I don't know why. Maybe there is to much unrest in Egypt?
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Every day Tourist Police
The last days we have now every day Tourist Police in front of our door.
I don't know why. Maybe there is to much unrest in Egypt?
I don't know why. Maybe there is to much unrest in Egypt?
Monday, May 24, 2010
Colossal statue of Thoth discovered at temple of Amenhotep III in Luxor
A colossal statue of the ancient Egyptian god Thoth, the deity of wisdom, is the latest artefact to be discovered near the mortuary temple of Amenhotep III during archaeological works aimed at controlling the subterranean water level on Luxor's west bank.
The 3.5 metre tall red granite statue is one of several artefacts discovered in the area since excavations began. The head of a 2.5 metre high statue depicting Pharaoh Amenhotep III in a standing position – possibly the best preserved depiction of the pharaoh’s face found to date - was unearthed at the King's funeral temple at Kom El-Hettan only months ago. A statue of the god Thoth in the shape of a baboon was also discovered. Last year two black granite statues of Amenhotep III were found at the temple, as well as a 5 metre high statue similar to the Thoth statue just found.
Amenhotep III ruled Egypt between 1390 BC and 1352 BC, and recent DNA and forensic research suggests that he was probably the grandfather of Tutankhamun. His temple was built closer to the river than any other temple at Thebes - right on the edge of the floodplain – and within 200 years it had collapsed. Many of its stones were subsequently removed for the building projects of later pharaohs.
The famous Colossi of Memnon, two 18-metre-high stone statues of Amenhotep III, are all that remains of the pharaoh's mortuary temple, once the largest religious complex in ancient Egypt.
They said that evidence found during the excavation suggests that more colossi could yet be found at the site. Afifi Rohayem, assistant director of the excavations, suggests that an avenue of Thoth statues could be found on the original path leading to Amenhotep III's funerary temple.
Since 1998, the mortuary temple of Amenhotep III has been on the World Monument Fund's list of the planet's 100 most endangered monuments. Extensive excavation and restoration works at the temple site are taking place.
“I believe that in less than 20 years we will have achieved our objectives here,” Dr Hourig Sourouzian, head of the conservation project, said in a video interview with Heritage Key. The final stage of the works at Amenhotep III's mortuary temple will be the creation of an open-air museum.
New Discoveries in Lahun
A collection of 45 ancient Egyptian tombs was discovered last week by an Egyptian mission of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) at the site of Lahoun, in the Fayoum.
The Middle New Kingdoms cemetery contains 31 tombs most of which are dated to the 11th and 12th dynasties (2030-1840 BC). Each tomb includes a painted wooden sarcophagus bearing a mummy covered with cartonnage, decorated with religious texts that help the deceased to cross through the underworld, as well as scenes of different ancient Egyptian deities, such as Horus, Hathor, Khnum and Amun.
One of forty-five mummies uncovered at the excavations in Lahun (Photo: Dr. Abdel Rahman El-Aydi)
They announced today that each tomb contains a painted wooden sarcophagus with the mummy of the deceased still inside it. They explained that during the excavation work, the mission unearthed an 18th dynasty tomb (1550-1295 BC) containing 12 wooden sarcophagi stacked on top of each other. Each sarcophagus contains a well-preserved mummy. The mummies are covered in cartonnage, which is decorated with religious texts from the Book of the Dead and scenes featuring different ancient Egyptian deities.
The mission also discovered four cemeteries; the first is dated to the first and second dynasties (ca. 2750-2649 BC), the second belongs to the Middle Kingdom (2030-1660 BC) while the third and fourth are dated to the New Kingdom (1550-1070 BC) and The Late Period (724-343 BC).
Dr. Abdel Rahman El-Aydi, head of the archaeological mission, pointed out that the first and second dynasties cemeteries are composed of 14 tombs. One of the tombs is almost completely intact, including all of its funerary equipment and a wooden sarcophagus with a mummy wrapped with linen.
Sarcophagus and vessels excavated at Lahun
Also, at the four corners of king Senwosret II’s temple, the mission has located four shafts filled with a large collection of clay vessels.
Last year, the mission found 53 stone tombs from the Middle and New Kingdom, as well as the Late Period and the Roman era.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Archaeologists in Egypt find Ptolemaic king statue
Archaeologists in Egypt say they have discovered a headless granite statue more than 2000 years old belonging to an unidentified Ptolemaic-era king.
Tuesday's statement by the Supreme Council of Antiquities says an Egyptian-Dominican team made the discovery at the temple of Taposiris Magna, west of the coastal city of Alexandria.
Archaeology chief Zahi Hawas says the well-preserved statue may be among the most beautiful carvings in the ancient Egyptian style. He says the statue could belong to King Ptolemy IV.
