https://www.newsweek.com/key-ancient-roman-town-survived-longer-thought-archaeologists-1900119

'Key' Ancient Roman Town Survived Longer Than Thought, Say Archaeologists

Published May 13, 2024 at 6:15 PM EDT Updated May 14, 2024 at 8:26 AM EDT

By Aristos Georgiou

Science and Health Reporter

An ancient Greco-Roman settlement in Egypt survived longer than traditionally assumed, archaeologists have proposed in a study.

The study, published in the journal Antiquity, reports that the settlement may have been occupied right up until the 7th century. Previous hypotheses have suggested that the site was abandoned in the middle of the 5th century.

The settlement, known as Karanis, was an agricultural town located in the Faiyum Oasis that is thought to have been founded in the 3rd century B.C. when Egypt was ruled by the ancient Greek Ptolemaic dynasty. This kingdom lasted until 30 B.C. when the region was conquered by the Romans.

Karanis, which may have had a population of several thousand at its peak, was already well-known to 19th-century archaeologists thanks to the huge number of papyri that were retrieved from the site.

Seeds retrieved from the Karanis site (left) and the remains of a house (right). Karanis was an agricultural town located in the Faiyum Oasis, Egypt. KMA Karanis Archives photographs/Motta et al., Antiquity 2024

Large-scale excavations in the 20th century exposed residential areas, production facilities, granaries, temples and a bath complex.

"Karanis offers one of the most extensive datasets available for the study of everyday Roman life and is often presented as a case study alongside Pompeii," the authors of the study wrote.

It is considered to be a classic example of Roman domestic architecture and Greco-Roman urban development in Egypt, and the settlement figures prominently in historical narratives.

Study of the settlement has helped to shed light on the economy and demography of the Roman Empire, as well as its collapse—not to mention environmental changes in ancient times and the devastating Antonine Plague of A.D. 165-180.

But "despite the volume of research and publications, and the site's key role in historical reconstructions, the chronological framework for the development of the town remains poorly defined," the authors wrote. "The earliest settlement has barely been explored and its ultimate abandonment is widely debated, with some indication that the current mid-5th century A.D. date for this event is too early."

The timing of the "decline and fall" of Karanis has wider significance in understanding the socioeconomic history of late antiquity and the environmental changes affecting the Faiyum region at the end of a period known as the Roman Climatic Optimum. This period, which is thought to have occurred between the 3rd–4th centuries, was characterized by unusually warm weather in the Mediterranean regain and other parts of Europe.

In order to address the crucial question of the site's chronology, the authors of the latest study selected 13 plant remains retrieved from settlement structures at the site to radiocarbon date. This dating work—combined with further analysis—indicated that Karanis was likely not in complete decline during the 4th century and neither was it a virtually abandoned "sporadic settlement" in its death throes by the beginning of the 5th century, as some previous research has suggested.

"Instead, the settlement remained consistently inhabited in the 6th century and appears to have survived in some form at least up to the period of the Islamic conquest in the 7th century A.D.," the authors wrote.

The picture of Karanis that emerges from the research is one of a complex patchwork of urban blocks and neighborhoods that were progressively modified re-organized, abandoned and sometimes re-inhabited over time.

To what extent the settlement retained its prosperity is difficult to assess with the currently available data. It also remains unclear precisely when Karanis was ultimately abandoned and in what fashion, although this appears to have occurred between the mid-6th and mid-7th century. This was a time marked by political transitions, including the Sasanian-Persian conquest of Egypt, the Byzantine reconquest and the eventual Arab conquest.

"The causes of the abandonment of Karanis and the decline of the region thus resonate with broader debates on the fall of the Roman Empire and on the socioeconomic transformations at the onset of the Middle Ages," the authors wrote.

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https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/teen-boy-translating-ancient-texts-turned-a-4000-year-old-scribe-from-egypt-into-advice-for-modern-age/

Teen Boy Translating Ancient Texts Turned a 4,000-Year-old Scribe From Egypt into Advice for Modern Age

By

Andy Corbley

May 13, 2024

Be a Scribe, Callaway Children's Classics.

Michael Hoffen is a new author, and like him, the protagonist of his book is a teenager. But there's quite an age gap between them—about 4,000 years.

That's because Hoffen brought to life the story of a young Egyptian from ancient times named Pepi, whose father, Kheti, is intent on getting his son a job in the royal court.

