Egyptian Archaeological News - General

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Egyptian Archaeological News

 

News items relating to recent discoveries in Bible Lands and including up-dates of past discoveries.

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Pharaoh's Playground Revealed by Missing Fractals

 

20 July 2012 by Colin Barras

 

"THE Dahshur royal necropolis in Egypt was once a dazzling sight. Some 30 kilometres south of Cairo, it provided King Sneferu with a playground to hone his pyramid-building skills - expertise that helped his son, Khufu, build the Great Pyramid of Giza. But most signs of what went on around Dahshur have been wiped away by 4500 years of neglect and decay. To help work out what has been lost, archaeologists have turned to fractals.

 

All around the world, river networks carve fractal patterns in the land that persist long after the rivers have moved on (see picture). "You can zoom in as much as you like, at each magnification the [natural fractals] would look the same," says Arne Ramisch at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Potsdam, Germany. This should be the case around Dahshur, because it sits on the fringes of the Western desert, where river channels drain into the floodplain of the Nile - but it isn't.

 

Ramisch and his team generated a digital model of the topography around Dahshur and assessed its fractal geometry as part of their archaeological investigations. They found a surprisingly large area around the pyramids - at least 6 square kilometres - where the natural fractal geometry was absent. The find suggests that the entire area was once modified, probably under the orders of Sneferu and other pharaohs of the Old Kingdom (Quaternary International, DOI: 10.1016/j.quaint.2012.02.045)."

 

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First Published: 2012-07-25

 

Archaeologists unearth First Dynasty solar boat at Egypt's Abu Rawash

 

Antiquities minister says funerary boat is up to 5,000 years old as it goes back to era of Pharaoh Den, one of First Dynasty kings.

 

Middle East Online

 

CAIRO - "Archaeologists from the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology in Cairo (IFAO) have discovered a roughly 5,000-year-old pharaonic solar boat in an expedition in Abu Rawash, west of the Egyptian capital, the antiquities ministry said on Wednesday.

 

The antiquities minister, Mohammed Ibrahim, said the funerary boat was up to 5,000 years old.

 

"It goes back to the era of Pharaoh Den, one of the First Dynasty kings," he said in a statement.

 

Unearthed in the northern area of Mastaba number six (a flat-roofed burial structure) at the archaeological site, the boat consists of 11 large wooden planks reaching six metres high and 150 metres wide, Ibrahim said.

 

The wooden sheets were transported to the planned National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation for restoration and are expected to be put on display at the Nile hall when the museum is finished and opens its doors to the public next year."

 

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More on Solar Boat:

 

2 - 8 August 2012

Issue No. 1109

 

Sails Set for Eternity

 

The oldest funerary boat ever found was discovered early this week at the Abu Rawash archaeological site, Nevine El-Aref reports

 

"Situated eight kilometres northwest of the Giza plateau, Abu Rawash contains vestiges of archaeological remains that date back to various historical periods ranging from the prehistoric to the Coptic eras.

 

Abu Rawash displays exclusive funerary structures relating not only to the different ancient Egyptian periods but also their places of worship until quite late in time.

 

There at the prehistoric necropolis dating from the archaic period and located at the northern area of Mastaba number six (a flat-roofed burial structure), Egyptologists from the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology in Cairo (IFAO) have uncovered 11 wooden panels of a funerary boat used by ancient Egyptians to transport the soul of their departed king to the afterlife right through eternity. It is the earliest such boat ever found."

 

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LOST EGYPTIAN PYRAMIDS FOUND?

 

Analysis by Rossella Lorenzi

 

Fri Aug 10, 2012 10:22 AM ET

 

"Two possible pyramid complexes might have been found in Egypt, according to a Google Earth satellite imagery survey.

 

Located about 90 miles apart, the sites contain unusual grouping of mounds with intriguing features and orientations, said satellite archaeology researcher Angela Micol of Maiden, N.C.

 

One site in Upper Egypt, just 12 miles from the city of Abu Sidhum along the Nile, features four mounds each with a larger, triangular-shaped plateau.

