2008 in Brief

Among the finds of this past year was an old kingdom pyramid belonging to queen Sesheshet of dynasty six this find was moderately interesting as were the two empty tombs found near the causeway of king Unas.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/923/he1.htm

Among the stars of 2008 in Egyptology must certainly be the C.t. scanning done on the royal mummies including Unknown man "E" who's death and burial may not have been as brutal as some previous exam's lead us to believe.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2008-11-22/secrets-of-the-screaming-man/

But Ct, scanning was very popular for other mummies too.

Nellie:
http://dailyuw.com/2008/10/23/whoa-nellie-mummy-unveiled-burke-museum/

Shep en min:
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080409/NEWS/804090351/-1/NEWS

Unknown Mummy:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7562430.stm

Son of Ramses II?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1581787/Egyptian-mummy-exhibit-is-son-of-Ramesses-II.html

Mdina's Mummy:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080428/local/the-mummy-with-a-story-to-tell

Plus the discoveries of mummies of the old and middle kingdoms:

Neferinpu:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/bigphotos/56287376.html

Iker:
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/885/he1.htm

The discovery of monuments in Egypt including:

That big ugly head of Ramses II
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/916/fr3.htm

Lovely Queen Tiye:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/03/photogalleries/Egypt-pictures/index.html

The return of stolen objects include:

The head of Amenhotep III:
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/927/fr3.htm

The eye of Amenhotep III stolen from Karnak :
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/914/fr2.htm

While the battle for others continues:

Mask of Kanefernefer:
http://lootingmatters.blogspot.com/2008/10/st-louis-art-museum-and-cultural.html

A Speach from Dr. Zahi Hawass

Many thanks to Geoff Carter for this link, the speech is interesting and slightly comical.

http://fora.tv/2008/12/12/Archeologist_Zahi_Hawass_Unlocks_the_Secrets_of_

Theoretical Structural Archaeology:

http://structuralarchaeology.blogspot.com/

No New Tombs in Valley of Kings!

Dr. Hawass once again spouts his usual line about the 70% of Egypt antiquities have yet to be found, I guess he would know but a more interesting tidbit is the cessation of exploration in Upper Egyptian sites to focus on Lower Egypt sites.

I guess that is as close as we are going to get to Dr. Hawass telling us that his announcement that he and his team had located two new tombs in the valley of kings has not come through.

http://www.sis.gov.eg/En/EgyptOnline/Culture/000002/0203000000000000001085.htm

Borring ?

It is one thing to blame the economy because the attendance to Tut in Dallas is down it is another thing to blame the shows contents for less interest felt by a public who expect more than this. The 130 objects are a group of the standard stars of the Cairo museum and are each highly marketed by Egypt's Supreme council of antiquities.

Perhaps more interest would be felt if half of the objects were mummies less famous we all know King Tutankhamen but hardly know the twenty first dynasty priest's and priestess's of Amen. I say put the dead back into museum display, the problem here appears to me to be political correctness.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/stories/DN-kingtut_1228gd.ART0.State.Edition2.4a6953e.html

Lakes of the Sahara

This expedition report is a good read filled with interest and pictures.

https://www.praha.eu/jnp/en/extra/archaelogy_/a_search_for_pictures_from_the_times_when_the_sahara.html

A Year in Egyptology

This has been a mixed year with some success's such as the return of stolen antiquities to Egypt but also some not so successful excavations. Dr. Zahi Hawass had reported two new tombs in the valley of kings which so far have not materialized as also the tomb of Antony and Cleopatra, though the idea that Cleopatra and Mark Antony are buried together seems far fetched to this author.

http://dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=18727

Amenhoteps Head

Here is an excellent picture of the stolen graywhack head taken by a British smuggler twenty years ago.

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/927/fr3.htm

Lying Empty

From Al-Ahram a short on the recent discovery of two old kingdom tombs.

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/927/eg7.htm

Up In the Sky

Satelites are being used to unearth the foundations of long forgotten buildings a very useful tool to archaeology.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/12/23/satellites.archaeology.egypt/

First the Dead

The Oriental Institutes Egyptian mummy Meresamun has had its date with a CT. scanner.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/health/chi-big-scanner-25-dec25,0,1223594.story

Video on Tombs

Here Dr. Hawass gives an interview.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7796675.stm

Two Tombs

Here is a series of pictures of Saqqara and the newly discovered tombs.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081223/ap_on_sc/ml_egypt_new_tombs

Tombs of Dynasty Five

Here is Dr. Hawass in all his glory unfortunately it appears that little to nothing remains of the contents of the tombs.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7796675.stm

Book Review: The Royal Mummies, Immortality in Ancient Egypt

This gigantic book was difficult to read by the very nature of its size and weight. The introduction of the book was by Dr. Zahi Hawass and was his basic standard line with nothing new.

Dr. Hawass repeats his recent "discoveries" including pictures from the "Discovery" program about the finding of the mummy of King Hatshepsut in which a late nineteenth dynasty mummy of unknown woman "D" is represented as being the late seventeenth dynasty mummy of unknown woman "B". Though it appeared in his words that he was describing the correct mummy the unknown "D" was the one pictured in the book.

The introduction felt compiled and uninspiring with the fine doctor repeating himself at one point in his introduction.

The massive book had a number of interesting photographs but more than that came the same old photo's. Still yet more photo's of king Tutankhamen's coffins and pictures of the same royal mummies as Dr. Hawass always shows.

Enough already I know what the first four Thutmosis's look like even though the mummy of Thutmosis I has long since been discredited even though Dr. Hawass has only recently been able to come to terms with that finding. Same with Seti I and the mummy of Ramses II, III and V, you would think that was all the kings.

