Ancient Egypt News 01/27/2020

GEM Receives 356 Artifacts from Tut,Ramses II, Thutmose III, Ptah Treasures

The general supervisor of the Grand Egyptian Museum Atef Moftah announced that the museum has received a collection of 356 artifacts from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, among which 57 artifacts from the treasures of the Golden King Tutankhamun and 11 pieces will be displayed on the grand staircase.

Director General of the Grand Egyptian Museum for Antiquities affairs Dr. Al-Tayeb Abbas, said that the one of the most important of these artifacts is a statue of god Ptah, whose weights range between 5 and 6 tons, which will be displayed on the grand staircase within another distinguished group of royal statues.

Shocking Truth behind Takabuti’s Death Revealed

Takabuti, the famous ancient Egyptian mummy on display at the Ulster Museum, suffered a violent death from a knife attack, a team of experts from National Museums NI, University of Manchester, Queen’s University Belfast and Kingsbridge Private Hospital have revealed.

The team, whose findings are made public on the 185 year anniversary of Takabuti’s unwrapping in 1835, also show that her DNA is more genetically similar to Europeans rather than modern Egyptian populations.

The team show Takabuti had an extra tooth - 33 instead of 32 - something which only occurs in 0.02% of the population and an extra vertebrae, which only occurs 2% of the population.

Cave Covered in Ancient Egyptian Paintings of Donkeys and People Discovered by Accident
MINISTRY OF TOURISM AND ANTIQUITIES

A chance encounter has led to the discovery of a small sandstone cave in the middle of the Sinai in Egypt. The cave is colorfully decorated with paintings of people and donkeys, some of which date back to 10,000 BCE.

Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities say they have now finished documenting all the the inscriptions, announcing the news via Facebook. According to the ministry, the cave was discovered by chance approximately 30 kilometers (19 miles) north from the city St. Catherine and 60 kilometers southeast from the Hathor temple Sarabit el-Khadem following the advice of a "desert adventurer."

The Mummy Speaks! Hear Sounds From the Voice of an Ancient Egyptian Priest
Credit...Leeds Museums and Galleries

In life, Nesyamun was an Egyptian priest who sang and chanted words of worship at the Karnak temple in Thebes. In death, he was ritually mummified and sealed in a coffin with the inscription “Nesyamun, true of voice.” Now, some 3,000 years into the afterlife and with the aid of a 3-D-printed vocal tract, Nesyamun can once again be heard.

“He had this wish that his voice would somehow continue into perpetuity,” said David Howard, a speech scientist at Royal Holloway, University of London.

And you would be remiss not to read the counterpoint to this "discovery." Attempts to Reconstruct a Mummy’s Voice Are Cursed, which makes the argument after a group of British researchers claimed to synthesize the voice of Egyptian priest Nesyamun’s 3,000-year-old remains, it leads to questions about the ethics of Egyptology.

Egyptologists Open Newly-Discovered Pyramid

Ancient Egypt News: The GEM is Coming 01/06/2020

90 Percent of GEM work is Finished
File - Grand Egyptian Museum

Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced that about more than 90 percent of the Grand Egyptian Museum work was finalized. GEM is expected to be inaugurated in the last quarter of 2020.

The inauguration of the Grand Egyptian Museum is one of the main events that Egypt and the whole world is waiting for in 2020.

About 49,603 artifacts were moved to the Grand Egyptian Museum so far.

Salvaging Khufu’s Second Solar Boat
© Khufu Second Boat Project

In the scorching heat of the Giza plateau, the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities and a team from Waseda University in Japan are engaged in the daunting task of lifting a 4,700-year-old wooden ship from a pit in the ground, just a few meters south of Khufu’s great pyramid.

This is no ordinary excavation; the wooden pieces from the 42-meter-long boat are so delicate that the archaeologists cannot simply remove them from the ground without extensive onsite conservation.

Here's a picture in 2017 I took of the first solar boat at the Solar Boat Museum. If you go to Egypt, plan to visit the museum, which is right outside the Great Pyramid.

