Egypt is a great active holiday destination, with the country's desert offering adventurous holidaymakers a chance to experience a camel safari and divers drawn to the clear waters of the Red Sea.

However, if you are looking to find an exciting way of experiencing the country's top attractions — such as ancient Luxor — then there is one experience well worth considering.

For holidaymakers who like heights, a balloon flight will give some of the most incredible views of the Egyptian desert as well as unique views of the courtyards, statues and grand buildings of the ancient sites...

Balloon over the sights of ancient Luxor, travelbite.co.uk, UK, May 17, 2007.

During my first day in [Luxor], which is spread out along the eastern bank of the Nile, I took [Fyodor Dostoevsky's] " " to the Karnak Temple. It wasn't long before I discovered a cubbyhole amid fallen and crumbling pillars and settled down to read.

My eyes pored over sentences like "For the mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for." At some point a security guard stopped by to ask what I was reading and to offer a cup of tea.

At dawn the next morning, I boarded a ferry bound for the opposite bank. Scores of other travellers were boarding as well. But while they were venturing to the Valley of the Kings — the location of the burial chambers of numerous Pharaohs, including Tutankhamen — or to the stunningly located Temple of Hatshepsut — the 3,500-year-old mortuary temple built by a prominent female Pharaoh — I was heading someplace slightly off the beaten track...

Two young girls and a book made the trip memorable, Joel Carillet, Christian Science Monitor, USA, May 25, 2007.

The new issue of Minerva magazine is available now. It contains an article that may be of interest to Egyptophiles as follows.

• From Poland to the Sudan: 150 Years at the Poznań Archaeological Museum
  by Marek Chlodnicki

Minerva Magazine, London, UK, Volume 18, Number 3, May / June 2007.

Subscribe to Minerva Magazine via Amazon.com.

For the second time this year, Egyptologist Betsy Bryan and her crew will be sharing their work with the world via their popular online diary, a digital window into day-to-day life on an archaeological dig. Starting about Friday, June 1, and running through early July, visitors to Hopkins in Egypt Today at: www.jhu.edu/neareast/egypttoday.html will find photos of Bryan's group working on the second, shorter portion of Johns Hopkins' 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. This time, the team will include two graduate and three undergraduate students from Johns Hopkins, as well as several stone conservators. All the work will be taking place inside the temple with the graduate students conducting test excavations to study the sub-foundations. Major dismantling of temple walls in order to correct the effects of groundwater is to be accompanied by the removal of architectural elements in the name of Queen Hatshepsut that are buried under the present temple. This material was discovered in 2006 but must await the work to restore the temple walls before it can be retrieved. The undergraduates will draw pottery and small finds in an effort to ready the last six years of work for publication...

Egyptian excavation returns to Web for second time this year, The JHU Gazette, John Hopkins University, Maryland, USA, Vol. 36, No. 36, May 29, 2007.

Previously:

Archaeologists Bring Egyptian Excavation to the Web, January 18, 2007.

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

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

An intact tomb of Henu, director of the domain and unique courtier of the late first Intermediate Period, has been found early last week in the Deir Al-Barsha necropolis in Minya. The Culture Minister made the announcement today, adding that the tomb was accidentally found by a Belgium archaeological team from Catholic Leuven University mission during continuing their excavation work inside one of the rooms found inside a Middle Kingdom tomb of Uky.

Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said that Henu's tomb was filled with a fine and well preserved collection of painted wooden statuettes featuring workers in different stages of work, some shows the production of mud brick where one man is working clay with a hoe, two others are carrying a bag of clay suspended with rope from a pole. Others show a woman making beer and another woman pounding cereal along with a large model of a boat with two groups of rowers and a lotus-form bow and stern. A painted statuette featuring the deceased in his official costumes is also found among the collection unearthed...

DISCOVERED: Deir Al-Barsha - Tomb of Henu, Zahi Hawass, The Plateau via Guardian's Egypt, USA, May 29, 2007.

