British Museum
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Friday, February 26, 2010
WV 22?
I have noticed on a number of sites that one of the mummies recently studied by Dr. Hawass has been given the designation of WV 22. The mummy in question was found in the Valley of the Kings in tomb KV 35 in a side chamber with an inscription identifying it as Amenhotep III, the king who owned the tomb in the valley marked WV 22.
By giving this mummy a designation of WV 22 implies that the mummy came from that tomb. Certainly, we know the mummy was not removed from WV 22 in modern times. The mummy may well be Amenhotep III but to put the designation WV 22 on that mummy is an assumption based on insufficient evidence to my knowledge.
True the badly damaged mummy was inscribed as Amenhotep III but lying in a coffin trough for Ramses III with a lid for Seti II. It is also true that Amenhotep III and his queen Tiye enjoyed a long reign and as a result, the kings tomb in the valley, WV 22, was more than likely finished and well provisioned with their funerary equipment, that is not proof the king or his queen or the mummy in question were ever buried in it.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
The Avenue of Mice
This is a report critical of the restoration of the avenue of sphinxes by the Supreme Council of Antiquities. The avenue restoration has caused evictions of people living in homes on top of the avenue. The residents have been offered new homes built far out in the desert or an inadequate amount of money.
There are criticisms of the incredible rate at which the 2.7-kilometer avenue has been excavated in just three years including claims of bulldozers being used with several historic buildings having been destroyed. The aim of the project is part of a grand scheme by the SCA to turn the area into the world's largest open air museum.
Only time will tell if Mickey Mouse emerges from the rubble of the evicted.
There are criticisms of the incredible rate at which the 2.7-kilometer avenue has been excavated in just three years including claims of bulldozers being used with several historic buildings having been destroyed. The aim of the project is part of a grand scheme by the SCA to turn the area into the world's largest open air museum.
Only time will tell if Mickey Mouse emerges from the rubble of the evicted.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
After Nefertiti
With the recent release of the data from the DNA and CT scanning of the eighteenth dynasty mummies, in particular, the mummies believed related to king Tutankhamen some new questions have been raised.
The results show that the KV 55 man found in a coffin bearing the titles of Akhenaten is a son of the Amenhotep III mummy and the mummy identified as Queen Tiye while the test results show the KV 35 younger lady to be Tutankhamen's mother and sister to the KV 55 skeleton.
First must come the question of Akhenaten, a known son of Amenhotep III or Smenkhara a shadowy figure and never mentioned as a son of Amenhotep III. There are a number of similarities with Smenkhara's names that resemble Nefertiti's names including Neferneferuaten and there may never have been a male king named Smenkhara.
This may be backed up by statues found in Tutankhamen's tomb of a woman wearing the white crown which may be among the equipment reused in the boy king's burial.
Three Women are known to be possibilities for Tut's mother these including Nefertiti, Kiya, and Meritaten. Meritaten eldest daughter of Akhenaten and Nefertiti is probably ruled out as being too young to be Tut's mother though she is the only one of the three women to bear the title king's daughter. Nefertiti is never mentioned on the known surviving monuments as giving birth to a son and Kiya is believed to be foreign by birth.
Should the KV 55 mummy really be Akhenaten than the DNA results say Tutankhamen's mother was also a full blood sister to the KV 55 skeleton.
The sisters of Akhenaten have never been thought of as part of the Amarna revolution but they are now candidates for an elevation to "kings mother". The known sisters of Akhenaten include Queen Sitamen, Queen Isis both of whom married their father Amenhotep III but neither has the known title of kings mother.
Three lesser sisters are also known including princess' Henut-Tenab and Nebetah both of whom possess the title of "king's daughter". All four of these ladies has the potential to be the Kv35's younger lady and mother of the boy king. The last Princess Beketaten was more than likely too young to be Tutankhamen's mother
The results show that the KV 55 man found in a coffin bearing the titles of Akhenaten is a son of the Amenhotep III mummy and the mummy identified as Queen Tiye while the test results show the KV 35 younger lady to be Tutankhamen's mother and sister to the KV 55 skeleton.
First must come the question of Akhenaten, a known son of Amenhotep III or Smenkhara a shadowy figure and never mentioned as a son of Amenhotep III. There are a number of similarities with Smenkhara's names that resemble Nefertiti's names including Neferneferuaten and there may never have been a male king named Smenkhara.
This may be backed up by statues found in Tutankhamen's tomb of a woman wearing the white crown which may be among the equipment reused in the boy king's burial.
