Thursday, April 24, 2008

The Great Missing

 There is little doubt of three caches of kings from the end of the New Kingdom yet one cache is clearly missing and perhaps today represented only by its absence.

The great cache of 1881 found a prince named Ahmosis though sadly he is perhaps not the liberator king he is more likely a son of Amenhotep I by a concubine. This was hard to accept considering this cache contained fourteen members of his family.

The same cache had a king labeled as the second Thutmosis though he may be a better fit as Thutmosis I, either way, a king was missing. Then came Valley of the Kings cache 35 in 1898 and a mummy identified as the nineteenth dynasty king Seti II looks clearly like Thutmosis II.

The Amarna kings of Akhenaten and Ay inspired little love in their subjects as presented by both of their vandalized tombs and the dictator Horemheb may have suffered a similar fate.

The 1881 cache had at some point the mummy of Rameses I,  however, this became lost, myself I am convinced it will turn up on a shelf somewhere in the possession of the antiquities service, probably with the priest-king Pinudgem I.

Twentieth dynasty kings Ramesses 7, 8 and 10 and 11 are all missing and probably only Ramesses 7 and 8 were buried in the Valley of the Kings. Ramesses 7 almost certainly and the hope of finding the tomb of Ramesses 8 may be a pipe dream considering the collapse of the state and the ephemeral nature of that king.

Ramesses 8 tomb may have long been robbed and destroyed almost immediately after his burial in the troubled times that followed his death.

Lord Grenfell's Mummy

The Egyptian collection of Lord Grenfell is to go back on display in the National museum of Mdina, Malta.

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080423/local/egyptian-mummy-on-display-at-mdina

Buried Together?

There is absolutely nothing to suggest that Cleopatra and her lover Mark Antony were buried together further more Cleopatra's burial would have been in the presence of Roman guards which would make the burial even more improbable.

http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/CultureAndMedia/?id=1.0.2103859346

Friday, April 18, 2008

The Tunnel in the Tomb of Seti I

Divers have begun their excavation of objects lost in the Nile with success though I am sure it surprises no one that the riverbed is loaded with objects lost throughout history.

While cleaning the tomb of Seti I in the Valley of the Kings workers have come across a number of objects including this ushabti.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Amenhotep III

Colossal statues will soon accompany the colossi of Memnon as well as other statuary recently found at the mortuary temple of Amenhotep III.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Gold Coins of Emperor Valens

Two gold coins have been found of Valens who was Emperor between 364-378 ad. The coins are the first found in Egypt and will make a nice addition to the numismatics collection in the Greco-Roman Museum.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Czeck Egyptology

A nice article complete with pictures including the recent find of a rare undisturbed burial from the Old Kingdom.

http://www.radio.cz/en/article/102813

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Check Up for Shep-en-min

Vassar's mummy has received its turn in the C.T. scan. The mummy as indicated by the name of the God "Min" is from the Akmim area of Egypt. Happily he is the son of another well known mummy that of Pahat.

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

The Akmim Mummy Consortium:

http://amscresearch.com/

Friday, April 4, 2008

New Website for Barcelona

In 1903 two tombs were found in the Valley of the Queens these elaborately decorated tombs were created for the New Kingdoms queen's, prince's and princess's.

However the tombs were full of coffins and mummies from the third intermediate period including a family of gardeners. How much of the original burials remained is a mystery to me but I would suspect little. Most of these coffins are now in Italy, six intact examples were retained in Egypt.

http://www.museuegipci.com/index.php?&lang=en

Mummification Museum Lecture

Here we have a lecture by Mr. Mansour Boraik on Karnak temple and a possible tomb in the Valley of the Kings.

http://touregypt.net/teblog/luxornews/?p=761

Valley of the Kings:

http://touregypt.net/teblog/luxornews/?p=748

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

The King's Wife Tiye

Here are pictures of the recently found statue from the mortuary temple of Tiye's husband Amenhotep III.

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