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 next three millennia.

Apart for the pharaonic kingdom of the native dynasty, the Persians, Greeks, Romans, and Byzantines all left their indelible mark on Egyptian soils. From its ancient civilisation to modern significant breakthroughs such as the Suez Canal (1869), Aswan High Dam (1971) and the resultant Lake Nasser, Egypt has been a constant newsmaker.

Our first city in Egypt was home to the Pyramids of Giza. Though a very crowded city, Cairo set us in the right mood for Egyptian history. The iconic Pyramids are synonymous with Egypt and one is fortunate to view them at least once in one's lifetime. Giza is located only a few kilometres south of Cairo...

Cruising down the blue Nile, The Deccan Herald, India, May 20, 2007.

Belgian archaeologists have discovered the intact tomb of an Egyptian courtier who lived about 4,000 years ago, Egypt's culture ministry said on 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 BC and was a time of political chaos in ancient Egypt.

The archaeologists found Henu's mummy wrapped in linen in a large wooden coffin and a sarcophagus decorated with hieroglyphic texts addressed to the gods Anubis and Osiris...

Belgians find tomb of ancient Egypt courtier, Reuters, UK, May 20, 2007.

Tourists to Egypt are heading to the Red Sea in larger numbers than those wanting to see the ancient Pyramids. Red Sea resorts are the destinations for a majority of visitors to the Arab world's largest country, tourism officials say.

The chairman of the Egyptian Tourist Authority Amr el-Ezabi gave these facts in an interview with the local Gulf Times newspaper on Saturday.

El-Ezabi told the Gulf Times that in 2006 approximately 70 percent of the nine million tourists in Egypt went to resorts on the Red Sea, Sinai and even the Mediterranean Sea, leaving the ancient wonder to a backdrop on visits...

Red Sea Resorts Taking Over Tourism In Egypt, Joseph S. Mayton, All Headline News, USA, May 13, 2007.

Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), said on 16/05/2007 that the fourth stage of a project on discovering the route of the Road of Rams at Luxor kicked off.

The Rams Road is an avenue of ram-headed sphinxes leading from the Luxor Temple to the Great Temple of Amun-Ra at Karnak.

In statements to MENA, Hawass said that the third stage of the project led to the discovery of the 54th sphinx-like statue, as well as a quartz steal depicting Bakenkhonsu, the High Priest of Amun-Ra, King of the Gods...

4th stage of project on discovering route of Luxor's rams road kicks off, Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, May 17, 2007.

The epic exploits of Alexander the Great have been memorialised in fiction, films and biographies. His military genius and colourful personality, not to mention his unexplained death and multiple burials, have long held fascination. There has been no end of speculation as to why his mortal remains were carried far and wide — from Babylon where he died in 323 BC at the age of 32 and where his mummified body lay in state for two years; to its transportation to Macedonia, when it was hijacked en route by his trusted general Ptolemy and taken to Memphis, the sprawling city on the banks of the Nile. The body was subsequently transported to Alexandria where Ptolemy had built a grand mausoleum, the Soma, for Alexander's remains.

Nicholas Saunders, British archaeologist, social anthropologist and the author of Alexander's Tomb: The Two Thousand Year Obsession to Find the Lost Conqueror, has endeavoured to unlock one of the mysteries of the ancient world — what happened to the body and where it was buried. He points out that the move from Memphis to Alexandria was "a pivotal moment in Egypt's 300-year transition from native Pharaonic grandeur to the advent of Roman rule", and points out that, despite a good deal of search and study, "we cannot be sure when it occurred or, in fact, who was responsible... The ancient writers are silent on exactly where Ptolemy finally buried Alexander and are vague about the funeral." In Chapter Four of his book, entitled "Who moved Alexander's Corpse", Saunders tries to untangle the thread of speculation...

Saunders, who studied archaeology and social anthropology in the United Kingdom and who has taught and written numerous books on these topics, offers in Alexander's Tomb the epic tale of the ongoing quest to unlock this great mystery of the ancient world. He is less interested in discovering the site of the tomb than in searching for its traces in the world, tracking its influence on history, and charting the lives and times of the various characters and personalities who have been associated with it for 2,000 years. This is an important book, well written, and fascinating in its content...

, Nicholas J. Saunders, Basic Books Inc., 2006, pp. 290.

Alexander's lost tomb, Jill Kamil, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 845, May 17 - 23, 2007.

The facial trauma found on a certain mummy known as the "young lady", one of three discovered in the tomb of Amenhotep II (KV35) in the Valley of the Kings, was used by Joann Fletcher as the main evidence for the damage being caused by malice and perpetrated post-mortem, in revenge against Queen Nefertiti. This conclusion does not make any sense, because anyone who wanted to take revenge on the mummy of Nefertiti could damage the entire mummy rather than make this small cut on the face. However, there is new evidence from the CT scan performed on the mummy to suggest that the trauma to the left cheek of the young lady's face was almost certainly done post-mortem, occurring before the embalming process.

The evidence cited for the post-mortem trauma was: first that the bone, skin, and muscle fragments were pushed inwards, down into the wound and not outwards (as would happen if the mask had been ripped off the face). Ashraf Selim, professor of radiology in the Faculty of Medicine at Cairo University, says it would be impossible to push the dry, embalmed tissues down and have them maintain their integrity without being broken off, suggesting that this happened before the body was embalmed. Second, the wound was cleaned and there were no loose bone or flesh fragments within the cavity, as one would expect if the wound occurred after embalming. Third, there were bony fragments deep within the nasal cavity beneath the layer of resin, implying that the fracture had happened before embalming. Fourth, the violence of the wound made it seem unlikely that it was committed by the embalmers. Paul Gustorer, another radiologist, suggested that this trauma was very similar to a wound that he had seen on a patient who had been kicked in the face by a horse...

The CT scan confirmed that the mummy known as the "young lady" was a female and not a male as previously suggested [in some DNA test results released by Dr. Hawass. Ref. More 'Daddy' than 'Mummy', CBC, Canada, January 13, 2004]. Fletcher also concluded that the young lady was 30 years old. The CT scan concluded that the mummy was actually between 25 and 35 years of age. The last two points of evidence are similar, but all the other evidence suggests that this mummy cannot be Queen Nefertiti. In this respect, we must close this subject and begin to make further studies to identify our "young lady".

, Joann Fletcher, Hodder & Stoughton, 2004, pp. 350.

Dig Days: Nefertiti II, Zahi Hawass, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 845, May 17 - 23, 2007.

Previously:

Dig Days: Nefertiti, May 04, 2007.

What was it like to walk round the Colosseum when the Roman Empire was at its height" How would the experience have differed from that of a tourist today".

Our understanding of what life was like in bygone eras could be boosted, thanks to a new initiative aiming to depict more accurately and realistically how heritage sites may have looked in their heyday.

Computer scientists and cultural heritage researchers are assessing whether today's increasingly sophisticated 3-d computer technology can be combined with the most recent historical evidence to produce significantly improved visual reconstructions of churches, palaces and other ancient sites.

This could help historians, students and museum visitors gain a much better feel of how such sites were perceived by the people who used them in the past and what it was actually like to be there. The project is being funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). The work is being carried out by researchers from Warwick Manufacturing Group and the new Warwick Digital Laboratory, University of Warwick...

Walk like an Egyptian — or a Roman — experience what the past really looked like, Natasha Richardson, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council via EurekAlert, UK, May 15, 2007.

Walk like an Egyptian — or a Roman — experience what the past really looked like, Natasha Richardson, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, UK, May 15, 2007.

Short courses on the ancient Egyptians, rocks and how to write stories are taking place in Coventry as part of Adult Learners' Week.

A week of events starts in the city on Saturday in a campaign to get grown-ups back to the classroom.

Highlights include a session on Egyptology at 4pm on Thursday, May 24 [2007] at Coventry Central Library in Smithford Way, city centre, when people will have chance to learn about pyramids and mummies...

Invitation back to the classroom, Coventry Evening Telegraph, UK, May 15, 2007.

The Great Pyramid of Giza, the sole surviving member of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, stands today as the most massive puzzle in the history of civilization. From the ancient Greeks to today's techno-geeks, many have asked this question: How was something this huge built with such precision? The entire 13-acre pile of limestone blocks, most weighing more than 2 tons, has sides no more than 8 inches out of alignment, says archaeologist , author of , released in April. Its interior shafts, some hundreds of feet long, vary less than a few inches from being perfectly straight.

