The first public presentation on the earliest connected Semitic text ever deciphered has taken place at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The presentation was made by Prof. Richard Steiner, professor of Semitic languages and literature at Yeshiva University in New York, in a lecture entitled "Proto-Canaanite Spells in the Pyramid Texts: a First Look at the History of Hebrew in the Third Millennium B.C.E." The lecture was sponsored by the Academy of the Hebrew Language in cooperation with the Hebrew University and the World Union of Jewish Studies.

Prof. Steiner, a past fellow of the Institute for 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. In his lecture he interpreted Semitic passages in Egyptian texts that were discovered more than a century ago, inscribed on the subterranean walls of the pyramid of King Unas at Saqqara in Egypt. The pyramid dates from the 24th century B.C.E., but Egyptologists agree that the texts are older. The dates proposed for them range from the 25th to the 30th centuries B.C.E. No continuous Semitic texts from this period have ever been deciphered before...

Presentation made in lecture at Hebrew University, EurekAlert, USA, January 29, 2007.

Previously: Deciphering of earliest Semitic text reveals talk of snakes and spells, January 23, 2007.

"Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs" will open its doors February 3 [2007] at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia as the final of four venues scheduled during its current 27-month tour of the United States. The exhibition is organized by National Geographic, Arts and Exhibitions International and AEG Exhibitions, with cooperation from the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities. Mellon Financial Corporation is the presenting sponsor and PECO is the associate sponsor in Philadelphia. The exhibition is supported by the Greater Philadelphia Tourism and Marketing Corporation.

"Since the discovery of his tomb in 1922, Tutankhamun has captured the hearts of people around the world. Buried with him were treasures beyond the imagination, giving us a glittering glimpse into the past," said Zahi Hawass, secretary general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities. "Philadelphia is an important city. I spent time working there and earned my doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania. It's my time to tell the people of Philadelphia 'thank you.' It's my time to show to them the most beautiful and important exhibit that ever left Egypt; King Tut, the golden boy who has captured the hearts of everyone..."

'Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs' to Begin Its February 3 - September 30 Run at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Franklin Institute via Yahoo! Finance, USA, January 31, 2007.

... The University of Pennsylvania participated in excavations at Amarna during the early 20th century and its Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology has an extensive collection of artefacts from the site. These form the basis of a new exhibition, " Amarna: Ancient Egypt's Place in the Sun." (See "Excavating Amarna," our interview with Barry Kemp about current excavations at the site).

After a short, informative introductory video, the exhibition opens into four small galleries organized by the show's curators to tell the story of the Amarna period and not to merely highlight the artefacts. The first gallery examines life in polytheistic ancient Egypt prior to Akhenaten. The gallery includes a visual timeline of 18th Dynasty rulers featuring their portraits and busts (using pieces from the exhibit whenever possible) on a stunning backdrop of Queen Hatshepsut's temple. The next gallery features the royal family during the Amarna period. Because the sun disk or Aten had no physical manifestation to worship, art of the period focused on portraits and depictions of the royal family. Upon entering the gallery, one confronts a striking floor-to-ceiling representation of Akhenaten, statues of the family, and partial reliefs. The gallery also includes a comprehensive family tree displaying the relationships between Akhenaten, his daughters with Nefertiti, and his probable son Tutankhamun. This is very helpful in understanding the dynasty's complex genealogy...

Amarna at Penn, Tracy Spurrier, Archaeology Magazine, Archaeological Institute of America, New York, USA, January 29, 2007.

Manchester has been chosen as the surprise location of Britain's first Las Vegas-style super-casino.

The decision is a blow for Blackpool and London's former Millennium Dome, which were the bookmakers' favourites...

I hope that this will please Zahi Hawass who had threatened not to allow the Tutankhamun exhibition to come to the Dome, London, if it won its casino bid. Unfortunately Philip Anschutz (the US billionaire behind AEG) had previously threatened to curtail investment if a casino license wasn't granted which may affect Tut! This could drag on for a while though as there are bound to be appeals.

Manchester wins super-casino race, BBC News, UK, January 30, 2007.

cf. The Dome misses out, Harry Wallop, The Telegraph, UK, January 30, 2007.

Previously: King Tut held to Ransom, August 31, 2006.

Previously: King Tut hit by the curse of the dome, December 27, 2006.

Scientists at The University of Manchester have teamed up with colleagues in Egypt in a bid to discover what medicines were used by the ancient Egyptians.

The KNH Centre for Biomedical Egyptology in the Faculty of Life Sciences and the Egyptian Medicinal Plant Conservation Project in St Katherine's, Sinai, have formed a partnership to research Egyptian pharmacy in the times of the pharaohs.

