Jean Pierre-Houdin has emailed a group of people to make us aware that Mark Rose, online editorial director of the Archaeology Magazine blog “Beyond Stones & Bones”, published an article on March 6th in support of putting to the test the internal ramp theory. This is “the first public support for a mission”, says Houdin.

How the great pyramid of Khufu in Giza was built remains an engineering enigma. Jean Pierre Houdin has invested time and considerable resources in his quest to elaborate a comprehensive theory that explains how the ancient Egyptians were able to built this perfect geometric shape at such a massive scale. So far, Houdin’s internal ramp theory is backed up by high end computer modeling and examination of construction details preserved in the pyramid, but it has not been tested in situ due to permit problems.

Why is it important to attempt to finally solve this engineering riddle is perhaps best summarized in Houdin’s own words:

…the Egyptians of that time had an extraordinary mastery of the techniques used, advanced knowledge in geometry, mathematics, geology, topography, astronomy and a remarkable organization system for the construction operation.

The corpus of knowledge of one of the most advanced ancient civilizations is thus hidden at this moment within the four walls of this iconic monument, a true wonder of the ancient world.

Building the Great Pyramid of Khufu is not as easy as amassing stone blocks in the shape of a mountain. The manmade structure is neither solid nor exactly hollow. Its internal passages and chambers require careful planning before embarking in such a colossal project.

Besides the use of internal ramps, Houdin presents a very plausible hypothesis on the construction and purpose of the Grand Gallery as a gigantic pulley system to carry the immense granite blocks located on top of the King’s Chamber, designed by ancient architect Hemienu to divert the enormous weight on top of the chamber and prevent the collapse of the entire structure.

Mark Rose’s article “Time for the Great Pyramid?” mentions that Houdin himself has indicated how his internal ramp theory could be tested with infrared thermography. This non destructive research can be done in about 18 hours on site, at a distance of some 50 meters from the pyramid. Rose concludes that “if we are comfortable with sampling the royal mummies for DNA, it should be possible to structure this research in a way that meets the permit criteria.”

The Great Pyramid of Giza: An Engineering Enigma

VIDEO: How the Egyptians built the Great Pyramid: Bob Brier and Jean-Pierre Houdin

Egypt wants visitors to discover its Mediterranean coast at a marine reserve being established near the border with Libya.

The 383-sq km (150-square-mile) reserve, mostly in the water in the Gulf of el-Salloum, is Egypt’s 28th nature protectorate, but its first on the Mediterranean.

The protectorate contains more than 160 migratory and local bird species, about 30 reptile and amphibian species and 10,000 to 12,000 marine species. Its creation should encourage scientific research on biological diversity in Egypt, he said.

Reuters

Hilton Worldwide has signed a Management Agreement with High for Touristic Projects for the new-build Hilton Heliopolis in Egypt’s capital Cairo, scheduled to open in 2014.

The 485-room and 150-apartment low-rise property located in Cairo’s upmarket Heliopolis suburb adjoins an integrated shopping complex and is next to the Cairo International Airport.

Hilton Heliopolis will feature five restaurants and bars ranging from an all-day dining restaurant and two speciality restaurants, to a sports bar and lobby lounge bar. In keeping with Hilton’s renowned Hilton Meetings product, the hotel will have a 960 sq. m. ballroom, nine meeting rooms of various sizes and one boardroom. Further on-site facilities are planned to include a lounge dedicated to airline crews, fitness centre, outdoor swimming pool and two tennis courts.

Al Bawaba

The Boston Museum of Fine Art’s touring exhibition “World of the Pharaohs: Treasures of Egypt Revealed”, currently in Little Rock, Arkansas, won’t travel to the Huntsville Museum of Art in Alabama.

The reasons:
Lack of funds – the museum would have to allocate $500,000, including a $140,000 deposit, to install, prepare and display the show.

No glitter – Clayton Bass, the museum’s president and CEO, said the exhibition, focused on the daily life of the common ancient Egyptians, features objects of high quality, but lacks the attraction of King Tut’s gold or a mummy to draw in big crowds.

Meanwhile at the Arkansas Arts Center, hiring 30 new employees, a guest curator, an exhibit designer, creating an audio tour and investing $500,000 in advertising, have not yet produced the number of visitors expected. In its forth of a 10 month run,”World of the Pharaohs: Treasures of Egypt Revealed” have barely attracted 40,000 of its 300,000 visitors goal.

The Huntsville Museum will instead highlight its “Sellars Collection: Art by American Women,” pieces from the Buccellati collection of silver animals and other works in its permanent collection.

Source: al.com

Britain has sent some 25,000 ancient artefacts back to Egypt.

They include a stone axe that dates back 200,000 years as well as pottery from the seventh millennium BC which bears the finger prints of its producers.

Antiquities chief Zahi Hawass said the artefacts “will constitute the foundation for a collection from the (pre-dynastic) Naqada period.”

The recovered will be displayed at the Ahmed Fakhri Museum, currently under construction in Dakhla, an oasis in Egypt’s western desert.

MailOnline

French archaeologists working at Saqqara have unearthed the burial chamber of a 4,000-year-old queen.

Badly destroyed, the 33-by 16-foot burial chamber belonged to Queen Behenu, wife of either King Pepi I or Pepi II of the Sixth Dynasty.

It was discovered as sand was removed from Behenu’s pyramid in South Saqqara, west of the pyramid of King Pepi I.

Although the mummy of the queen was destroyed and little remains of the burial, the team found two inner walls which contain hieroglyphics engraved on white stone known as the “Pyramid Texts.”