 

The two larger mounds at this site are approximately 250 feet in width, with two smaller mounds approximately 100 feet in width."

 

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Climate and Drought Lessons from Ancient Egypt

 

ScienceDaily (Aug. 16, 2012) — "Ancient pollen and charcoal preserved in deeply buried sediments in Egypt's Nile Delta document the region's ancient droughts and fires, including a huge drought 4,200 years ago associated with the demise of Egypt's Old Kingdom, the era known as the pyramid-building time.

 

"Humans have a long history of having to deal with climate change," said Christopher Bernhardt, a researcher with the U.S. Geological Survey. "Along with other research, this study geologically reveals that the evolution of societies is sometimes tied to climate variability at all scales -- whether decadal or millennial."

 

Bernhardt conducted this research as part of his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania, along with Benjamin Horton, an associate professor in Penn's Department of Earth and Environmental Science. Jean-Daniel Stanley at the Smithsonian Institution also participated in the study, published in July's edition of Geology.

 

"Even the mighty builders of the ancient pyramids more than 4,000 years ago fell victim when they were unable to respond to a changing climate," said USGS Director Marcia McNutt. "This study illustrates that water availability was the climate-change Achilles Heel then for Egypt, as it may well be now, for a planet topping seven billion thirsty people.""

 

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Photographic Archive of Papyri in the Cairo Museum

 

Link

 

H/t: paleojudaica

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New Stone Inscription Shows List of Offerings to Ancient Gods

 

A section of a New Kingdom stele listing offerings made to ancient Egyptian gods was discovered today by chance at Matariya in northern Cairo

 

Nevine El-Aref , Tuesday 4 Sep 2012

 

"During construction work carried out by the Ministry of Endowments at the Al-Khamis market area, which is next to the archaeological site of Matariya in northern Cairo, workers stumbled upon a part of an ancient Egyptian stele.

 

Minister of State for Antiquities Mohamed Ibrahim explained that the newly-discovered stone artefact is the right section of a New Kingdom stele, on which is displayed a complete, illustrated list of various offerings to ancient Egyptian deities. A collection of geese, vegetables, fruits, bread, and cattle is depicted."

 

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In the Sinai, a Global Team is Revolutionizing the Preservation of Ancient Manuscripts

 

By Mark Schrope, Published: September 6, 2012

 

MOUNT HOREB, Egypt — Michael Toth points at a computer screen filled with what seems to be a jumble of Arabic and Greek letters.

 

"To get to this jumble, he has traveled from Washington to an isolated, fortress-like monastery in the middle of the Sinai Desert, home to the oldest continuously operating library on the planet.

 

He has helped assemble a global team of scientists that arrived with cutting-edge technology at this spot, three hours by taxi from the nearest commercial airport.

 

The image he has paused to appreciate is one of a steady stream coming from the room next door, where a high-definition camera is focused on one of the monastery’s rare and priceless ancient manuscripts. The manuscript rests in a cradle that looks like a chair tilted back at an angle, but with hydraulic lines and strange lights attached.

 

One more room over, in the makeshift command center, specialists are scrutinizing the day’s results, and the monastery’s head librarian, a wispy gray beard to his stomach, waits in a red velvet chair for the next request to turn a fragile manuscript page."

 

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Tutankhamun's Death and the Birth of Monotheism

 

05 September 2012 by Jessica Hamzelou

 

"TUTANKHAMUN'S mysterious death as a teenager may finally have been explained. And the condition that cut short his life may also have triggered the earliest monotheistic religion, suggests a new review of his family history.

 

Since his lavishly furnished, nearly intact tomb was discovered in 1922, the cause of Tutankhamun's death has been at the centre of intense debate. There have been theories of murder, leprosy, tuberculosis, malaria, sickle-cell anaemia, a snake bite - even the suggestion that the young king died after a fall from his chariot.

 

But all of these theories have missed one vital point, says Hutan Ashrafian, a surgeon with an interest in medical history at Imperial College London. Tutankhamun died young with a feminised physique, and so did his immediate predecessors.