The 'Pharmacy in Ancient Egypt' collaboration, which is funded by a grant from the Leverhulme Trust, will compare modern plant species common to the Sinai region with the remains of ancient plants found in tombs.

Researcher Ryan Metcalf said: "We know that the ancient Egyptians had extensive trade routes and it is entirely possible that both medicinal plants and the knowledge to use them effectively were traded between regions and countries...

Discovering the pharmacy of the pharaohs, Exduco, Italy, January 29, 2007.

Nearly 5,000 years old, a monument known today as the Shunet el-Zebib, the only surviving example of a series of monumental cultic buildings built by Egypt’s earliest kings at Abydos, has been ravaged by the elements, attacked by animals and insects, and structurally compromised by humans over the millennia; its present day survival seems almost miraculous. One of the most mysterious of ancient Egypt’s monuments was in danger of imminent collapse. In 2001, the experts all agreed that unless steps were taken immediately this massive mud-brick structure would not remain standing much longer.

A conservation and stabilization program was developed, sponsored by New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts, and surprisingly the most suitable methods recommended by the experts for saving the monument turned out not to be highly technical ones of modern construction, but rather those more traditional, and ancient, in nature. Work began soon after using many of the same techniques to save the monument that were employed to build it five millennia ago. The conservation of the monument, which occupies more than two acres, is now nearly fifty percent complete...

“At the start of the project, our primary goals were to record the current state of the monument, assess its structural problems, and design and implement a program of conservation measures,” said Dr. O’Connor. “We did not want to restore it to its original appearance, but rather to preserve the monument in a way that reflects its nearly 5,000 year history. The centuries of damage from the elements, animals, and later human activity are part of that history, and, while their most serious consequences are being repaired, their effects will continue to be a visible aspect of the monument...”

Ancient Techniques Employed to Rescue 5,000 Year Old Egyptian Monument by NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts, Exduco, Italy, January 29, 2007.

For over 100 years, four blue-glazed jars bearing the nametag of Rameses II (1302-1213 B.C.) were believed to contain the Egyptian pharaoh’s bodily organs. But analysis of organic residues scraped from the jars has determined one actually contained an aromatic salve, while a second jar held the organs of an entirely different person who lived around 760 years later.

Now the question is, who was this individual?

“We do believe that the unknown person was of importance for at least two reasons,” said Jacques Connan, one of the study’s authors. “First, he or she had access to the famous jars and secondly, his or her organs were embalmed with pure Pistacia resin, which is uncommon according to our present chemical knowledge on balms of Egyptian mummies, especially during the Roman period.”

The mystery concerning the jars began in 1905, when they were brought to Paris’ Louvre Museum, where they are still housed. Shortly after that time, researchers cut into a packet inside one of the jars and plucked out a piece of heart. The packet is now lost, but from that point on, the containers were labelled as “the canopic jars of Rameses II...”

Human Remains in Ancient Jar a Mystery, Jennifer Viegas, Discovery Channel News, USA, January 23, 2007.

A cave cut in the rock has been discovered in the Pharaonic Port of Marsa Gawasis in Safaga.

In December-January, archaeologists found the timbers of sea-going vessels that were over 3,500 years old at Marsa Gawasis, which was a port on Egypt's Red Sea coast in Pharaonic times.

The cedar planks, which were imported from Syria, were found in two man-made caves. Among the other finds were rigging and inscriptions about expeditions to the Land of Punt...

In 2001, the University of Naples, the Italian African and Oriental Institute and Boston University began to examine the site under the direction of Rodolfo Fattovich and Kathryn Bard...

Late December last year, after more than three metres of sand had been removed from the slope of the coral reef, the entrance of a large man-made cave was uncovered by the Italian and American archaeologists.

Stone anchors, two large cedar beams were found plus mud bricks and plaster that had been used to reinforce the entrance.

To the north of the entrance, the archaeologists found an antechamber leading to two rectangular rooms both 12 x 4 metres.

To the south is a smaller antechamber leading to yet another chamber hewn out of solid rock. Outside the cave entrance are small carved niches, four of which still contained limestone steles, which suggest that this cave was a temple...

Carved ... stele [with] the cartouche of King Amenemhat III... The hieroglyphic text below a scene of the King making an offering to the god Min concerns two expeditions led by officials Nebsu and Amenhotep to Punt and Bia-Punt...

Oldest maritime artefacts found, Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, January 28, 2007.

Previously: Find Wadi Gawasis or Kathryn Bard on egyptologyblog.co.uk via Google.

Field reports linked below.

