News From Egypt (an April 1 Report)
The on-going saga of the reconstruction of Hibis temple in Kharga Oasis has
undergone a new twist this year. Following up on last years' report that
Osman Ahmed Osman ("The Arab Contractors") have persevered in their
efforts, Zahi Hawass has allowed work to go forward. A British firm Cintec
International ("The Orthopedic Surgeons for the Construction Industry"
http://www.cintec.com/ - would I make this up?) has been awarded a major
subcontract to consolidate the walls and perhaps remove the roof. Mohammed
Mustafa, government overseer of construction in Upper Egypt and the deserts
was quoted as saying "This is a major advance in construction
efforts. Because it was a government contract the bidding was fierce and a
fine firm was chosen from a large field of international bidders." Eugene
Cruz-Uribe (Demotic enthusiast, devotee of the god Seth, and a fan of all
things related to Hibis temple) has been hired as a consultant for
Cintec. In an exclusive interview he noted "I hope this project lasts long
enough so that I can afford to buy two books from Brill this year instead
of one." Cintec work is scheduled to begin in May 2005.
An update to the rumors mentioned in last year's report concerning Zahi
Hawass in line for the job of Ministry of Culture. Not true at
all!!!! The international press reported recently that Zahi Hawass is in
line to become the new curator of the Turin Museum's Egyptian
Collection. Word on the street is that major portions of the Turin
collection would then be placed on a traveling exhibition to Egypt while
the Turin Museum undergoes renovation. "I think it would be a great
opportunity for a fun exhibition," said Mohammed Mustafa, curator of
traveling exhibits in Egypt. The exhibit is scheduled to begin sometime
after 2008 with venues in Sohag and Asyut already confirmed.
The news of Hawass' possibly going to Turin sparked rumors of a bidding war
for his services. The Berlin Museum, the Louvre, the British Museum, and
the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art are supposedly all secretly attempting to
get Hawass on retainer. A recent speaking engagement at the University of
Pennsylvania fueled speculation that he may return to his alma Mater. "It
would be nice to have Zahi back in the fold among friends," David
Silverman, professor at Pennsylvania, was heard to say.
This past year saw a major development in Aswan. A recent rededication of
the refurbished tourist stairs at the Aswan quarry was attended by
President Mubarek. As part of the ceremonies the recently unexcavated
quarrying tools were placed on display. President Mubarek was quoted as
saying: "They look like rocks."
The press was buzzing following Mubarek's appearance at the Aswan
rededication. Farouk Hosni, Minster of Culture, was scheduled to attend,
but at the last minute pleaded with his friend to go in his stead. At a
press conference Mubarek would only note that Minister Hosni's absence was
due to a complete coiffure - ensemble collapse. "He was very upset about
his purple hair color not matching the rest of his ensemble."
Zahi Hawass held his 50th press conference this past week relating to the
CAT-Scan performed on the mummy of King Tut. He reported that Tutankamun's
mummy was meticulously examined and they have determined that indeed he was
dead. They also noted that Tutankhamun was 19 when he died, but he was
waiting for a copy of his birth certificate from the Cairo Records Office
before being absolutely certain. When questioned if there was any truth to
the rumor that Michael Jackson was the reincarnation of Tutankamun, Hawass
simply stated that "King Tut would never wear that much black, though he
was known to have worn his pajamas to court."
There was a little known controversy concerning the payment to the firm
which conducted the CAT-Scan of Tut's mummy. Since the scan was considered
to be a medical procedure, Mohammed Mustafa, chief financial officer for
the Ministry of Health, submitted a claim to Blue Dog and Blue Pony (a
subsidiary of the American health insurance company, Blue Cross / Blue
Shield). The claims department rejected the request noting that King Tut
first came into their records as dried fish and thus was not eligible for
medical services. Mustafa is appealing the decision.
The Spanish expedition in Luxor was pleased with the new exhibition in the
Luxor Museum where the "full frontal" palette of the king was placed on
display in an enclosed niche. Mable Johnson, the one American tourist to
visit Egypt this year, was quoted as saying: "The ancient Egyptians were so
clever. They got the front side of the king to look so life like. But why
didn't they put the backside of the king on the back of the
board?" Mohammed Mustafa, curator of the museum, was speechless at the
comment.
There is no news about the new Museum of the Ages (a.k.a. the New Cairo
Museum) on the Giza plateau, but a government committee is looking into it.
There was a short reference in the press about a tiff between German House
in Luxor and the Supreme Council. Rumors have it that it was over seating
arrangements at a fund raiser for on going excavations. More to come on
that.