© Michalea Moore

Grand Egyptian Museum to Open End of 2020, Ticket Prices Initially Announced
AP Photo/Amr Nabil

The site of the Grand Egyptian Museum. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
Egypt’s anticipated national project, the Grand Egyptian Museum, is set to open at the end of 2020, revealed Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Khaled El Enany.

Moreover, the museum’s initial ticket pricing for foreigners has been set to 400 EGP ($US 25), 200 EGP for students ($US 12.5) according El Watan and Daily News Egypt.

How Cleopatra Became a Canvas for Society's Anxieties
Wikimedia Commons

Two-thousand years after her death, Cleopatra continues to enthrall us. Earlier this year, the British tabloid The Daily Star reported that a new movie about this last Pharaoh of Egypt was in the works. According to an anonymous source, the movie will be "a dirty, bloody, political thriller told from a feminist perspective," as opposed to the movie Cleopatra of 1963 starring Elizabeth Taylor, which had been a historical epic.

An Afterlife So Perilous, You Needed a Guidebook
Werner Forman/Universal Images Group, via Getty Images

Archaeologists unearthed the remains of a 4,000-year-old “Book of Two Ways” — a guide to the Egyptian underworld, and the earliest copy of the first illustrated book.

When it comes to difficult travel, no journey outside New York City’s subway system rivals the ones described in “The Book of Two Ways,” a mystical road map to the ancient Egyptian afterlife.

This users’ guide, a precursor to the corpus of Egyptian funerary texts known as “The Book of the Dead,” depicted two zigzagging paths by which, scholars long ago concluded, the soul, having left the body of the departed, could navigate the spiritual obstacle course of the Underworld and reach Rostau — the realm of Osiris, the god of death, who was himself dead. If you were lucky enough to get the go-ahead from Osiris’ divine tribunal, you would become an immortal god.

Egypt Amazes the World with 2019 Archaeological Discoveries 

Over the last two years, a large number of new discoveries in Egypt have grabbed the world’s attention. Egypt Today Magazine will provide its readers with a capsule of all the discoveries that occurred in 2019.





Bees!

This is from The Tears of Re, Beekeeping in Ancient Egypt by Gene Kritsky.

Ancient Egypt News 12/16/2019

Sun to Illuminate Egypt’s Ancient Karnak Temple Dec. 21

Crowds of tourists and Egyptians are expected to flock to Luxor on December 21 to witness the magnificent phenomenon of the sun aligning on the Temple of Amun inside the 4,000-year-old Karnak Temple.

The annual two-hour event, starts at 6 a.m., will mark the first day of winter, as per the outstanding progressive knowledge of the ancient Egyptian.

Every year, attendees come to watch the sunlight as it falls perfectly perpendicular on the sanctuary of Amun Ra’a at the center of the temple; the sunrays then move towards the temple’s gates to reach Hatshepsut's ancient temple.

Royal Sphinx Statue Discovered in Egypt's Minya
Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities/Handout via Xinhua

An Egyptian archaeological mission uncovered on Saturday a small royal statue of a Sphinx during excavation in Minya province, south of the capital Cairo, the country's Ministry of Antiquities said in a statement.

"The statue is made of limestone with 35 cm in height and 55 cm in length," said Gamal el-Samastawy, director general of the Antiquities of Middle Egypt, a department of the ministry.

"The clear and beautiful features and details of the statue mirrored the skillfulness of the ancient Egyptian sculptor," he added.

Scientists Have Determined A Woman's Profession In Ancient Egypt Through Examining Her Mummified Remains

By analysing the dentistry of a woman who lived in Ancient Egypt, archaeologists have made a surprising discovery: her unusual profession. A video provides all the details...

With this incredible discovery, archaeologists have gone from surprise to surprise. A short time ago, a team of scientists from the University of Alberta, in Canada, analysed the teeth of a woman who lived 4000 years ago, in Ancient Egypt. From this study, they learnt a lot more than they expected.

More Astonishing Artifacts Transferred to GEM

On Dec. 9, the Grand Egyptian Museum received 309 artifacts dating back to different eras. Among them were 64 heavy artifacts transferred from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir.