Joint Archaeological Expedition at Mersa/Wadi Gawasis (Red Sea, Egypt) of the University of Naples "l'Orientale" (Naples, Italy), Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente (Rome, Italy), and Boston University (Boston, USA) - 2005-2006 Field Season, Redazione Archaeogate, Italy, May 17, 2006.

Recent Excavations at the Pharaonic Port of Mersa Gawasis on the Red Sea, 2004-2005 Field Season, Redazione Archaeogate, Italy, September 23, 2005.

Mersa Gawasis (Red Sea - Egypt): UNO/IsIAO and BU 2003-2004 Field Season under direction of Rodolfo Fattovich and Kathryn Bard, Redazione Archaeogate, Italy, October 10, 2004.

Archaeological Investigation at Wadi Gawasis (Red Sea - Egypt) of the Italian Institute for Africa and the Orient (Rome) and "L'Orientale" (Naples): December 2002 - January 2003 Field Season, Redazione Archaeogate, Italy, November 28, 2003.

In a bid to save hundreds of ancient tombs in Luxor, the Egyptian government has begun relocating 3200 families whose livelihoods depend on these burial sites. And while politicians claim the move will preserve an important part of Egypt's history and scientists say it will make excavations in the area easier, the residents of the village of Old Gurna believe they are being dealt a bad hand.

Old Gurna lies on the west bank of the Nile in Luxor, 500 km south of Cairo. Directly in its backyard lies the grand Temple of Hatshepsut and on either side of the village lie the Valleys of the Kings and Queens, where pharaohs and their brides, sons and daughters were buried more than 3400 years ago.

But Old Gurna is not only known for its strategic location in the midst of ancient history, it lies directly above some of that history itself. For scattered between and directly below the homes of Old Gurna are 950 known tombs of nobles, governors, mayors, and scribes. And archaeologists believe there are still hundreds more to be discovered...

When Pharaohs lived among the ruins of Old Gurna, Nadia El-Awady, The Daily Star, Egypt, January 28, 2007.

Egypt is fuming over a competition to choose the world's "new seven wonders," deriding it as a marketing stunt that demeans the Pyramids of Giza, the only surviving ancient wonder. "They are the only one of the seven wonders of the ancient world that still exist. It's ridiculous. They don't need to be put to a vote," Egypt's antiquities chief Zahi Hawass was quoted as saying in local newspapers.

Culture Minister Farouk Hosni echoed the complaint, describing the project as "absurd" and its creator, Swiss-Canadian filmmaker Bernard Weber, as a man "concerned primarily with self-promotion."

Weber, on a tour of the 21 short-listed sites, got a frosty reception in Egypt.

The hotel banquet hall near the Pyramids where Weber was due to hold a news conference Wednesday was closed down at the last minute "for maintenance" and an AFP television crew was prevented from filming "for security reasons..."

Egypt seethes at 'new seven wonders' competition for Pyramids, AFP via The Daily Star, Lebanon, January 26, 2007.

cf. Egypt says new seven wonders of the world competition 'demeans' the pyramids, AFP via The Daily Star, Egypt, January 25, 2007.

cf. Egyptians sneer at new '7 Wonders' contest, Anna Johnson, AP via The Miami Herald, Florida, USA, January 29, 2007.

The Greeks developed mathematics as a deductive science that reached its climax with Euclid of Alexandria in his masterpiece The Elements. Before that, during the ancient Egyptian era, mathematics was an inductive discipline of a utilitarian nature used to perform practical tasks such as flood control or land measurement using rope. It has been suggested that mathematics then amounted to no more than the two-times table and the ability to find two-thirds of any number. The whole structure of Egyptian mathematics was said to be based on these two simple rules, and indeed no evidence exists of a textual geometry with constructions and proofs.

Yet, looking at the Egyptians' stunning monuments, as well as a civilisation that spanned three millennia, one might expect to find a similar element of grandeur in their sciences — especially in mathematics and astronomy. How did they configure the manpower and materials needed to build more than 90 pyramids? It is obvious that to calculate the vast amount of computations they needed, the ancient Egyptians reached a fairly advanced mathematical knowledge.

Several eminent Greek mathematicians — Pythagoras, Thales and Archimedes, to name just a few — worked in Egypt, and it is likely that Egyptian mathematics was absorbed into the body of Greek mathematics. The Giza pyramids offer definitive evidence of the ancient accuracy of measuring...

Mathematics in Ancient Egypt, Assem Deif, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 829, January 25 - 31, 2007.

I have spent most of my life excavating so that I can reveal the secrets from the sand. I always feel magic and mystery at each discovery. I never thought that this passion would also include underwater excavations.