Hoffen, who has been translating ancient texts since middle school, became fascinated by a 4,000-year-old or so piece of literature from ancient Egypt's Middle Kingdom known as The Instruction of Khety, or The Satire of the Trades.

The Instruction/Satire was written on papyrus, one of the earliest writing materials, that was typically made from reeds. Papyruses have yielded vast amounts of information about ancient societies from the Judean tribes, Egypt, Greece, and Classical Rome.

Under the guidance and collaboration of his two co-authors, Egyptologists Christian Casey and Jen Thum, Hoffen spent three-and-a-half years translating hieroglyphics into modern-day prose and gathering images to tell the story of Kheti and Pepi.

Put together, he published a book called Be A Scribe! Working for a Better Life in Ancient Egypt.

This young author, a scribe himself, shows just how little the human condition has changed in thousands of years.

Parents still want the best for their children, and teenagers face important decisions as they set out on their career paths—all of which readers can enjoy with sumptuous illustrations and imagery direct from Egyptian antiquities.

Amy Chua, Yale Law professor, called the book a "marvel" and said she "could not put it down."

"Young people will gobble it up without realizing they are learning. And even adults with advanced degrees will find themselves engrossed, educated, and fascinated by this story of an Egyptian father giving life advice to his teenage son—and astonished at how little parenting has changed across the millennia."

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https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/05/09/possible-ancient-egyptian-structure-identified-beside-the-giza-pyramids

Possible Ancient Egyptian structure identified beside the Giza pyramids

The discovery of the L-shaped object was made in an ancient Egyptian elite cemetery beside the Great Pyramid of Khufu

Garry Shaw

9 May 2024

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The research team conducting the ground-penetrating radar survey at Giza Image: © Higashi Nippon International University

Researchers working at Giza, Egypt, have identified an anomaly beneath the sand, which may be a previously unknown L-shaped structure. The discovery was made using ground-penetrating technology in an ancient Egyptian elite cemetery beside the Great Pyramid of Khufu.

"It could be a part of artificial objects, because the L-shape cannot be created in natural geological structures," says Motoyuki Sato of Tohoku University in Japan, a member of the joint Japanese-Egyptian research team that made the discovery. "We hoped to find something, but we did not expect to find it there."

The team identified the anomaly in an apparently empty "blank area" of Giza's Western Cemetery, where members of the royal family and high-level officials were buried in tombs called mastabas—rectangular funerary chapels, where ancient Egyptians made offerings to the dead, with shafts leading to underground burial chambers. Previously, there had been no significant discoveries in this large vacant space—around 80 by 110 metres in size—despite it being surrounded by ancient mastaba tombs and located beside the pyramids of kings Khufu and Khafre, built 4,500 years ago.

The L-shaped anomaly among the mastaba tombs at Giza Image: © Higashi Nippon International University

"There are no significant remains above ground in this area, but is there really nothing below the ground? No underground investigations have previously been carried out," the team write in the journal Archaeological Prospection.

To answer this question, the team conducted a geophysical survey from 2021 to 2023. They used ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) to peer under the sand, because each technique provides a different insight into what lies beneath the ground's surface. Their initial survey revealed a large anomaly at the north end of the study area, and other anomalies elsewhere.

"We conclude from these results that the structure causing the anomalies could be vertical walls of limestone or shafts leading to a tomb structure," the team write. "However, a more detailed survey would be required in order to confirm this possibility."

To indicate the shape of the large anomaly, the team then made a further series of surveys using another type of ground-penetrating radar. Their results revealed an L-shaped structure, up to 2 metres beneath the ground and 10 by 15 metres in size. It is perhaps filled with sand, the team write, and may represent a void that was backfilled after construction. It appears to be connected to another structure below, up to 10 metres in depth and about 10 by 10 metres in size.

"We believe that the continuity of the shallow structure and the deep large structure is important. From the survey results, we cannot determine the material causing the anomaly, but it may be a large subsurface archaeological structure," the team write.

The higher structure may have served as an entrance to the one below, but little more can be said about the anomaly until it has been excavated by archaeologists.

"The results of our GPR and ERT survey point to the possibility of the presence of archaeological remains," the team write. "It is important that they must be promptly excavated to establish their purpose."

