Gilded Wooden Figure of Tutankhamun on a Skiff, Throwing a Harpoon

Gilded Wood Statue of Tutankhamun Wearing the Red Crown

Gilded Bronze Trumpet with Painted Wooden Core

Statue of Tutankhamun on top of Gilded Wooden Statue of Menkaret

Gilded Wood Fanstock

Download the official complete list of missing antiquities from the Cairo Museum here.

Segments will be hosted by Fox News Channel’s Bill Hemmer, and will include an exclusive interview with Dr. Zahi Hawass, National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence and most recently the Egypt’s minister of state for antiquities affairs. In an interview with NGC, Hawass — who himself has come under pressure and faced criticism in recent days — candidly recounts the break-in at the Cairo Museum in new detail, reveals how some stolen treasures have already been recovered and takes us into the Cairo Museum’s conservation lab to show antiquities that have been restored or are in the process of being restored:

Treasures of Egypt: Tut’s Treasures

Tuesday, February 22 at 8PM ET/PT

More than 80 years after the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb, the great-grandson of Lord Carnarvon returns to Egypt for a new analysis of Tut’s treasures. With special access to the artifacts in the Cairo Museum, NGC uses the latest techniques to help the real pharaoh emerge — a very different pharaoh than the King Tut we’ve long imagined.

Video “Pharaoh’s Curse” – A curse may have found the finder of Tut’s tomb.

Treasures of Egypt: King Tut’s Final Secrets

Wednesday, February 23 at 8PM ET/PT

He is the most famous Egyptian king in history, but he ruled for only 10 years before his mysterious death. King Tut’s Final Secrets offers a high-tech forensic investigation that presents new findings from behind the iconic mask, including the first-ever reconstruction of Tut’s face and head using revolutionary 3-D CT scan imaging — revealing what he looked like on the day he died.

Treasures of Egypt: King Tut and the Lost Dynasty

Thursday, February 24 at 8PM ET/PT

One of Egypt’s enduring mysteries … what happened to Nefertiti and her husband, the pharaoh Akhenaten, the likely father of King Tut? In a dark and mysterious tomb located in the Valley of the Kings, there is a small chamber with two mummies that scholars, filmmakers and historians have identified as Nefertiti and Akhenaten. But the evidence has been circumstantial at best. Now, for the first time, NGC and Dr. Zahi Hawass use a CT scanner in search of scientific evidence. Narrated by Emmy Award-winning Alfre Woodard, the program documents this high-tech forensic investigation dedicated to resolving the fate of the famed Queen Nefertiti and the possible father of King Tut.

Treasures of Egypt: The Real Cleopatra

Friday, February 25 at 8PM ET/PT

Legend portrays her as a self-indulgent temptress who used seduction to cement her rule. But she became queen at 18 and was highly educated, so what was she really like? We’ll reveal archaeological findings, including underwater sculptures that shed light on her life and home. And watch as scientists seek to unravel the mystery of her legendary beauty by converting artifacts with her likeness into a 3-D model, presenting a new reflection of one of history’s most powerful women.

Treasures of Egypt: Secrets of the Valley of the Kings

Saturday, February 26 at 8PM ET/PT

Built over 500 years, spanning nearly two and a half miles and holding 63 tombs, Egypt’s Valley of the Kings is a staggering, complex set of enigmas locked beneath the sands for 3,500 years. What drove Egypt’s greatest pharaohs to seek out this secluded valley? How did the ancient craftsmen achieve such feats of engineering? And why was this sacred site finally abandoned? Join National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Dr. Zahi Hawass and a team of experts as they uncover new evidence about how early engineers were able to construct the elaborate structures of tombs and chambers.

The conservation lab team has divided the objects affected by the disturbances in the Museum two weeks ago into several groups depending on their nature and damage sustained. The first group contains pieces that are all in good condition and do not need any restoration work. Most, if not all, of these objects date to the Late Period. The second group contains objects that need minor restoration work. Some of the pieces in this group include statues of gods and goddess in good condition, and a faience vase with one piece broken off; this vase has already been repaired. The third group includes the pieces of the broken statue of Tutankhamun standing on a panther. This beautiful statue of gilded wood displays the standing king wearing the white crown of Upper Egypt, holding a flail in his right hand, and a staff in his left. The statue seems to have been used to smash other showcases, and unfortunately the left arm, holding the staff, has been broken off. The panther is broken at the legs, and its tail and right ear have also been broken. Much of the gilding from the statue has also been broken off. I am happy to say, despite the extent of the damage, that this can be restored in a few days time. The fourth group contains the damaged mummy bands of Thuya. Thuya and her husband Yuya were the parents of Queen Tiye, and the great-grandparents of Tutankhamun. Thuya’s mummy bands are gilded cartonnage, and thankfully, only one section was damaged. The upper part of one god was broken off the open work of the bands, but luckily no other damage was sustained. This object can be restored very quickly. The fifth group of objects includes statues and shabtis belonging to Yuya and Thuya and some dating to the Late Period. All of these objects are currently undergoing restoration. The final group includes the pieces belonging to a wooden boat model and pieces from the model troop of Nubian archers, both dating to the Middle Kingdom. These objects will also be able to undergo a full restoration.