 

Paintings and sculptures show that Smenkhkare, an enigmatic pharaoh who may have been Tutankhamun's uncle or older brother, and Akhenaten, thought to have been the boy king's father, both had feminised figures, with unusually large breasts and wide hips. Two pharaohs that came before Akhenaten - Amenhotep III and Tuthmosis IV - seem to have had similar physiques. All of these kings died young and mysteriously, says Ashrafian. "There are so many theories, but they've focused on each pharaoh individually."

 

Ashrafian found that each pharaoh died at a slightly younger age than his predecessor, which suggests an inherited disorder, he says. Historical accounts associated with the individuals hint at what that disorder may have been."

 

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Debt Cancellation in Mesopotamia and Egypt from 3000 to 1000 BC

 

By Eric Toussaint

 

Global Research, September 04, 2012

 

"We must pierce the smoke-screen of creditors and re-establish the historical truth. Repeated and generalised debt cancellation has occurred throughout history.

 

Hammurabi, king of Babylon, and debt cancellation

 

The Hammurabi Code is in the Louvre Museum, in Paris. The term “code” is inappropriate, because what Hammurabi left us is a set of rules and judgements on relations between public authorities and citizens. Hammurabi began his 42-year reign as “king” of Babylon (located in present-day Iraq), in 1792 BC. What most history books fail to mention is that, like other governors of the City-State of Mesopotamia, Hammurabi proclaimed the official cancellation of citizens’ debts owed to the government, high-ranking officials, and dignitaries. The so-called Hammurabi Code is thought to date back to 1762 BC. Its epilogue proclaims that “the powerful may not oppress the weak; the law must protect widows and orphans (…) in order to bring justice to the oppressed”. The many ancient documents deciphered from cuneiform script have enabled historians to establish beyond any doubt that four general cancellations took place during Hammurabi’s reign, in 1792, 1780, 1771, and 1762 BC.

 

In Hammurabi’s time, economic, political, and social life were organised around the Temple and the Palace. Those two closely enmeshed institutions, with their numerous artisans, workers, and, of course, scribes, constituted the apparatus of the State, not so very different from today’s governments. The Temple and the Palace provided their employees with board and lodge: they thus received food rations sufficient for two full meals a day. The peasantry was provided with land (which they rented), tools, draught animals, livestock, and water for irrigation, so that they could grow food for the workers and dignitaries. Thus, the peasants produced barley (their staple grain), oil, fruit, and vegetables, a portion of which, when harvested, they had to pay to the State as rent. As well as the land they cultivated for the Palace and the Temple, the peasants owned their own land, home, livestock, and tools. When the harvest was poor, they accumulated debts. They also incurred debt through loans granted privately by high-ranking officials and dignitaries eager to get rich and to seize the peasants’ property in case of default. If peasants were unable to pay off their debts, they could also find themselves reduced to the condition of serfs or slaves; indebtedness could also lead to members of their family being made slaves. In order to ensure social peace and stability, and especially to prevent peasants’ living conditions from deteriorating, the authorities periodically cancelled all debt |1| and restored peasants’ rights."

 

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Unearthed Scarab Proves Egyptians were in Tel Aviv

 

Researchers find entry fortification in ancient Jaffa was destroyed, rebuilt at least 4 times

 

updated September 10, 2012 2:21:13 PM ET

 

"A rare scarab amulet newly unearthed in Tel Aviv reveals the ancient Egyptian presence in this modern Israeli city.

 

Archaeologists excavating the ancient city of Jaffa, now part of Tel Aviv, have long uncovered evidence of Egyptian influence. Now, researchers have learned that a gateway belonging to an Egyptian fortification in Jaffa was destroyed and rebuilt at least four times. They have also found the scarab, which bears the cartouche of the Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep III, who ruled from 1390 to 1353 B.C. Scarabs were common charms in ancient Egypt, representing the journey of the sun across the sky and the cycle of life."