Now French architect Jean-Pierre Houdin has reopened this conversation with a controversial proposal that the giant tomb of the pharaoh Khufu (Cheops to the Greeks), who reigned from about 2589 B.C. to 2566 B.C., was built from the inside out with the use of internal ramps.

The theory challenges decades of archaeological thought about how the pyramid was built, and graces the cover of the current Archaeology magazine [How to Build a Pyramid, , Volume 60, Number 3, May - June 2007], published by the Archaeological Institute of America. But Egypt's chief archaeologist isn't impressed. "I receive a theory every day," says Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities...

All [theories] have problems, Brier says: Too much labor and stone would be needed for the outside ramp; there's not enough available wood for cranes; and a spiral ramp would ruin external sightlines...

And Romer dismisses Houdin's idea. "In reality, huge amounts of well-documented facts exist concerning the genuine building methods employed," he says. "Quite simply, we see the outline where a ramp ends in a quarry..."

Scientists ramp up for pyramid theory, Dan Vergano, USA Today, New York, USA, May 16, 2007.

Previously:

Review: The Great Pyramid: Ancient Egypt Revisited by John Romer, April 10, 2007.

Book Review: The Great Pyramid: Ancient Egypt Revisited by John Romer, March 01, 2007.

How to Build a Pyramid, April 09, 2007.

The inside [out] story, April 07, 2007.

Great Pyramid Built Inside Out, French Architect Says, April 03, 2007.

Ancient riddle of the Great Pyramid's construction is turned inside out, March 30, 2007.

Real-time 3D Helps to Finally Solve the Mystery of the Great Pyramid of Kheops!, March 30, 2007.

The J. Paul Getty Museum inched a step closer to relinquishing ownership of one of its most prized artefacts, a 2,400-year-old statue of a goddess claimed by Italy, at a conference of international experts to discuss the artefact this week, its director said.

The Getty has not reached a formal conclusion based on the conference, which was convened at the museum on Wednesday and was closed to the public. But museum officials and some of the experts who attended said their discussions buttressed what the museum says are its own suspicions that the statue, acquired by the Getty in 1988, might have been illegally excavated in southern Italy.

“There was no dramatic single conclusion, no eureka moment, but it is certainly helping us narrow down the focus,” Michael Brand, the museum’s director, said in an interview. “It would be fair to say that most of the discussion focused on Sicily.”

The statue’s precise provenance, like that of many antiquities, is unknown. But the Italian government asserts that it was looted in recent decades, and Mr. Brand said the Getty’s own investigation into its acquisition had revealed “problems...”

Getty Moves Closer to Returning an Ancient Statue to Italy, Sharon Waxman, The New York Times, New York, USA, May 12, 2007.

The Museum (Thursday, BBC2) is a predictable addition to the BBC’s tried and comforting fly-on-the-wall series that look at institutions with a loving, tweedy fondness. The British Museum has all the requisite old relics and forgotten dusty bits and pieces these human quilts of shows need. There are lots and lots of rather dotty eccentrics, who are utterly adorable and admirably monomaniac. They really wouldn’t survive long in the real world. The pleasure of looking at these institutions is of peering into an enclosed world, like taking the front off a dolls’ house.

All well and good. There is, though, a troika of problems. The curators, conservators, cleaners, guards and shifters are all made, by the nature of this style of documentary, to be far more interesting and important than the objects they serve. Indeed, the things are merely props for a slightly dysfunctional, inverted human drama. In this first episode, we watched a Greek bronze being given a facial by a metal conservator who was, quite frankly, a bit of a gorgeous exhibit herself, and far easier on the eye than the legless green-tin Stavros she was poking about on. When she looked at the camera and said, “His genitals are a darker colour because they’ve been touched so much,” then giggled suggestively, all over the home counties men were shifting on the sofa, saying, “We haven’t been to the BM for ages.”

Then there’s the problem of the soundtrack. We were given that compilation of mood tunes that seems to go with everything, like aural mayonnaise. And then there was the third little pig of a problem, the voice-over. The Tristrams will all have thought long and hard about what sort of tone they wanted to offer to lure you in. It can only have been a committee decision that finally settled on a Yorkshire comedy voice. If you look at the BM and consider all the things in it, its status in the country and to civilisation, then think, “If it could speak, what would it sound like?”, I bet none of you would come up with a working men’s club MC from Batley. But then, that’ll be exactly why they chose it: to make the stuffy old museum sound accessible and not in the slightest snobbish. Accessible and not snobbish are the most important things on telly, along with not being old; far more important than being believable, authoritative or even pleasant. The Museum is a nice enough series, gilded with a patronising, unthreatening, unintellectual, softly tepid tour of the great ivory tower of civilisation, and that is more snobbish and elitist than anything.

Who's a pretty dull boy, then?, AA Gill, The Sunday Times, Uk, May 13, 2007.

Are you planning to go anywhere out of your own country for a vacation? Perhaps Egypt? Well, it’s a good choice, to me at least. I have always been fascinated by the culture of this exotic country. It has a different way of expressing its places. This habit is not shared among most of the countries in the world. Some must-to-see places in Egypt are the Pyramids of Giza, the markets at Cairo, the deserts of Egypt, and the longest river, the Nile river. The tombs of all the kings are also a thing you must see. The most fantastic thing about this country is its history. The pharaohs, pyramids, dynasties, and gods play a very important role in the history of Egypt.

I myself wanted to become an Egyptologist. Sadly, that is now a thing which I do not want to achieve. The aromas of food have lured me to become a chef. Even then, I still spend my leisure time in trying to find out more of its fascinating history. I am most astounded by its hieroglyphics and its gods. I tried learning the Egyptian language of hieroglyphs, but, honestly, it was no good. It is a language which I think means ‘writing on stone’. It is made up of the most complicated figures which are pictures. They can be of feathers, birds, or crocodiles. Well, the language is one thing I cannot understand, but the gods are quite another subject. I must say, the ancient Egyptians must have had a vividly wild imagination if they could think up such stories of their gods. The Egyptian gods include Atum-the creator, Tefnut, the rain goddess, Shu, the air god, and Osiris, the god of the underworld and death. My favourite is the god of wisdom, the moon, Thoth. He is depicted and worshipped in the form of an ibis or a baboon (sounds odd doesn’t it?). I like him because he is related with the moon, my favourite heavenly body and because I also like wisdom. He is also depicted as an ibis, which is one of my favourite birds...

The lure of Egypt, Altamash Gaziyani, Cybernoon.com, India, April 30, 2007.

Does the curse of the Pharaohs really exist? Or is it simply a case of illusion and stories spread by people? To answer this question, let us relate some stories of the curse. The Solar Boats were discovered in May 1954 while Kamal al Mallakh and Anis Mansour were having lunch at the Excelsior restaurant in the centre of the city [Cairo]. They received a phone call from Garceni who was responsible for removing the heaps of sand that covered the southern side of King Khufu's [the Great] Pyramid. As usual in archaeological zones, the director was responsible for architectural works and removing the huge blocks of stone from the site.

The story began in 1944 during a visit by King Farouk and King Abdulaziz Al Saud to the pyramid in a royal horse and carriage. French archaeologist Monsieur Drioton, the then director of the antiquities department, briefed them on the archaeological zone. As the royal coach passed behind Khufu's pyramid, the Saudi monarch noticed a towering heap of sand and stones by the southern side of the pyramid and brought it to the attention of King Farouk, who directed Drioton to remove the mound. The antiquities department allocated 50 Egyptian Pounds for the operation. The removal of approximately 60,000 cubic metres of sand and stones exposed the remains of the archaeological wall that surrounded the pyramid, which is part of the Great Pyramid's complex.

When the discovery took place, archaeologist Zaki Nour, the then secretary of the site, was sick and absent from the scene...

The Curse of the Pharaohs, Zahi Hawass, Asharq Alawsat, UK< May 02, 2007.

They invited the furious men with their AK-47s to join them for tea. It's what you do in this part of the world, where hospitality is near obligatory and tea is its essential currency.

Moments earlier, the pair had barrelled into camp in a pickup, pointing those rifles and screaming in Arabic. Now, as they took refreshment in the punishing heat, James Harrell noticed their unfocused and agitated look.