Three Women are known to be possibilities for Tut's mother these including Nefertiti, Kiya, and Meritaten. Meritaten eldest daughter of Akhenaten and Nefertiti is probably ruled out as being too young to be Tut's mother though she is the only one of the three women to bear the title king's daughter. Nefertiti is never mentioned on the known surviving monuments as giving birth to a son and Kiya is believed to be foreign by birth.
Should the KV 55 mummy really be Akhenaten than the DNA results say Tutankhamen's mother was also a full blood sister to the KV 55 skeleton.
The sisters of Akhenaten have never been thought of as part of the Amarna revolution but they are now candidates for an elevation to "kings mother". The known sisters of Akhenaten include Queen Sitamen, Queen Isis both of whom married their father Amenhotep III but neither has the known title of kings mother.
Three lesser sisters are also known including princess' Henut-Tenab and Nebetah both of whom possess the title of "king's daughter". All four of these ladies has the potential to be the Kv35's younger lady and mother of the boy king. The last Princess Beketaten was more than likely too young to be Tutankhamen's mother
Jama Response
This is a fine breakdown of the recent Jama report in the search for Tutankhamen's family tree.
Tutankhamen Unwrapped
This is an excellent set of Video's by Discovery on the tests that have been going on examining the royal mummies. Remarkable are the images of the two mummies from tomb Kv21 as well as the results which show much of the Amarna royal family has been found.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Son of the Sun
Rosicrucian Library
Volume XXV
Supreme Grand Lodge of A.M.O.R.C., Inc.
Printing and Publishing Department
San Jose, California
1956
1956
The book is on the life and reign of the eighteenth dynasty heretic pharaoh Akhenaton. From the start, I must say that this book has been difficult to get into, even though the facts in the book are nicely presented, but very outdated. I guess when you're a 64-year-old book based on science, there are bound to be those gaps of knowledge that came along later.
The author presents the pharaoh Akhenaton as a gentle, loving soul of great vision, a true family man, glorious, beneficent, and sugar-coated. This made me a little noxious with the potentially spoiled mentally ill tyrannical dictator being covered in a thick layer of literary butterscotch.
I was not enjoying this, but I persevered in hopes it would turn around, yet it did not, and yes, it was clear to me the author was well read, though Ms. Devi had drifted off to her own garden of the Aton. There are times that I feel like I am drowning in the gush (adoration) being put forward by the author.
If you are the type who likes to spend Saturday night at home reading the bible, then this might be for you, but the theological language makes me feel like the author is trying to indoctrinate me into the cult of Aton. The author is obsessed with the vision of the beauty that was Akhenaton; she obviously never saw the colossal statues from the Gem Pa Aton, which, though powerful and intimidating, are not beautiful, nor is the guard road that surrounds the site of his capital, Akhetaton.
I found the book to be more of an interpretation of the religion of the Aton to suit the author's theology, a theology which, for me, is simplified and made to order. I could not get over my own feelings that the great visionary prophet of the Aton was no friend to the common people but an entitled king who protected his eccentricities by isolating his followers just as cult leaders do today.
The book ends with a chapter on the modern religions in a comparative exercise of theological fantasy, ending with the Aton being in possession of the truth according to Ms. Devi. The author was clearly intelligent, but all that knowledge did not make for an interesting read; rather, the king whom the author was extolling became lost within the book's religious message.
Ms. Devi's desire to extol her own theology as that of Akhenaton made for a tediously long and tiring read, and though I know that something here went over my head, I couldn't care less but to give praise to my own lord that I have finished this dull and unrewarding book.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
The Tut Family Tree
The reports that both king Tutankhamen's mother and father have been found with the long speculated Kv 55 mummy being as expected to be his father but the real surprise is the finding that the younger lady from Kv 35 is likely his mother. There is a press conference taking place in Cairo today so I will keep posted,
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Has Ankhesenamun Been Found?
The news is filled with articles on the relations revealed through the DNA and other tests that has been done over the last couple of years on the eighteenth dynasty mummies. There are reports that Ankhesunamen (Tutankhamen's wife) has potentially been found to be one of the two badly damaged mummies from KV 21 in the Valley of the Kings.
It is also being reported that the mummy thought of as Nefertiti or younger lady from KV 35 has turned out to be king Tut's mother! Whether that makes her Nefertiti is another matter she may be Kiya.
All will be revealed tomorrow when a press conference at the Cairo Egyptian Museum will be held on the subject.
It is also being reported that the mummy thought of as Nefertiti or younger lady from KV 35 has turned out to be king Tut's mother! Whether that makes her Nefertiti is another matter she may be Kiya.
