CAIRO - 30 September 2019: The Grand Egyptian Museum received 331 artifacts, including the 42 pieces belonging to King Tutankhamun that were on display at the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir.
In addition, the Grand Egyptian Museum received 27 pieces of wood from King Khufu's second ship that was located at its restoration lab near the Pyramid.
Director General of Archaeological Affairs at the Grand Egyptian Museum Tayeb Abbas said that the artifacts of King Tutankhamun include a collection of sandals made of Halfa, weaving threads and papyrus, and a wooden silo that was used to preserve grains and seeds, stressing that all of the king's artifacts are still kept in good condition. Moreover, among King Tutankhamun's belongings that were transferred to the Grand Egyptian Museum are a set of food utensils and a quiver of arrows that was used by King Tutankhamun on his hunting trips. This is in addition to the statue of God Serapes, the official god of ancient Alexandria, who was worshiped in the Greco-Roman era, and another statue of a naos containing the god Harpocrates and the child Horus. Director General of the Executive Affairs for Restoration and Transportation of Antiquities at the Grand Egyptian Museum Essa Zeidan stated that the parts of Khufu's second ship are large-scale pieces that were transported within the Egyptian-Japanese joint project for the extraction and restoration of the ship. This brings the number of artifacts that have been transferred from the ship to the restoration center on the site so far to 892 wooden pieces. The team carried out three-dimensional documentation and registration as well as the necessary restoration work of all the pieces before the transfer.
Zeidan further clarified that archaeologists, restorers and security staff of the Grand Egyptian Museum are in a race with time to complete the transportation and restoration works before the official opening of the museum in 2020; the Grand Egyptian Museum's team has so far succeeded in transporting 49,797 antiquities.
The new archaeological season has begun, showing promise in Luxor, the capital of world tourism. There are currently five archaeological missions, including three Egyptian missions, one Spanish, and one American conducting excavations there. Several new mission and
projects have been approved for the new season.
Luxor is known for its rich tombs and pharaonic temples, which all seem like they will see a strong tourist season.
Last season witnessed many discoveries and restorations of Pharaonic tombs, palaces, and statues of Pharaonic kings in several areas.
Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Mostafa al-Waziry said in a press statement on Monday that the Standing Committee of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities approved the work projects of some 240 foreign archaeological missions at various archaeological sites for the new archaeological season. The work of these foreign missions was approved alongside the work of 40 Egyptian archaeological missions.
He added that an archaeological mission headed by the well-known Egyptologist Zahi Hawass started operating in the western valley, known as the Valley of Monkeys. The mission is also completing work in the Valley of the Kings, which includes dozens of tombs of the kings of ancient Egypt, he added, explaining that the foreign archaeological missions that work in Egypt rely on Egyptian archaeologists, restorers and workers in 90 percent of their operations.
Minister of Antiquities Khaled al-Anani is exerting huge efforts in order to enable Egyptian archaeologists to participate in excavations, said Waziry, pointing out that Egyptian missions rose from five to 40 in the current season, which started a few days ago.
The Ministry of Antiquities was able to provide the necessary funding for the work of these Egyptian missions through a number of successful exhibitions in foreign countries, the latest of which was the exhibition of the treasures of the golden pharaoh Tutankhamun in the French capital Paris.
Waziry referred to his presidencies of the Egyptian archaeological mission operating in Zeraa Aboul Naga and the Egyptian archaeological mission in the archaeological area of Assasif.
A Spanish archaeological mission is working in the Temple of King Tuthmosis III, and another American archaeological mission is working in the tomb of Prince Amon Mees and cemetery number 63 in the Valley of the Kings.
Archaeologists reveal the face of an Egyptian princess who lived almost 4,000 years ago after painstakingly piecing together wooden shards from her shattered sarcophagus
Archaeologists have revealed the face of Princess Hatshepset from Egypt
She lived 4,000 years ago and was the daughter of Pharoah Ameny Qemau
Fragments were pieced back together at the American University of Cairo
Published: 08:44 EDT, 29 September 2019 | Updated: 09:29 EDT, 29 September 2019
Archaeologists have revealed the face of an Egyptian princess who lived almost 4,000 years ago by painstakingly piecing together the wooden shards of her sarcophagus.
The fragments expose the likeness of a royal, possibly Princess Hatshepset, daughter of Pharoah Ameny Qemau, who lived towards the end of Egypt's Middle Kingdom.
