A man with a mission (Auguste Mariette)
When Auguste Mariette, the celebrated founder of modern archaeological excavations and preserver of Egypt's monuments, made his remarkable discovery of the rock- hewn tombs of the sacred Apis bulls at Saqqara in 1851, his activities were watched over by Egyptian government officials.
In those days there was no restriction on the excavation of monuments for exportation abroad. Indeed, Mohamed Ali actually used ancient treasures as bargaining tools in return for foreign expertise. However, his grandson Abbas Pasha liked to keep a closer eye on things. He instructed guards to take up quarters on the Saqqara necropolis and watch what was going on. It was not that he was concerned about antiquities so much as he had little confidence in the French in general.
Long but good article. Photo of some of Mariette's collection here.
Another good article from Al-Ahram on Coptology:
The only absolute certainty is that 'Coptic' has to do with Egypt," observed Professor M Tito Orlandi of Rome's University of La Sapienza in his presidential address to the eighth International Association for Coptic Studies (IACS) congress in Paris last week.
The astounding fact is that, apart from linguistics (which alone can be clearly defined) there is neither an obvious character, nor can the limitations be set, on all other fields of Coptic studies, whether history, geography, literature or art. This vitally important subject concerning Orthodox Egyptian Christianity has been conscientiously considered, deliberated on and studied in depth at an international level for the last 30 years. But while there have been specialised studies by scholars around the world, seven international congresses and seminars in Egypt and abroad, its parameters are still being debated.
Besides being a terribly interesting field of study itself, Coptic was also instrumental in helping Champollion interpret Egyptian hierglyphics (good book, excellent read, go get it and read it). If you ever go to Egypt, make sure to check out some of the Coptic churches (there's a whole area of them in Cairo).
[Submitted by Michael Tilgner]
The Cannibal Hymn (PT 273-274)
Hieroglyphic text in: Kurt Sethe, Die altägyptischen Pyramidentexte nach
den Papierabdrücken und Photographien des Berliner Museums, vol. 1, Leipzig,
1908, pp. 205-216
URL (first page): http://snipurl.com/8ocx
-- English translation:
URL: http://www.pyramidtextsonline.com/AnteeastG.htm
Online version of: George Andrew Reisner, The Egyptian Conception of
Immortality - The Ingersoll Lecture, 1911, Boston / New York, 1912. vii, 85
pp. [BA 16554]
URL: http://www.gutenberg.net/etext/12255
[Ed. Check out the Gutenbrg Project for many, many other digitized books. It's What The Internet Was Invented For
Online version of: Ulrich Weser, Yoka Kaup, Borate, an Effective
Mummification Agent in Pharaonic Egypt, in: Z. Naturforsch., vol. 57b, pp.
819-822 (2002) - pdf-file: 220 KB
"In two samples of mummification salt one from Deir el-Bahari (26th Dynasty,
700-600 BC) and salt from the embalming material of Tutankhamen (18th
Dynasty, 1370-1335 BC) 3.9 and 2.1 µMol borate/gram were found,
respectively. Six mummified bone fragments from the Old Kingdom contained
up to 1.2 µMol/gram. It is suggested that borate containing salt was used
during mummification."
URL: http://www.znaturforsch.com/sb/57b/s57b0819.pdf (University/subscription access only)
Online version of: L. A. Pavlish, G. Mumford, A. C. D'Andrea, Magnetic
Survey at Tell Tabilla, Northeastern Nile Delta, Egypt, in: Jean-Luc Pilon,
Michael W. Kirby, Caroline Thériault (eds.), A Collection of Papers
presented at the 33rd Annual Meeting of the Canadian Archaeological
Association, Ontario, 2001, pp. 268-277 - pdf-file: 1.4 MB
"A proton magnetometer survey was recently carried out at the archaeological
site of Tell Tabilla. ... Results suggest a substantial amount of
subsurface architecture still exists at the site below surface. These
geophysical targets will be integrated into the planning for future research
oriented excavation objectives."
URL: http://snipurl.com/8ocr
End of EEF section.