All will be revealed tomorrow when a press conference at the Cairo Egyptian Museum will be held on the subject.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Laws of Censorship Disquised
I felt the need to write a second article on the recent tightening of Egyptian law particularly on a couple of points.
Firstly people scrawling their name on a monument is a violation of our shared cultural heritage and nobody other than the vandal cares that you were there. Such childish vandalism should be treated harshly to discourage others from doing similar whether 6-12 months in an Egyptian prison and or a fine of LE150 000 (that's about $30 000) will be a deterrent is yet to be seen.
My second point is a gripe with technicalities being the distortion of the word "antiquity". I accept that the word "antiquity" may have a different content in the Arabic language ( I doubt that though, ) however, the dictionary description of an "antiquity" is "something before the middle ages" or a thousand years old approximately or more than.
The new Egyptian law refers to an antique as an antiquity, an antique being anything more than one hundred years old and that now those who inherit antiques must report them to the Supreme Council of Antiquities within six months as is true of anyone owning an antique.
This author here has a small library with a large number of the books being that more than one hundred years of age and that is what bothers me that there are probably many such home libraries in Egypt where the antique books now classified as "antiquities" need to be reported to the antiquities ministry within 6 months.
A clever tool to use the SCA to potentially edit home libraries of books deemed undesirable or to remove from home libraries books designated as desirable on behalf of the government.
Remembering of course that the minister of culture is Farouk Hosni who is the boss of Dr. Zahi Hawass head of the SCA. The minister of culture Farouk Hosni is the very same man who stood up in the Egyptian parliament and proclaimed that he would burn in front of the parliament any Israeli books found in Egypt's national library.
Minister Hosni has in the past blamed western Zionists for his loss as the head of UNESCO and no doubt carries a grudge. Now I guess instead of burning books in the Egyptian parliament it will have to be done in some dark boiler room over at the SCA but no doubt those books are still on that list.
The new powers granted to the Supreme Council of Antiquities and its head over a play on words is almost certainly not a good thing to the preservation of Egypt's culture and as long as Farouk Hosni is the Egyptian minister of culture these questions will hang over his ministry and the Supreme Council of Antiquities.
Firstly people scrawling their name on a monument is a violation of our shared cultural heritage and nobody other than the vandal cares that you were there. Such childish vandalism should be treated harshly to discourage others from doing similar whether 6-12 months in an Egyptian prison and or a fine of LE150 000 (that's about $30 000) will be a deterrent is yet to be seen.
My second point is a gripe with technicalities being the distortion of the word "antiquity". I accept that the word "antiquity" may have a different content in the Arabic language ( I doubt that though, ) however, the dictionary description of an "antiquity" is "something before the middle ages" or a thousand years old approximately or more than.
The new Egyptian law refers to an antique as an antiquity, an antique being anything more than one hundred years old and that now those who inherit antiques must report them to the Supreme Council of Antiquities within six months as is true of anyone owning an antique.
This author here has a small library with a large number of the books being that more than one hundred years of age and that is what bothers me that there are probably many such home libraries in Egypt where the antique books now classified as "antiquities" need to be reported to the antiquities ministry within 6 months.
A clever tool to use the SCA to potentially edit home libraries of books deemed undesirable or to remove from home libraries books designated as desirable on behalf of the government.
Remembering of course that the minister of culture is Farouk Hosni who is the boss of Dr. Zahi Hawass head of the SCA. The minister of culture Farouk Hosni is the very same man who stood up in the Egyptian parliament and proclaimed that he would burn in front of the parliament any Israeli books found in Egypt's national library.
Minister Hosni has in the past blamed western Zionists for his loss as the head of UNESCO and no doubt carries a grudge. Now I guess instead of burning books in the Egyptian parliament it will have to be done in some dark boiler room over at the SCA but no doubt those books are still on that list.
The new powers granted to the Supreme Council of Antiquities and its head over a play on words is almost certainly not a good thing to the preservation of Egypt's culture and as long as Farouk Hosni is the Egyptian minister of culture these questions will hang over his ministry and the Supreme Council of Antiquities.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Antiquities Laws Tightened
The Egyptian parliament has given in to most of the culture ministries suggestions in tightening the antiquities laws to get rid of loopholes. Last week both the minister of culture as well as the vice minister threatened to resign if the proposed loosening of antiquity laws passed.
The current Egyptian law defines an antiquity as anything older including buildings and objects more than 100 years old and all human remains are considered antiquities. In the dictionary, an antiquity is described as something before the middle ages so I guess that fits with a description of current Egyptian law.