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https://www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2024/05/analysis-of-thutmose-iiis-tomb-paintings-reveals-unprecedented-colors-and-minoan-techniques/

Analysis of Thutmose III's Tomb Paintings Reveals Unprecedented Colors and Minoan Techniques

by Guillermo CarvajalMay 8, 2024

Analysis of the paintings in the tomb of Thutmose III. Credit: CEA Université de Liège

An international team of researchers has uncovered significant findings in the tomb of Thutmose III in the Valley of the Kings, Egypt. The study, which began in 2018, represents an unprecedented effort to analyze the ancient wall paintings with modern technology, leading to revelations about the techniques and materials used by ancient Egyptian artists. The results have wide-reaching implications for our understanding of Egyptian art and its cultural connections.

The project is a joint venture between the European Center for Archaeometry (CEA) at the University of Liège, the Laboratory of Molecular and Structural Archaeology (LAMS) at the University of Paris-Sorbonne, and the Center for Studies and Documentation of Ancient Egypt (CEDAE) under the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA). By utilizing a portable laboratory, the team was able to conduct non-invasive physical-chemical analysis in situ, avoiding damage to the fragile wall paintings.

The researchers employed a rigorous and systematic approach, contrasting with previous methods that were often limited to isolated analyses. This comprehensive study aimed to understand not only the pigments and binders used but also the broader cultural context and artistic techniques. David Strivay, a researcher at the University of Liège, explained, With these analyses, we hope to understand the choice and application of the pigments and binders used in these mural paintings, but also to establish comparisons with previous analyses and those we will conduct in the future.

Multispectral imaging and chemical analysis of the Eye of Udjat from the Sarcophagus of Thutmes III (from top to bottom and from left to right): high resolution daylight photography, ultraviolet photography, infrared luminescence, chemical imaging. Credit: CEA Université de Liège

The project's first major breakthrough came with the analysis of the tomb of Thutmose III, where researchers found an unusual combination of high-quality pigments and innovative color blends. This finding challenged existing notions about ancient Egyptian art and suggested cultural exchanges with the Minoan civilization. Catherine Defeyt, a FED-tWIN researcher at the CEA, stated, The analyses carried out during the 2024 campaign revealed an unprecedented mix of colors and high-quality pigments. This observation calls into question established knowledge about Egyptian art. Philippe Martinez, an Egyptologist at the University of Paris-Sorbonne and project leader, added, The techniques used could be the result of intense cultural exchanges with the Minoan world.

The detailed study of the pigments and artistic techniques also provided insights into the symbolic significance of the colors. For example, the black lines of the oujdat eye, often used for magical and medical protection, were composed of galena, a black mineral powder also employed in ancient Egyptian makeup. This finding, along with others, indicates a complex interplay between artistic, magical, and medicinal practices in ancient Egypt.

Despite logistical difficulties due to the tomb's location and ventilation issues, the portable laboratory played a crucial role in the project's success. The team even created a 3D model of the tomb, offering a new perspective on its architectural design. Philippe Martinez emphasized the importance of this research in enhancing our understanding of ancient Egyptian culture, stating that these discoveries could guide future restoration efforts by the Supreme Council of Antiquities.

Given these fascinating revelations, a new research campaign is planned for late 2024 or early 2025, promising to uncover even more secrets hidden within the tombs of ancient Egypt.

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Sources

University of Liège

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2024 ARCE Virtual Annual Meeting

Learn More Today!

2024 ARCE Annual meeting Virtual Annual Meeting If you couldn't join us at the ARCE Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh, we hope you will join us for the ARCE Virtual Annual Meeting. The virtual meeting will be held on May 17-19, 2024, via Zoom. You'll have the opportunity to view live presentations from leading scholars on topics related to Egyptian history, recent fieldwork, technological advances, and much more. Register today for just $125.  If you registered for the in-person meeting, then virtual meeting access is included.  Virtual registrants will have access to our live virtual tour of Journey Through Time: Exploring the Coptic Museum's Rich Legacy with Mary Missak on May 18th at 12 PM EST.   View the *Virtual Schedule and more information will be sent to speakers and registrants soon. For assistance and inquiries, please email AMHelp@arce.org.  Fee waivers are available for student members and early career scholars in financial need.  *Schedule Subject to change   View Schedule/Learn More

909 N Washington Street, Suite 320  |  Alexandria, VA 22314 www.arce.org/  |  unsubscribe

2024 ARCE Virtual Annual Meeting

Register and Learn More Today!

