Archaeology Magazine's Hierakonpolis dig is back online for another season. Field notes one and two are already online. Check it out here.

This season, our crew is excavating a site we have dubbed HK24B, which is located near the [beer] Vat Site, with the hope of obtaining more residue from an archaeologically sealed context, and of revealing a similar brewery feature. We call it the "Pink Rag" site, after the subtle marker left on the site after my February 2006 survey, when the site was identified, but we didn't want to draw unnecessary attention to it and risk it being disturbed. In the sea of broken vat fragments that cover the area, what caught our eye were several pottery fragments placed on edge and cemented into place with fire-reddened mud. Just a small portion of this was visible peaking out from the surface.

Excavation beginning on December 20, 2006, revealed a line of thick vat sherds running northeast-southwest cemented in fired mud and surrounded by charcoal, ashy soil and lots and lots of mud-coated potsherds--all evidence of an ad hoc superstructure...

Archaeology's Interactive Dig: Hierakonpolis, Archaeology Magazine, Archaeological Institute of America, New York, USA, January 2007.

Iran on Friday lost a legal battle against an 85-year-old French widow over a piece of carved limestone from the ancient Persian capital of Persepolis.

London's High Court ruled in favour of Denyse Berend, who bought the artefact in 1974, in a case brought against her by the Iranian government which sought to reclaim the relief fragment.

After a week of legal argument, Mr Justice Eady decided Berend was the legal owner of the piece, originally part of a wall frieze from the Northern Facade of the Eastern Staircase of the Apadana, or audience hall, at Persepolis...

Iran loses court battle over ancient carving, Reuters, UK, January 19, 2007.

Previously: Museums face fallout in fight over Persian carving, January 16, 2007.

Qasr Al-Sagha, or rather the Golden Fortress, is one of Fayoum's mysterious marvels. Located north of Lake Qarun, the building once stood on the shore of the ancient Lake Moeris. Now the lake has shrunk and Qasr Al-Sagha is stranded amidst the barren desert.

So what makes this archaeological site peculiar? Several other reasons besides the location. Though it has been debatable for some time, scholars have agreed that it belongs to the Middle Kingdom. However, the purpose of the edifice is not known, or whether it is a temple or a palace. Containing a number of small rooms, perhaps shrines, as well as a blind room with no entrance, the whole of the building is left bare without a single inscription or decoration. Qasr Al-Sagha is a job never completed...

Snap Shots, Mohamed El-Hebeishy, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 827, January 11 - 17, 2007.

A retired navy man's musings on riding a backyard swing as a young boy gave him the idea for an invention that he says can explain one of histories enduring mysteries — the construction of the great pyramids of Egypt.

James Murphy said his Apex Delivery and Lifting System — or Murphy Mover — is more than just an explanation. It's a nearly energy free way of lifting and moving large objects.

It doesn't take much power and doesn't need any major outside energy — just gravity.

The problem is getting it publicized...

He's trying to get a scientific paper on the Murphy Mover published to attract the attention that could lead to a grant to demonstrate his theory and models...

Ancient mystery solved? Taft man says 'Murphy Mover' explains pyramids, Doug Keeler, Taft Midway Driller, California, USA, January 19, 2007.

Last chance, last chance! That thought will run through a million minds as people from all 50 states make travel plans to Philadelphia to see Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, presented by Mellon Financial Corporation. And, ticketing for out-of-towners couldn't be easier. Two un-timed, VIP tickets come with every booking of the King Tut Hotel Package. (That means visitors can see the show at anytime during exhibition hours). Philly is the final (and only East Coast) stop of the pharaoh's current North American tour. The Franklin Institute will host the blockbuster show, on view February 3 through September 30, 2007.

The Centrepiece Exhibition: Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs includes more than 130 treasures belonging to King Tut and his royal relatives. Of the 130 pieces on view, 50 of the artefacts have been excavated from Tut's tomb, including his royal diadem — the gold crown discovered encircling the head of the king's mummified body that he likely wore while living — and one of the gold and inlaid canopic coffinettes that contained his mummified internal organs. Only 11 of the pieces were in the Treasures of Tutankhamun seven-city tour in the 1970s. Individual tickets are available at 1 (877) TUT-TKTS or www.fi.edu. The museum is extending hours from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. to accommodate the million visitors expected to attend...

Sleep Like a King in Philadelphia, PRNewswire, USA, January 23, 2007.

cf. Philadelphia "GOES GOLDEN" with a King-Sized Celebration!

cf. Official Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs website.

A 5,000-year-old Semitic text dealing with magical spells and snakes has been deciphered from an ancient Egyptian pyramid inscription, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem announced Monday.

The texts, which were first discovered a century ago in a 24th Century BCE Egyptian pyramid, are the earliest continuous Semitic texts ever to have been deciphered, said Semitic languages Prof. Richard Steiner of New York's Yeshiva University in a premiere presentation at the Hebrew University.

The passages, serpent spells written in hieroglyphic characters, are estimated to have been written between the 25th to the 30th centuries BCE.

Steiner, a former fellow of the Institute of Advanced Studies at the Hebrew University and a member of the Academy of the Hebrew Language, has deciphered a number of Semitic texts in various Egyptian scripts over the past 25 years.

The passages, which were inscribed on the subterranean walls of the pyramid of King Unas at Saqqara, Egypt, had puzzled scholars who tried to read them as if they were ordinary Egyptian texts...

Although written in Egyptian characters, the texts turned out to be composed in the Semitic language spoken by the Canaanites in the third millennium BCE, a very archaic form of the languages later known as Phoenician and Hebrew...

Deciphering of earliest Semitic text reveals talk of snakes and spells, Etgar Lefkovits, Jerusalem Post, Israel, January 23, 2007.