I [Jane Akshar] was lucky enough to go to the Mut temple the other day, my third visit but I was met by an extremely frazzled Mary McKercher. She had to fend off a group of unauthorised tourists who would not take no for answer when she explained they could not visit the temple. You must get permission from the SCA. In our case we were given our written permission and a guardian from the SCA accompanied us. So please do not give the archaeologists a hard time when they say they can not let you in. Apply to the SCA for permission in the proper manner...

Includes numerous photographs.

Also check out the Brooklyn Museum: Dig Diary for the Mut Temple excavation as they are finishing up for the season.

Visiting the Mut Temple - Special Permission Required, Jane Akshar, Luxor News, Luxor via Tour Egypt, Texas, USA, March 05, 2007.

Drawn from artwork and objects amassed by the Petrie Museum, an exhibition now on display at the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, "Excavating Egypt: Great Discoveries from the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, University College London," brings this story full circle, reuniting some 220 objects from the Petrie Museum with those in the college's permanent collection, all of them excavated by Petrie.

The show, which runs through July 22, includes one of the world's earliest surviving dresses, royal art from the palace of Pharaoh Akhenaten and his wife, Nefertiti, and items from the ancient Egyptians' daily life.

"We're really lucky to have it," said Diana Wolfe Larkin, visiting associate professor of art history at the college, during a tour of the exhibit last week. In fact, when Larkin learned that the show was touring the United States, her recommendation to the college was: "Grab it..."

Treasured seekers: A Mount Holyoke College exhibit celebrates the contributions of two pioneers in archaeology, Phoebe Mitchell, The Amherst Bulletin, Massachusetts, USA, March 02, 2007.

More than 100 relics of adoration entombed with the Egyptian pharaoh [Tutankhamun] have finally arrived in Montana — minus his mummy's curse. Most of the objects at the Museum of the Rockies' tantalizing new exhibit, "Tutankhamun: 'Wonderful Things' from the Pharaoh's Tomb," are reproductions of the originals, which no longer travel.

The reproductions were crafted by artisans at the Pharaonic Village in Egypt, as well as the Field Museum in Chicago and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. As a collection, they offer visitors a rare chance to peer into an ancient world of life and death.

Marty Martin, the exhibit's co-creator, spent one day last week guiding docents through the display. Under the melancholy glow of the museum lights, Martin paused by golden statues and alabaster vessels, offering insight to the pharaoh's life and times...

Ancient glory, Martin J. Kidston, The Helena Independent Record, Montana, USA, March 04, 2007.

It was none other than Benjamin Franklin who said: "Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." But for such a revered drink, the steps to making beer are actually quite basic — simply bottle (or can) the alcoholic fermentation that occurs when yeast is introduced to extracts of malted grain. Still, scientists throughout the ages have spent countless hours tweaking this general formula, communicating their achievements via media ranging from ancient funerary art to this week's lecture on the science of beer at the New York Academy of Sciences.

Beer has been around for at least 8,000 years, making brewing quite possibly the world's oldest biotechnology. Archaeologists have scraped beer deposits from ancient Egyptian brewing jars, historians recount how everyone from Pharaoh to farmer drank, and beer was a common offering to the Egyptian Gods. Ancient brewers formed their brew from watered-down fermenting bread dough, styling their beers with extracts from a range of plants, including mandrake (which tastes something like a leek). The "hop," a vine that produces a resin and oil-rich cone that gives beer its characteristic bitter note, didn't enter the recipe until much later, and the cultivation of hops can be traced back to eighth century Germany...

Do I need an excuse to post an article about beer? ;-)

, Charles W. Bamforth, Oxford University Press, 2nd ed, 2003.

Beer, and the biochemists behind it, Kate Thomas, USA, The Scientist, March 02, 2007.

Three new finds, announced over the past week, show that Saqqara remained a major burial place for Egypt's elite long after the Old Kingdom period for which it is famous, according to Egypt's chief archaeologist Zahi Hawass.

One of the most unique finds was a cache of wooden statues dating back to about 2200 BC, which were unearthed by a joint Egyptian-Australian team. The statues were found inside a mud-brick tomb of the classic platform style that contains a fine false door in wood and two tables for offerings. False doors are a regular feature of the tombs of the period.

The tomb containing a rare double wooden statue of an ancient Egyptian scribe and his wife. The official was Ka-Hay, who kept divine records, and his wife, Spri-Ankh.

Dr. Hawass said the tombs were rich in content if not elaborate in design...

New tombs discovered in Saqqara, Egypt, Zee News, India, March 08, 2007.

With six of the current Seven Wonders of the World already destroyed, it's no surprise the world wants a new set. This time, the experts are leaving it up to us. The first global poll in history will determine the next Seven Wonders of the World. Everyone in the world with a phone or a computer will be able to choose seven of the 21 finalists selected by a panel of experts. The only requirement is that they must have been built before 2000. Like the previous Seven Wonders of the World, the contestants are all man-made.