2024 ARCE Annual meeting Virtual Annual Meeting If you couldn't join us at the ARCE Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh, we hope you will join us for the ARCE Virtual Annual Meeting. The virtual meeting will be held on May 17-19, 2024, via Zoom. You'll have the opportunity to view live presentations from leading scholars on topics related to Egyptian history, recent fieldwork, technological advances, and much more. Register today for just $125.  Virtual registrants will have access to our live virtual tour of Journey Through Time: Exploring the Coptic Museum's Rich Legacy with Mary Missak on May 18th at 12 PM EST.   View the *Virtual Schedule and more information will be sent to speakers and registrants soon. For assistance and inquiries, please email AMHelp@arce.org.  Fee waivers are available for student members and early career scholars in financial need.  *Schedule Subject to change View Schedule/Learn More

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Egyptian Pyramids, Sphinx Closed to Public for Billionaire's Wedding

https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/ancient-egypt-pyramid-great-sphinx-giza-close-tech-billionaire-wedding-1234705906/

Ancient Egyptian Pyramids, Sphinx Close to Public for Tech Billionaire's Lavish Wedding

May 3, 2024 4:20pm

The Great Sphinx of Giza. Photo F. Schneider/picture-alliance/dp

Ancient Egyptian pyramids and the Great Sphinx in Giza were briefly shuttered to the public this week for a tech billionaire's wedding.

That billionaire, Ankur Jain, and fitness trainer Erika Hammond reportedly paid to have those sites closed down for their wedding, a weeklong celebration that is estimated to have cost upward of $3 million. The event, which has since gone viral on TikTok, offered guests a private tour of the pyramids and the sphinx without interruption, as well as a close look at a statue of Ramses II.

The couple also hosted a party at the Grand Egyptian Museum, which is thought to be the largest constructed museum in the world devoted to a single civilization. That institution, which cost $1 billion to build, is still not open to the public, though it is expected to begin welcoming visitors later this year.

Jain and Hammond wed at sunset between two of the pyramids before celebrating with a star-studded reception with performances by Robin Thicke, Lance Bass, and Lindsey Stirling.

Accounts of the wedding events have generated hearty debate across multiple social media platforms, with many claiming that the event was needlessly extravagant.

Jain is the founder and CEO of Bilt Rewards loyalty program. Hammond is a former WWE champion and fitness mogul.

The event was supported by the country itself. Egypt Independent reported that Egypt's minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Zahi Hawass, was among those who attended the wedding. Per that publication, Jain and Hammond paid $200,000 to host a party near a sculpture of Ramses II.

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See 1,000 Perfect Replicas of Objects Unearthed From King Tut's Tomb | Smart News| Smithsonian Magazine

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/see-1000-perfect-replicas-of-objects-unearthed-from-king-tuts-tomb-180984300/

See 1,000 Perfect Replicas of Objects Unearthed From King Tut's Tomb

A traveling exhibition on view in Washington, D.C. blends education and entertainment, letting visitors get up close and personal with the ancient Egyptian pharaoh's treasures

Meilan Solly

Associate Editor, History

May 3, 2024

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The exhibition features recreations of the tomb's antechamber, burial chamber and treasury. Exhibition Hub

In 1924, two years after British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered Tutankhamun's tomb, an exhibition in London promised to immerse visitors in a "complete replica" of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh's final resting place.

Working off of published photographs and drawings of the tomb, artist William Aumonier spent eight months painstakingly recreating such artifacts as an ornate throne, a wooden bed and a statue of the boy king, who reigned in the 14th century B.C.E. Though the display wasn't an exact mirror of the site in Egypt's Valley of the Kings, its reproductions exhibited an impressive level of attention to detail and commitment to accuracy—thanks in part to Egyptologist Arthur Weigall, who'd witnessed Carter's excavation firsthand.

But at least one person disapproved of the venture: Carter himself. The archaeologist sued the event's organizers for copyright infringement—and lost. Ultimately, more than 25 million people attended the exhibition, which counted the replica tomb among its greatest hits.

One of the chambers of Tut's tomb, as photographed by Harry Burton Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

A century later, a separate exhibition in Washington, D.C. is recreating Tutankhamun's tomb on an even grander (and less exploitative) scale. Featuring more than 1,000 reproductions crafted by Egyptian artisans, "Tutankhamun: His Tomb and His Treasures" offers a sense of the sheer extravagance of the king's funerary trappings. The show also makes a clear argument for the value of replicas as educational tools, particularly when the originals are largely inaccessible to the public. The Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo owns all 5,000 artifacts found in the tomb, but its opening (and planned display of the vast assortment of treasures) has long been delayed.

