Monday, August 5, 2019

August 5, 2019




Through Gemstones, a Glimpse into Ancient Egyptian Civilization
Photo: Spencer et al. Amara West: Living in Egyptian Nubia , 69

On the second day of fieldwork in Abydos, Egypt, Penn doctoral student Shelby Justl stumbled upon something rare: an inscribed piece of ancient limestone called an ostracon. “You rarely find writing in Egyptian archaeology. Writing is either on papyrus, which decays easily, or on stone that fades over time,” she explains. “I translated the text and determined this was a land-transfer document, a bill of sale of two arouras of land.”



Modern Murals of Ancient Egypt

Murals by Alaa Awad in Luxor near the landing for the water taxis at the tour bus/taxi roundabout. Also, check out his Facebook page.



Tracing the Evolution of Beer in Egypt on International Beer Day
Credit: CBS News

Just over 10 years ago, International Beer Day was inaugurated in Santa Cruz as a day-long celebratory event dedicated to the popular brewed drink. Since, worldwide celebrations have taken place in breweries and pubs across the globe with connoisseurs and thirsty individuals gathering to taste and enjoy their favorite beers on the first Friday of the month of August.

Now we could brush this event aside as simply another one of those countless ‘International Days’ that seem to pop up all the time, were it not for the fun fact that beer has a history that can be traced back to ancient Egypt.

Scientists Hope to Recreate A Slice Of Ancient Egypt by Baking Bread with 5,000-Year-Old Yeast

Specialists are attempting to domesticate 5,000-year-old yeast present in clay pots to make the identical sort of bread that might have been damaged by the Ancient Egyptians.

The weird baking undertaking has been realised thanks to a particular process for extracting ancient yeast from artefacts with out damaging them.

In a related style, researchers additionally assume they might make ancient beer.

Note: Beer and Bread making is a always of interest. Here are a few of the articles I found in the past.





Excellently preserved polychrome limestone statues of the official Nefer were among the surprising finds of 2012 © archive of the Czech Institute of Egyptology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University
Between Prague and Cairo. 100 years of Czech Egyptology
© Czech Institute of Egyptology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University

This year a century will pass since the first lectures in Egyptology, which associate professor FrantiĊĦek Lexa held at the Charles University in the summer semester of 1919. Czech Egyptology has made giant strides forward since then, and the Czech Institute of Egyptology of the Faculty of Arts, Charles University, the only institution of its kind in our country, commemorates the anniversary of this journey by an exhibition organized in cooperation with the Charles University in the exhibition premises of the Karolinum.

The Ba soul existing the tomb on the day of the shadow. Thebes Tomb TT 290. Wikipedia
Birth and Rebirth in Ancient Egypt
The Ba soul existing the tomb on the day of the shadow. Thebes Tomb TT 290. Wikipedia
Birth has always been one the most dangerous periods of human life. In ancient Egypt saving the lives of mother and child during that trial entailed special measures. One was medicine, which was really mostly magic, and the other were religious practices, including prayers to divinities like the Seven Hathors or Isis. But in Egypt, birth was closely paired with death, which was the gateway to rebirth.

Medical papyri, in particular Papyrus Kahun and Papyrus Ebers, or magical ones like Papyrus Berlin 3027, gave a large place to spells and recipes for the protection of mother and child during pregnancy and childbirth. The spells also noted the importance of ensuring human fecundity, one of the pharaoh’s duties towards his people.

Who Were the Mysterious Neolithic People that Enabled the Rise of Ancient Egypt?
Well preserved vs. wind‐eroded remains at Gebel Ramlah. Author provided

To many, ancient Egypt is synonymous with the pharaohs and pyramids of the Dynastic period starting about 3,100BC. Yet long before that, about 9,300-4,000BC, enigmatic Neolithic peoples flourished. Indeed, it was the lifestyles and cultural innovations of these peoples that provided the very foundation for the advanced civilisations to come.

