Press report: "Pyramids plateau electronically secured by 2006"
http://snipurl.com/jngl
[http://www.sis.gov.eg/En/EgyptOnline/Culture/000001/0203000000000000000506.
htm]
"..includes the establishment of a 15-km fence around the plateau, to
protect it from unplanned buildings."
Digitized book from the Oriental Institute Electronic Publications
-- John C. Darnell, Theban Desert Road Survey in the Egyptian Western
Desert, vol. 1: Gebel Tjauti Rock Inscriptions 1-45 and Wadi el-Hôl Rock
Inscriptions 1-45, With the assistance of Deborah Darnell and contributions
by Deborah Darnell, Renee Friedman, and Stan Hendrickx, The Oriental
Institute of the University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, 2002 (Oriental
Institute Publications, Number 119). LVI, 174 pp., 126 pls. - pdf-file (25
MB)
http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/DEPT/PUB/SRC/OIP/119/OIP119.pdf
"The present publication is the first of a series of monographs recording
the discoveries of the Theban Desert Road Survey ... We have provided
facsimile drawings and photographs for all the scenes and inscriptions. The
photographs are the best possible, considering the difficult field
conditions under which they were made. The drawings are based on tracings
made at the rock face. The initial tracings were reduced and inked, and
these resulting drawings were taken back to the rock face and checked. We
have collated and corrected all of the drawings after the initial tracing
was made, and we have collated several of the inscriptions several times.
This volume includes a glossary to all of the the texts ..."
See also the posting of Paul James Cowie to EEF on October 13, 2005:
"Oriental Institute titles on-line"
Naomi L. Gunnels, "The Ikhernofret Stela as Theatre: A Cross-
cultural Comparisson", in: Studia Antiqua, Journal of the BYU
Student Society for Ancient Studies, Volume 2, No. 2, Fall 2002,
pp. 3-16, in PDF (1.41 MB).
http://clubs.byu.edu/ssas/editions.html
Explores whether the Ancient Egyptians had theatre, and whether
the Ikhernofret Stela (which has also been called "the Abydos
Passion Play") may be called thus. [For online text resources
relating to the stela, see also EEFNEWS(341)].
Online paper: "Demotic Egyptian Transliteration and Unicode"
http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~pinax/demotic.html
"The Center for the Tebtunis Papyri is pleased to make available
tools for entering ancient Egyptian transliteration in accordance
with the Unicode standard. This document and the downloadable
keyboards and font are the work of Donald Mastronarde."
Apparantly updated November '05.
The proceedings of the conference "Women and Property in
Ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean Societies" (2003)
are online, with at least two relevant papers (in PDF):
-- Annalisa Azzoni: Women and Property in Persian Egypt and Mesopotamia
-- Betsy Bryan: Property and the God's Wives of Amun
http://snipurl.com/jp8n
[http://www.chs.harvard.edu/activities_events.sec/conferences.ssp/conference
_women_property.pg]
John Baines, Egyptian twins, Orientalia, vol. 54, pp. 461-482 (1985) -
pdf-file (400 KB)
http://eprints.ouls.ox.ac.uk/archive/00001050/
"... The extreme rarity of references to twins in the earlier periods, as
well as the special treatment of the proposed pairs suggests that there was
some sort of taboo on twins. These pairs may have transcended the taboo in
part through identification as a single social person and in part through
analogy with the divine sphere, as is clearest for Suty and Hor, whose names
are essentially the same as Seth and Horus. The Late period material shows
that earlier patterns of avoidance disappeared. Illuminating cross-cultural
parallels can be found for complex attitudes to twins, but the Egyptian
material has a character specific to its own society."
Besides the certain example of Suty & Hor, two other possible examples
of twins from before the Late Period are provided (Niankhkhnum &
Khnumhotep; Sitamun & Sitamun), and the word for twin (Htr) is looked at.
Boyo Ockinga, Susanne Binder, Alannah Buck, Macquarie Theban Tombs
Project, Dra abu el-Nagaa. Preliminary Report on the Season November 2004 /
January 2005 - 34 pp., pdf-file (5.9 MB)
http://www.egyptology.mq.edu.au/p01.pdf
"The Theban Tombs Project of Macquarie University, Sydney Australia
continued its activities in two tombs in Dra Abu el-Naga', TT 147
(Neferrenpet) and TT 233 (Saroy and Amenhotep / Huy) in the period
November 2004 to January 2005."
End of EEF news
Archaeologists unearth ancient burial mounds
Archaeologists said on Wednesday they have unearthed burial mounds dating back to the third millennium BC which they believe contain remains and trinkets from ancient Aryan nomads.
Historian Hakob Simonian said on Wednesday that the four mounds were among 30 discovered about 56 km west of the Armenian capital, Yerevan, containing beads made of agate and carnelian as well as the remains of what appears to be a man, aged between 50 and 55.
We do that Archaeologist Seeking Answers
The past has a future.
The archaeologist heading the dig at Jamestown, the site of the first permanent English settlement in the New World, spoke Wednesday night at James Madison University. William Kelso described the efforts to preserve Virginia's artifacts and drum up interest in preparation for Jamestown's 400th anniversary in 2007.
He also offered the crowd of about 500 a sneak peak at what will be happening at Jamestown over the next few months. And he dropped one tantalizing hint: One mystery surrounding Jamestown has finally been cracked, but everyone will have to wait until later today to find out the solution.
Okay, so now it has a name: E-Science Archaeologists Go Digital
If Indiana Jones were a real archaeologist, he'd be just as likely to brandish a laptop with broadband as brush and note pad if a recent dig in the small English parish of Silchester was any indication.
Researchers from nearby Reading University employed a new methodology during this summer's dig season at the Roman site, excavating with the help of new technologies for streamlining the archaeological process. The innovations, collectively known as e-science, threaten to shrug off archeology's antiquated image.
Reading has worked at Silchester, considered one of the most important Roman sites in Britain, since 1997. This year, researchers abandoned the usual practice of collecting data manually and sorting it later, instead logging finds directly from the field using hand-held computers. An Integrated Archaeological Database System (IADB), developed by partnering York Archaeological Trust, houses their data in a central server at Reading.
The project's web site is here and the accompanying web site for the U. of Reading Silchester project is here. Most interesting will be how they integrate all of the data produced through the various levels -- excavation, stratigraphy, object conservation, metadata, etc. -- into a system that is accessible and makes sense to researchers.
Amateur discoveries that illuminate the past go on display
Hundreds of artefacts uncovered by amateur archaeologists, metal-detector enthusiasts, gardeners, farmers, builders and walkers have gone on display in London.
The items found in England and Wales over the past year include 427 pieces of jewellery and antiquities such as a seventh-century gilded copper head found near Milton Keynes and a coin proving the existence of a little-known Roman emperor, Domitian II, which was found in Chalgrove, Oxfordshire.
Many of the items, which also included a first-century nail cleaner and one of the most remarkable examples of an ornate Roman oil lamp found in Britain, went on display yesterday at the Museum of London.