Previously:

Intact tomb found in Egypt ... by accident, May 22, 2007.

Belgians find tomb of ancient Egypt courtier, May 21, 2007.

A topic on the EEF lists has been on ethics of Egyptologists, with a sub-thread of what the difference between Egyptologists and archaeologists is. FWIW, I think they're two separate fields that overlap, not unlike that between zoologists and archaeozoologists...

Generally, I think, Egyptologists tend to go through Classics departments while archaeologists go through the archaeology departments. I suppose one could start all sorts of arguments here...

Egyptology, archaeology, what's the diff?, Anthony Cagle, ArchaeoBlog, USA, May 29, 2007.

The Italian antiquities mission working in Kom Madi area in Fayoum governorate, south of Cairo, discovered a bowling-like hall dating back to the Ptolemaic age.

The hall was discovered during excavations at a building inside an ancient residential area in Kom Madi.

Kom Madi is a temple area and one of the important ancient sites still in good shape despite having a long history extending back to the 12th Pharaonic Dynasty.

l'Università di Pisa Egittologia

First bowling-like hall in ancient Egypt, Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, May 27, 2007.

cf. Missione italiana in Egitto scopre la più vecchia sala da bowling mai costruita , News Italia Press, Italy, Vol. XIV, No. 97, May 28, 2007.

Previously:

What's old is new: Recent finds in Fayoum and Luxor, May 05, 2006.

New pharaonic monuments uncovered in Fayoum, April 10, 2006.

As a distinguished professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Drexel University, [Michel Barsoum's] daily routine consists mainly of teaching students about ceramics, or performing research on a new class of materials, the so-called MAX Phases, that he and his colleagues discovered in the 1990s. These modern ceramics are machinable, thermal-shock resistant, and are better conductors of heat and electricity than many metals-making them potential candidates for use in nuclear power plants, the automotive industry, jet engines, and a range of other high-demand systems.

Then Barsoum received an unexpected phone call from Michael Carrell, a friend of a retired colleague of Barsoum, who called to chat with the Egyptian-born Barsoum about how much he knew of the mysteries surrounding the building of the Great Pyramids of Giza, the only remaining of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

The widely accepted theory-that the pyramids were crafted of carved-out giant limestone blocks that workers carried up ramps-had not only not been embraced by everyone, but as important had quite a number of holes.

According to the caller, the mysteries had actually been solved by Joseph Davidovits, Director of the Geopolymer Institute in St. Quentin, France, more than two decades ago. Davidovits claimed that the stones of the pyramids were actually made of a very early form of concrete created using a mixture of limestone, clay, lime, and water.

"It was at this point in the conversation that I burst out laughing," says Barsoum. If the pyramids were indeed cast, he says, someone should have proven it beyond a doubt by now, in this day and age, with just a few hours of electron microscopy...

Engineering the pyramids, Michel Barsoum, Drexel University.

The Surprising Truth Behind the Construction of the Great Pyramids,

Sheila Berninger and Dorilona Rose, May 18, Live Science, USA, 2007.

Previously:

Concrete Pyramid an 'Insult', December 04, 2006.

Pyramids were built with concrete rather than rocks, scientists claim, December 02, 2006.

The mysterious and enchanting world of Ancient Egypt is brought to life on May 25 [2007], when Egypt: Beyond the Tomb opens the Auckland Museum’s Winter Programme.

This extraordinary international touring exhibition follows the story of Keku, an Egyptian woman who lived 2700 years ago, as she makes the perilous journey through the underworld. Drawing on over 200 ancient Egyptian burial treasures from animal mummies to a magnificently decorated sarcophagus (coffin), Keku’s story offers a fascinating insight into the mysterious death rituals of this age-old civilization...