Further excavation inside the burial, led the French team to the queen’s sarcophagus.

This is the seventh pyramid belonging to queens dating to the reigns of Pepi I and Pepi II since Philippe Collombert and his team started excavating in 1989.

Discovery News

After years dedicated to shedding light on the work of the late Harvard Egyptology Professor George A. Reisner, Class of 1889, Peter D. Manuelian ’81 will become the first Egyptology professor at Harvard since his predecessor’s death 68 years ago.

Manuelian, currently an Egyptology lecturer at Tufts, will be the first person to fill the Philip J. King Professorship, which was established in the fall of 2006 to support the study of ancient civilizations.

The professorship’s search committee specifically sought an Egyptology scholar to fill the position, according to Classics Professor Christopher P. Jones, who headed the search.

“It is very important that Africa should be a part of what everyone thinks about the modern world,” Jones said. “And Egypt is a major African civilization—probably the best known.”

The Harvard Crimson

A massive red granite sculpted head of pharaoh Amenhotep III has been unearthed behind the famous Colossi of Memnon in Luxor.

Not only huge in dimensions, the 2.5m (8ft) head is one of the best preserved and finely carved image of the king, recently identified as the grandfather of Tutankhamen thru DNA and CT scan tests conducted on several 18th dynasty royal family mummies.

Other parts from the colossal statue were found several years ago in the excavation site of what once was the largest mortuary temple of ancient Thebes.

The head of the benign looking pharaoh is wearing the crown of Upper Egypt. His almond shaped eyes, slightly broad nose and full lips are characteristic of the idealized image of this pharaoh, who has the distinction of having the most surviving statues of any Egyptian pharaoh. Over 250 statues of the king have been discovered. Since these statues cover his entire life, they provide the most complete portraiture over time of any ancient Egyptian ruler.

An equally powerful and more famous pharaoh, Ramses the Great, copied his predecessor penchant for monumental depiction of his image. A side by side comparison of these two faces reveal racial differences, with scholars still debating whether Amenhotep III was 100% Nubian.

Amenhotep (“Amen is in Peace”) III ruled Egypt from about 1387 to 1348 BC. His lengthy reign was a period of great peace, prosperity, and artistic splendor, when Egypt reached the very heights of artistic and international power. He celebrated three Jubilee Festivals in his Year 30, Year 34 and Year 37. The pharaoh built extensively at the temple of Karnak and oversaw the construction of the Temple of Luxor.

His mortuary temple on the west bank of the Nile was, in its day, the largest religious complex in Thebes but, unfortunately, he chose to build too close to the floodplain and less than 200 years later, it stood in ruins. Much of the masonry was reused by later pharaohs for their own construction projects. The Colossi of Memnon, two massive 18-meter stone statues of Amenhotep that stood at the gateway of his mortuary temple, are the only elements of the complex that remains standing.

Egyptian authorities mentioned plans for the reconstruction of the colossus.

New Discovery at Kom El-Hettan

The discovery was carried out by the Colossi of Memnon and Amenhotep III Temple Conservation Project, a multi-national Egyptian-European team.

Dr. Zahi Hawass said that the newly discovered head is intact and measures 2,50m high. It is a masterpiece of highly artistic quality, and shows a portrait of the king with very fine youthful sculptured features.

The head is smoothly polished and perfectly preserved, with some traces of red paint on the head of the ureaus (cobra).

Dr. Hourig Sourouzian, the head of the mission, said that the granite head belongs to a large statue representing the king standing, hands crossed over his chest and holding the royal insignia.

The king wears the Upper Egyptian white crown. The ceremonial beard is broken under the chin but, according to Sourouzian, it may still lie under the rubble below.

drhawass.com

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• Massive Pharaoh Head Unearthed In Egypt (huffingtonpost.com)

Phto source: masrawy.com

Four people were killed and more than 50 hurt as bad weather wreaked havoc across Egypt, pelting the capital with a freak hail storm and smashing a luxury liner into a pier, officials and media said Friday.

In the northern Mediterranean city of Alexandria, waves as high as a two-storey building pounded the coast, media reports said.

Thursday evening’s hail storm in Cairo, the first in many years, caused mayhem in the capital, snarling traffic and bringing the sprawling city to a virtual standstill.

Cars crawled on the slippery roads as lightning periodically lit up the drenched streets.

Tourists near the Giza Pyramids, on the outskirts of the capital, ducked for cover from the frozen, marble-sized pellets.

In Alexandria, authorities closed down ports after winds reached 30 knots (55.5 kilometres an hour) and waves six-metre (19-feet) high pounded the shore, the daily Al-Masry Al-Youm reported.

A European luxury cruise ship smashed into a pier in the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh early morning as the bad weather continued overnight into Friday, killing three sailors and injuring four tourists, maritime officials said.

sifynews

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• British Tourists Hurt In Cruise Liner Smash (news.sky.com)

Saudi Arabia handed over three valuable artifacts that were intercepted at King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh to their rightful owners in Egypt.

The artifacts, which were being smuggled in a silver Qur’an cover, were given to the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) delegation at the King Abdul Aziz Historical Center, the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities’ (SCTA) headquarters.

Customs official suspected the silver Qur’an box had a compartment where the antiquities were being hidden.

After stopping the smuggler, who has not been identified, they discovered the valuable items, which included an antique coin dating back to the Greek Empire era as well as a marble tool for crushing cosmetic ingredients and spire head, both from the Pharaonic era.

Arab News