Mr. [James] Harrell, a geologist and Egyptologist from the University of Toledo, wanted a photograph "of these two men with their crazy eyes and their AK-47s."

He tinkered with his camera settings until an Egyptian geologist in his entourage caught his eye. The man shook so violently, tea sloshed from his cup in tipsy waves, and now he was making low, frantic gestures...

Archaeological Geology of Ancient Egypt, James A. Harrell, University of Toledo.

University of Toledo geologist shows rock-steady resolve, Jenni Laidman, The Toledo Blade, Ohio, USA, May 13, 2007.

They have survived sandstorms and desert stillness, the fury of kings and the ravages of time, but the legendary Pyramids of Giza are endangered now — and the agent of their peril is a gloomy Egyptian stable-owner by the name of Hesham el-Ghabri.

Or so you might think.

"They forbid us to ride around the pyramids," grouses the owner of the TWA Stable ("Camel and Horse Riding"), one of countless such tourist-dependent operations clustered in the shadows of the brooding Sphinx and the three celebrated Pyramids of Giza. "They accuse of us being terrorists. They say we are going to bomb the pyramids."

"They" are high officials at Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities — the government body responsible for administering the Pyramids of Giza along with the rest of this country's innumerable ancient monuments — and they have not actually accused el-Ghabri and his ilk of being terrorists, although perhaps they might as well have.

"The people here have been handed a gold platter — the pyramids," storms Dr. Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the council. "Instead of guarding it, they (defecate) in it..."

Pyramids of Giza in peril, Ross Oakland, The Daily Star, Egypt, April 30, 2007.

“Wonderful Things from the Pharaoh’s Tomb” includes 126 reproductions of the most famous artefacts in the Tutankhamun hoard. Artisans from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Field Museum and Egyptian institutions recreated King Tut’s state chariot, golden shrines, mummy case and, of course, his distinctive funerary mask.

It’s all laid out in the [Museum of the Rockies] main entry hall. Because of the open nature of the exhibit, security is noticeably more strict than usual in the hands-on museum. Children are required to be in close range of parents at all times, which can be frustrating when adults are soaking in the detailed information plaques while the kids are impatient to see the next artefact.

Beyond the Egyptology, MOR also plays host to a travelling exhibit of Pablo Picasso’s ceramic designs. The show features 65 plates, bowls, vases, pitchers and other creations Picasso and colleagues developed at the Madoura pottery workshop in Southern France between 1947 and 1971...

King Tut exhibit injects new life into ancient subject, Rob Chaney, The Missoulian, Montana, USA, May 14, 2007.

Beaux Arts will present Description de L’Egypte, the story of The Napoleonic Survey of Egypt. The art exhibit, consisting of 87 original prints from the historic publication, is the largest display of this incredible work ever held in the Southwest. The retrospective will open to the public Saturday, May 12, 2007 and run through Saturday, July 14, 2007.

Description de L’Egypte is a monumental production of 837 copper plate engravings and accompanying text produced by Napoleon Bonaparte’s savants, including more than 167 unsurpassed French scientists, surveyors, linguists, economists, physicians, engineers, artists and assistants. These scholars were hand selected by Napoleon to accompany his 1798-1801 military conquest of Egypt and document every aspect of the country. This publishing project of the French government utilized 400 engravers from 1802 to 1828. It is the foundation work of Egyptology and a masterpiece of illustration, striking in beauty and detail...

Beaux Arts Presents Description de L'Egypte, Art Daily, Mexico...

When Zakaria Goneim opened the sarcophagus that had bean sealed for over 5,000 years inside King Sekhemkhet's burial chamber in Saqqara only to find it empty, disappointment filled the chamber.

Among those present were the then President Jamal Abdul Nasser and senior revolutionary commanders as well as a number of reporters from newspapers and news agencies from around the world. The news of the empty coffin spread, although Zakaria Goneim had found a bouquet of funeral flowers placed on the coffin, which confirmed the existence of the king's mummy intact inside it. Newspapers and news agencies ascribed the empty coffin to the curse of the Pharaohs.

When the Valley of the Kings tomb KV-63 was discovered last year, the whole world was taken back by the spectacular discovery, especially as it was the first in the Valley of the Kings since Howard Carter's 1922 discovery of the tomb of the Golden Pharaoh, Tutankhamun. The new tomb is located directly opposite King Tutankhamun's tomb. I was surprised at the presence of thousands of journalists and reporters who came from all over the globe to attend the press conference that we held in Luxor to announce the great discovery...

Mystery of the Pharaonic Coffins, Zahi Hawass, Asharq Alawsat, UK, May 08, 2007.

The world of the Pharaohs is undoubtedly one of charm and imagination. Despite the small number of tombs that have been discovered intact and untouched since burial, the world of the Pharaohs is still rich for the public's imagination and writer's imagination. In forthcoming articles, we will be dealing with key archaeological discoveries from the Pharaonic age and the stories that accompanied every new discovery that at times, were more interesting than the discovery itself.

When I published my book, , that contained stories and tales that took place before and after my discoveries at the Giza pyramids, Saqqara or the at Bahariya Oasis, the public showed extraordinary interest in those stories that brought them closer to the exciting mysterious world. A few years ago, a Czech expedition headed by Egyptologist discovered a tomb that had not been touched by man for over 2,500 years. The tomb, which belonged to palace official Iufaa, was discovered in Abusir, a site located between the Giza pyramids and Saqqara and contains over 11 pyramids called the forgotten pyramids. The tomb dates from the so-called Saite period-the period of the 26th dynasty.

The tomb was found in a 30-meter deep shaft and its ceiling was in very poor condition. Verner and I agreed that we should build a dome above the tomb for protection...

by Miroslav Verner contains a chapter on Iufaa's tomb – American University in Cairo Press, 2003, pp. 256.

The Tomb of the Palace Official, Zahi Hawass, Asharq Alawsat, UK, May 13, 2007.

The second and almost perfect 29 million-year-old fossilised skull of an ancient relative of humans, apes and monkeys has been unearthed in Egypt, media reported Tuesday.

The skull, from a species known as Aegyptopithecus zeuxis — "linking Egyptian ape" or dawn ape, was identified by Duke University primatologist Elwyn Simons in a quarry on the outskirts of Cairo. Because of the new specimen's remarkable wholeness, Simons and his colleagues were able to subject it to micro CT scanning, a computerized X-ray technique that can be used to calculate the approximate dimensions of the brain the cranium once encased.

According to Simons, the specimen is from a young female that lived in the early Oligocene, a period of global cooling, volcanic eruptions and seismic disturbance, driven by the collision of the Indian and Asian continental plates...

Perfect 29 mln-year-old fossilised skull unearthed in Egypt, Jiang Yuxia, Xinhua, China, May 15, 2007.

... The Rosetta stone unlocked the secrets of the Egyptian hieroglyphics — and is the subject of a book by Professor of Egyptology, John Ray, who will visit Ruislip Manor library on 17th May [2007] to talk about this amazing artefact and the exciting race to decode it...

, John Ray, Profile Books Ltd, 2007, pp. 192.

Talking Loud returns to Hillingdon, April 20, 2007.

Millions of modern tourists have no doubt stood where chose to capture his Sphynx and Pyramid of Ghizeh in 1857. But there is something hidden, a history as yet unearthed, in Frith's image, for the feet of the mysterious creature are yet to be fully excavated. It is as though, notes the caption, he is "rising out of the sand"...

When Maxime Du Camp published the first illustrated book of images of the Middle East, it became a bestseller. In 1849, the French government, concerned that the Egyptian people would squander their own history, sent Du Camp to Egypt to photograph archaeological sites and inscriptions. His travelling companion was Gustave Flaubert, who wrote: "I had my first sight of the Orient through, or rather in, a glowing light that was like melted silver on the sea..."

In Ascension of the Grand Pyramid, Peridis captures a group of Europeans being escorted, sometimes hand in hand, by evidently friendly locals. "I've found heaps of these images," Finch says. "One of the rationales for these photos was that they presented a really safe view of Egypt. The idea that you could go and, even though it was in this very exotic location, it was welcoming and they would help you..."

Small Worlds: Travel photography of the nineteenth century, National Gallery of Victoria, Australia.

Distant memories, The Age, Australia, May 12, 2007.

As it turns out, movers and shakers in ancient Egypt had a lot in common with their counterparts in the modern world.