Egypt: Beyond the Tomb has been developed by the Australian Museum and the National Museum of Antiquities, The Netherlands. It will be accompanied by a full programme that of public events offering a full range of activities for all ages. Highlights include the Ancient Egypt Parade, Make-up demonstrations, Making of a Mummy Show, Adult Egyptian Nights, screening of Cleopatra (starring Elizabeth Taylor) and a comprehensive lecture series...

Auckland comes alive with the world of the dead, Auckland Museum via Scoop, New Zealand, May 09, 2007.

Previously:

Egypt: Beyond the Tomb Coming to Auckland, April 10, 2007.

Molefi Asante, professor of African-American studies at Temple University, led a protest yesterday in front of the Franklin Institute claiming the museum's exhibit on King Tutankhamun is racist.

"This is a crime scene," he shouted. "This is an area of criminal theft, identity theft."

Among the grievances shared by members of the Association of Kemetic Nubian Heritage, of which Asante is president, is that the exhibit has no mention of Africa and that information within suggests that King Tut, an African, was white...

This is nothing new and each of the US exhibitions have attracted a new wave of protesters.

Protesters at exhibit say King Tut was black, Stephanie Farr, Philadelphia Daily News, Pennsylvania, USA, May 21, 2007.

Previously:

Reasons to be suspicious about King Tut's image, December 14, 2005.

Pharaoh furore, December 07, 2005.

Tut exhibit fails to face facts, some scholars say, November 29, 2005.

Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs DVD (ICON107) is hosted by Omar Sharif and includes interviews with Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Cairo, Egypt, and others instrumental in organizing this exhibit.

In 1976 treasures from King Tut's tomb left the Cairo Museum en route to the USA. It took the country by storm and introduced Americans to these wonders of the ancient world.

In 2005 Egypt granted another opportunity to view such treasures. This current exhibit has visited LA, Chicago, Ft. Lauderdale, and is currently in Philadelphia. The exhibit includes major artefacts excavated from Tutankhamun's tomb, and artefacts from other royal graves. All of the treasures in the exhibit are between 3,300 and 3,500 years old.

The DVD draws you into the exhibit, showcasing the design and technology the visitors experienced. You come face to face with Tut's contemporaries, hear about the fascinating times in which the young king lived and learn how his short reign changed history. This DVD gives you an up-close and detailed look beyond the beautiful treasures — isolating each piece with multiple camera angles, and moving images.

Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs DVD — in stores and online everywhere July 10, 2007.

, Icon Music Entertainment, USA, 2007.

Icon Music Entertainment Releases "TUTANKHAMUN and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs" – Exhibit Documentary — July 10, 2007,

Icon Music Entertainment via Yahoo! Finance, USA, May 25, 2007.

Luxor is often described as the world's greatest open air museum. The site of Egypt's ancient capital Thebes, the town boasts incomparable temples and a splendid necropolis. Sadly, though, over the centuries Luxor's monuments have suffered encroachment. Houses were built on top of ancient tombs on the West Bank and the open court fronting the Luxor Temple was turned into a bustling souq. Since 2005, however, as part of President Hosni Mubarak's programme to develop Upper Egypt and improve services for Egyptians as well as develop and promote tourist projects which will in turn provide job opportunities, Luxor has been the site of a major development scheme. New houses and shops have been built to replace buildings demolished because they encroached on ancient monuments. Excavations have been undertaken to reveal the full route of the Avenue of Sphinxes, once the royal path between Luxor and Karnak temples.

After two years of work, Luxor, which has twice won prizes for its comprehensive development plan from the International Competition of Islamic Capitals and Cities, is looking more alluring than ever. Everything has been changed: buildings along the Corniche have been repainted in earth colours and the city's streets and squares have been subject to extensive refurbishment, including the planting of large numbers of trees and flowers.

"I am very impressed with what I saw along my route from the airport to here," said Mrs Suzanne Mubarak, addressing invitees at this week's inauguration of the Luxor branch of the Mubarak Public Library. "I have seldom seen such beautiful streets in Egypt. I would like every street in every town in Egypt to be lined with trees and flowers like this..."

