Akhenaten: The Rebel Pharaoh

Here we have a six part program hosted by Dr. Bob Brier on Akhenaten and the world he created. Most interesting to me were the rare images of the mummy of Amenhotep III though it was only one of the highlights of the program.

Nefertiti and the Lost Dynasty

Here we have the show from a couple of years ago based on searching for Nefertiti. As I recall the show was in reaction partially to confront the theory put forward a few years earlier in 2003 by Dr. Joann Fletcher who had published her book "In search of Nefertiti" which had not pleased Dr Hawass who felt that Ms. Fletcher should have made Dr. Hawass aware of her findings before she went to the media as was protocol and so no Joann Fletcher in Egypt.

Some great access to the Amarna royal mummies in this show though I wish the show was not broken into ten pieces.

Breaking protocol is one thing but hey the book was also successful and a great read. Hopefully now that the winds of change have come that Dr. Fletcher will be able to do research in Egypt again.

Also check out "Do we have the mummy of Nefertiti" by Marianne Luban

My Review of "The Search for Nefertiti"

The Eternal Hairdo

 The ancient Egyptians loved their hair styles and wished to be coiffed well for eternity this included the use of fats and resin to set their curls for the afterlife. Unfortunately eternity is a long time and most ended up with severe cases of bedhead not to mention the crudely mannered intruder over the millenniums who for some reason wants to see if they can pull out your hair?

There is mention in the article of scented fat cones we see on the heads of women in tomb paintings though one has never been found to my knowledge? 

The Continuing Story of Ka-nefer-nefer

The story of the mask called Ka-nefer-nefer in the St. Louis Art Museum appears to be turning on St. Louis in favour of Cairo as the mask clearly is the same mask excavated and shown in excavation photo's of the early 1950's.

Lawyers for the museum are trying anything they can to of course resolve the situation best for the museum but unfortunately the argument of statutes of limitations admits the masks correct provenance but rewards it to the museum anyway because it took too long to discover the crime.

Not likely to happen with the American authorities now involved and The St. Louis Art Museum should expect a visit in the future to hand over the mask. St. Louis' lawyers might spend their time better by suing the art dealer they bought the mask from.

The issue at present appears to be based on what kind of "contraband" the mask is, and what laws apply? St Louis' position gets weaker and weaker. The St. Louis Art museum admits the masks provenance, please go to their site to see the masks provenance according to St. Louis' acquisition.

Here is the background information on the mask:  The Battle for Ka-nefer-nefer

Source of update: Looting Matters 

The Silver Pharaoh

I just found this on You Tube from the television program "Secrets of the Dead" and I quite enjoyed it when I saw it first time around and thought you will too. It is a program on the discovery of the untouched burial of king Psusennes I of the twenty first dynasty by Pierre Montet.

The discovery fell at the beginning of the second world war and as such did not receive the publicity or sensationalism of Tutankhamun's discovery decades earlier. The program includes a rare examination of the Psusennes remains.

Hatshepsut Poisoned?

 There is a study going on at the University of Bonn on a lovely little bottle bearing cartouches of king Hatshepsut. The researchers have discovered from the dried residue inside the bottle that it contains a carcinogenic hydrocarbon which may have poisoned Hatshepsut?

I have heard of the bottle before but have no idea of it's provenance, I would think that just because Hatshepsut's cartouches are on the bottle that it is highly unlikely that it actually belonged to the king? I would think that putting the reigning kings cartouches on objects was how it was probably done at the workshops where objects were created and that it is not necessarily a personal possession of the king?

Very interesting findings though as the ointment in the bottle may have been a product produced for the population and not just the king? It would be interesting to see if residue of the hydrocarbon can be found in any of the royal mummies in Cairo?

To learn more about Hatshepsut check out Stuart Tyler's Hatshepsut Project

Image: Associated Press

Dreams for The Grand Egyptian Museum

Recently Mohamed Saleh, the man in charge of Egypt's coming Grand Egyptian Museum talked about the possibility of Boston's bust of prince Ankh haf returning to Egypt to be a part of the opening of the new museum in 2013? The bust is at the center of an ongoing controversy that I thought I would review the saga as it stands.

The former Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme council of antiquities Dr. Zahi Hawass gave a speech a few of years ago in Paris to members of UNESCO's Intergovernmental committee for the return of cultural heritage. Dr. Hawass' speech was about the return of five objects to Egypt this speech did not help his cause and probably left five museums thinking, I lend my piece to Dr.Hawass and I will never see it again.

The five objects in question are the British museums "Rosetta stone", The Hildesheim's statue of the fourth dynasty architect Hemiunu, the bust of prince Ankh haf in the Boston Museum of fine arts, the zodiac from the roof of the small temple on the roof of the Ptolemaic temple at Dendera now in the Louvre and of course the bust of Nefertiti in Berlin.

The idea that the British museum would ship its biggest draw anywhere is unlikely also the stone was acquired in an era before antiquity laws and there is a fear among some that if the Rosetta stone was sent that when it comes time to return the authorities of Egypt would not allow it to leave.