drhawass.com

The staff of the database department at the Egyptian Museum, Cairo have given me their report on the inventory of objects at the museum following the break in. Sadly, they have discovered objects are missing from the museum. The objects missing are as follows:

1.     Gilded wood statue of Tutankhamun being carried by a goddess

2.     Gilded wood statue of Tutankhamun harpooning. Only the torso and upper limbs of the king are missing

3.     Limestone statue of Akhenaten holding an offering table

4.     Statue of Nefertiti making offerings

5.     Sandstone head of an Amarna princess

6.     Stone statuette of a scribe from Amarna

7.     Wooden shabti statuettes from Yuya (11 pieces)

8.     Heart Scarab of Yuya

drhawass.com

The protests in Egypt had hardly kicked off before a shocking image of two mummies’ heads began to circulate, alerting the world to the likely looting of the National Museum in Cairo. Looking like people with their mouths half open as if in pain, the bodiless heads seemed to cry out against the brutal threat to cultural heritage.

Speculation about their identity was soon rife. Discovery News reported that ‘the mummies of King Tutankhamen’s great grandparents might have had their heads ripped off as a result of the recent turmoil in Egypt’.

What seems to have happened is that the museum robbers picked up two skulls that are usually kept in a store room to test a CT scanner and then left them behind.

When false rumours are spread (and widely believed) as quickly as in this case, it reveals that certain presumptions and prejudices are at play – and they are far divorced from what is actually happening on the ground. The concerns about looting, wanton destruction and heads being ripped off mummies reveal ugly prejudices about the Egyptian people and the supposed proper way of caring for cultural heritage.

The rapid repeating of unverified information without proper scrutiny, across social media and blogs as well as in mainstream news outlets, suggests a broader fear of an unpredictable mass and the idea that museums in this part of the world are unsafe. There is a presumption that Egyptians just don’t quite know how to care for cultural heritage while they concern themselves with making trouble in the name of democracy.

Yet, from the reports coming out of Egypt, it sounds as if the people have also tried to protect the museums, despite being engaged in a fierce struggle to topple a 30-year-old corrupt regime.

Now, Western cultured observers need to stand back, stop speculating and panicking, and let the Egyptian people write their own script.

Excerpted from an article by Tiffany Jenkins for Spiked

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is voluntarily returning 19 small artifacts to Egypt that had been in its collection for decades and that curators recently determined came from Tutankhamen’s tomb.

Among the more significant are a tiny bronze dog, less than three-quarters of an inch tall, and a small lapis lazuli  sphinx from a bracelet. The objects will be on display until January as part of the Tutankhamen exhibition in Times Square. After that, they are to be exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum for six months and then sent to Egypt to be shown at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and the Grand Egyptian Museum at Giza when it opens in 2012.

The New York Times

drhawass.com

Art Museum Journal has a very good article on this topic.

UPDATE: June 28, 2010 – German researchers at the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in the northern city of Hamburg said in a letter published online Wednesday by the Journal of the American Medical Association that closer scrutiny of Tutankhamun’s foot bones pointed to sickle cell disease, in which red blood cells become dangerously misshaped.

One of the most common genetic disorders, sickle cell disease causes blood cells to take the shape of a crescent instead of being smooth and round, thereby blocking blood flow and leading to chronic pain, infections and tissue death.

Source: AFP

Modern genetic testing and computer technology have revealed King Tut’s parental lineage and the cause of his death, experts said.

Scientists spent the last two years scrutinizing the mummified remains of the 19-year old pharaoh to extract his blood and DNA.

They found traces of the malaria parasite in his blood.

Not long before his death, Tutankhamun fractured his leg. The bone did not heal properly and began to die. This would have left the young king frail and susceptible to malaria infection, which finished him off.

There is no compelling evidence to suggest King Tut or indeed any of his royal ancestors had Marfan’s – a disease some scholars have mentioned to explain a somewhat female appearance in Tutankhamun’s male relatives.

But they did confirm that the king may have had some form of inherited disease, a rare bone disorder affecting the foot called Kohler disease II, as well as a club foot and a curvature of the spine.

Using partial Y-chromosome information, the researchers also determined that Akhenaten, the controversial pharaoh who ruled from around 1351-1334 BC and tried to radically transform religion in ancient Egypt, was Tut’s father, and that Tutankhamun’s mother was Akhenaten’s sister.

