." In Arabic, "Habu" means the "glory." After the trip, all agreed that it was a glorious journey indeed.

On the first night, the Habu gathered in Cairo and ate at Sequoia, a trendy Miami beach-style restaurant. As everyone would soon learn, the trek would proceed at lightening speed and this relaxed night on the Nile was a little misleading.

Early the next morning we boarded a coach and headed to the crystal-clear waters and colourful reefs of Sharm el-Sheikh. Taking in the starboard view of the picturesque coastline, some felt nirvana could be reached if Sharm were only 10 degrees warmer. Unfortunately, it was not 10 degrees warmer and snorkelling Habu emerged from the water desperately searching for towels and sunshine.

The next morning we travelled by chartered plane to Luxor, home to the Valley of the Kings, the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, the two colossi of Memnon, and numerous other awe-inspiring tributes to the ancient Thebes...

The Habu Takes On Egypt, The Harbus Online, Harvard University, Massachusetts, USA, January 22, 2007.

... I wanted culture. Not just any old culture, mind. I desired immersion in the most astonishing civilisation the world has yet produced: that of the pharaohs of ancient Egypt. All I had to do was go where the sun sets.

With so many people milling about, it can be difficult to appreciate just what a strange, woebegone place is the Valley of the Kings. For the people of ancient Thebes, on the site of modern-day Luxor, this lifeless desert across the Nile to the west, where the sun bled each evening, was the appropriate place to build a subterranean city of death.

Surrounded by limestone crags, it is bakingly hot and fiercely inhospitable. Sixty-three tombs have been discovered so far, the most recent last year, but only a handful are open. On organised tours such as I took — the easiest way of doing it — it can be pot-luck what kind of guide you get. Ours, Mohamed Hansanin, was first-class...

Luxor ghosts laid to rest, Nigel Richardson, The Telegraph, UK, January 20, 2007.

Samples of rock and fragments of pyramid walls brought from Egypt are being examined at the AGH University of Science and Technology. It is very likely that meteorites had dropped near the pyramids. The material was collected during the December expedition of geologists. Another aim of the expedition was to study some geoglyphics, i.e. gigantic pictures drawn on the ground.

According to “Dziennik Polski”, the scientists were intrigued by some unusual structures, which resembled craters formed after meteorites hit the ground. They noticed them when analysing satellite pictures of areas north of the great pyramids in Giza.

“We found very solid metallic fragments in this area. These are probably meteorite fragments” — says Prof. Maciej Pawlikowski from the Mineralogy, Petrography and Geochemistry department at AGH University, who was the supervisor and main organiser of the geological expedition. “We hope that further tests on the patina covering the rocks, which formed during the meteorites’ fall, will help us to establish the exact time of the event” — the scientists said.

The aim of the expedition was also to study the geoglyphics, i.e. gigantic pictures on the ground. Located east of Cairo, they form two several-kilometre-long curved lines, which almost meet in one point. On satellite pictures, they look like a huge drawing of a scarab...

Meteorites from under the pyramids, Science & Scholarship in Poland, Poland, January 19, 2007.

A newly-announced nature reserve in Egypt will be one of the most important tourist attractions, Environment Minister Maged George said on Saturday.

In statements, George said the reserve in the New Valley area of al-Gilf al-Kebir enjoys a distinguished geographic position and teems with a wealth of cultural and environmental heritage...

There is a project aiming to protect bio-diversity in the area through development, the minister said...

Al-Gilf Al-Kebir new nature reserve in Egypt, Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, January 21, 2007.

A comprehensive program will be carried out to renew the historic state-owned hotels, according to Minister of Investment Mahmoud Moheiddin.

Moheiddin said that the program will cost some LE 850 million funded by the Holding Company for Tourism.

Does anyone know what historic hotels they are talking about?

LE 850 million to renew historic hotels, Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, January 20, 2007.