 

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September 2012, Cover Stories, Daily News

 

Ancient Nile Delta City in Egypt Reveals its Secrets

 

Sat, Sep 22, 2012

 

Archaeologists uncover an ancient monumental Ptolemaic capital in Egypt where commerce once flowed over 2,000 years ago.

 

"A team of archaeologists and students are excavating a site in the Nile Delta region of Egypt where, set within desert desolation, ruins still bespeak an important port city that flourished by the 2nd and 1st centuries B.C. Near the present-day city of El-Mansoura, a clearly human-made rise with visible ruins mark the spot of Tel Timai, what remains of the city of Thmuis, an ancient port city and capital of the Ptolemies.

 

Here, a team of archaeologists and students directed by Professor Robert J. Littman of the University of Hawaii, with co-directors Dr. Jay Silverstein, also of the University of Hawaii, and Dr. Mohamed Kenawi of the Alexandria Center for Hellenistic Studies, are unearthing architectural features and artifacts in several different focus areas: a northern "salvage" sector; an area identified as the East Forum of the city acropolis; and, beginning in December, 2012, a possible Ptolemaic temple."

 

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Al-Ahram Weekly - Heritage

 

Sacred Bulls for the Tourists

 

So far the Serapeum rescue operation has taken 26 years, but it is now in its final stages and the rock-hewn tombs of the Apis bulls have officially reopened. Nevine El-Aref was at Saqqara to visit the famous galleries

 

27 September - 3 October 2012

Issue No. 1116

 

"The centre of activity at the Saqqara necropolis last Thursday was the area on the northwestern side of Djoser's Step Pyramid. A huge, white air-conditioned tent was erected in the parched desert to welcome dozens of foreign and Egyptian journalists, photographers and TV presenters together with governmental officials, archaeologists and restorers as they witnessed the official inauguration of the gallery of Apis tombs known as the Serapeum.

 

The Serapeum, for long one of the main tourist attractions at Saqqara, has been closed to the public since 1986. No tourists have been allowed to wander awestruck through the splendid rock-hewn tomb chambers, each with a huge sarcophagus that once held the remains of a sacred Apis bull. One began to wonder when, if ever, the Serapeum, would reopen and it would again be possible to meander along the 200-metre corridors flanked by 64 vaulted burial chambers with granite, limestone and sandstone sarcophagi.

 

The Serapeum tombs were excavated between 1851 and 1854 by French archaeologist Auguste Mariette. He discovered the two parts of the Serapeum: the Simple Vaults that contained the tombs of the Apis bulls from the period of the Eighteenth to the Twenty-sixth Dynasties (these were later buried in sand and remained covered for more than 100 years, and are currently still under restoration); and the Great Vaults, which were open to the public until 1986 and have now been restored. The Great Vaults consist of a long corridor lined with 24 vaulted Apis bull tombs still with granite sarcophagi and date from the Twenty-sixth Dynasty to the Graeco-Roman Period."

 

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Adventures in Archaeology: Kathleen Martinez Berry's Quest to Find Cleopatra

 

Published October 02, 2012 in Arabic Knowledge@Wharton

 

"Some people turn boredom into naps. Kathleen Martinez Berry creates entire careers out of idle moments.

 

Up at night with an infant and temporarily living in Madrid while her husband studied cardiology, Martinez cast about for something challenging to occupy her time; she decided to get a master's degree in finance.

 

Bored again while tending to her second child, Martinez then earned a master's in archeology, a subject that had been a longtime passion. That rekindled what has become a full-blown obsession: discovering the truth about the life and especially the death of Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt, at one time the richest and most powerful woman in the world.

 

Her quest has transported Martinez from a high-powered career as one of the Dominican Republic's most sought-after criminal attorneys, into a self-made Egyptologist poised at the brink of solving one of archeology's most enduring mysteries -- the whereabouts of Cleopatra's tomb."

