Looted stone relief and skulls recovered
This story is about the recovery of a 2,500 year old stone relief looted from Luxor in 1969 but I find the second story about two human skulls dating back to Egypt’s Greek-Roman era more interesting.
Egypt retrieved a 2,500-year-old limestone relief from London after its sale was blocked by Bonhams auction house there because it had been looted from a pharaoh’s tomb. The artifact bears hieroglyphic text engraved in six rows and a cartouche of an ancient Egyptian queen.
Bonhams auction house in London was alerted by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York that the relief had been seen in a tomb by someone at the Met involved in the excavation.
Egyptian archaeologists also retrieved from London two human skulls dating back to Egypt’s Greek-Roman era. The remains were believed to have been taken by a British doctor during a visit to Egypt in 1988. The man buried the skulls in his front garden in Manchester after his wife refused to allow him to bring them to a new house they bought earlier this year. The new owner found the skulls and informed the police.
Volcanic rock sheds new light on relations among ancient cultures
Pumice, a lightweight volcanic rock, was used in ancient times as a cosmetic remedy and also as an abrasive. A product of high demand, it unleashed an intense commercial activity among Egyptian, Syrian, Minoan and other Mediterranean cultures. In Egypt, pumice has been found in ancient workshops. In some of the excavations, there was even rock that still presented the right abrasion traces. They were used to polish sculptures, constructions, bronze objects, and so forth.
Based on pumice specific chemical composition, researchers from Vienna University of Technology can generate a chemical fingerprint and compare rock types from archaeological excavations to determine their origin. Egyptians have surely ordered pumice from Greece.
When a pumice lump from the volcano in Thera (Santorini), whose eruption in about 1,600 B.C. obliterated the Minoan civilization, is found in an excavation, the maximum age of the excavation discovery place can be ascertained.
This research sheds new light on the level of cultural and commercial connections among these well populated civilizations.
IMAX docudrama uncovers secrets of Egypt’s pharaohs
Egypt gives up more secrets from its past as archaeologists use forensic science to unravel the genetic makeup of mummies in the docudrama “Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs,” showing at the Detroit Science Center’s IMAX Dome Theatre.
Famed Egyptologist/archaeologist Zahi Hawass, Egyptologist Bob Brier and ancient DNA scientist Angelique Corthals appear in the film, while actor Christopher Lee narrates.
The film uses computer graphics to reconstruct great finds in archaeology, including the discovery of 40 mummies in the late 19th century. Among the cache of mummies was that of the mighty pharaoh Ramses the Great.
Besides its giant screen, “Mummies” is also theatrical in nature, using actors who provide subtle performances that play well on the big screen, without a lot of dialogue.
The Sirius lore
Assem Deif is writer is a professor of mathematics at Cairo University and Misr University for Science and Technology. This is a brief excerpt from an article on the star Sirius and its significance to ancient Egyptians and other cultures.
When the star (Sirius) begins to flicker low on the horizon (before sunrise) it marks the beginning of a New Year in Ancient Egypt. The Egyptians referred to the heliacal rising and its associated festival as prt spdt, “the going forth of Sepdet”. The star hid for 70 days, and now it has returned from the duat (underworld) to bring welfare to the land and to allow its people to bury their dead.
The 70 days of the star’s invisibility is due to the dominance of sunlight in this period. When it starts its heliacal rise from the east it is ahead of the sun by about 11 degrees, moving across the celestial sphere to set in the west. On subsequent nights, it distances itself from the sun by appearing earlier and spending longer in the night sky until it eventually becomes out of phase with the sun, rising just when the sun is setting over the western horizon. It again approaches the sun on successive nights until it disappears totally from view, obscured by the sun’s brilliance for 70 days before reappearing again for a few minutes just before sunrise — the heliacal rising.
Not only does the star herald the flooding of the Nile, but the shade of the blue-white star is also important. If the star appears bright and clear, the Egyptians expect an abundant harvest. If it is dull and reddish, a poor harvest results. In the second century AD the Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy described the star as being red, and the less red it was the better the harvest.
The Arabs too revered the star, which they called “Al-Shi’ra Al-Yamaniyyah”, referring to Yemen, south of Mecca; for it was this star which guided them in this direction. Many nations paid homage to its goddess, Isis. Her fame spread to all corners of the Roman Empire, and the last recorded festival of Isis took place in Rome in 394 AD. There was even a temple of Isis on the River Thames in London. To the Egyptians she was the caring mother and the symbol of fertility. She also owned magical powers; as she restored her husband to life after he was murdered by his brother Set. Some scholars believe the River Nile took its name, Siris, from Sirius. Not only was it the foundation of the Egyptian religious system, but its celestial movement determined the Egyptian calendar.
The hieroglyph of Sirius is a red triangle with a small ben-ben and a five- pointed star near it.
Ancient painted coffins found in Saqqara
Egyptian archaeologists have discovered several painted wooden coffins and statues at the Saqqara necropolis. The vast cemetery dates back to 2700 BC from the time of Djoser and was continuously used until the Roman period, three millenniums later.
