Archive for March, 2010

A history as long as that of ancient Egypt must include an assassin who murders a ruler and becomes pharaoh, if only for a brief period. Such is the story of Userkare, second pharaoh of the 6th Dynasty who ruled between Teti and Teti’s son Pepi I. He took power after Teti was murdered, perhaps... »

Image via Wikipedia Wrapping up its series of Spring Break adventure announcements, The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis revealed today the third and final component of its latest permanent exhibit opening in the summer of 2011. Archeological excavation of ancient Egyptian tombs and the treasures that are discovered will be one of three major areas of... »

The small artist colony of Tunis is located at the western end of the Fayoum  oasis on a small elevation overlooking the lake. It is home to a number of writers, painters, and, above all, potters, whose work has made the village famous. Five years ago, Mohamed Abla opened the Fayoum Art Center. Courses in... »

A routine excavation work at Karnak has turned out a remarkable large red granite false door belonging to the tomb of User, vizier of Pharaoh Hatshepsut and uncle of another famous vizier, Rekhmire of King Thutmose III. The role of vizier was of utmost importance, second only to the king and in charge of the... »

He is a train and no one will stop him, said Samir Farag, the governor of Luxor as he defended the demolition of houses, shops, historic buildings, mosques and churches, “…anything that stands in the face of development”, all in the name of the Luxor Development Plan intended to make of the city the... »

The ten plagues that the Bible mentions affected ancient Egypt may have occurred after all, but due to natural causes and not by the direct intervention of a god helping the flight of an enslaved people, according to researchers. A shift in climate patterns may have caused a dry period that would have turned the... »

Thanks to Stan Parchin, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Art Museum Journal, for sending me this and other pictures of one of the events announcing Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs at Manhattan’s Discovery Times Square Exposition. Parchin was the only member of the staff of Treasures of Tutankhamun at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1978-79)... »

Carbon dating estimates the age of an artifact based on its content of carbon-14 (C-14), a naturally occurring, radioactive form of carbon. Comparing the C-14 levels in the object to levels of C-14 expected in the atmosphere for a particular historic period allows scientists to estimate the age of an artifact. In conventional dating methods,... »

Residents of el-Maris are suing the government to stop the expropriation of 210 hectares of their land and the relocation of 10,000 people over plans to build a $1 billion port for more than 180 Nile cruise boats in Luxor. According to one lawyer for the group, the government’s proposed plan violates the Egyptian constitution... »

Tutankhamun’s Funeral in the spacious first-floor Egyptian Special Exhibitions Gallery at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (March 15-September 6, 2010) highlights some 60 artifacts that describe the mummification and religious rites that occurred upon the death of the adolescent New Kingdom pharaoh. The majority of them, given to the museum by archaeologist Theodore Davis... »