Monday, March 27, 2017

Ancient Egypt this week: Mummy makeover



Sudan claims their pyramids are 2,000 years older than Egypt's

The Sudanese Minister of Information, Ahmed Bilal Othman, claimed on Sunday that the Meroƫ Pyramids of Sudan are 2,000 years older than Egypt's pyramids. The Sudanese government is working to prove this to the entire world, he added.

These claims stirred up outrage among Egyptians, particularly history experts. Zahi Hawas, the former minister of antiquities, said the Egyptian pyramids are the oldest, especially the pyramid of Djoser which dates back more than 5,000 years.

Secrets of what ancient mummies look like under their wrappings are finally being revealed

A special exhibit that's on display at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York allows people to see 18 mummies in person, some of which have not been seen since Chicago's World Fair over 100 years ago.

The Grand Egyptian Museum – A Bridge between Ages

The Grand Egyptian Museum will be situated adjacent to the Giza Plateau within two kilometres of the Giza pyramids. The GEM project is one of the largest and most significant in process globally. Its total land area extends to 491,000 square metres, with theGrand Egyptian Museum Waleed Abdel-Fattah buildings taking up 168,000 square metres. Once completed it will be a world-leading scientific, historical and archaeological study centre. The museum is set to open in May 2018.

$100M in ancient artifacts shipped from Egypt and Turkey to the U.S. in 2016

The artifacts, totaling about $100 million between the two countries, were imported “for consumption” and not for temporary display in a museum, the documents say. Most of the artifacts were shipped to New York City, where numerous antiquities dealers, auction houses and art galleries are based. It can be difficult to determine whether a shipment of artifacts was recently looted, law-enforcement officials told Live Science.

MAKEOVER FOR ABERDEEN-BASED EGYPTIAN MUMMY 

An ancient Egyptian mummy stored in Aberdeen has been given a makeover for an exhibition abroad.

Mistress of the House Ta Khar will be going on show near Munich on Friday after being shipped out from the University of Aberdeen’s museum collection.

But before facing the public, the embalmed body was put through a makeover to make sure she looked her best.

Little-known but greatly feared, the Sea People raided ancient Egypt and the Mediterranean at the end of the Bronze Age

The Sea Peoples were a mixed group of raiders of unknown origin who raided the ancient Egyptian coastline and the eastern Mediterranean Sea from 1276 to 1178 BCE.

Even today, we don’t know much about this group of ancient seafaring people, other than what is found in records of the places they visited and attacked. It has often been theorized that they came from Anatolia or Southern Europe, and it is thought that they invaded Canaan, Syria, Anatolia, Cyprus, and Egypt at the end of the Bronze Age. The names given to these people are Lukka, Sherden, Sheklesh, Akawasha, and Tursha.

Spanish archaeologists discover an intact 4000 years old tomb in Aswan

Dr. Mahmoud Afifi, Head of Ancient Egyptian Department announced the discovery of an intact burial in Aswan.

The Spanish Archaeological Mission in Qubbet el-Hawa, West Aswan, has discovered an intact burial chamber. The discovered burial belongs to the brother of one of the most important governors of the 12th Dynasty (middle Kingdom), Sarenput II.

Can a long-lost Egyptian colossus save ancient Heliopolis?
KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty Images

The colossus was discovered in Matariya, a northeast suburb of Cairo. Now a densely packed area of apartment buildings, for thousands of years it was part of one of ancient Egypt’s greatest cities, better known today by its Greek name: Heliopolis, ‘City of the Sun’ (not to be confused with modern Heliopolis, a couple of kilometres to its east). From the beginning of Egyptian history, ancient Heliopolis was the main centre of Egypt’s sun cult, where priests worshipped the god Re, and developed myths proclaiming his temple to be built on the first land that rose from the floodwaters after creation.

Barnsley debut three original exhibitions by Joann Fletcher that unlock the hidden stories of Egypt’s captivating past

Barnsley Museums will celebrate the history of ancient Egypt this autumn as three of its five attractions host exhibitions on the theme, each designed and guest curated by Professor Joann Fletcher, award-winning Egyptologist.

Egyptian ritual images from the Neolithic period
 Credit: David Sabel

Egyptologists at the University of Bonn discovered rock art from the 4th millennium BC during an excavation at a necropolis near Aswan in Egypt. The paintings were engraved into the rock in the form of small dots and depict hunting scenes like those found in shamanic depictions. They may represent a link between the Neolithic period and Ancient Egyptian culture. The discovery earned the scientists the award for one of the current ten most important archeological discoveries in Egypt from the Minister of Antiquities in Cairo.


Unraveling the Mystery of Who Lies Beneath the Cloth

Mummy No. 30007, currently residing at the American Museum of Natural History, is a showstopper. She’s known as the Gilded Lady, for good reason: Her coffin, intricately decorated with linen, a golden headdress and facial features, has an air of divinity. She’s so well preserved that she looks exactly how the people of her time hoped she would appear for eternity. To contemporary scientists, however, it’s what they don’t see that is equally fascinating: Who was this ancient woman, and what did she look like when she was alive?


Mummies’ Review: Using Science to Unwrap History

Of all that has been imagined of the afterlife, probably nothing comes close to the scene at a new exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History, in which unburied dead of the past 7,000 years keep posthumous company with each other, laid out in display cases, coffined or wrapped or half unwrapped, accompanied by vessels of preserved organs or relics like a sewing bobbin. One body is bundled in coarse cloth and held together with rope, another is encased in gilt magnificence; one woman is bound with two children, another corpse is left with only a head after ancient grave robbers hastily tore it apart looking for jewelry; and these remains share space with a preserved ibis, crocodile and cat.

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