Paperwork piled up, waiting for signatures. Out-of-town business required time-consuming travel. And, of course, there were the obligatory schmooze-fests that one had to attend as much for the politicking as the partying.

The Triangle's high rollers can get an up-close look at the similarities and differences between their lifestyles and those of their financial forebears courtesy of the Temples and Tombs exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of Art. The travelling exhibit runs from April 15 through July 8 [2007] on loan from the British Museum. It showcases 85 pieces of art that are more than 3,000 years old.

The exhibit cost around $1 million to bring to town, and so far has attracted north of 15,000 visitors, an attendance number that Museum of Art Director Larry Wheeler would like to see pep up...

Egypt exhibit shows 'movers and shakers' haven't changed all that much, Triangle Business Journal, Wisconsin, USA, May 11, 2007.

Ministry of Culture will carry on with the second and the third stages of a project of developing the Valley of Kings in Luxor City, Upper Egypt. The first stage, which started three years ago, finished by building an international centre for guests.

Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) Zahi Hawass said the centre is an example of the Egyptian government's plans for the renovation of the Valley of the Kings that first came to light in Japan.

Hawass added the second and third stages will be completed in cooperation with the Italian side.

Culture ministry carries on with 2nd, 3rd stages of kings' valley renovation, Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, May 14, 2007.

The director of the British Museum told Akhbar Al-Youm on 12/5/2007 that it was considering an Egyptian request to display the Rosette Stone at the Grand Museum of Egypt due to open in 2011.

Hana Bolton said the museum will look seriously into the Egyptian request.

Britain to look into Egyptian request over Rosetta Stone, Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, May 12, 2007.

The head of the German Museum in Berlin has rejected anew an Egyptian request to have the bust of ancient queen Nefertiti displayed at a Cairo exhibition.

The director of the museum said he fears that the bust would be disintegrated as it is made of limestone.

He also cited security concerns for rejecting the Egyptian request...

Berlin museum rejects anew Egyptian request to display Nefertiti's bust, Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, May 12, 2007.

Eighteen virtual exhibitions have been launched, creating a showcase for Islamic Art in the Mediterranean.

Museum staff from 14 countries have worked together to complete the project, and 50 artefacts from each museum are on show in the virtual exhibition ‘rooms’.

The UK is represented by the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Museum, the National Museums of Scotland and Glasgow Museums.

They are joined by representatives from countries including Egypt, Algeria, Jordon and Morocco.

Each of the virtual exhibitions was created by a team of curators from both sides of the Mediterranean. Accompanying the works of art are archaeological facts about the regions...

Discover Islamic Art website.

Virtual museum showcases shared heritage, Frances Booth, The Telegraph, UK, May 10, 2007.

There are lessons in ancient history right here on the Jersey City waterfront. A unique seagoing vessel made out of Bolivian reeds sits awaiting a July voyage across the Atlantic Ocean that is more of an experiment.

This grass boat, the Abora III, will help the Germany-based Association for Experimental Archaeology and Research attempt to prove that trade existed 14,000 years ago — long before Columbus and the Vikings sailed for the New World — between the people of America and civilizations on the other side of the Atlantic. Among those they think met the mariners from the yet-to-be named American continent were the Egyptians of about 12,000 B.C.

One of the reasons the archaeologists say they believe commercial crossings took place is the presence of the "same cultivated and intoxicating plants on this and on the other side of the Atlantic." They point out that scientists found nicotine and cocaine traces in the mummy of Rameses II. Those two drugs did not become popular until after Columbus returned to the Old World. It was also intriguing to find that the remains of tobacco beetles were discovered in Egyptian graves and the New World bugs could not fly from the Gulf of Mexico to the Mediterranean...

Did the ancients cross the Atlantic?, The Jersey Chronicle, New Jersey, USA, May 10, 2007.

cf. First identification of drugs in Egyptian mummies, S. Balabanova, F. Parsche, W. Pirsig, Naturwissenschaften, Vol. 79, No. 8, August 1992, p. 358.

A look at the Evidence for Cocaine in Mummies, Duncan Edlin, The Hall of Maat, USA.

From the moment the auditorium was plunged into darkness and Matthew Scott's horror-film-style chords crashed into our ears, Cardiff's packed out New Theatre just knew that this was going to be something special.

Awful Egyptians was Birmingham Stage Company's adaptation of Terry Deary's hugely popular book of the same name and it had a lot to live up to.

Combining quick fire wit, historical facts, gory detail and great cartoons, Deary's books have created a winning formula, selling millions throughout the world.

But how well would this translate onto stage? ...

.

Review: Horrible Histories (Awful Egyptians), Sarah Manners, Western Mail via icWales, UK, May 11, 2007.

Egypt is a land of tombs and temples in various stages of disrepair, but none is more evocative than one of the most badly ruined - the toppled statue of Rameses II in his massive temple, the Ramesseum, between Luxor and the Valley of the Kings.

This Rameses, who bestrode the 13th century BC like a colossus, was fond of big sculptures. He was responsible for the main temple at Abu Simbel, which was moved in the 1960s to escape drowning in the lake created by the damming of the Nile.

Abu Simbel remains an awesome sight: it's easy to see how its seated figures, gazing sightlessly south, struck fear into the hearts of intending invaders. But the toppled statue at the Ramesseum, by contrast, is a potent symbol of the vanity of human ambition.

This statue prompted the English poet Shelley to pen his famous sonnet Ozymandias, in which he observes "on the sand / half sunk, a shattered visage"...

Egypt: Poetic license in the land of the fallen pharaohs, The New Zealand Herald, New Zealand, May 01, 2007.

Many ancient centres lay claim to being the “cradle of civilization” — the place in which the seeds of modern society were sown.

Egypt is one such place, and its pharaohs, pyramids and hieroglyphics have long fascinated archaeologists, school children and history buffs of many stripes.

While viewing artefacts from Egypt’s past would normally require a trip to the city, a new exhibit at the Huron County Museum (HCM) allows patrons to do so without straying far from home.

Titled “Egypt, Gift of the Nile,” the exhibit is on loan from Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), and will be showing until June 30 [2007].

About 70 artefacts are on display, according to HCM assistant curator Elizabeth French, and many are thousands of years old...

Legendary civilization invades Huron County with ROM exhibit, Ben Forrest, The Goderich Signal-Star, Ontario, Canada, May 09, 2007.

Barcelona museum of Egyptian artefacts on Wednesday denied charges that one of its statues may have been stolen from Egypt, a dispute that has prompted the Cairo government to dispatch experts to examine the piece as a possible step toward claiming it.

The limestone artwork — a 43-centimeter-tall (17-inch) depiction of a princess named Nefert — is on display at the Egypt Museum of Barcelona, which says it will return the piece if it turns out to have been stolen.

The charges come from a Spanish Egyptologist who used to work at the museum but left about two years ago, Ildefonso Falcones, the museum's lawyer, said in an interview from Barcelona.

When the archaeologist stopped working at the museum, she demanded payment of damages for alleged psychological abuse on the job. When the museum refused, she went to Egyptian authorities with her suspicions that the statuette was removed from Egypt illegally...

Spanish museum said to be exhibiting stolen Egyptian antiquity, AP via International Herald Tribune, France, May 09, 2007.

Egypt’s antiquities chief told the Associated Press in an interview that if persuasion doesn’t work, he will fight for an ancient bust of Nefertiti now in a Berlin museum that Germany says is too fragile to loan to Egypt.

Zahi Hawass rattled the world’s museums last week with requests to hand over masterpieces of ancient Egypt, including the Rosetta Stone; some for loans, others permanently.

Mr. Hawass said in the interview Wednesday that the goal is to display the pieces in two new museums, particularly the Grand Museum, which is opening in 2012 next to the Great Pyramids of Giza, and for it to be Egypt’s main antiquities showcase.

But the bombastic archaeologist ... has met resistance from museums reluctant to part with their most prized artefacts.

“Some people say, ‘If we give this bust to Egypt for three months, they will not return it,’” Mr. Hawass said, regarding the bust of Nefertiti. “I say: We are not the pirates of the Caribbean. We are in the 21st century, we have co-operation with all the countries and who respect our work...”