Inside Besix-Orascom's Construction Plan for Grand Egyptian Museum

Located near the internationally famed Giza Pyramids in Cairo, Egypt’s planned Grand Egyptian Museum is set to become one of the largest – if not the biggest – archaeological museum in the world. Devoted entirely to a single civilisation, the museum – currently being built 15km southeast of Cairo – is set to galvanise the global fascination with ancient Egyptian culture.

Tasked with building the project is Belgian construction giant Besix, alongside its 50% owner, Egyptian contracting firm Cairo-based Orascom Construction, which is headed by chief executive officer, Osama Bishai.

Everything We Know About Cairo's New Grand Egyptian Museum
Ramses II at the GEM © Sima Diab

It's been a while since news first broke on Egypt's much anticipated new antiquities museum: the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), which will be the largest archeological museum in the world. The opening date has been pushed back over a year, but we have heard (by Presidential decree, no less) that it will definitely happen in early 2020 . If you have visited Cairo’s existing Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square, you'll notice a definite leap from the 19th to the 21st century with this opening. Where the old museum has been a storehouse of treasures, the new one is a $1 billion state-of-the-art, glass and concrete display space that leads guests through a journey similar to Howard Carver's when he discovered the Boy King's tomb a century ago. The new location—outside central Cairo, on the Giza plateau on the edge of the Western Desert—looks out at the famous pyramids and adds even more atmosphere.

How the Pyramids Were Built Inspires Engineering Historians
Dog Sleeping on Great Pyramid © Michalea Moore

The Egyptian pyramids, represented most famously by the pyramids at Giza, are perhaps the most enduring and iconic vestige of the ancient Egyptian civilization. How the pyramids were built, however, remains a source of intense speculation among historians, archaeologists and engineers.

The scale and precision of the pyramids demonstrate the Egyptians’ extraordinary skills in mathematics, astronomy, logistics and engineering. Unfortunately, the Egyptians did not devote the same level of effort to documenting their planning and construction processes. Much of what we know about how the pyramids were built, therefore, comes from observations made and artifacts unearthed by archaeologists at Giza and other Egyptian pyramid sites.

Adventurers to Test Ancient Egypt-to-Black Sea Route
Members of the crew assemble the 14-meter long sailing reed boat Abora IV in the town of Beloslav, Bulgaria, on July 25, 2019 (AFP Photo)

Were the ancient Egyptians able to use reed boats to travel as far as the Black Sea thousands of years ago?

A group of adventurers believes so and will try to prove their theory by embarking on a similar journey in reverse.

In mid-August the team of two dozen researchers and volunteers from eight countries will set off from the Bulgarian port of Varna, hoping their Abora IV reed boat will take them the 700 nautical miles through the Bosporus, the Aegean and as far as the island of Crete.

The Slaughter Court in Sety I Temple, Abydos
Abydos Temple © Michalea Moore

On Sunday Mohammed Abu el-Yezid, from the Ministry of Antiquties in Egypt, came to the Essex Egyptology Group to talk about the Slaughter Court in Seti I's temple at Abydos. He is the Egyptologist and site manager for the province of Sohag (which includes Abydos) and he researched the Slaughter Court for his MA from Ain Shams University where he is currently studying for his PhD.

Searching for Smenkhkare

My book, Searching for the Lost Tombs of Egypt came out in paperback yesterday, and I’m just beginning to think about going back to Egypt looking for ‘missing tombs’ with a fourth group this October. One of the individuals I talk about in Chapter 3 is a little-known pharaoh called Smenkhkare. He (or perhaps she…?) was a pharaoh of the Amarna Period and probably ruled either towards the end of Akhenaten’s reign as a co-regent, or after Akhenaten’s death as his successor (whether immediate or not).





Assassin's Creed Origins - Game vs Real Life Egypt



360° Travel inside the Great Pyramid of Giza - BBC


I took this trek the first time I visited the Great Pyramid. Very few people make it to the burial chamber, because it's a steep climb that you make hunched over for a lot of the climb. Not sure how I did it, but by the time I reached the chamber, I had the greatest respect for the workers who hauled the sarcophagus to the top.

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