A recent appeal was made by the Theban Mapping Project to solicit the
general public's input on the future of the Valley of the Kings. A special
web site and questionnaire were sometimes available. When questioned on
why there was not a separate questionnaire for Egyptologists to give
professional feedback, Ilka Schacht, database coordinator, said "Oops."
In a little known press release, Kent Weeks, professor at AUC and excavator
of KV 5, had to step back on several comments made in a television
production aired this past year, "The Great Biblical Plagues and How They
Tie Into My Excavations in KV 5." The show quoted Weeks as saying that
Amenherkhepishef was the eldest son of Ramesses the Great and he was killed
by the last of the ten Biblical Plagues to strike Egypt. "Comments by
several of my colleagues that there is doubt that the Exodus ever took
place throws a monkey wrench into the chronology of things," he was quoted
several of my colleagues that there is doubt that the Exodus ever took
place throws a monkey wrench into the chronology of things," he was quoted
as saying. Despite this, plans for a fund raising tour in September (run
by Ancient World Tours http://www.ancient.co.uk/) are still on. "Maybe we
will find proof of the Exodus in our on-going excavations," Weeks might
have said.
The big news of the year, of course, is the new Tutankhamun exhibition
planned to begin this year. It opens at the Los Angeles County Museum of
Art this summer. A large number of Tutankhamun artifacts and lesser known
items belonging to some lesser known New Kingdom kings were to be
included. "Not the gold mask and all that glittery stuff," said Zahi
Hawass at the press conference. "Instead we are going to bring a lot of
really nice stuff that people seldom see." Hawass confirmed that one of
the items to be on display was the spare wheel for Tutankhamun's
chariot. "We found it in the trunk and it had never been used." Hawass
indicated that the discovery showed the ancient Egyptians obviously paid
close attention to highway safety concerns. Mohammed Mustafa, curator of
traveling exhibits and liaison with the "Make a Lot of Money" Partnerships
Ltd., (the exclusive handlers for the Tut show) promised the American
public that ticket prices would be reasonable (around $50 US = about 2
Euros at the current exchange rate) and coupons would be available for
school groups. "If President Bush comes to the opening, I am sure we can
get him a complimentary ticket," Mustafa noted.
That's all the news for today, April 1, 2005.
We might also note that our ongoing project to locate the Sphinx's nose has passed yeat another year without success.
Online article alert The new issue of PalArch is online with one paper of Egyptological interest and several book reviews.
Boston University chemists probe secrets in ancient textile dyes from China, Peru
Although searching for 3,000-year-old mummy textiles in tombs under the blazing sun of a western Chinese desert may seem more Indiana Jones than analytical chemist, two Boston University researchers recently did just that. Traveling along the ancient Silk Road in Xinjiang Province on their quest, they found the ancient fabrics – and hit upon a research adventure that combined chemistry, archaeology, anthropology, botany, and art.
The chemists, Richard Laursen, a professor in the Boston University Department of Chemistry, and Xian Zhang, a chemistry graduate student, have refined a technique that helps archaeologists and anthropologists identify the plant species that ancient people used to make fabric dyes. Their technique has not only provided researchers with a new, more powerful tool for analyzing previously known dye types, it also has led to the discovery of at least one never-before described dye. In addition, the BU chemists have started a catalogue of plant sample characteristics for use by dye researchers around the world.
And now, news from the EEF
Press report: "CT Scans Of Ancient Egyptian Mummies"
http://www.artdaily.com/section/news/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=13127
"On April 7, 2005 at 11 a.m. at the Bowers Museum, a team of radiologists and curators will onduct computed tomography (CT) scans of six ancient Egyptian mummies from the renowned ollections of the British Museum. (...) This is the largest collection of CT scans ever erformed on Egyptian mummies utilizing the newest, state of the art technology."
Press report: "Curse of mummy to be uncovered by medical check-up"
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1545317,00.html
"Scientists have taken samples of tissue from more than 1,000 mummies to build a medical map revealing the way that disease has evolved over 5,000 years. Egyptologists at the KNH entre for biomedical Egyptology at Manchester University have been charting the evolution of schistosomiasis, more commonly known as bilharzia, from antiquity to the modern day."