Those Egyptians unfortunate enough to find an antiquity will now have six months to report it to the Supreme Council of Antiquities instead of the previous two years. Those Egyptians unfortunate enough to inherit their grandmother's antique tea urn will have to report it to the authorities as it is now known as an antiquity.
Using photographs of archaeological sites or artifacts for commercial purposes without the permission of the antiquities ministry is forbidden. The penalties for anyone caught, smuggling, possessing or inheriting without state permission will be fined with the fines being doubled.
Those caught writing their name on a monument will also receive severe punishment including six to twelve months in jail.
The current Egyptian law defines an antiquity as anything older including buildings and objects more than 100 years old and all human remains are considered antiquities. In the dictionary, an antiquity is described as something before the middle ages so I guess that fits with a description of current Egyptian law.
Those Egyptians unfortunate enough to find an antiquity will now have six months to report it to the Supreme Council of Antiquities instead of the previous two years. Those Egyptians unfortunate enough to inherit their grandmother's antique tea urn will have to report it to the authorities as it is now known as an antiquity.
Using photographs of archaeological sites or artifacts for commercial purposes without the permission of the antiquities ministry is forbidden. The penalties for anyone caught, smuggling, possessing or inheriting without state permission will be fined with the fines being doubled.
Those caught writing their name on a monument will also receive severe punishment including six to twelve months in jail.
Friday, February 5, 2010
The Restoration of St. Anthony's Monastery
The eight year restoration of the 1600 year old Christian monastery St. Anthony's has recently been completed. The restorations to the monastery have been extensive including a tower, two churches and the monks quarters.
The monastery was founded by St. Anthony who lived in isolation in a cave and when he died his followers built the monastery. The timing on the completion of the job is good as it may hopefully bring a measure of calm and tolerance in lite of the recent religious based murders on the eve of Coptic Christmas.
The monastery was founded by St. Anthony who lived in isolation in a cave and when he died his followers built the monastery. The timing on the completion of the job is good as it may hopefully bring a measure of calm and tolerance in lite of the recent religious based murders on the eve of Coptic Christmas.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Cave of Giza
Well this subject is still alive and worth pursuit if only to prove that what Andrew Collins saw was a tomb of the late period "NC2" and not a cave. Certainly whatever Mr. Collins and his team discovered on their visit in march of 2008 has inspired Dr. Zahi Hawass to investigate further.
Dr. Hawass is pursuing the excavation of "NC2" to show that it is a tomb and what may be discovered about the history of the site. The doctor said "there are no natural caves at the site, simply a pharaonic tomb later reused as catacombs".
Sales of Mr. Collins new book "Beneath the Pyramids" are probably not hurting with this attention.
Dr. Hawass is pursuing the excavation of "NC2" to show that it is a tomb and what may be discovered about the history of the site. The doctor said "there are no natural caves at the site, simply a pharaonic tomb later reused as catacombs".
Sales of Mr. Collins new book "Beneath the Pyramids" are probably not hurting with this attention.
Egyptology and Repatriation
Dr. Zahi Hawass is announcing that there will be a number of new discoveries revealed in the next few months including discoveries at Saqqara. He also says he has also granted permission for a robot to enter the great pyramid to explore the shafts.
Dr. Hawass is set to reveal his interpretation of the results of the CT scanning of the royal mummies including Tutankhamun and mummies supposedly related to him. The doctor in this article seems assured that he has located the mummy of Akhenaten, no doubt the KV 55 remains which are almost certainly closely related to the boy king.
Finally, Dr. Hawass talks about the upcoming conference involving 30 countries on the subject of repatriation of antiquities to countries of origin. participate countries include Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, Iraq, China, India, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand, Korea, Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Russia, Spain, Turkey, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Peru.
Absent from that conference is Great Britain, France, Germany, Japan, United States, Canada and Switzerland making the conference questionable even before it starts, and yes those objects which Dr. Hawass covets most received mention again!
Dr. Hawass is set to reveal his interpretation of the results of the CT scanning of the royal mummies including Tutankhamun and mummies supposedly related to him. The doctor in this article seems assured that he has located the mummy of Akhenaten, no doubt the KV 55 remains which are almost certainly closely related to the boy king.
Finally, Dr. Hawass talks about the upcoming conference involving 30 countries on the subject of repatriation of antiquities to countries of origin. participate countries include Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, Iraq, China, India, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand, Korea, Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Russia, Spain, Turkey, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Peru.
Absent from that conference is Great Britain, France, Germany, Japan, United States, Canada and Switzerland making the conference questionable even before it starts, and yes those objects which Dr. Hawass covets most received mention again!