Egypt Antiquities Chief Says He'll Fight for Nefertiti Bust, Setarreh Massihzadegan, AP via The New York Sun, New York, USA, May 11, 2007.

cf. Egypt will fight for ancient artefacts , Setarreh Massihzadegan, AP via South Carolina Enquirer-Herald, South Carolina, USA, May 10, 2007.

The mathematical system in ancient Egypt was application-oriented, devised — complete with fractions — to manage practical matters. Assem Deif sums up the old methods.

If an ancient Egyptian wanted to divide a loaf of bread among a group of workers or figure out the manpower needed to achieve a certain task, he used addition and doubling instead of the four operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division we use today. It was their script that compelled them to use these operations, since they could double any given number by simply drawing the same symbol next to it. For a similar reason they are only used with unit fractions — those whose numerator is 1 — when solving problems about ratios.

The interesting arithmetical aspect was multiplication and its inverse, division. For the multiplication they used the method of duplication, reducing it to a problem of addition. This was done by creating two columns in which the numeral 1 always began in the left column. Both columns were doubled to the point where any combination of numbers in the left column could be reckoned to the chosen multiplier. Once checked, the corresponding numbers in the right column were summed up to become the product...

The Egyptians needed fractions to divide food and supplies according to specific ratios. Fractions were so important that of the 87 problems in the Ahmes Papyrus only six did not involve them. Likewise, of the 25 problems in the Moscow Papyrus 22 involved calculations with fractions. Because the Egyptians performed multiplications and divisions by doubling and halving, it was necessary to double fractions too. Scribes created tables of calculations of fractions along with integers. These tables would be used as references, so that the chief of personnel could carry out the fractional divisions on site. With the exception of the frequently-used fraction 2/3, and the less frequent 3/4, a scribe, being asked to divide an object into a certain number of pieces, would express his fractions as a sum of unit fractions, i.e. limiting them mainly to fractions of the form 1/n where n is a positive integer. Mathematicians call these types of fractions Egyptian Fractions and request, as Ahmes did, that the unit fractions be distinct. A unit fraction is represented in hieroglyphic numerals by placing a mouth, which meant "part", above the number...

The Ahmes code, Assem Deif, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 844, May 10 - 16, 2007.

Previously:

A Question of Ancient Mathematics, March 21, 2007.

Reply: Mathematics in Ancient Egypt, February 07, 2007.

Mathematics in Ancient Egypt, January 26, 2007.

We always liked the idea of taking road trips through Egypt. We would stop at various cities, towns and villages and get to see new things in our beloved country. Our travelling style was mainly based on budget accommodation and the occasional stay at a luxury hotel was only a pampering break.

Even with our baby boy on board, we were simply not ready to completely give up our common hobby and passion: travelling. We knew we had to continue doing what we loved to do in order to be able to be good parents. We just needed to think of how to alter our travelling style to match our new status: a family with a very young baby...

Around 45km before you reach Edfu, look carefully at the mountains to your left. Walking distance from the asphalt is a small Pharaonic temple engraved in the mountain rocks. Dating back to the New Kingdom, the Temple of Kanais, as it is widely known, was built to the orders of Pharaoh Seti I commemorating a visit he paid to the ancient Egyptian quarries in the vicinity.

Aswan is an enchanting place to visit, one of our old-time favourites. Its people, island temples and exquisite aura are all reasons why we fell in love with the city... From the Nubian Museum to the Fatimid necropolis, from the rescued Temple of Philae to the symbol of eternal love — the Mausoleum of Aga Khan — we went on an intensive sightseeing mission for two days...

Still hungry for history, we headed northward towards the largest open museum on this planet — Luxor...

Baby's day out, Ghada Kabesh and Mohamed El-Hebeishy, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 844, May 10 - 16, 2007.

The Giza Pyramid has escaped, unscathed, an online poll scam.

The poll, conducted by an organisation calling itself the New Seven Wonders Foundation, had claimed that the Giza Pyramid could not be included as part of the New Seven Wonders because it was already a candidate.

In a letter sent to Culture Minister Farouk Hosni, Bernard Weber, the poll's creator, wrote: "After careful consideration, the New Seven Wonders Foundation designates the Pyramids of Giza — the only original wonder of the world remaining — an honorary New Seven Wonders candidate. Therefore, you cannot vote for the Pyramids of Giza as part of the New Seven Wonders campaign...

Newsreel: We wonder, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 844, May 10 - 16, 2007.

The May 2007 issue of the Royal Geographical Societies (UK) magazine Geographical has an eight-page photo spread entitled “Egypt's Sunken Treasures” relating to 's work in Alexandria.

Photographer Christoph Gerigk captures underwater archaeologists at work, unearthing the remains of ancient submerged settlements off the coast of Egypt.

Sunken Treasures, Christoph Gerigk, Geographical Magazine, The Royal Geographical Society, Richmond, UK, Volume 79, No. 05, May 2007.

cf. Submerged Cities off the Coast of Egypt, Angela M.H. Schuster, Archaeology Magazine, Archaeological Institute of America, New York, USA, June 21, 2000.

Subscribe to Geographical Magazine via Amazon.com.

Egyptian, US and German experts have refuted French archaeologist Jean-Pierre Houdin's theory about how the Pyramids were built, said Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) Zahi Hawass.

In statements on Wednesday 09/05/2007, Hawass said the experts believe Jean-Pierre Houdin's theory lacks scientific and practical bases.

Hawass said he met with two German and US archaeologists over Houdin's theory.

The archaeologists stressed that the theory lacked the scientific bases and only relied on inaccurate grounds, he added.

French theory on Pyramids building refuted, Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, May 10, 2007.

Previously:

How to Build a Pyramid, April 09, 2007.

The inside [out] story, April 07, 2007.

Great Pyramid Built Inside Out, French Architect Says, April 03, 2007.

Ancient riddle of the Great Pyramid's construction is turned inside out, March 30, 2007.

Real-time 3D Helps to Finally Solve the Mystery of the Great Pyramid of Kheops!, March 30, 2007.

Star Wars creator George Lucas is going back in time to oversee a slew of new TV documentaries for America's The History Channel. The movie mogul is behind six upcoming specials for the cable network, including films about Abraham Lincoln's assassination, Egyptology, soothsayer Nostradamus and ancient China. Lucas has also commissioned documentaries about global warming and fundamentalist Islam for the network.

Lucas makes a date with History Channel specials, Contact Music, UK, April 30, 2007.

The diplomatic row between Germany and Egypt over the 2,400-year-old bust of the beautiful Queen Nefertiti is heating up. Berlin's refusal to allow her to travel is "unacceptable" says Cairo.

She may be 3,400-year-old foreigner, but she is still one of Berlin's best-known beauties. Her delicate features adorn posters all over town; there's an entire calendar devoted to her entrancing image; and thousands flock to the city's museum island each day just to catch a glimpse of her. Now, Egypt wants her back...

"We will make the lives of these museums miserable," Zahi Hawass ... threatened in April. "It will be a scientific war."

Hawass stepped up his campaign last week, asking five other museums in Germany, Great Britain, France and the US to loan iconic Egyptian artefacts ... for the opening of Egypt's National Museum in 2011.

Perhaps not coincidentally, the objects are all on a wish list of objects that Hawass would like to see permanently returned to Egypt — an index he has made public on numerous occasions. Like the Nefertiti bust, which was discovered in late 1912 by German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt, most made their way out of Egypt in a time when antiquities laws were flexible at best...

Beauty of the Nile Trapped on the Spree, Andrew Curry, Spiegel, Germany, May 10, 2007.

They had antiseptics, bandages and even laxatives a good 3,000 years before the first Hippocratic oath was sworn.

But the ancient Egyptians have been ignored by historians, who instead credit the Greeks with creating the foundations of modern medicine.

Now researchers at Manchester University have uncovered new evidence that Egyptians were practising scientifically-valid medicine 1,000 years before the earliest Greek doctor.

Scientists studied 3,500-year-old papyrus scrolls which give detailed accounts of plants and herbs used to treat illness at the time of the Pharaohs...

Experts say the Egyptians ... had a detailed understanding of how the body worked...

Egypt was mummy of medicine, Yakub Qureshi, Manchester Evening News, UK, May 10, 2007.

Previously:

Egyptians, not Greeks were true fathers of medicine, May 09, 2007.

Geomatics company, Plowman Craven, purchased a robust EuroPac Metrology laser scanning system to investigate mummies in the Bahariya Oasis, located in Egypt's Western Desert...