“Some coloured unopened coffins dating back to the sixth century BC were found as well as some coffins dating back to the time of Ramses II,” who ruled from 1279 to 1213 BC, said Zahi Hawass, director of the SCA.
The statues found in the tombs represent the owners of the coffins.
Ticket sales opens in Dallas for King Tut’s Exhibit
Following the success of the first U.S. tour, which drew nearly 4 million visitors and broke records at each of the four museums it visited from June 2005 through September 2007, “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs” will return from its current London engagement to open at the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) on October 3, 2008. The exhibition will remain on view through May 17, 2009.
Proceeds generated from the world tour are being used to help preserve Egypt’s treasures, including the construction of a new museum in Cairo where antiquities will be housed.When the Tutankhamun exhibition opens at the Dallas Museum of Art, “Harry Burton Photographs” will be shown together with the exhibition for the first time. On view September 14, 2008, through May 17, 2009, this photography exhibit will feature more than 40 original prints from Harry Burton, the photographer who accompanied explorer Howard Carter on the now famous Tutankhamun expedition and documented the moment-by-moment discovery of King Tut’s untouched tomb.
Additionally, “Mummies 3D: Secrets of the Pharaohs,” a 22-minute 3D movie adventure that follows researchers and explorers as they piece together the archaeological and genetic clues of Egyptian mummies, will be shown in the Museum’s Horchow Auditorium.
The exhibition is organized by National Geographic, Arts and Exhibitions International and AEG Exhibitions, with cooperation from the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities. Northern Trust, a global financial services firm, is the presenting sponsor of the encore tour, and American Airlines, the world’s largest airline, is the official airline of the exhibition. The Dallas engagement is presented in partnership with the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau.
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The Hymn to the Aten
In celebration of the Summer Solstice. May we all live in Maat.
Splendid You rise in the lightland of the sky, O living Aten, creator of life!
You have dawned in the eastern lightland. You fill every land with your beauty.
You are beauteous, mighty & radiant. Risen high over every land,
your rays embrace the lands, to the limit of all that You made.
Being Re, You reach their end. You bend them for your beloved son.
Though You are far, your rays are on Earth. Though seen by them, your course is unknown.
When You set in the western lightland, Earth is in darkness, as if death.
The sleepers are in their chambers, heads covered, no eye seeing the other.
One could steal their goods from under their heads, they would not notice it.
Every lion comes from its den. The serpents bite. Darkness hovers, Earth is silent.
For its creator rests in the lightland. At dawn You have risen in the lightland.
To shine as the Aten of daytime! You dispel the dark and cast your rays.
The Two Lands celebrate daily. Awake they stand on their feet.
You have made them get up. They wash and dress, their arms raised
in adoration to your appearance. The entire land sets out to work.
All cattle are satisfied with their fodder. The trees and the grass become green.
Birds fly from their nests, their wings praising your Ka.
All game animals frisk on their hooves, all that fly and flutter,
live when You dawn for them. Ships fare downstream and back upstream,
roads lie open when You rise. The fish in the river dart before You.
Your rays penetrate the Great Green deep. O You, who make seed grow in women,
who creates people from sperm, who feeds the son in his mother’s womb,
who soothes him to still his tears. You nurse in the womb!
Giver of breath to nourish all creatures. When the child emerges from the womb
to breathe on the day of his birth, You open wide his mouth to supply his needs.
The chick in the egg, chirping in the shell, You give it breath within to sustain its life.
When it is complete, it breaks out from the egg. It emerges from the egg,
to say it is complete. Walking on its legs when emerging.
How many are your deeds, though hidden from sight. O sole God without equal!
You made the Earth as You desired, You alone. With people, cattle, and all creatures.
With everything upon Earth that walks on legs, and all that is on high and flies with its wings.
The foreign lands of Syria and Nubia, and the land of Egypt,
You set everybody in his place and supply their needs.
They all have their food and their lifetimes are counted.
Tongues differ in speech, their characters as well.
Their skins are distinct, for You distinguished the peoples.
You made the Nile in the Netherworld. You bring it up when You will,
to keep those of Egypt alive, for You have created them for yourself.
Lord of All who toils for them. Lord of All Lands who shines for them.
O Aten of daytime, great in glory! All distant lands, You make them live.
You made a heavenly Nile descend for them. With waves beating on the mountains like the sea,
to drench their fields and their towns. How excellent are your ways, O Lord of Eternity!
The Nile from heaven for foreign peoples and all land-creatures that walk on legs.
For Egypt the Nile from the Duat.
Your rays nurse all fields. When You shine they live, they grow for You.
You made the seasons, so that all that You made may come to life.
Winter cools them, and heat makes them sense You.
the Aten is sole witness, sole creator and sole presence
You created the sky far away in order to ascend to it, to witness everything You created.
You are alone, shining in your form of the living Aten. Risen, radiant, distant and near.
You made millions of forms from yourself alone: cities, towns, fields, the river’s course.