Luxor's resurrection, Nevine El-Aref, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 846, May 24 - 30, 2007.

cf. Mrs. Mubarak inaugurates Luxor projects including public library, hospital, Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, May 20, 2007.

cf. Suzanne Mubarak to visit Luxor on Saturday, Jane Akshar, Luxor News via Tour Egypt, Texas, USA, May 27, 2007.

More than 45 million people have voted so far in an Internet campaign to choose the seven "new" wonders of the world out of 21 short listed historical buildings or monuments.

The contest, aimed at raising global awareness about the world's shared cultural heritage, was set up by Swiss filmmaker, curator and traveller Bernard Weber, following the destruction of Afghanistan's giant Buddha statues at Bamiyan by the Taliban in 2001

In the most recent count the top 10 were the Acropolis in Greece, the ancient Mayan city of Chichen Itza in Mexico, the Coliseum in Rome, the Eiffel tower in Paris, the Great Wall of China, the Incan ruins of Machu Picchu, Petra in Jordan, the statues on Easter Island, Britain's Stonehenge and the Taj Mahal in India...

"I am against this [contest] totally. I cannot accept a Greek historian choosing the seven wonders of antiquity and have a tourist company choosing the new ones," Hawass said...

45 million vote for updated world wonders, People's Daily, China, May 24, 2007.

University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Egyptologist Sarah Parcak, Ph.D., is in a race against time. In Egypt, thousands of known and unknown archaeological sites are at risk of destruction from urban sprawl, expanding development and looting. Twenty-three percent of ancient sites in the East Delta region alone have disappeared in the past 30 years, with 8 percent lying under towns and 76 percent undergoing full to partial removal. Should the same rate of site destruction continue and increase, by 2050, virtually all archaeological sites, or tells, could be wiped out in the region.

"Only 1/100th of one percent of archaeological sites in Egypt have been discovered, Parcak said. "Our entire understanding of Egyptian history is based on these few discoveries. What we [Egyptologists] have discovered so far is just the tip of the iceberg."

Parcak is using satellite imagery to find and identify tells. The technology allows her to find tells in just weeks instead of years. She became the first Egyptologist to use the methodology in 2003-2004, when she located 132 sites, some dating as far back at 3,000 B.C. Among the sites she located [are]...

Middle Egypt Survey Project

Scientist Races to Save Ancient Egypt, University of Alabama at Birmingham via YubaNet.com, USA, May 24, 2007.

cf. Scientist Races to Save Ancient Egypt, University of Alabama at Birmingham via Newswise, USA, May 24, 2007.

cf. Scientist Races to Save Ancient Egypt, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Alabama, USA, May 23, 2007.

cf. Sarah Parcak, Satellites and survey in Middle Egypt, Egyptian Archaeology, Egypt Exploration Society, UK, No. 27, Autumn 2005.

Previously:

Bangor native finds career in Egyptian tombs, April 04, 2006.

Satellite technology used at Amarna, February 14, 2006.

The county's favourite mummy is getting another CT scan.

And starting Monday, visitors will be able to get a glimpse of Pahat, the Berkshire Museum's 2,000-year-old iconic artefact, as it undergoes the conservation process to prepare him for a trip to the hospital.

"It's just to see what's inside him and to learn more about him," said museum spokeswoman Sherrill Ingalls.

Conservator Dena Çirpili of Objects Conservation Services in Buffalo, N.Y., will spend most of next week working on the preparation in a roped-off area visible to the public.

Pahat's CT scan — a high-tech X-ray imaging process — is scheduled for Monday, June 4 [2007]...

New test, old body, Jenn Smith, The Berkshire Eagle, Massachusetts, USA, May 19, 2007.