Then there is the Dendera zodiac in the Louvre which was violently removed from the little temple in a despicable act of vandalism but in the early nineteenth century when the antiquity laws were weak to non existent.

The Hildesheim museum agreed that their statue of Hemiunu would be loaned for the opening of Egypt's Grand Egyptian museum whenever that finally happens but then Dr. Hawass was reported as saying that after the loan the statue of Hemiunu would then remain in Egypt?

Sadly the bust of Ankh haf in Boston is caught up in this as the bust has no equivalent in Egypt's national collection and was given to the Harvard-Boston expedition in 1927 in honor of the three years work done on the excavation of the tomb of King Khufu's mother Hetepheres.

The biggest fight has been over the bust of Nefertiti in Berlin the museums star attraction and obtained by the museum in dubious circumstances. Dr. Hawass has irritated its director with repeated requests followed by Berlin's denial saying the bust is too fragile to travel. These denials have infuriated Dr.Hawass who clearly sees the bust as stolen.

Soon however in a bizarre and perhaps irresponsible publicity stunt the 3300 year old bust was placed on a modern bronze body giving the Secretary general more fodder for the return of the bust to Egypt. At this point there is a strong belief among some that Egypt's Supreme council of antiquities will just steal it back, if it ever gets its hands on it.

In a childish tit for tat game Berlin offered to return ninety pharaonic period mummies to which Dr. Hawass responded that the mummies were not royal and of no importance, ouch. Perhaps Berlin should had offered to pay for their burial also!

This of course was no environment for intellectual sharing which should be the backbone Egyptology but rather Dr. Hawass created an environment where he thought he could intimidate these museums to his end. Instead he created an insurmountable wall which his demands were never going to be able to be met.

Hopefully with the ending of Dr. Hawass' reign over the Supreme council of antiquities the temperature of this argument can be toned down and some day a couple of these objects may appear in display cases in Egypt.

Metropolitan Returns Tutankhamun Objects to Egypt

This article on the return of objects from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art back to Egypt. The artifacts are believed to have been taken by Howard Carter from the tomb of Tutankhamun.

The objects removed by Carter were termed by the late Thomas Hoving as a "pocket collection" as all the artifacts easily fit into a pocket and were thus removed from the boy kings tomb . The article has two pictures.

Here you will find background information to the story.

The Carter/Carnarvon Connection

Ancient Building Uncovered at Meroe

The site of the ancient city of Meroe in the Sudan was originally discovered before world war one by famous archaeologist John Garstang who unfortunately never published his findings. Now archaeologist working on behalf of the Royal Ontario Museum have found what they believe to be the oldest building found so far, the newly discovered building may be a royal palace located beneath the ruins of a newer palace.

Reading the Oxyrhynchus Papyri

This is an article on the huge dicsovery of the Oxyrhynchus papyri which contained thousands of fragment from Egypt's Greco-Roman period. The collection is so huge that it has been impossible to translate the hoard of documents.

Among the documents found contain many famous lost works by authors like Euripides, Herotudos and Plato.

Oldest Known Image of King in White Crown

The image probably carved around 3200 bc and was discovered about a half century ago at the site of Nag el Hamdulab by archaeologist Labib Habachi. It is believed to be the oldest representation of a king of Egypt wearing the white crown.

Awful Artifacts Reappear

The fine folks at Egypt's Cairo museum are a little more relieved today from finding two objects believed stolen during the break in at the end of January. The drawing of the Heset vase really does sum up a broken antiquities department including mismanagement of the national museums ledgers, they could have at least whipped out a box of crayons and coloured it.

Who in the world would break into the Cairo museum and of all it's treasures steal that awful clay bed when the robber could have made more money by stealing one of the museums garbage cans? Now that the Heset vase has been located I imagine it might be a good time to take a proper picture of it, in colour and not blurry.

Certainly the real price paid for the loss of these pieces was the exposure of the museums ledgers to the public eye and particularly the vulnerability of the museums security with the display that Dr. Zahi Hawass was unable to guarantee security for Neues Nefertiti should she have been present, thankfully she stayed in Berlin and missed the robbery of Cairo's Amarna collection.

In all fairness the museum is 109 years old and though it has pulled in untold millions the museum does not appear to be benefited by it. I am not surprised that these two objects have turned up in the museum and based on their appreciative value would suspect that they might have been better off lost!

Vincent at Talking Pyramids has pictures of items recovered.

Metropolitan Returns Tutankhamun Objects

It has long been known about objects being in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York which came to the museum via Howard Carter and his associates as well as other museums. Mr. Carter appears to have created a collection of pocket sized objects from the tomb of Tutankhamun.

This week the Metropolitan will be handing over more of the pieces acquired by Carter for his as well as his patron Lord Carnarvon's collections.

The Carter/Carnarvon Connection

Rosetta Stone in Context

This coming week on August 4 British Museum Curator Richard Parkinson will be discussing the world famous stelea created in 196 bc for the first anniversary of the coronation of Ptolemy V. The stone and it's inscription as well as it's context will be discussed.