The artifacts were transferred amid the tight security measures of the Tourism and Antiquities Police and the Security Forces. General Supervisor of the Grand Egyptian Museum Atef Moftah stated that some of the transferred artifacts will be placed on the Great Staircase, while other artifacts will be exhibited in different halls of the museum according to their era.

Visitors Marvel as Sun Alignment Illuminates the Temple of Hatshepsut

Archaeologists and astronomers visited on Monday the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut in Luxor’s Qurna mountain to witness a sun alignment on the temple’s inner sanctum, lighting up an image of the sun god Amun-Ra inscribed in the form of a winged sun disk.

The sun alignment phenomenon takes place every year on occasion of the ancient Egyptians celebrations of the feast of the god Horus, an example of their greatness in the field of astronomy.

Ancient Artifacts Found at Cairo's Heliopolis Temple
Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities

Ahram Online reports that a mudbrick wall dating to the New Kingdom period, blocks from colossal royal statues dating to the Middle Kingdom period, and Old Kingdom moulds for the manufacture of faience amulets and capital fragments of palm columns have been uncovered at the Heliopolis Temple site, which is located in the Matariya area of northern Cairo. “It came as a surprise that these layers directly overlay a stratum of the prehistoric settlement of Heliopolis,” said Aymen Ashmawi of the Egyptian Antiquities Department.

These Mysterious Egyptian Head Cones Actually Existed, Grave Find Reveals
AMARNA PROJECT

Look closely at paintings of ancient Egyptians and you might spot something strange: cones the size of a coffee cup sitting atop some of their heads. The objects have long baffled archaeologists, many of whom have wondered whether they were merely a symbol. Now, a new study finds these “head cones” were indeed real: Researchers have recovered two of the curious accoutrements in burials dating back 3300 years.

Archaeologists made the discoveries at Akhetaten, one of ancient Egypt’s most unusual cities. The site was occupied for no more than about 15 years during the 14th century B.C.E. while Egypt was under the rule of the pharaoh who gave the location its name, Akhenaten. He developed a short-lived (and, in the eyes of later pharaohs, heretical) religious system focused on the worship of a single god, represented by the Sun. He may also have been Tutankhamun’s father.

• Head Cones in Ancient Egyptian Graves Cap Archaeological Debate
• The First Evidence of 'Head Cones' Found in 3300-Year-Old Egyptian Tom

Egypt Unearths Rare Ka Statue of King Ramesses II

The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities announced on Wednesday, 11 December 2019, that it has discovered a rare statue of King Ramesses II during excavations near Giza Pyramids west of Cairo.


In a statement, the ministry said that the statue was unearthed during excavation works the ministry’s teams started last week inside a piece of land owned by a citizen near the great temple of Ptah in at Mit Rahina (Memphis).

• Rare pink statue of Ancient Egyptian king unearthed near pyramids of Giza
• Rare Pink Statue of Ancient Egypt's King Ramses II With 'Ka' Symbol Unearthed

Akhnaten Lego Opera

Ancient Egypt News 12/09/2019

New Discoveries in Egyptology (September-October 2019)
Photo: Ministry of Antiquities

Every two months, the Nile Scribes bring you summaries of the latest research and discoveries in Egyptology, both from the field and the archives. We introduce you to the newest archaeological finds or rediscovered artefacts from museum collections, plus other new theories stirring in the Egyptological Zeitgeist. While few excavations take place in Egypt during the heat of the summer, there has nevertheless been a number of exciting discoveries announced at the outset of the cooler, post-summer months. The world’s attention was recently captured by the discovery of a new cache of Twenty-Second Dynasty mummies at Asasif in Luxor.

Ancient Tattoos Depicting ‘Magical’ Animals and Gods Found on Female Egyptian Mummies
Credit: ANNE AUSTIN / UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI

TATTOOS depicting animals, gods and floral patterns have been found "hidden" on 3,000-year-old Egyptian mummies.

The ancient body art, found on seven female mummies, may help shed light on why the Egyptians got inked.

Prior to the new discovery, tattoos had only been found on six mummies over more than a century of research at ancient sites in Egypt.