Why the mummy of Amenhotep II is represented in the book as hidden under modern wrapping is suspicious or an error but perhaps the mummies head has been damaged and it is being deliberately hidden. Readers may remember that when the Sphinx at Giza lost blocks off one of its shoulders it was the end of the previous chiefs career.

Yes the pictures are nice but the content of this mega-book is common and not worth the struggle of propping oneself into position to read it.

Tombs of Dynasty Five

Here we have an article by Dr. Zahi Hawass of two recently discovered tombs at Saqqara.

http://www.guardians.net/hawass/Press%20Releases/new_discovery_in_saqaara_12-08.htm

Stolen Head Returned

This stone head of Amenhotep III was stolen 20 years ago in a very famous case and now has been returned to the Egyptian embassy. The article has a picture of the head.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7794437.stm

Interview with Peter Lacovara

Mr. Lacovara is best known for when The Michael Carlos museum gave back to Egypt the supposed mummy of Ramses I. The mummy is certainly important but according to the c14 calibrations it can not be. That does not stop Dr. Zahi Hawass from publishing the mummy as Ramses I everywhere he can.

http://www.ajc.com/services/content/printedition/2008/12/21/egypt.html

John Garstang in Liverpool

An exhibit is being held in Liverpool to display the life and finds of the famous Egyptologists.

http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-life-features/liverpool-special-features/2008/12/19/uncovering-ancient-egyptian-secrets-64375-22510639/

Amenhotep III Comes Home

So comes to its conclusion the theft of Egyptian antiquities by J. Tokely Parry a man who was cool at his craft but the opportunity he faced was the result of the prohibition of the antiquities trade out of Egypt.

Nothing will ever stop the illegal trade in works as important as the head of Amenhotep III but instead may make it unnecessary for people to damage an antiquity in order to disguise it for sale as another object.

Egypt can be profiting from redundant antiquities instead of spending its resources chasing artifacts and spending money on filling it's jails with smugglers of secondary objects.

http://news.scotsman.com/entertainment/A-pharaoh-cop-as-smuggler39s.4810961.jp

Relax It Is Just a Snack

So you spend a life's fortune being mummified and thousands of years later some fat European eats you?

http://cultural-anthropology.suite101.com/article.cfm/egyptian_mummies_as_commodities

That Damn Mummy

People who need X-rays or c.t. scanning done will have to wait for three mummies and two heads before they can get the machines.

http://www.sundaymercury.net/news/midlands-news/2008/12/15/museum-mummy-murder-mystery-66331-22481154/

Deir el Bahari

The Polish expedition to Deir el Bahari are headed back to work restoring sphinxes from the processional way to The Pharaoh Hatshepsut's mortuary temple.

http://en.naukawpolsce.pl/palio/html.run?_Instance=cms_naukapl.pap.pl&_PageID=1&s=szablon.depesza&dz=szablon.depesza&dep=326941&data=&lang=EN&_CheckSum=-928960923

King Tut's Father

I am quite sure I have seen this article before but hey it is Discovery or at least re-Discovery.

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/12/17/king-tut-father.html

A Lost King

Archaeologists have found three inscribed rams dedicated to the God Amun. The inscriptions mention a shadowy King of which little is known including where he was buried.

http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnLG432974.html

BBC with nice picture:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7786361.stm

The Age Of Sphinx

The age of the sphinx has long been a point of debate as is the face on it, the article claims the face to be that of Khufu while others think it is Khafre but in my opinion the head in the louvre of Djedefre is a much better match.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=77951&sectionid=351021

Fakes in Brooklyn

Here we have an exhibition of late Egyptian fakes from the Brooklyn museum.

http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=27851

Liverpool Exhibition

The exhibition in Liverpool will feature the famous Ramses III girdle/belt as well as a beautiful white new kingdom coffin, up till this time I had believed that the badly damaged coffin trough of the Lady Tay in Bristol was the only one in the U.K. I was mistaken

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/merseyside/7773447.stm

Graffiti Online

Here is a new website on graffiti left by travellers to Egypt. Very interesting!

http://www.egypt-sudan-graffiti.be/

Exhibition in Brooklyn

I am a huge fan of the Brooklyn museum and its temple of Mut dig diary but here is a new exhibition being put on by the museum.

http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/fertile_goddess/

No More Convoy

Tourists travelling by land in Egypt will now not have to follow slow convoy's from place to place in an attempt to protect the tourists from militant attacks like the one which killed dozens of tourists at the Deir el Bahari.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/news/article5294939.ece

Ramses Everywhere

Archaeologists are uncovering a colossal statue of the colossal king at Sohag which was found 17 years ago but could not be excavated because of a modern cemetery in the area.

http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-12-13-voa1.cfm

Ancient Egyptian Medicine

Apparently the exhibition is a disappointment!

http://www.suite101.com/blog/bootsphd/londons_ancient_egyptian_medicine_exhibit_disappointing

Luxor News

Jane has one of the most interesting Egyptian blogs which she has filled with lots of great articles and pictures.

http://luxor-news.blogspot.com/

Amarna Princess

This statue is clearly from one of the boundary stelae at tell el Amarna.

http://artgalleries.suite101.com/article.cfm/sothebys_auction_figure_of_an_amarna_princess

Giza's Sphinx

The age of the Sphinx has long been debated but whether the human face actually was originally carved as a lion is unknown.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1092827/How-Sphinx-face-mighty-lion-time-pyramids.html?ITO=1490

Flooding Meroe

Another rescue operation is taking place in the kingdom of Meroe before the new damn at the fourth cataract floods the ancient kingdom.

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/925/heritage.htm

Stolen Antiquities Returned

An American helicopter pilot who stole objects from a museum has been sentenced and today the objects were returned to the Egyptian government.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gIlyNKe4QwDSoPiTior1_5GRdzpwD94RIQB07