Tutankhamun also sired two children, both girls, but they died in the womb, the study found.

Sources: BBC News and Almasry Alyoum

drhawass.com

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Dr. Zahi Hawass will soon announce the results of a DNA study conducted on the mummy of King Tutankhamen. The tests are part of a larger ambitious program aimed at confirming the identity of the royal mummies and their familiar relations.

It is believed that Tutankhamen is the son of Akhenaten, the pharaoh who tried to impose a new monotheistic type cult of the solar disk Aten, and thus grandson of Amenhotep III, whose DNA study is already concluded.

Dr. Hawass said DNA studies on all royal mummies and the nearly two dozen unidentified ones stored in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo may well require a revision on the identification of some mummies on display. His ultimate goal is to discover the mummy of Queen Nefertiti, Akhenaten’s wife, and determine whether Tutankhamen is also her son.

Source:  Google News

Related articles by Zemanta

• Egypt to soon announce King Tut DNA test results (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

KV 62, the famous tomb of King Tutankhamen will undergo a five-year project to clean and restore the wall paintings.

The restoration project is a collaboration between Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities and the Getty Conservation Institute.

This is not the first time the Los Angeles based Getty Institute has worked in an Egyptian tomb. From 1986 to 1992, Egyptian authorities and the Getty Conservation Institute undertook the saving of the Tomb of Nefertari (QV 66), using the most advanced scientific and artistic restoration practices.

Tutankhamen’s tomb is by far the most visited tomb in Egypt, more on account of the glittery fame of the boy king and the mystery of the curse upon those who perturbed his resting place back in November 1922, when it was discovered by British archaeologist Howard Carter.

KV 62 is not a large tomb designed for royalty, but a hastily built four-roomed burial place for the pharaoh who died at age 18. Only the burial chamber was decorated with scenes depicting the ceremony of the Opening of the Mouth, the Weighing of the Heart and passage through the Netherworld into the Afterlife.

The paintings are done in the Amarna style, yet show the return to the more traditional forms of ancient Egyptian art. The figures are represented on a yellow background. Brown spots have marred the wall paintings to a large extent.

The experts from the Getty Conservation Institute will analyze the cause of this and other damages. It is a well known fact that heat and humidity from the thousands of tourists who have to pay a special price to enter the tomb accelerate the process of deterioration.

The restoration project is expected to last five years, the first two for research and the rest for implementation of the restoration plan.

As of now, it hasn’t been decided whether the tomb of Tutankhamen will remain partially opened or be closed.

Lord Carnarvon, the man who funded the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun and died five months later in mysterious circumstances before he could actually see the mummy’s face, was a superstitious man who wore the same lucky bow tie all his life. Such anecdotes are part of a unique exhibition at Highclere Castle, home of the Carnarvon family since the architect of London’s Houses of Parliament built it in the 1840s.

Rising in the Berkshire countryside south of Newbury, England, the castle kept many secrets on its own. For more than 60 years, its walls concealed an important chapter of the King Tut search: a cache of Egyptian antiquities, excavated by George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon and his colleague and employee, Howard Carter in the years leading up to the discovery of the treasure-filled tomb.

The Highclere cache is just a tiny part of a magnificent collection which Almina, Lord Carnarvon’s wife and the illegitimate daughter of Alfred de Rothschild of the famous banking family, sold to the Metropolitan Museum in New York in 1926.

The long-hidden collection is now presented in its full glory in the cellars of the castle, along with hundreds of unpublished photographs taken by Lord Carnarvon between 1907 and 1914. They were discovered two years ago in the family archives by Fiona, the Eighth Countess of Carnarvon.

Among the antiquities on display, are a splendid 3,500-year-old painted coffin of a woman named Irtyru, from Deir el-Bahri, a calcite shabti showing the head of Amenhotep III, silver bracelets from the Delta, faience bowls, a 5,000-year-old calcite dish used in priestly offerings, coffin faces carved in wood and alabaster vessels found at the entrance to the tomb of King Merneptah, the son of Ramesses II.

The exhibition is open at Highclere Castle until Sept. 3.

MSNBC

If it’s good to be king, this year will also be a great time to be a sixth-grader.

As part of its really big show featuring the most popular exhibit in its history, de Young Museum officials are offering special group tickets to San Francisco public school students whose curriculum includes the study of ancient Egypt.

And seeing ancient Egypt up close and personal is a lot more exciting than opening a book, which is why museum officials expect close to 25,000 students to visit the exhibit this fall, when the discount tickets are offered.

The tickets are courtesy of program underwriter Wells Fargo Bank, which, in this era of corporate branding, is sponsoring “Tut School Mondays.” That’s one way to make sure the kids are not forced to stand in long lines, as their parents did when the Boy King made his first appearance in San Francisco 30 years ago.

San Francisco Examiner