Her image will be seen for the first time on Channel 4's Egypt's Lost Pyramid programme, which follows the two-year excavation and study of the royal's final resting place.
The pyramid from the 13th dynasty was found in Dahshur's royal necropolis, 20 miles south of Cairo, in 2017, and was found to have been ransacked by thieves after it was opened.
The coffin had been split open so that the priceless jewels could be ripped from her corpse, before the royal's bones were scattered across the floor.
Archaeologists have revealed the face of an Egyptian princess that lived almost 4,000 years ago by painstakingly piecing together the wooden shards of her sarcophagus
The fragments were found after the tomb, possibly belonging to Princess Hatshepset, daughter of Pharoah Ameny Qemau, was opened in Dahshur, Egypt
She was buried around a mile from the tomb of her father Ameny Qemau, who is buried in the black pyramid (pictured)
Archaeologists at the American University of Cairo cleaned the pieces before placing them in formation.
It reveals the face of a woman who is wearing a hathor wig, a powerful symbol of fertility, that was very popular during the Middle Kingdom.
'Coffins normally had features that were similar to the owner but idealised because that's what they would look like for eternity', Egyptologist Dr Yasmin El Shazly said.
'Why would I want to look ugly for eternity?'
When the granite block was first moved in 2017, it revealed a disturbed burial ground which contained shattered bits of wood.
The box containing the canopic jars, which held her liver, lungs, stomach and intestines, also remained. On one side it says 'daughter of the king' written in hieroglyphs.
The burial complex, which once had a pyramid above it, was uncovered in 2017. The pyramid eroded away after the precious limestone covering was removed, leaving the mud-stones exposed to the elements
American archaeologist Mark Lehner pictured with the black pyramid. He goes on the first filmed tour inside the structure in Channel 4's Egypt's Lost Pyramid programme which airs on Sunday at 8pm
The assertion that this is Princess Hatshepset's tomb comes from an inscription on the box containing the canopic jars, reports Live Science.
The mystery of two tombs for one Pharoah
When the tomb in Dahshur was first discovered, it was initially attributed to Pharoah Amey Quema due to a symbol on the tomb.
This was bizarre, as his actual tomb had already been found a mile away - leading to suggestions that it was a decoy.
However, when archaeologists opened the tomb they discovered human remains inside, and then a symbol on the box containing the canopic jars saying that the box contained the remains of the 'pharoah's daughter'.
This has led to the theory that it is the tomb of Princess Hatshepset.
At the end of the programme Egyptologist Dr Chris Morgan makes the startling claim that the tomb may have been raided before the door was sealed, suggesting that priests may have been involved.
She died towards the end of the Middle Kingdom, which dates from 2030 to 1782 BC.
As the period drew to a close, Egypt lost control of Lower Nubia and experienced bouts of famine and political unrest.
While the 13th dynasty, during which Ameny Qemau ruled briefly, was reasonably prosperous, the Second Intermediate Period may have been impoverished, according to archaeologists.
Her tomb is less than a mile from her father's, according to the programme, which has been nicknamed the 'black pyramid'.
The structure itself now looks like a pile of rubble, as the precious limestone was removed from the outside, leaving the mud-brick interior exposed to the elements.
The American archaeologist pictured inside the black pyramid. It contained three chambers, for the Pharoah and his two wives, it was also raided.
Beneath there are winding corridors to confuse raiders along with three separate hidden chambers for the Pharoah and his two queens.
Despite their efforts, these were also raided by tomb robbers. Only the box that held the canopic jars belonging to one of the Queen's remained, which would have held her stomach, lungs, liver and intestines.
Egypt's Lost Pyramid airs Sunday at 8pm on Channel 4
Who was Princess Hatshepset?
Little is known about the princess due to the robbery of her tomb.
The box containing the canopic jars is inscribed with the name 'Hatshepset', reports Live Science, leading to the assertion that the tomb opened in 2017 belonged to her.
The princess is the daughter of Pharoah Ameny Qemau, who ruled Egypt for two years in the Middle Kingdom, 3,800 years ago.
Towards the end of this period the country went through a turbulent period where control of Lower Numbia was lost and bouts of famine were experienced.
Pharoah Ameny Qemau's pyramid is the oldest smooth-sided pyramid ever discovered, which led archaeologists to deduce that it may have been the first attempt to build such a structure.
His daughter's tomb was discovered in Dahshur, a well-preserved necropolis of important figures from ancient Egypt, which is about 25 miles south of Cairo.