The statue's height is 135 centimeters and its width at the shoulders is 55 centimeters.
Alexandria was the seat of the Greek-speaking Ptolemaic Dynasty, which ruled Egypt for 300 years, until the suicide of Queen Cleopatra.
The Egyptian-Dominican team spent the past five years trying to locate the last resting place of Cleopatra and Mark Antony, the Roman general who became Cleopatra’s lover and had three children with her.
The couple supposedly committed suicide after their combined forces were defeated by Roman Emperor Octavian in the Battle of Actium more than two millennia ago.
While excavating the site --a radar survey of the temple has identified three spots where a burial chamber might lie deep underground -- the archaeologists have unearthed several significant artifacts. These include a number of headless royal statues, which may have been subjected to destruction during the Byzantine and Christian eras, a collection of heads featuring Queen Cleopatra, and 24 metal coins bearing Cleopatra’s profile.
Behind the crumbling temple, a necropolis was also discovered, containing many Graeco-Roman style mummies. Early investigations, said Hawass, show that the mummies were buried with their faces turned toward the temple, which means that a significant royal personality could be buried inside the temple.
“All these findings are leading us to the discovery of the tomb of Cleopatra. They show that something important is waiting for us inside the temple,”
Tuesday's statement by the Supreme Council of Antiquities says an Egyptian-Dominican team made the discovery at the temple of Taposiris Magna, west of the coastal city of Alexandria.
Archaeology chief Zahi Hawas says the well-preserved statue may be among the most beautiful carvings in the ancient Egyptian style. He says the statue could belong to King Ptolemy IV.
The statue's height is 135 centimeters and its width at the shoulders is 55 centimeters.
Alexandria was the seat of the Greek-speaking Ptolemaic Dynasty, which ruled Egypt for 300 years, until the suicide of Queen Cleopatra.
The Egyptian-Dominican team spent the past five years trying to locate the last resting place of Cleopatra and Mark Antony, the Roman general who became Cleopatra’s lover and had three children with her.
The couple supposedly committed suicide after their combined forces were defeated by Roman Emperor Octavian in the Battle of Actium more than two millennia ago.
While excavating the site --a radar survey of the temple has identified three spots where a burial chamber might lie deep underground -- the archaeologists have unearthed several significant artifacts. These include a number of headless royal statues, which may have been subjected to destruction during the Byzantine and Christian eras, a collection of heads featuring Queen Cleopatra, and 24 metal coins bearing Cleopatra’s profile.
Behind the crumbling temple, a necropolis was also discovered, containing many Graeco-Roman style mummies. Early investigations, said Hawass, show that the mummies were buried with their faces turned toward the temple, which means that a significant royal personality could be buried inside the temple.
“All these findings are leading us to the discovery of the tomb of Cleopatra. They show that something important is waiting for us inside the temple,”
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
New taxi program runs into difficulties
Finance Ministry officials say the ministry's project to encourage Egypt's taxi owners to replace their aging cabs with new automobiles is facing financial problems, since advertisers were neglecting to pay banks for the advertisements featured on new taxis.
The project's phase-two subscribers, meanwhile, complain that the ministry is selling them cars at prices higher than those charged their counterparts in phase one. Others say the ministry is failing to deliver new automobiles even though their applications have been approved.
"I finished all the paperwork with the bank in July of last year and yet I still haven't received my new car," said project subscriber Emad Mohamed.
Assistant Finance Minister Nabil Rashdan, for his part, said that banks had agreed to extend credit facilities for seven years to ease payment obligations for new subscribers. "And we're also talking to more advertising agencies in hopes of bringing in more ads," he added.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
New Tomb Discovered in Ismailia
Interior decoration of the tomb, showing a scene from Chapter 125 of the Book of the Dead.
A new tomb was discovered by an SCA mission at Tell el-Maskhuta in the Ismailia governate. The tomb dates to the 19th Dynasty (1315-1201 BC), is constructed of mud brick and consists of a rectangular room with a domed ceiling made of stone, and a deep square-shaped shaft. The interior is decorated with scenes depicting the owner of the tomb, whose name was Ken-Amun.
The newly discovered tomb, shown with the 35 Roman Period tombs nearby.
This is the first Ramesside tomb to be discovered in Lower Egypt. The tomb is very high quality, and is beautifully decorated and inscribed with scenes known from the Ramesside Period. In addition to this tomb, the excavation has found 35 tombs dated to the Roman Period.
The excavation discovered a limestone stela inscribed with hieroglyphs containing the name of the capital of the Hyksos, Avaris (Het-Waret). The stela depicts the god Set in front of a king of Dynasty 19, whose name is not written. This stela shows the relationship between the site at Tell el-Maskhuta and the Hyksos capital Avaris, located at Tell el-Daba in Sharqiya.