Ancient Egyptians must have been familiar with aviation. They could manufacture types of airplanes to get aerial views of some important locations in Egypt; a technology that helped them secure their builders lots of essential materials, opined an Egyptologist Basam Al Shammaa.

Al Shammaa, who has a special interest in the subject, pointed out that centuries before the science of geography came into existence, a papyrus map showing the locations of copper and gold mines in some mountainous areas could prove that the ancient engineers must have invented sail-propelled planes to explore the mountains and deserts.

Al Shammaa noted: "It's only one map that for some might offer little evidence, but only 30 percent of secrets related to ancient Egypt have been revealed. There may be a lot more in store. So we shouldn't rule out the possibility that future discoveries will reveal more about ancient Egyptians and aviation..."

Erm, nope. Moving on... There were many maps produced in the Renaissance, for instance, which is where the Mercator projection map comes from. Does that mean he borrowed Da Vinci's helicopter? Obviously not.

When the ancient Egyptians soared, Ahmed Maged, The Daily Star, Egypt, May 11, 2007.

Bulgarian scientist will try to prove their hypothesis that the rock sanctuaries of Tatul and Perperikon in the Eastern Rhodopi Mountains are more ancient than Egyptian pyramids.

To prove their hypothesis, the scientists will organize the biggest archaeology expedition in the country that will be situated near the southern town of Kardzhali. The top Bulgarian archaeologist Nikolay Ovcharov will lead the expedition.

The hypothesis of the rock sanctuaries' age was voiced some months ago by two Bulgarian historians. According to them the first cuts in the rocks there date back to the fifth millennium BC...

Yeah, I know, not Egyptology again!

Ancient Bulgarian Sanctuaries "Older" than Egyptian Pyramids, Sofia News Agency, Bulgaria, May 16, 2007.

I think everyone has one single place they want to go, somewhere they are determined to experience no matter what. For me, that place is and always has been Egypt. My best friend and I grew up fascinated by its ancient culture, adopting goddess names and having our own Egypt Club meetings in cardboard boxes in her garage.

When she and her husband moved to Kuwait in 2005 to take jobs at the American School, we began to talk about finally fulfilling a dream. We plotted and planned our two-week immersion into the culture. Still, it wasn't until we breathed the thick air of Cairo, walked among the pyramids, descended into the Valley of the Kings, that it became real. All I knew going into the trip was that I would learn something. And I did...

10 things I learned in Egypt, Katherine Dillinger, The Austin American Statesman, Texas, USA, May 20, 2007..

A nice piece by Margaret Maitland about the various museums that Zahi Hawass has recently asked for loans from, including Berlin for the Nefertiti bust and the British Museum for the Rosetta Stone etc. And contrasting that with the Egyptian's own insistence that Tutankhamun's gold mask is too fragile to travel for the current tour.

Too fragile to travel, Margaret Maitland, The Eloquent Peasant, UK, May 16, 2007.

The Great Pyramids of Giza, Egypt are some of the most famous monuments in the world and a huge tourist attraction. According to Amr el-Ezabi of the Egyptian Tourist Authority (ETA), the ancient buildings attracted more than 2.5 million visitors over the course of 2006. every hotel room in the city of Cairo, the outskirts of which encompass the pyramid sites, was booked out for most of the year - and 2007 is set to be no different, the body claims.

The pyramids are not the only ancient monuments in Egypt. There are many others, some of which are important enough to have been declared World Heritage Sites. The Great Sphinx of Giza, for instance, is situated next to the Great Pyramids and is equally as famous as its neighbours. To the south, the city of Luxor and its surrounding environs offer the Karnak Temple and the Valley of the Kings, site of Tutankhamen's Tomb.

In recent years, overseas visitor numbers have also been boosted by the development of "products for upmarket tourists", according to the ETA.. Aside from culture tourism packages taking in the ancient monuments, the body has also promoted desert safari trips, sport tourism and marine wildlife tourism.