Press report: "Italian lab to protect papyrus at Egyptian museum"
http://www.sis.gov.eg/online/html12/o270325c.htm
Press report: "Book Feature: This was the man who found Tutankhamen"
http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20050322-092156-5493r
Excerpted from the book, 'The Queen, Rupert & Me', by Desmond Zwar. "For the past 36 years journalist and author Desmond Zwar has shared a great secret: that it was not archaeologist Howard Carter who was responsible for the discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb, but a humble ritish corporal whose very presence on the site had to be kept confidential; who in the last days of the dig took a photograph that changed history."
Press report: "Converting a Roman tourist resort into a museum"
http://www.algomhuria.net.eg/gazette/4/1.asp
"The SCA is collaborating with a Polish team to transform the archaeological city of Marina into an 'archaeological site museum'. It is the first Roman resort [3th c AD] uncovered in the north of Egypt.
Press report: "Sohag police unearth mummy"
http://www.sis.gov.eg/online/html12/o300325l.htm
A stray find in the field.
Press report: "A prey to progress? The overall plan for the development of the historic core of Old Cairo is still not apparent. "
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/736/he1.htm
The column of Dr Hawass is about the Parisian exhibition "Pharaon":
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/736/he2.htm
[Submitted by Augustin Barahona (barahona@egiptologia.net)]
Dear colleagues:
It's a pleasure for me to announce that the Bulletin of the IFAO - BIAFO- is now on line at this URL:
http://www.ifao.egnet.net/doc/PubEnLigne/BIFAO
* Robert Ritner, "Implicit Models of Cross Cultural Interaction: A Question
of Noses, Soap and Prejudice", Ch 34 from: Life in a Multi-Cultural
Society: Egypt from Cambyses to Constantine and Beyond (SAOC 51),
pp. 283-290. In PDF (56kB):
http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/DEPT/PUB/SRC/SAOC/51/Chapter34.pdf
About the Greek evaluation of Egypt during the Hellenistic
period, and Greek-Egyptian interaction during this era.
* Chris Reintges, "The syntax and semantics of the Coptic cleft
constructions", LxWP4/03 (University of Sussex Working
Papers in Linguistics and English Language). In PDF (207 kB):
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/linguistics/documents/reintges-cleft.pdf
[Next four items submitted by Michael Tilgner]
Online version of: Bernd Fitzner, Kurt Heinrichs, Dennis La Bouchardiere, Weathering damage on Pharaonic sandstone monuments in Luxor - Egypt, in: Building and Environment, vol. 38, pp. 1089-1103 (2003)
http://www.stone.rwth-aachen.de/luxor.pdf
"The Pharaonic stone monuments ... have suffered weathering damage. In the year 2000 an Egyptian-German research co-operation was started aiming at the systematic investigation of stone weathering on the historical monuments in Upper Egypt as a contribution to monument preservation ... First results on the petrographical properties of these sandstones and their state of weathering damage on the Pharaonic temples in Luxor are presented."
Online version of: Alvaro Figueiredo, The Lisbon Mummy Project: The employment of non-destructive methods in mummy studies, 12 pp. (2005) - pdf-file: 226 KB
http://tinyurl.com/4kdc6
"The Lisbon Mummy Project will have a multidisciplinary approach in the study of the human and animal mummies, and their associated artefacts, and will employ non-destructive analytical methods."
Online version of: B. Stern, C. Heron, L. Corr, M. Serpico, J. Bourriau, Compositional variations in aged and heated Pistacia resin found in Late Bronze Age Canaanite amphorae and bowls from Amarna, Egypt, in:
Archaeometry, vol. 45, pp. 457-469 (2003) - pdf-file: 225 KB
http://www.brad.ac.uk/staff/bstern/molecular/Stern%20et%20al.%202003.pdf
"This study examines resinous deposits from the interior surfaces of sherds of imported Canaanite amphorae and locally produced bowls from the 18th Dynasty site of Tell el- Amarna, Egypt."
Online version of: Eva Panagiotakopulu, Pharaonic Egypt and the origins of plague, in: Journal of Biogeography, vol. 31, pp. 269-275 (2004) - pdf-file: 200 KB
http://scarab.msu.montana.edu/Ento500/Panagiotakopulu_2004.pdf
"Coexistence of the Nile rat, humans and ectoparasites in urban centres in combination with trade with Asia, Africa and the Mediterranean, together with the Nile floods and the introduction of the black rat, circle Egypt as the most probable place of origin of bubonic plague as an epidemic disease ... It is unfortunate that archaeologists working in Egypt have rarely sieved their sediments to recover small mammal bones and even more rarely have they been identified." [Press reports and abstract about this were in EEFNEWS 302.]
End of EEF news