Dr. Mohamed Abdel Maqsud, the supervisor of the Department of Antiquities of Lower Egypt, said there was a large limestone sarcophagus found inside the tomb that belonged to the owner, Ken-Amun. He was the overseer of the royal records during the 19th Dynasty. The sarcophagus contained inscriptions on its inner and outer surfaces. The tomb walls were inscribed with the titles of the deceased and the name of his wife, Isis, who was a singer of the god Atum. The tomb is decorated in sunken relief with different religious and funerary scenes; the most important scenes were one from the Book of the Dead Chapter 125, as well as one of women mourning the dead. Other important scenes include a depiction of the goddess Hathor in the shape of a cow, emerging from the Delta marshes, as well as a scene of the four sons of Horus. The scenes and titles in the tomb show that Ken-Amun was an important man, who was in charge of keeping the royal records.
The discovery of this tomb will provide information about the history of the Delta and the geography of the area, as well as the relationship between this area and the eastern border of Egypt. Excavations will continue at the site, and conservation and restoration work will begin at the tomb, and the tomb and its scenes will be completely documented and registered, under the supervision of Dr. Mohamed Abdel Maqsud.
Tell el-Maskhuta is located in the Wadi Tumilat near the eastern branch of the Nile that connects with the Suez Canal. When the Suez Canal was being constructed, many sphinx statues of Ramesses II and stelae were found. It is known that the ancient city at Tell el-Maskhuta contained a settlement in the Ramesside Period with a temple for Atum. It also contained a garrison, which stored supplies to equip the ancient Egyptian army before they went east to the border on their military campaigns.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Waiting for Nefertiti
Thousands of artifacts are now returning to Egypt from abroad, but one piece continues to elude decades of government calls for its return: the famous bust of Nefertiti.
The bust has become such a contentious symbol that a copy of it is now part of an exhibition at the Ruhr Museum in Germany dubbed "The Great Game: Archaeology and Politics in the Colonial Period," open until 13 June.
The original, unfinished sculpture from Thutmose's workshop in Tel Amarna is internationally recognized for its artistic quality and aesthetic beauty.
The Egyptian government says it was illegally smuggled out of the country some time around 1924. The German government has always refused to repatriate the queen, which remains the centerpiece of the Neues Museum in Berlin.
The Ruhr exhibition also displays the contract between the Egyptian government and the sponsor of the Thutmose's workshop exhibition, James Simon, who was also the founder of the German Oriental Society.
Charlotte Trümpler, curator of both the exhibition and of the archeological collection at the Ruhr Museum, said it was clear that all parties had agreed that half the findings would go to the excavation team.
Authorities in Egypt say the export papers for the bust were deceptive, since it listed the bust as a statue of a "princess"--a description hardly befitting one of the most powerful queens in pharaonic Egypt.
"I don't think Nefertiti's bust left legitimately, because, despite there being a contract, maybe Nefertiti was hidden or not seen by the person who ought to have seen her and decided on whether she should leave or not," said Salima Ikram, a professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo.
That the copy of the bust at the Ruhr was made for the Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1913, a year after the original was discovered, does not prove the Germans knew of its importance at the time--or that they intentionally deceived Egyptian authorities.
Trümpler said the Kaiser had been the patron of many archaeological activities, not only of the bust. "He sponsored excavations in Babylon and other places because he presided over the German Orientalist Society," Ikram explained.
A few years after the bust left its homeland, the Egyptian government realized its importance. Germany, however, refused to return it. "King Fouad II wanted Nefertifi back and they offered statues from the Cairo Museum to make an exchange," Trümpler said. "They knew the bust came to Germany correctly through a find sharing [contract]."
"They had other objects that the director of antiquities found more important," she added. "He wasn't so interested in this bust."
But the relationship between colonial rule and the exportation of antiquities raises the question of whether the antiquities in question left their country of origin legitimately. "It's a complicated thing because, at that time, that was the legitimate government, whether one likes it or not," Ikram said.
France, the US and the United Kingdom have recently been repatriating items following pressure from and negotiations with Egypt. In early March, the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) announced that the UK had recently returned about 25,000 artifacts, some dating back to the Stone Age. In October, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York agreed to return a granite relief fragment. Around the same time, the Louvre announced it would send back five fresco fragments after French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand convened a special meeting on the issue.
"What they're giving back are small things on the whole, and I think that they're doing it with good will and good intent," Ikram said. "In some cases, what they are doing is giving a fragment of something the larger part of which remains in Egypt, so they're completing something."