 

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Khafre Pyramid Opens for First Time in Three Years

 

MENA

 

Thu, 11/10/2012 - 14:39

 

"The Pyramid of Khafre and six ancient tombs are open for visitors after three years of restoration, Antiquities Minister Mohamed Ibrahim Ali announced on Thursday.

 

The minister said during a press conference that the event was the first in a series of archaeological openings around the country, both of newly-opened and restored sites."

 

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EGYPTIAN CITY ALIGNS WITH SUN ON KING'S BIRTHDAY

 

Tue Oct 16, 2012 10:54 AM ET

 

Content provided by Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior Writer

 

"The Egyptian city of Alexandria, home to one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, may have been built to align with the rising sun on the day of Alexander the Great’s birth, a new study finds.

 

The Macedonian king, who commanded an empire that stretched from Greece to Egypt to the Indus River in what is now India, founded the city of Alexandria in 331 B.C. The town would later become hugely prosperous, home to Cleopatra, the magnificent Royal Library of Alexandria and the 450-foot-tall (140 meters) Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the wonders of the ancient world. Today, more than 4 million people live in modern Alexandria.

 

Ancient Alexandria was planned around a main east-west thoroughfare called Canopic Road, said Giulio Magli, an archaeoastronomer at the Politecnico of Milan."

 

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Egyptian Princess Tomb Discovered Near Cairo

 

November 2, 2012

 

[below - see link for picture]

 

"Egypt's antiquities minister announced on Friday the discovery of a princess's tomb dating from the fifth dynasty (around 2500 BC), pictured here in an October 2012 handout photo released by the Supreme Council of Antiquities, in the Abu Sir region south of Cairo.

 

Egypt's antiquities minister announced on Friday the discovery of a princess's tomb dating from the fifth dynasty (around 2500 BC) in the Abu Sir region south of Cairo.

 

"We have discovered the antechamber to Princess Shert Nebti's tomb which contains four limestone pillars," Mohamed Ibrahim said. The pillars "have hieroglyphic inscriptions giving the princess's name and her titles, which include 'the daughter of the king Men Salbo and his lover venerated before God the all-powerful," he added."

 

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Monthu Temple Reveals New Pharaonic Secrets

 

A royal statue of a yet unidentified New Kingdom king has been unearthed at Monthu Temple in Luxor

 

Nevine El-Aref , Wednesday 21 Nov 2012

 

"A French archaeological mission from the French Institute for Archaeological Studies have unearthed a yet unidentified royal statue of a New Kingdom king during routine excavations at Monthu Temple, northeast of Karnak Temple in Luxor.

 

The statue is 125 centimetres tall and made of black granite and depicts a standing king wearing short dress with hands aside."

 

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Oldest Pharaoh Rock Art Rediscovered in Egypt

 

(Including Pictures)

 

Published November 29, 2012

 

No Regular Man

 

Photograph courtesy Hendrickx/Darnell/Gatto, Antiquity

 

"This ancient rock picture near Egypt's Nile River was first spotted by an explorer more than a century ago—and then almost completely forgotten.

 

Scientists who rediscovered it now think it's the earliest known depiction of a pharaoh.

 

The royal figure at the center of the panel wears the "White Crown," the bowling pin-shaped headpiece that symbolized kingship of southern Egypt, and carries a long scepter. Two attendants bearing standards march ahead of him; behind him, an attendant waves a large fan to cool the royal head. A hound-like dog with pointed ears walks at the ruler's feet. Surrounding the king are large ships, symbols of dominance, towed by bearded men pulling on ropes."

 

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Reference:

 

Karnak: Temple Complex of Ancient Egypt

 

Owen Jarus, LiveScience Contributor

 

Date: 30 November 2012 Time: 07:02 PM ET

 

"Karnak is an ancient Egyptian temple precinct located on the east bank of the Nile River in Thebes (modern-day Luxor). It covers more than 100 hectares, an area larger than some ancient cities.

 

The central sector of the site, which takes up the largest amount of space, is dedicated to Amun-Ra, a male god associated with Thebes. The area immediately around his main sanctuary was known in antiquity as “Ipet-Sun” which means “the most select of places.”