Most would assume the oldest and only standing of the original Seven Wonders of the World, the Pyramids of Giza, would automatically make the final list. However, the pyramids are among the other nominees for the new list. The Egyptian authorities were not happy that the pyramids were not automatically included in the list. They believe there is no denying the pyramids' mysteriousness and the ingenuity of their creators.

CNN reported Feb. 27 that Dr. Zahi Hawass, Egyptian director of antiquities, said he wanted the Pyramids of Giza to be removed from the new wonders list because they are in a category of their own and no other monument compares. Nominees from around the world are fully embracing the contest, along with the extra publicity and tourism it gives the locations. However, the Egyptian authorities refused to meet with the contest organizers at all.

Who can blame them, when some of the other contestants include the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower — Those monuments are babies compared to the 4,500-year-old Pyramids of Giza...

New wonders not so wondrous, Liz Stoever, Northern Star, Illinois, USA, March 08, 2007.

My first encounter of "baksheesh" was on a trip to Egypt. The word "baksheesh" connotes several meanings perhaps depending on which side of the country you came from. In the western sense of the word, it is interpreted as "tip" (to insure prompt service), but the Middle East sees "baksheesh" in several shades of meaning.

The word originated from the Persian "bakshish" meaning "gift". It can mean an offering to the gods.

It can also refer to "bribery" or perhaps in a better situation, as "charitable giving", or it can be a token of money as a gratitude for a service received.

Someone can ask for baksheesh and still not come off as begging...

In ... Egypt, nothing is as overwhelming as the constant request of "baksheesh"...

Way of the Baksheesh, Dorothy Bangayan, The Sun-Star Davao, Philippines, March 08, 2007.

From the imposing columns and temple facade to the mummies hidden inside, the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum is one big jaw-dropping spectacle. You don't have to go halfway 'round the globe to have your socks knocked off, because this cool, mysterious repository of artefacts, papyri and sarcophagi is just a short drive away in San Jose.

For the last half-century, families and school groups have been mesmerized by the Rosicrucian Museum's temple facade, modelled after the Temple of Amun at Karnak. They've explored the display cases laden with canopic jars, mummified cats and wondrous artefacts. They've delved into the mysterious underground tomb and channelled their inner Indiana Jones. You can, too.

What kids like: Any kid who ever dreamed of adventure will make a dash for Khnumhotep's royal tomb. The opening to the rock-cut tomb yawns open, its rough-hewn passage dark, ominous and irresistible. Brush past the dimly lit columns and descend into the cool, shadowy depths, where a stone sarcophagus (and the wisdom of a staff tour guide) await...

Egyptian Museum offers pleasant, fascinating time, Jackie Burrell, Inside Bay Area, California, USA, March 05, 2007.

The venue for the Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs Exhibition has been announced. The O2 - Millennium Dome, located on the banks of the River Thames in Greenwich will be the home of this long awaited exhibition which returns to London for the first time in 30 years and is expected to be the biggest exhibition the city has ever hosted...

The Tutankhamun exhibition will run from November 22, 2007 to August 31, 2008. This is the biggest visitor event to hit London in years and demand is expected to be high as a whole new generation take the chance to learn first hand about the life of this magic monarch...

Venue of Tutankhamun Exhibition Announced, PR Leap, UK, March 04, 2007.

Six of the Seven Wonders of the World have long since gone with the wind. The Giza pyramids of Egypt are the sole survivor — and now they are threatened by modern Cairo's rapidly spreading urban sprawl.

But the reliability of the original Seven Wonders list, drawn up by the architect Philon of Byzantium in about 200 B.C., was suspect anyway. Did the hanging gardens of Babylon ever exist? The Tower of Babel? The Colossus of Rhodes? No traces remain.

Philon kept within his known world — the Mediterranean basin — so manmade constructions like the Great Wall of China and Angkor Wat in Cambodia never made the grade.

Today our world is so loaded with wonders that, uncomfortable with the gaping lacunas in Philon's legacy, a Swiss-Canadian filmmaker, Bernard Weber, is conducting a popular vote on the Internet to update the list...

Not everyone thinks this makes sense, notably the Egyptians, who bristle at what they see as a challenge to the international standing of the pyramids...

Updating the Seven Wonders of the World, Micheal Johnson, International Herald Tribune, France, March 06, 2007.

A model of Tutankhamun's golden mask made entirely of Lego bricks is displayed during a preview of an upcoming exhibition at the Egyptian Museum.

Tutankhamun’s golden mask, AP via The Daily Times, Pakistan, March 04, 2007.

Zahi Hawass, the head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, will give a free public lecture Thursday at Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno.

Hawass, named by Time magazine as one of the top 100 most influential people in the world, will share his expertise on ancient Egypt and King Tut.

The lecture is scheduled at 7:30 p.m. in the student centre on TMCC's main campus, 7000 Dandini Blvd. off U.S. 395 north.

"He is passionate about Egypt and its antiquities and doesn't hesitate to use words like magical, thrilling and marvellous when describing his discoveries...

Egypt expert to give free lecture, Reno Gazette-Journal, Nevada, USA, March 07, 2007.