Melinda Hartwig, an Egyptologist at Emory University and a special adviser to the exhibition, says the show allows visitors to "follow in Carter's footsteps" by drawing directly on the archaeologist's excavation notes and photographs. Early on, the exhibition transports visitors into recreations of the pharaoh's burial chamber, antechamber and treasury, all presented as they appeared when Carter first saw them. Later sections focus on the artifacts themselves, grouping replicas of Tutankhamun's shabtis (funerary figurines), nested coffins, canopic jars and more.

A replica of one of Tut's coffins Exhibition Hub

According to Hartwig, Egyptian craftspeople, lapidaries and sculptors spent around four years recreating the artifacts found in the pharaoh's tomb, from his wooden chariot to his iconic golden mask. First, they cast the objects in plaster, and then they covered the models in resin. Finally, they used alloys and glass appliques to add color and depth.

Unlike Aumonier, these artisans had access to extensive primary source material, as well as 3D scans of the original artifacts. Still, it's impossible to know whether Carter, who died in 1939, would have been any more impressed by the contemporary replicas than he was by the ones created 100 years ago.

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Semmel Concerts, a German live event promoter and producer, debuted "Tutankhamun: His Tomb and His Treasures" in Zurich in 2008. Created in conjunction with Egyptologists, the immersive experience spent the next decade-plus traveling across Europe, attracting more than seven million visitors.

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More than seven million people visited the exhibition while it was touring Europe. Exhibition Hub

Reviewing a Czech staging of the exhibition in January 2009, Egyptologist Jaromír Málek praised the artisans' attention to detail as "astounding," writing that "there are few things with which one would seriously like to quarrel."

The scholar added, however, that "it must be admitted that replicas, no matter how good, do not allow one to experience the frisson of being face to face with the original items removed from Tutankhamun's tomb. Some of the original objects, such as furniture, would have been used by the king in his lifetime, and the idea that Tutankhamun's bottom once rested on the chair in front of us is mind-boggling."

Semmel Concerts and its various local partners have never claimed to be the real thing. As the San Diego Natural History Museum noted in 2014, when it hosted an iteration of the show, the reproductions are not intended to replace the real artifacts, but rather to complement them "by allowing visitors to experience the tomb and the indescribable treasures of … Tutankhamun just as they were when he died." Unlike the fragile originals, replicas "enable us to recreate archaeological sites that have long since been dispersed, to bring together objects that are now in different locations and in some instances no longer available for public display."

In Tutankhamun's case, the original artifacts are all owned by the same entity: the Grand Egyptian Museum, which has been under construction since 2005. But the Cairo cultural institution's opening has repeatedly been pushed back, from 2018 to 2020, 2021 and so on. An official opening date has yet to be announced, though the museum does offer limited guided tours of certain spaces, including the Grand Staircase, which features 60 artifacts from the collections.

Even if the Grand Egyptian Museum were open, its treasures wouldn't be traveling internationally, as they did to great fanfare between the 1960s and the 2000s. At more than 3,300 years old, the objects from Tutankhamun's tomb are incredibly fragile, making it difficult—and very expensive—to transport them safely. Additionally, Málek wrote in 2009, "The Egyptians point out that these are antiquities of their own past, and … it is only appropriate that they remain on display in Cairo where they can be seen by ordinary Egyptian visitors, such as schoolchildren."

In lieu of a visit to Cairo or Tutankhamun's mostly empty tomb in the Valley of the Kings, replicas are among the easiest ways to experience the grandeur of ancient Egypt. As Hartwig explains, "Tutankhamun: His Tomb and His Treasures" blends entertainment and education; the exhibition's wall panels are changed with each iteration of the show, reflecting updated understandings of the pharaoh's life and legacy. For instance, recent research suggests he was a warrior king, rather than a sickly, infirm ruler.

Replicas of statues found in Tut's tomb Exhibition Hub

Initially a skeptic regarding the traveling show, Málek admitted, "somewhat reluctantly," that he had "become a convert," adding, "This exhibition can do things which no other, perhaps with the exception of future virtual reality shows, is able to."

Hartwig, for her part, says she loves the exhibition "because you experience the objects. They're not behind glass. They're not separated from context." And, in perhaps the greatest departure from the standard museum experience, you can even reach out and touch the replicas, tracing the hieroglyphs that spell out Tutankhamun's name on the back of his throne or running your hands across the smooth surface of his death mask.

"Tutankhamun: His Tomb and His Treasures" is on view at the Rhode Island Center in Washington, D.C. through July 31. Tickets are available online.

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Meilan Solly | | READ MORE

Meilan Solly is Smithsonian magazine's associate digital editor, history.

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