"When I first saw [the tattoos], I felt both the thrill of discovery and the magic of this new technology," archaeologist Dr Anne Austin told Fox News.

Site Of Ancient Egypt's Sun Cult Reveals Royal Statues, Mud Wall And Block Of King Ramses II
EGYPT'S MINISTRY OF ANTIQUITIES

Archaeologists have unearthed the remains of royal statues and a block depicting King Ramses II, as well as a section of a wall made of mud bricks at the Heliopolis temple in Cairo, Egypt—the site of ancient Egypt's mysterious sun cult.

The Ministry of Antiquities announced the discoveries made during the thirteenth season of a joint mission by German and Egyptian archaeologists—the Heliopolis Project—on the department's Facebook page.

Discovery Channel to Produce Promo Films on Grand Egyptian Museum

Discovery Channel will produce three promotional films about the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), which is scheduled to open in 2020, the Ministry of Tourism said on Sunday.

These films are part of the partnership established by the Tourism Ministry with Discovery announced in September, the ministry said in a statement.

Ancient Egypt News 09/23/2019

Egypt Historian Uncovers ‘Underground Paradise’ 138 Metres Below Valley of the Kings
Photo from Tour Egypt: The Tomb of Seti I

An Egyptian historian was granted access to a tomb in the Valley of the Kings that has been marked unsafe for years, and she uncovered an "underground paradise".

KV17, located in Egypt's Valley of the Kings, is the tomb of the Pharaoh Seti I of the Nineteenth Dynasty. It was first discovered by Giovanni Battista Belzoni on October 16, 1817, but has been closed since the early 1960s due to significant damage to the structure. However, historian Bettany Hughes was granted special access during the filming of her Channel 5 show “Egypt’s Greatest Treasures”.

El-Kurru’s Carved Graffiti Reveal Another Side of Ancient Nubia
The funerary temple and the largest pyramid at El-Kurru. COURTESY GEOFF EMBERLING

ANWAR MAHAJOUB GREW UP IN the village of El-Kurru, Sudan, along the Nile between its Third and Fourth Cataracts. Besides at its delta, which offers a flourish of emerald where the river meets the Mediterranean Sea, the Nile is almost entirely bordered by just a thin band of foliage, beyond which are the sepia sands of the Sahara. For centuries, the desert has obscured and protected the tombs of kings, riverside temples, even entire ancient cities. Mahajoub grew up next to one of these sites, so it was never obscured to him. Recent excavations there have made the tombs and world of ancient Nubia—specifically the Kingdom of Kush that ruled over it for hundreds of years—feel even closer.

Colossal Statues, Obelisk Arrive at GEM from Egyptian Museum

A collection of four gigantic objects have arrived at the Grand Egyptian Museum for eventual display on the museum’s grand staircase.

They include two rosy granite colossi of Senosert I, a 20-tonne red granite triad statue featuring Ramses II between deities Ptah and Sekhmet, and the top of a Hatshepsut obelisk, weighing 14 tonnes,

Crocodiles Were So Revered in Ancient Egypt That They Were Hunted, Killed and Mummified

One day several thousand years ago, an Egyptian mummy supplier crept up on a wild crocodile and bashed it with a club, fracturing its skull and killing it.

The animal was quickly taken to be processed. Its damaged skull was fixed. Its body was treated with salts, oil and resins, and wrapped in multiple layers of linen.

Its last meal was still in its stomach.

The demand for mummified crocodiles was intense in ancient Egypt.

Was Ramesses II Really that Great?
Photo © Michalea Moore

Emma Slattery Williams considers whether the fêted pharaoh – master builder, war hero and peace broker – was actually a brilliant propagandist who knew how to curate his image.

Ramesses II is often counted among Ancient Egypt’s greatest pharaohs. He certainly saw himself that way: he spent most of his reign covering his kingdom in monuments dedicated to himself. The third ruler of the 19th Dynasty had an unusually long kingship, fathered hundreds of children and – if you believe his own press – was a mighty warrior who could hold his ground against an entire army. “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings,” wrote Percy Bysshe Shelley in his 1818 poem Ozymandias, adopting the name the Ancient Greeks used for Ramesses II. “Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!