The first test for the EuroPac system was to scan recently discovered mummies in the Bahariya Oasis, located in Egypt's Western Desert.

Plowman Craven 3D were commissioned to undertake high-definition close range scanning of some of the most important mummies from the site, as well as the tombs in which they were found, as an important visualisation and conservation record of these amazing remains.

The flexibility of EuroPac's technology allowed for quick and easy set-ups in conditions and environments previously untested by such systems.

The captured data was real-time visualised in EuroPac's reverse engineering software and 3D rapid models were created whilst on-site.

Archaeologists are now able to monitor any degradation of the mummies that may incur due to their movement from the tombs or purely due to the passing of time...

Laser scanning system for Egyptian mummies, Manufacturing Talk, UK, May 10, 2007.

It’s a photographic exhibition with a difference, for as you walk through the “Saqara Under Sand” or “Whispers of the Dead” you become immersed in the sands, tombs and findings of that ancient site, so much so that you go down history lane while sharing the sweat and toil of archaeologists and workers, who, for 16-years have kept digging and excavating to resolve the mysteries of an area that shelters three millennia of history.

In cooperation with the Cultural Development Fund, the Alexandria Library, the Ars Latina Society and the Louvre Museum’s Egyptian Antiquities Department, “Saqara Under Sand” that was staged in Jan. 2007 at the Alexandria Library and last month at the French Cultural Centre, Cairo, is currently on at Prince Taz Palace [Cairo].

However, due to the significance of the exhibition that showcases the fruit of 16-years’ excavations conducted by the Louvre’s French archaeological team, “Saqara Under Sand” is scheduled to tour the US as well as many Arab countries and South America before it will return to centre stage at the Louvre Museum, Paris...

A pictorial dream: ‘Saqara Under Sand’ will tour the world, Ahmed Maged, Daily Star, Egypt, May 08, 2007.

Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni said the Spanish government had granted Egypt 15 million euros to develop the Pyramids Plateau area. The minister set up an ad-hoc committee under Zahi Hawass, the Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities to follow up the implementation of the second phase of the project.

The first phase is expected to complete in mid-June.

The first phase includes the erection of a 20-metre high concrete wall around the plateau to stop the creep of squatter buildings.

Secretary-General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities Dr. Zahi Hawass said the first phase further includes an electronic security system to provide the utmost protection for the ancient area.

Spain allocates 15 million euros to develop pyramids plateau area, Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, May 09, 2007.

Scientists examining documents dating back 3,500 years say they have found proof that the origins of modern medicine lie in ancient Egypt and not with Hippocrates and the Greeks.

The research team from the KNH Centre for Biomedical Egyptology at The University of Manchester discovered the evidence in medical papyri written in 1,500BC – 1,000 years before Hippocrates was born.

"Classical scholars have always considered the ancient Greeks, particularly Hippocrates, as being the fathers of medicine but our findings suggest that the ancient Egyptians were practising a credible form of pharmacy and medicine much earlier," said Dr Jackie Campbell.

Fellow researcher Dr Ryan Metcalfe is now developing genetic techniques to investigate the medicinal plants of ancient Egypt. He has designed his research to determine which modern species the ancient botanical samples are most related to...

Egyptians, not Greeks were true fathers of medicine, Aeron Haworth, University of Manchester via EurekAlert, USA, May 09, 2007.

Previously:

Ancient Egypt Meds: Prayer, Laxatives, March 01, 2007.

Mummies unravel the Pharaohs' secrets, February 02, 2007.

Discovering the pharmacy of the pharaohs, January 30, 2007.

Curse of mummy to be uncovered by medical check-up, March 30, 2005.

Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni said on Monday that Egypt paid no heed to the New Seven Wonders of the World list, which removed the Giza Pyramids and gave them an honorary status.

Hosni said Egypt had rejected the new list and its choices, noting that UNESCO had backed Egypt's stance. He further said that the matter of choosing the seven wonders should be the responsibility of top architects and astrologists not amateurs.

He added that his personal opinion on the pyramids is the same as that of every fonder of the Egyptian monuments. He said he received a letter from the founder of the so-called New Seven Wonders of the World Society in which he said an online competition had removed the Giza Pyramids from the list of modern-age wonders.

The Minister said the society's contest is profit-seeking and has nothing to do with culture...

Egypt pays no heed to list of New Seven Wonders of the World, Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, May 08, 2007.

The Upper Egyptian city of Luxor was ranked second on a list of the Muslim world's most civilized and picturesque Islamic cities that have unique architecture.

Chairman of Luxor Supreme Council Samir Farag will collect an award at a ceremony in the Turkish capital Ankara on June 20 [2007]...

Luxor ranked second on most civilized, picturesque Islamic cities, Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, May 08, 2007.

Farouk Hosni, Minister of Culture agreed on implementing an integrated project for providing the show halls in the Egyptian Museum with transparent filters. This is to protect the monuments from the damages resulting from light and sun ray for the first time in Egypt. The project is expected to be implemented all over Egypt's museums as well.

Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council for Antiquities said that the project aims to protect more than 70, 000 monuments including the Royal Mummies, Tutankhamun's collection and jewellery halls in the museum.

Transparent filters to protect monuments, Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, May 02, 2007.

The 58th ARCE meeting in Toledo on April 20-22nd was quite eventful with yours truly giving a lecture entitled “Valley of the Kings Tomb KV-63”, Earl Ertman lecturing on “Use of the Eye with Descending Canthi” and Dr. giving the Keynote Address.

In attendance from our KV-63 / KV-10 staff: Archie Chubb, Earl Ertman, Betty Schneider, Elaine Taylor, Bill Wilson, Roxanne Wilson, and myself along with consultant .

Readers will note that there is now New Donor Information under the ‘Contributions’ Tab. Bill and Nancy Petty have graciously offered to use their 501K resources to administer KV-63 & KV-10 donation funds.

Soon ... we will have some very exciting news regarding our 2007 Season and impending events.

Otto's Dig Diary, Dr. Otto Schaden, Amenmesse Project, University of Memphis, Tennessee, April 30, 2007.

The international committee established to choose the Seven Wonders of the World chose Pyramids to be on the top of old and modern wonders. In a letter which Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni received yesterday May 6, 2007, Bernar Veber, Chief of the committee entitled to choose the new seven wonders said the international committee which includes world experts chose Giza Pyramids to be on the top of the wonders given that it is the only wonder left after the disappearance of the other six. The choice of the committee confirms that Pyramids are the most important wonder all the time.

Pyramids top modern and ancient wonders of the world, Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, May 07, 2007.

Egyptian archaeologists have uncovered a 2200-year old port in the Red Sea city of Dahab, the Culture Ministry announced on Friday 04/05/2007.

The findings, located 140 kilometres [87 miles] from Taba, include a space of about 38 metres long and 40 metres wide, the Ministry said.

At another section of the port, archaeologists found what looks to have been 24 storage rooms, it added.

Further digging will be carried out to better identify the monument, the Ministry said.

Important archaeological find in southern Sinai, Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, May 05, 2007.

Minister of Culture, Farouk Hosni, delivered a message to Head of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, on the propaganda made to the selection of new world wonders.

In the message, Hosni said that as the world witnesses the beginning of the new millennium, an international committee must be formed to prepare the list of world wonders whether in old or modern world. The committee should include at least 300 prominent figures of world scientists, intellectuals and writers.

Culture Minister asks UNESCO to form a committee for preparing a list of world wonders, Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, May 05, 2007.

An archaeological team from Belgium, working in the Upper Egyptian town of Kom Ombo, near Aswan, have unearthed three stones engraved with inscriptions 15,000 years ago.

"There are engravings of cows, hippopotami, giraffes and fish on the stones, as well as other symbolic and abstract inscriptions," said Culture Minister Farouk Hosni.

He said the artistry of the stones differs from that normally found in the Stone Age.

Pilot studies showed that the stones were subject to adverse weather conditions over the passage of time.

Despite being heavily engraved with inscriptions, the three stones reflect a unique artistic school differing from the Stone Age.

Prehistoric stones unearthed in Aswan, Egypt State Information Service, Egypt, May 04, 2007.