When I was visiting Hawaii, I tried underwater diving, but was not able to stay in the deep for more than a few minutes. However, I do enjoy watching divers, including Franck Goddio and others in Alexandria, swimming among hundreds of artefacts which have been discovered thus far. They are in two locations: the eastern harbour of Alexandria, where a number of royal palaces of Queen Cleopatra and Ptolemaic rulers were established, and at Abu Qir Bay where the lost cities of Canopus and Herakleion lie. Here evidence of the lost cities has been found, along with wrecks of Napoleon Bonaparte's fleet.

The problem with underwater archaeology is that the artefacts are encased with salt which takes a long time to clean off. When I became the secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), I decided to leave these artefacts in situ, since many objects had been lifted off the sea bed and I thought we should leave the rest to the possible underwater museum, the only archaeological underwater museum in the world.

Recently, Goddio selected some 500 objects to be exhibited across Europe. The exhibition Egypt's sunken treasures went first to Berlin...

Last December the exhibition went to Paris, where it will be on display for three months at the Grand Palais...

Ägyptens versunkene Schätze, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin.

Trésors engloutis d'Égypte, Grand Palais, Paris.

I notice that a third venue has been announced for April 05, 2007 until January 28, 2008 as the Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Art and exhibition hall of the Federal Republic of Germany) in Bonn.

Dig Days: The Underwater Treasures of Egypt in Paris, Zahi Hawass, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 829, January 25 - 31, 2007.

The Italian government had presented President Hosni Mubarak with a rare manuscript dating back to the third Hijra century.

The manuscript is a full text of a book written by Islamic Arab writer Ibn Dawoud Al-Asfahani.

A statement by the Italian Embassy said Ambassador Antonio Badini handed over the gift on the occasion marking the choice of Italy as the guest of honor of Cairo International Book Fair, that will kick off on Tuesday.

According to the statement, the book has been compiled in the year 300 and includes poems of romance showing the interaction between the Islamic and Christian civilizations at the time.

Italy presents Mubarak with rare manuscript dating back to 3rd Hijra century, Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, January, 23, 2007.

An art exhibition devoted to Egypt's boy king Tutankhamun opens at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia next week, and everybody expects lines out the doors, similar to its first three stops in the U.S.

The official name is "King Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs," but it has come to be known as Tut Two.

And it is nothing like Tut One, the famous 1976-79 seven-city tour of King Tut's tomb objects which sparked a Pop cultural fascination with the boy king...

Philly's got the magic Tut, as pharaoh returns to U.S., Dan Bischoff, The Philadelphia Star-Ledger, Pennsylvania, USA, January 24, 2007.

Chicago's 10 largest museums recorded a 6 percent overall attendance increase over 2005, to 8.07 million visitors, in 2006.

The big gainer was the Field Museum, up 60 percent to 2.13 million, thanks to its King Tut exhibit.

Field nudged out the Shedd Aquarium, with 2.07 million, as the top museum draw in Chicago.

The Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Science and Industry saw losses of 15 percent and 24 percent, respectively. The Art Institute decrease reflected the lack of blockbuster shows after a boost in 2005 from a Toulouse-Lautrec exhibition, a spokeswoman said.

The MSI drop was the result of an increase in 2005 attendance from the Body Worlds show, a spokeswoman said.

Tut leads Field to top museum attendance gain, Andrew Herrmann, Chicago Sun-Times, Illinois, USA, January 21, 2007.

... But Thomas Young "beats them all".

In physics, he had the temerity to contradict Newton and propose a wave theory of light. In physiology, he made significant advances in understanding the mechanisms of the eye, explaining how it focuses, defining astigmatism, and proposing the three-colour theory of how the retina detects the sensation of colour. The latter was finally confirmed in 1959 and was described by a modern scientist as "surely the most prescient work in all of psychophysics".

In the field of engineering, "Young's modulus" is a measure of elasticity that explains how different materials contract or expand. Egyptologists hail Young as one of the founders of their science. He provided key insights into deciphering the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs on the Rosetta stone. In medicine (the one subject in which he received formal training) he also distinguished himself. In music, "Young's temperament" is a technique for tuning keyboard instruments. From languages (he coined the term Indo-European after a comparative analysis of 400 languages) to carpentry and life insurance, Young's incisive intellect has left its mark on countless disciplines...

, Andrew Robinson, Oneworld Publications, 2006, pp. 304.

Reluctant polymath, PD Smith, The Guardian, UK, January 20, 2007.

Previously from The Times: Review: The Last Man Who Knew Everything, December 11, 2006.

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.