Zahi Hawass Reveals Details of Tutankhamun Opera

Note: The article has a video about the opera. 

Egyptian archaeologist Dr. Zahi Hawass, the former Minister of Antiquities, revealed the details of “Tutankhamun opera “, scheduled to be displayed on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the Grand Egyptian Museum. Dr. Hawass will write the script of “Tutankhamun opera “.

During a phone call with TV anchor Amr Adieb during El Hekaya program broadcast on MBC Misr satellite channel, Hawass said that opera Aida was produced 148 years ago and must be changed, pointing out that the new opera is named “Tutankhamun”, because he is the hero in the new Egyptian Museum.

Mystery Box from Tutankhamun’s ‘Cursed Tomb’ Opened for First Time Ever on Camera

A MYSTERIOUS box found in the tomb of the Ancient Egyptian pharaoh King Tutankhamun has been opened for the first time on camera.

The 3,500-year-old artefact is believed to have been a linen chest used by Tut's wife – who was also his half-sister – to store her lavish outfits.

The Latest Discoveries in Egyptology (May-June 2019)
Scenes of animals and other plant life feature in the many rock art scenes found near Aswan (Photo: Ahram)

Every two months, the Nile Scribes bring you summaries of the latest news and discoveries in Egyptology, both from the field and the library. We introduce you to the newest archaeological finds or rediscovered artefacts from museum collections, plus other new theories stirring in the Egyptological Zeitgeist.

The beginning of summer has revealed a wide array of new finds including brightly-decorated coffins, parts of an older church hiding under a basilica, and a large amount of rock art near Aswan.

Ptolemaic temple Was Uncovered in Sohag
File - Ptolemaic temple

An ancient temple dating back to the Ptolemaic era was uncovered in a house in Sohag Governorate .

On September 11, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Mustafa Waziri said that the stones that were found in the village of Kom Ashqaw in the center of Tama, north of Sohag , is formed of limestone.

The limestone was discovered during the work of a contracting company to complete the sewage project in the village.

Restoration Begins of More King Ramses II Statues at Luxor Temple
Statue of Ramses II. (Shutterstock)

Egypt has begun a new international project in Luxor with the collection, restoration and reinstallation of two statues of King Ramses II.

The plan follows the restoration and assembly during the past three years of three statues of the ruler at Luxor Temple.

During his recent visit to Luxor, Egyptian Minister of Antiquities Khaled Al-Anani gave the green light for the restoration of two more statues of the pharaonic king at the western side of the temple.

10 Best Armor Sets In Assassin’s Creed Origins, Ranked

Assassin's Creed Origins represented a turning point for the Assassin's Creed series. A departure from the style of gameplay that the franchise had become known for, 2017's Origins puts players in the shoes of Bayek of Siwa; a Medjay of Ancient Egypt and a proto-assassin doing assassin-like things before the Brotherhood had even been established.

An Ancient Egyptian sheriff of sorts, Bayek travels far and wide to avenge his son's death at the collective hands of the Order of the Ancients, a mysterious and dangerous collective of proto-templars. Unsurprisingly, it is a pretty big burden for Bayek to bear; traveling around Egypt and righting wrongs is hard work, but he still manages to get it done and in style. Here's a breakdown of the top 10 best armor sets in Assassin's Creed Origins because what good is getting revenge on the people responsible for your son's death if you don't look good while you do it?

Moon Knight Reveals Khonshu's Previous Avatars


In the Marvel Universe, the ancient Egyptian lunar god Khonshu has been reimagined as the society's God of Vengeance who selected Marc Spector and his dueling personalities as his avatar to deliver bloody justice to the world as Moon Knight.

However, Moon Knight Annual #1, by Cullen Bunn, Ibrahim Moustafa and Matt Horak, reveals that Spector is far from the first individual in history to be chosen as Khonshu's champion on Earth. And, with the fate of the entire time stream at stake, Spector finds himself partnered with them all as he battles a classic villain through time and space.