And now. . .this week's news from the EEF
Press report: "Farewell to Ramses"
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/796/fr2.htm
"On Friday 25 August, at 6am, when Cairo traffic is at its quietest,
the colossus of the 19th Dynasty Pharaoh Ramses II will begin its
journey from outside Bab Al-Hadid train station to its new home
at the site of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) overlooking
the Giza Plateau. "
(&) An important discovery in KV63: a gilded coffinette.
Announcement and pictures on the KV63 website:
http://www.kv-63.com/index.html
-- A press report [submitted by Katherine Griffis] with the
conjectures of Dr. Boraik about the tomb; informative and
with a fine slideshow of pictures:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/31/world/africa/31tomb.html
[id and password "eefeef"]
-- The gold coffinette, as well as the pa-Aton seal and the
Osiris seal now have an entry at the Discovery website:
http://snipurl.com/r7uq
[http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/egyptkv63/
explorekv63/explorekv63.html]
-- A lenghty interview with Dr Otto Schaden, about all kinds of
issues, like the pillows found:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12990529/
Press report on the find of the golden coffin:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2006-05-31-discovery-egypt_x.htm
Listed here only for this part: "While everyone continued "oohing
and ahhing" at the gold coffin, Schaden says he began picking through
mud on the ground that might have inscriptions. For him, one of the
greatest discoveries in the tomb was a ceramic "wine label" from the
same time period and town as wine jars found in Tutankhamen's tomb."
Press report: "The most beautiful of all"
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/797/he1.htm
"Hawass asked the German government to offer the famous bust to
Egypt on a three-month loan so that it could go on show at the
Egyptian Museum in Cairo to coincide with the centenary celebrations
of the German Archeological Institute in Egypt in November 2006.
(...) Hawass told Al-Ahram Weekly that the SCA was willing to
provide the Germans with all the guarantees required to assure the
return of the bust after the completion of the exhibition. "
The Dig Days column of Dr Zahi Hawass tells how experiences
in his past have influenced his policies:
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/797/he2.htm
He also briefly muses about whether there could be a secret
chamber at the end of a shaft in the tomb of Seti I.
Mark Rose of Archaeology Magazine provides a review
(of a preview of) the Discovery Channel program "Egypt's
New Tomb Revealed". See:
http://www.archaeology.org/online/reviews/kv63/
"It's one of the best archaeology shows I've seen in a long time."
A.J. Shortland, M.S. Tite, I. Ewart, "Ancient Exploitation and
Use of Cobalt Alums from the Western Oases of Egypt", in:
Archaeometry, Volume 48, Issue 1 (February 2006), pp.153-168.
Available online in PDF (128 kB) or HTML:
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/toc/arch/48/1
"Cobalt alums from the Western Oases of Egypt were used in the
second millennium bc as a colorant to produce dark blue glasses
and glazes. A collection of these alums was gathered together
and analysed by a series of techniques to accurately characterize
them. They were then used alongside artificial analogues in
experimental work aiming to determine the process that was
used to convert the raw alum into a suitable pigment that might
be used in a glass."
* There are several digitized articles dealing with ancient Egypt
available in the Fathom Archive, University of Chicago Library:
http://fathom.lib.uchicago.edu/content.shtml
Online articles about the Giza Archives Project:
-- Peter Der Manuelian, Virtual Pyramids - Real Research. The Giza
Archives Project Goes Live Online, in: KMT, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 68-80
(2005) - pdf-file (6 MB)
http://www.gizapyramids.org/pdf%20library/manuelian_kmt16_2005.pdf
"A new endeavor called the 'Giza Archives Project,' represented by a
scholarly research website, now allows for in-depth study of the pyramids,
temples and mastaba tombs at the site."
-- Peter Der Manuelian, The Giza Archives Project, in: Egyptian
Archaeology, vol. 28, pp. 31-33 (2006) - pdf-file (1.2 MB)
http://www.gizapyramids.org/pdf%20library/manuelian_eg_arch28_2006.pdf