All eyes see You above them as the Aten of the daytime on high.
When You are gone, (…) your eye is gone (…) which You have made (?) {for their sake}
Pharaoh as the exclusive mediator of the Aten
But even then You are in my heart and there is no other who knows You,
only your son, Nefer-kheperu-Re, Sole-one-of-Re, whom You have taught your ways and your might.
The ones on Earth come into being by your hand, in the way You made them.
When You rise, they live. When You set, they die.
You yourself are lifetime itself, one lives through You.
All eyes rest on beauty until You set. All labor ceases when You rest in the West.
When You rise, You make all arms firm for the King,
every leg is on the move since You founded the Earth,
You arouse them for your son, who emerged from your body.
The King who lives by Maat, the Lord of the Two Lands :
Nefer-kheperu-Re, Sole-one-of-Re, the Son of Re who lives by Maat,
the Lord of Crowns, Akhenaten, great in his lifetime.
And the great Queen whom he loves, the Lady of the Two Lands : Nefer-neferu-Aten Nefertiti,
who lives and is rejuvenated forever and ever.”
http://www.maat.sofiatopia.org/aten.htm#b
Coils of Ancient Egyptian rope found in man-made cave
The ancient Egyptian’s secret to making the strongest of all rigging ropes lies in a tangle of cord coils in a cave found in a hand-hewn cave at the ancient Red Sea port of Marsa Gawasis, 23 kilometers (14 miles) south of Safaga.
Discovered three years ago by archaeologists Rodolfo Fattovich of the Oriental Studies University of Naples and Kathryn Bard of Boston University, the ropes offer an unprecedented look at seafaring activities in ancient Egypt.
“The cave is really spectacular. Over 30 coils of ropes lie on the ground as if they had just been left there. Amazingly, these ropes were stored in the same way as nowadays sailors store their shipping cords — just coiling and tighting them in the middle,” archaeologist and rope analyst Andre Veldmeijer told Discovery News.
“Each cord is about 30 meters (98 feet) long and is very thick. No doubt these ropes were made for strong, heavy duties, Veldmeijer said. The theory is supported by the fact that the estimated length of the Egyptian ships is about 10 meters (33 feet) shorter than the ropes’ lengths. This shows that sailors had five meters (16 feet) at both ends to tie the ropes.
The researchers believe they are the well-preserved riggings from an Egyptian seafaring expedition to the fabled Land of Punt (around present-day Somalia), in the 12th Dynasty, almost 4,000 years ago. The most famous expedition to the mysterious and exotic Land of Punt was conducted during the reign of Queen Hatshepsut and is described in bas-relief inscriptions in her funerary temple at Deir el-Bahri.
They are still puzzling over the material the ancient Egyptians used to make such a strong cordage.
Archaeologists have also found remains of ship timbers, anchors, expedition equipment, cargo boxes and pottery.
Book Review: A History of Egypt
A History of Egypt: From earliest times to the present, Jason Thompson, Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press, 2008. pp383, 2 maps, 80 b/w photos
With his new book, Jason Thompson attempts the ambitious task of covering the entire span of Egyptian history from its earliest settlers to the present day. This is the first major work of its kind, and it succeeds triumphantly. Never before has any individual tried to provide a comprehensive coverage of Egyptian history from predynastic settlements through the pharaonic, Ptolemaic, Roman, Coptic and Islamic eras, followed by the Ottoman Turks, the birth of modern Egypt, mid- nineteenth-century Egypt, the British occupation and the parliamentary era through to Nasser, Sadat and Mubarak.
A History of Egypt is a remarkable work of synthesis, cohesion, and understanding. “Egypt,” he writes in his Preface, “is the most written-about land in the world, an inexhaustible source of inspiration for writers and interest for readers — but they almost invariably concentrate on one particular period, as if hermetically sealed from each other. Yet few if any lands have as many threads of continuity running throughout their entire historical experience as Egypt. While the country has changed almost beyond recognition, one is repeatedly confronted by the paradox — indeed the outright contradiction — that many aspects of Egyptian culture have remained recognisably the same and can be documented across the millennia.”
On his vast canvas Thompson’s oversights, if there are any, are trivial and not worth mentioning. What is worthy of note is that Egyptian history can be treated as a whole, and that, by drawing on historical scholarship as well as his own research, Thompson has written a one- volume narrative of the extraordinarily long course of human history by the Nile.
A History of Egypt is an important book, a distinguished work of scholarship and of understanding. It provides an engaging one-volume narrative of the extraordinarily long course of human history, tracing how Egypt emerged from predynastic kingdoms, through pharaonic, Ptolemaic, Roman, Byzantine, Coptic, mediaeval Islamic, and Ottoman eras, to its nation-state status in the 21st century.
Let me add that the book is timely. The National Museum of Egyptian History on the pyramid plateau at Giza is well on its way to completion, and it, too, will cover under one roof the whole span of Egyptian history from the most ancient past to the present.
An extract from Jill Kamil ’s review at Al-Ahram
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By N2H