After Al-Qahira, the "triumphant city", was built by military commander Gawhar Al-Seqeli in AD 969 by order of the Fatimid Khalif El-Muizz Ledin Allah as Egypt's new capital, its walls enclosed opulent palaces and the prestigious mosque-university of Al-Azhar. Of the several streets and alleys in the new city, Al-Muizz Street stretching between Bab Al-Fotouh (gate of conquest) and Bab Zuweila was the main thoroughfare of Fatimid Cairo.

Through the different ages, Al-Muizz Street maintained its glorious position and encouraged Mamelukes, Circassians, Ayyubids and Ottomans to enhance its character by building splendid mosques, sabils (water fountains), Kuttabs (Quranic schools), houses and wekalas (trade complex). The one-kilometre-long street then became a spine lined with over 30 soared monuments displaying distinguished styles of Islamic architecture embellished with fine mashrabiya (woodwork) façades, painted mosaic and decorative domes. Among these are the Sultan Qalawun complex, which consists of a palace, a madrassa (school) and a hospital, the school of Ibn Barquq Beit Al-Qadi, the Sultan Al-Saleh Negmeddin dome, the sabil-kuttab of Khesru Pasha, and the Mohamed Ali Pasha sabil...

Only for pedestrians, Nevine El-Aref, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 843, May 03 - 09, 2007.

When I was conducting the CT scan on the mummy of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings in 2005, I thought I would take the opportunity to scan all the unidentified mummies in the valley.

Three mummies are located in the tomb of Amenhotep II (KV 35). Scholars have differing opinions concerning the identities of these mummies, but one in particular was the star of the media over the past three years. A CT scan was taken of it; this, which essentially goes inside the mummy and captures approximately 1,700 images. The British archaeologist identified it as Queen Nefertiti. The CT scan of this mummy was studied by Ashraf Selim, professor of radiology in the Faculty of Medicine at Cairo University. Recently, Brando Quicili made a new film about Nefertiti for National Geographic. This film was intended to uncover the real facts behind the most famous queen of Egypt. Abbie Harper was also enthusiastic to present all the evidence cited by Fletcher in the Discovery Channel film and also what has been written about the famous Egyptian queen.

Now, it is time to present the evidence that we have discovered from the study of the CT scan, which will prove that the younger lady discovered in KV 35 cannot be Nefertiti. The principal piece of evidence that Fletcher used in her identification was to match the disarticulated "bent royal arm" (the one which lies at the mummy's feet) with the body. She claimed that this disarticulated forearm with its clenched fist, found amongst the wrappings, was the arm that belonged to the mummy...

Presumably the results will appear in a National Geographic TV special and / or the printed magazine.

Dig Days: Nefertiti, Zahi Hawass, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 843, May 03 - 09, 2007..

The Pyramids of Giza may be the only wonder of the ancient world still standing, but they are soon to be joined by other, newer upstarts, as the 2001 poll launched by a Swiss organisation to vote for seven new wonders of the world reaches its conclusion. Chosen from an original shortlist of 21 nominated sites, The New Seven Wonders of the World are due to be announced on 7 July [2007].

Originally the Giza Pyramids were on the shortlist, only to be removed three months ago. Their sudden removal provoked a flurry of rumours. Had they been taken off the list because Egypt's authorities, in the shape of Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, had been a vociferous opponent of the popular poll organised by Bernard Weber? Or was it because, when Weber arrived in Egypt, he was received less than cordially, with the press conference he had planned cancelled at short notice owing to "security concerns".

Whatever the reasons, the Pyramids of Giza are off the candidate list. Or, more precisely, they will become an ex officio wonder for, according to a statement posted on the New Seven Wonders Foundation website, "after careful consideration, the New Seven Wonders Foundation designates the Pyramids of Giza — the only remaining of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World — as an Honorary New Seven Wonders Candidate. Therefore you cannot vote for the Pyramids of Giza as part of the New Seven Wonders campaign."

"The Pyramids are a shared world culture and heritage site and deserve their special status as the only Honorary Candidate of the New Seven Wonders of the World campaign," the statement added...

Wonders never cease, Nevine El-Aref, Al-Ahram, Egypt, Issue No. 843, May 03 - 09, 2007.

Weeks after a spat over the bust of Queen Nefertiti, Egypt has asked a provincial German antiquities museum for the loan of a second Pharaonic statue, it was confirmed Friday.

Cairo is hoping to bring home the world's greatest Egyptology treasures for a temporary exhibition in 2012 at the inauguration of the rebuilt Egyptian Museum.

The Roman and Pelizaeus Museum in Hildesheim said it had received an official application for a loan of its nearly immaculate seated statue of the vizier Hemiunu, believed to have headed construction of the Great Pyramid.

Katja Lembke, chief executive of the northern museum, said she saw no reason to reject the request out of hand, but she would be consulting with Chancellor Angela Merkel's top culture aide, Bernd Neumann...

Egypt asks second German museum for loan of = statue, dpa via EUX.TV, Netherlands, May 04, 2007.

An Egyptian Egyptologist is urging antiquities officials to take the utmost care before removing entire villages located close to major archaeological sites under the pretext that they could be housing a wealth of artefacts and treasures.

Bassam Al Shammaa cited the example of Al Gurna village on the west bank of Luxor.

Following ten years of negotiations, Al Gurna’s residents have been displaced to make room for excavators who will engage in an extensive search for monuments that might be sheltered in passages under their old houses.

“In the past, this policy could have been accepted because there was no technology to help specialists know whether anything has been lying underground,” said Al Shammaa.

“But today the modern technological advancement has made it easy to discover with the use of [seismic] tectonic devices if certain objects are buried under these places,” he added...

Is it valid removing entire villages to facilitate the excavator?, Ahmed Maged, The Daily Star, Egypt, May 02, 2007.

Despite the sad weather, bad cars and Egypt as a proud nation (where people barely know the geographical location of most African countries), there's something so compelling about the country.

At Giza, the fringes of Cairo, the taxi stops almost a kilometre away from the ancient structures that have come to define Egypt. The pyramids, one of the few remaining ancient wonders of the world, have weathered the harsh Sahara conditions and lived the test of time evoking an Arab proverb, "Man fears time but time fears the pyramids."

On the surface of the largest pyramid [Khufu], denudation has taken its toll. A substantial layer of blocks has pealed off perhaps signifying time's futile efforts at dismantling the features. But that is quite it; the rest of the pyramids remain intact...

Uganda: Comparing the Land of Pharaohs to Uganda, Eden Kironde, The Kampala Monitor via All Africa, South Africa, April 29, 2007.

The [Ramses Wissa Wassef] Art Centre received the prestigious Aga Khan Architecture Award in 1983. The Art Centre is world famous for its hand made, museum quality tapestries. The tapestries are made from natural materials dyed using natural dyes, whose plants are grown on the grounds of the Art Centre.

In this interview, Architect Ikram Nosshi discussed the Art Center’s architectural developments over the past 50 years. He also described the dye making processes used at the Centre, some of which date back to Ancient Egypt and the Coptic Era...

, Hilary Weir, Suzanne Wissa Wassef and Yoanna Wissa Wassef, Opus Publishing Ltd, 2006, pp. 64.

London Tapestry Exhibit and Book 'Egyptian Landscapes' Celebrate 50th Anniversary of Ramses Wissa Wassef Art Centre, PRNewswire via PR.com, USA, May 03, 2007.

The Museum of the Rockies is celebrating its 50th Anniversary on Saturday with free admission to the public plus cake, ice cream, live music, and balloons...

The museum and the Taylor Planetarium will be free to the public this day so bring your friends and family. Among the exhibits currently on display are Tutankhamun: "Wonderful Things" from the Pharaoh's Tomb a dazzling collection of 126 reproductions that faithfully preserves Tutankhamun's treasures...

Museum of Rockies marks 50th anniversary Saturday, =

The Helena Independent Record, Montana, USA, May 01, 2007.

Josh Bernstein and his Indiana Jones-style hat are off to Egypt, Jordan, Greece and other exciting locales for a week-long blitz of new episodes of Digging for the Truth...

The marathon of Season III begins on Monday, May 7 [2007] with the two-hour Atlantis: New Revelations, in which Bernstein goes to Greece to walk in the footsteps of Plato, who is credited with first writing of the lost city, and looks for evidence of a real Atlantis in ruins in the Mediterranean Sea...

Other new episodes include a look at what really killed the Egyptian boy king Tut (May 8), what made Rameses the Great so great (May 10), and what secrets are still held within the ancient pink-walled Jordanian city of Petra (May 11). Season III of Digging for the Truth airs May 7 to May 11 on History Television [Canada]...