The Red Sea area in particular has been pushed by the ETA, which remarked that the programme is "doing well and lots of people come to enjoy the sea now"...

Great Pyramids prove great attraction, Assetz via openPR, UK, May 22, 2007.

Through the Internet-based digital mapping platform, Presner's students can not only visit Berlin as it exists today, [via Hypermedia Berlin], but can time-travel through 800 years to experience the city, language, history and culture of another era - adding insights and discoveries of their own to the site along the way. The project is Presner's brainchild, put together with help from an interdisciplinary team of geographers, urban planners, architects and computer scientists...

What has this got to do with Egyptology? I hear you say. Well at the end of the article there is this...

Other projects included the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative, the St. Gall Virtual Reality Project, the Electronic Literature Collection, the Encyclopaedia of Egyptology, the Chicano Archives Digitization Project, the California Land Opportunities Tracking System and the Qumran Visualization Project.

Digital Showcase Touts Interdisciplinary Innovation, Judy Lin, UCLA International Institute, California, USA, May 23, 2007.

Belgian archaeologists have discovered the intact tomb of an Egyptian courtier who lived about 4,000 years ago, Egypt's culture ministry said Sunday.

The team from Leuven Catholic University accidentally found the tomb, one of the best preserved of its time, while excavating a later burial site at the Deir al-Barsha necropolis near the Nile Valley town of Minya, south of Cairo.

The tomb belonged to Henu, an estate manager and high-ranking official during the first intermediate period, which lasted from 2181 to 2050 B.C. and was a time of political chaos in ancient Egypt...

Loads of photographs and a much longer write up on the official website: The Tomb of Henu at Deir al-Barsha, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.

Intact tomb found in Egypt ... by accident, Reuters via MSNBC, USA, May 21, 2007. Includes video.

"Unusual" Tomb of Egyptian Courtier Found, National Geographic News, USA, May 21, 2007. Includes video.

Previously:

Belgians find tomb of ancient Egypt courtier, May 21, 2007.

Archive:

Writing on the wall, Nevine El-Aref, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No.612, November 14 - 20, 2002.

A fruitful season, Nevine El-Aref, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 653, August 28 - September 03, 2003.

If travelling is what keeps your juices flowing, then Egypt is going to rejuvenate you, that is, if you don't mind the heat. This African country is where civilisation as we know it today, first flourished and the people left behind intriguing tales of their kings and Gods in the form of historic tombs and temples, that still stand as testimony to a great culture.

So, if you've decided to travel to Egypt, then the first stop for you should be the city of Giza, just 10kms from the capital, Cairo. And there stand the most famous, the most mysterious structure known to man — the pyramids. A set of three pyramids with the tallest being built by King Cheops and known as the Great Pyramid. When you finally see the Great Pyramid, one is left speechless because the facts keep rolling around your head — this was built 3,000 years ago and needed 2.5 million blocks of solid stone and back-breaking labour.

It's the easiest thing to sketch in your drawing books as children but to know how they were built remains unfathomable even today. Up at the entrance, it's like a summit from where you can see the entire city of Cairo. It would take you three hours to see the pyramids up close, it's a panoramic view and is best to start early in the morning. Close to these pyramids is a legendary statue of a lion's body with a human head. Known as the Great Sphinx - it was regarded as a beast of great power and wisdom. When it was first made, it had bright colours for the face, head dress and the body. This must've been a sure eyecatcher in the desert. But years later, it's body had got buried in sand...

Egypt's alluring siren song, Money Control, India, May 21, 2007.

Travelling has always been my passion. The happiness that I feel to get to know a new country is simply a joyous experience. My husband shares this passion. Perhaps, that’s why we chose to holiday in Egypt, the ultimate site for history buffs. One of the World’s great civilisations, Egypt’s lifeline has been the Nile River. Often referred to as the ‘Gift of the Nile’, its unified kingdom arose circa 3200 B.C. and a series of dynasties ruled in Egypt for the ne