 

To the south of the central area is a smaller precinct dedicated to his wife, the goddess Mut. In the north, there is another precinct dedicated to Montu, the falcon-headed god of war. Also, to the east, there is an area — much of it destroyed intentionally in antiquity — dedicated to the Aten, the sun disk."

 

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Statues of 5th Dynasty Top Officials Discovered in Abusir

 

Nine wooden and limestone statues unearthed by Czech archaeological mission at Abusir necropolis reveal 5th century ancient burial customs, society, environment

 

Nevine El-Aref , Sunday 18 Nov 2012

 

"During routine excavations in Abusir South, 30km north of Giza plateau, Czech excavators from the Czech Institute of Egyptology of the Charles University in Prague, unearthed a collection of fifth dynasty ancient Egyptian statues.

 

Miroslav Barta, the head of the Czech mission told Ahram Online that the statues were found in a hidden tunnel located inside a rock-hewn tomb of Iti, the crew inspector. His tomb is located between two rock-hewn tombs of two fifth dynasty high officials: the overseer of the crew scribe, Nefer, and the chief of justice of the Shepespuptah great house."

 

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Jewish Philanthropist Lost in the Sands of Time Thanks to the Nazis

 

A wealthy patron who funded the excavation of the priceless Nefertiti bust was airbrushed from history. Now, a hundred years after the find, his story is finally being told

 

TONY PATERSON BERLIN TUESDAY 04 DECEMBER 2012

 

"She is regarded as the ancient world’s equivalent to the Mona Lisa and this weekend the 3,400–year old bust of the Egyptian Queen Nefertiti will be the centrepiece of a grand exhibition in Berlin’s Neues Museum, celebrating her discovery by German archaeologists exactly a century ago.

 

The delicately featured and priceless bust of the wife of the ancient Egyptian Sun King Akhenaten has been one of the highlights of Berlin’s museum collection since it was first put on display in the city in 1923.

 

It was unearthed by the famous German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt, at Amarna in 1912. He became a household name in Germany but few know the story of the wealthy Jewish patron and philanthropist who not only funded the excavation work that led to the bust’s discovery but also donated Nefertiti and scores of other ancient Egyptian artefacts he owned to Berlin’s museums."

 

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LARGEST EGYPTIAN SARCOPHAGUS IDENTIFIED

 

Analysis by DNews Editors

 

Thu Dec 6, 2012 01:03 PM ET

 

"The largest ancient Egyptian sarcophagus has been identified in a tomb in Egypt's Valley of the Kings, say archaeologists who are re-assembling the giant box that was reduced to fragments more than 3,000 years ago.

 

Made of red granite, the royal sarcophagus was built for Merneptah, an Egyptian pharaoh who lived more than 3,200 years ago. A warrior king, he defeated the Libyans and a group called the "Sea Peoples" in a great battle.

 

He also waged a campaign in the Levant attacking, among others, a group he called "Israel" (the first mention of the people). When he died, his mummy was enclosed in a series of four stone sarcophagi, one nestled within the other.

 

Archaeologists are re-assembling the outermost of these nested sarcophagi, its size dwarfing the researchers working on it. It is more than 13 feet (4 meters) long, 7 feet (2.3 m) wide and towers more than 8 feet (2.5 m) above the ground. It was originally quite colorful and has a lid that is still intact. (See Photos of Pharaoh's Sarcophagus"

 

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Article:

 

Oops! Brain-Removal Tool Left in Mummy's Skull

 

Owen Jarus, LiveScience

 

ContributorDate: 14 December 2012 Time: 08:03 AM ET

 

A brain-removal tool used by ancient Egyptian embalmers has been discovered lodged in the skull of a female mummy that dates back around 2,400 years.

 

Removal of the brain was an Egyptian mummification procedure that became popular around 3,500 years ago and remained in use in later periods.

 

Identifying the ancient tools embalmers used for brain removal is difficult, and researchers note this is only the second time that such a tool has been reported within a mummy's skull.

 

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