In other cases, the objects appear to have been smuggled illegally. This week, US authorities are sending back to Egypt a 3,000-year-old casket found with a Spanish dealer who failed to provide papers showing proof of ownership. "This coffin is one of the most beautiful wooden coffins, dating to 1080 BC," said Egyptian Culture Minister Farouq Hosni in a statement today. "It's return to Egypt comes after nearly three years of Egyptian-American contacts through which Egypt succeeded in proving its legal right to restore this coffin."
SCA Secretary-General Zahi Hawass could not be reached for comment because he was traveling to the US to bring back the coffin.
Hawass has repeatedly called for the return of antiquities from a number of countries, sometimes threatening to cut off cultural ties as a means of exerting pressure. Such pressure may have contributed to the decision by the Louvre--and other museums--to repatriate antiquities, but the Germans have yet to acquiesce.
"Frankly, Nefertiti is an iconic piece," Ikram said. "I'm sure the Germans feel they would lose not only tourism, but also prestige, by returning her."
The bust has become such a contentious symbol that a copy of it is now part of an exhibition at the Ruhr Museum in Germany dubbed "The Great Game: Archaeology and Politics in the Colonial Period," open until 13 June.
The original, unfinished sculpture from Thutmose's workshop in Tel Amarna is internationally recognized for its artistic quality and aesthetic beauty.
The Egyptian government says it was illegally smuggled out of the country some time around 1924. The German government has always refused to repatriate the queen, which remains the centerpiece of the Neues Museum in Berlin.
The Ruhr exhibition also displays the contract between the Egyptian government and the sponsor of the Thutmose's workshop exhibition, James Simon, who was also the founder of the German Oriental Society.
Charlotte Trümpler, curator of both the exhibition and of the archeological collection at the Ruhr Museum, said it was clear that all parties had agreed that half the findings would go to the excavation team.
Authorities in Egypt say the export papers for the bust were deceptive, since it listed the bust as a statue of a "princess"--a description hardly befitting one of the most powerful queens in pharaonic Egypt.
"I don't think Nefertiti's bust left legitimately, because, despite there being a contract, maybe Nefertiti was hidden or not seen by the person who ought to have seen her and decided on whether she should leave or not," said Salima Ikram, a professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo.
That the copy of the bust at the Ruhr was made for the Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1913, a year after the original was discovered, does not prove the Germans knew of its importance at the time--or that they intentionally deceived Egyptian authorities.
Trümpler said the Kaiser had been the patron of many archaeological activities, not only of the bust. "He sponsored excavations in Babylon and other places because he presided over the German Orientalist Society," Ikram explained.
A few years after the bust left its homeland, the Egyptian government realized its importance. Germany, however, refused to return it. "King Fouad II wanted Nefertifi back and they offered statues from the Cairo Museum to make an exchange," Trümpler said. "They knew the bust came to Germany correctly through a find sharing [contract]."
"They had other objects that the director of antiquities found more important," she added. "He wasn't so interested in this bust."
But the relationship between colonial rule and the exportation of antiquities raises the question of whether the antiquities in question left their country of origin legitimately. "It's a complicated thing because, at that time, that was the legitimate government, whether one likes it or not," Ikram said.
France, the US and the United Kingdom have recently been repatriating items following pressure from and negotiations with Egypt. In early March, the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) announced that the UK had recently returned about 25,000 artifacts, some dating back to the Stone Age. In October, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York agreed to return a granite relief fragment. Around the same time, the Louvre announced it would send back five fresco fragments after French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand convened a special meeting on the issue.
"What they're giving back are small things on the whole, and I think that they're doing it with good will and good intent," Ikram said. "In some cases, what they are doing is giving a fragment of something the larger part of which remains in Egypt, so they're completing something."
In other cases, the objects appear to have been smuggled illegally. This week, US authorities are sending back to Egypt a 3,000-year-old casket found with a Spanish dealer who failed to provide papers showing proof of ownership. "This coffin is one of the most beautiful wooden coffins, dating to 1080 BC," said Egyptian Culture Minister Farouq Hosni in a statement today. "It's return to Egypt comes after nearly three years of Egyptian-American contacts through which Egypt succeeded in proving its legal right to restore this coffin."
SCA Secretary-General Zahi Hawass could not be reached for comment because he was traveling to the US to bring back the coffin.
Hawass has repeatedly called for the return of antiquities from a number of countries, sometimes threatening to cut off cultural ties as a means of exerting pressure. Such pressure may have contributed to the decision by the Louvre--and other museums--to repatriate antiquities, but the Germans have yet to acquiesce.
"Frankly, Nefertiti is an iconic piece," Ikram said. "I'm sure the Germans feel they would lose not only tourism, but also prestige, by returning her."
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