Explore history Indiana Jones style, Calgary Herald, Alberta, Canada, April 28, 2007.

Dr. [Penny] Minturn will discuss her recent trip to the Middle Cemetery in Abydos, Egypt at 1 p.m. Friday in room 301 at Gila Community College.

When archaeologists wish to dig, they apply to the Egyptian Antiquities Council for different concessions to archaeological sites.

As she did in 1999, Minturn returned to Egypt, through her affiliation with the University of Michigan.

On this most recent trip, Minturn and her fellow scientists were looking for the tomb of the Grand Vizier.

"We found him..."

Archaeologist opens tomb of Egyptian vizier, Carol La Valley, The Payson Roundup, Arizona, May 03, 2007.

A "digital dissection" using sophisticated CT scanning technology yesterday changed the way scientists viewed a 2,000-year-old mummy of an Egyptian child.

They now suspect that the youngster was a boy about 4 or 5 years old who was missing a right front tooth and was around 21/2 feet tall. He appeared to be developing normally and likely died of an acute cause, perhaps an infection.

Before the scan was conducted, experts at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine had thought the child was 8 or 9 years old and had an unusually large head, suggesting that a genetic condition might have contributed to his death...

The mummy dates to Dynasty XXX of the Early Ptolemaic period, from 380 to 250 B.C. It was found in a cemetery in Abydos, Egypt, with 11 others, including four children...

In addition to determining the sex and age of the child, the researchers hope to create a three-dimensional computer image of the head for exhibit, as well as study...

Using CT scanner, scientists gain new view of 2,000-year-old mummy, Anita Srikameswaran, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pennsylvania, USA, May 03, 2007.

cf. Scan of mummy shows rod in spine, AP via Charleston Daily Mail, West Virginia, USA, May 03, 2007.

cf. Scan of Mummified Child Done in Pa., CBS 8, California, USA, May 03, 2007.

Organizers of the "Tutankhamen and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs" exhibition, in partnership with internationally acclaimed pop artist Romero Britto, invite school children worldwide to participate in the construction of a pyramid nearly 45 feet tall to commemorate Tutankhamen's return to London for the first time in 35 years. The pyramid assembly project will take place on July 5 [2007] at The O2, the host venue for the Tutankhamen exhibition.

InnoVida's revolutionary construction material will be used for the building of Romero Britto's Pyramids which will be exhibited in London and later transported to Egypt. "We are delighted that our products and technology will be used in such an important cultural and artistic project," said Claudio Osorio, Chairman and CEO of InnoVida Holdings.

Up to 100 school groups from across the UK, Europe, Egypt and U.S. will work alongside Britto to paint two of the four sides of the pyramid. In addition, the names of all participating children will be inscribed on the pyramid steps. The day's activities will also include a lesson on modern Egypt, complimentary lunch, T-shirts, and a photo for each participating school. The specification of the pyramid sides and angles will match those of the Pyramids of Giza, the artist's tribute to the original Ancient Wonder of the World. Once the Tutankhamen exhibition closes in London, organizers hope the pyramid will go on permanent display in Egypt...

InnoVida Holdings Partners With International Pop Artist Romero Britto to Build Egyptian Pyramid, Celebrating 'Return of Tutankhamen to London', InnoVida Holdings, PRNewswire via Yahoo! News, USA, May 02, 2007.

The child mummy entombed in glass on the third floor of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History has kept a secret for more than two millenniums. Today, scientists and doctors will peek at what the little mummy has been hiding.

"It is a medical mystery," said Tanya Lucio, a medical student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine who is doing a research project on the mummy. "We're hoping to be able to solve it."

The mummy will undergo a computed tomography, or CT, scan at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh...

In 1986, doctors at Forbes Metropolitan Health Centre in Wilkinsburg took X-rays of the mummy and found it had a large head but a small body. The wrist bones indicate the toddler-sized mummy was about 8 years old when the child died, but doctors couldn't determine the cause of death or the mummy's gender from the bones.

The mummy appears to have a form of macrocephaly...

Pitt may unravel mummy mystery, Allison M. Heinrichs, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Pennsylvania, USA, May 02, 2007.

India and Egypt informed each other about investment opportunities available in their respective countries in the tourism sector. India and Egypt have agreed to strengthen their tourism and cultural ties, agreeing upon establishing a program to exchange visits of tour operators and travel media to motivate consumers in both countries to travel to the other country.

This was decided following a meeting between an Egyptian tourism delegation led by Egyptian Tourism Authority Chairman Amr El Egaby and India’s Minister of Tourism and Culture Ambika Soni in New Delhi...

Egypt also expressed keenness on learning about conversion of forts and palaces into Heritage Hotels as done in India. He also offered Egyptian expertise in the field of monument preservation.

Soni recalling the age old historical and cultural relations between the two countries said there is a tremendous potential in India and Egypt to promote places of historical importance and tourist destinations in each other’s country...

Egypt keen on learning about conversion of forts and palaces into heritage hotels from India, Satish Gupta, TravelVideo.TV, Ontario, Canada, April 25, 2007.

Demands by Cairo for Berlin to hand over the famed bust of 18th Dynasty Queen Nefertiti have spawned a raging debate in Germany over whether the 3,300-year-old art treasure is not actually more of a Berliner than she is an Egyptian.

"The bust has been above ground and visible in Berlin for much longer than it ever was in Egypt," said the Berliner Zeitung newspaper amid mounting calls by Cairo for the bust to be loaned out to its land of origin, if not actually given to Egypt permanently.

"She has become the epitome of slimly modern beauty, the ideal of self-confident modern womanhood," the paper insisted...

The Berlin newspaper argued that the bust has become an icon of Berlin, a veritable cultural landmark associated with the city...

Nefertiti now "more German" than Egyptian, Berliners claim, Ernest Gill, dpa via EUX.TV, Netherlands, May 01, 2007.

cf. Berliners drawn into Nefertiti spat, Ernest Gill, dpa via Independent Online, South Africa, May 01, 2007.

The History Channel® will examine two hot-button issues and two iconic historical figures in four major specials to air in the 4th quarter of 2007. A GLOBAL WARNING looks at the history of climate change; STALKING JIHAD investigates the story of a CIA mission to track down Islamic terrorists in the Philippines; LOST BOOK OF NOSTRADAMUS attempts to deconstruct a manuscript found in Italy's National Library that is thought to contain hundreds of prophecies from the famed seer; and MANHUNT explores what many historians consider the first terrorist plot against the American government, John Wilkes Booth's assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.

Two major television events will air in 2008, CHINA'S FIRST EMPEROR, tells the story of one man who changed the face of China forever and the EGYPT PROJECT (tentative title), could add a new chapter to the story of Ancient Egypt. The announcement was made today by Nancy Dubuc, Executive Vice President and General Manager of The History Channel.

"Each one of these new specials will offer something that is sure to blow the lid off the conventional wisdom on subjects that are universally fascinating," said Dubuc. "The History Channel is really about what's happening in our lives now-about connecting with the viewer and creating a completely unforgettable experience..."

EGYPT PROJECT (tentative title) — Premieres 1st Quarter 2008

While the exploits of the great pharaoh Khufu — who built the Great Pyramids of Giza — are well known to Egyptologists everywhere, much less well-known are the accomplishments of his son, the pharaoh Radjedef, who spent much of his life living in his father's shadow. This special exclusively follows what could be the biggest discovery in Ancient Egypt since the King Tut's tomb was found in 1923 by the British archaeologist Howard Carter...

The History Channel® Developing Six Major Specials To Air in 2007 & 2008, PRNewswire, USA, May 01, 2007.

Philadelphia is launching the King Tut Treasure Tour, a geocaching trail and scavenger hunt connecting 12 Egyptian-themed sites in the city. The launch coincides with National Tourism Week (May 12-20, 2007) and awards prizes for the top finishers. The free game is just one component of the city's king-sized celebration in honour of the boy king. Created by the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC), the activity runs from May 12 through September 30, 2007, the last day of the Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs exhibition, presented by Mellon Financial Corporation, at The Franklin Institute Science Museum. Full details are available at www.gophila.com/geocaching.

Geo-Caching in on King Tut in Philadelphia, PRNewswire, USA, May 01, 2007.