After the Giza Pyramid complex and the Valley of Kings, it is probably the most famous of the resting places for the ancient pharaohs.
Its famous for being the site of the 341-foot Red Pyramid - the third largest surviving pyramid in Egypt.
It was built by Sneferu, a pharaoh who reigned 800 years before Ameny Qemau.
Remains of Ptolemaic temple unearthed in Egypt's Sohag
Sunday 29 Sep 2019
Remains of Ptolemy IV temple discovered by Egypt's antiquity ministry
The ruins of a temple belonging to Ptolemy IV, the fourth pharaoh of Ptolemaic Egypt (221 – 204 BC), were unearthed during drilling to implement a sewage drainage project in Kom Shakau village in Tama township in northern Sohag, according to the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities.
Secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) Mostafa Waziri said in a statement on Sunday that drilling works have been suspended and an archaeological mission has been assigned with recovering the ruins.
The ruins include parts of the temple's walls with engravings and inscriptions carrying the name of Ptolemy IV, as well as limestone walls and floors, Waziri said.
The decline of the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt began under the reign of Ptolemy IV Philopator, the son of Ptolemy III and Berenice II.
The unpacking of Sennedjem's coffin at the NMEC and the arrival of gigantic objects at the GEM were top heritage events in Egypt this week, reports Nevine El-Aref
The transportation of the gigantic colossi (photo: Ahmed Romeih)
The sound of drills broke the silence on the ground floor of the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation (NMEC) in Cairo this week as a dozen conservators got busy opening the wooden container holding the coffin of Sennedjem, a 19th-Dynasty overseer at Deir Al-Medina near Luxor.
The transportation of Senosert I
The local and international media flocked to the museum to catch a glimpse of the opening of the container, and after a few minutes' work the cover was removed, revealing a beautifully painted anthropoid coffin depicting the features of Sennedjem and decorated with protection scenes from the Book of the Dead.
The coffin of Sennedjem's wife
Removing the lid, another smaller coffin appeared with the mummy lying inside it in the Osiride-form with his arms crossed. The mummy was put on a stretcher and transferred to a neighbouring lab, where it entered a fumigation tent to stay there for almost 20 days before its actual restoration.
Restoration of Tutankhamun's coffin
"It is like sophisticated surgery, to restore and preserve a mummy under the direction of skilled restorers," said Khaled El-Enany, the minister of antiquities, while witnessing the unpacking and fumigation process.
"The fumigation will rid the mummy of any insects or fungus that have affected it," said Mustafa Ismail, supervisor of restoration at the NMEC. It will then begin another process of restoration.
El-Enany witnessing the fumigation of Sennedjem's mummy
The outer coffin shows Sennedjem wrapped in bandages and holding the Knot of Isis in his left hand and the Djed Pillar, the emblem of Osiris, in his right hand. The body is decorated with hieroglyphic texts painted in intersected rows, between two of which a funerary scene showing the deceased with deities of protection appears.
He is shown wearing a wig embellished with a frieze of leaves and fruit and a necklace around his neck decorated with multiple threads and lotus flowers decorating its ends.
The coffin and one of his spouse were transferred to the NMEC from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, and they were originally found among other grave goods in the intact tomb of Sennedjem in Deir Al-Medina on Luxor's West Bank, the settlement of the builders and craftsmen that undertook the construction work on the royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings.
restoration of an Islamic door lintel (photos: Ahmed Romeih)
In 1886, French Egyptologist Gaston Mapero discovered the tomb, which was a collective one because it was used as the burial place for at least three generations of the Sennedjem family. The burial chamber contained 20 mummies, nine of them in coffins belonging to the deceased, his wife, children and wives, while the others belonged to members of his family who might not have been rich enough to have their own carved coffins, along with a rich cachette and funerary collection.
During his life, Sennedjem served as "the Servant in the Place of Truth", during the reign of kings Seti I and Ramses II. He worked on the decoration of the nearby royal tombs and was allowed to create and decorate his own in the vicinity of those of his masters.
The tomb was found above the workmen's village at Deir Al-Medina and has a rectangular-shaped courtyard with three limestone pyramidal chapels. A wall originally divided the courtyard in two, separating the chapels of Sennedjem and his son from a second part containing the chapel of his father-in-law.
Like in many of the tombs in Deir Al-Medina, the paintings in the tomb are simply executed but are also remarkable for their colours and interesting scenes depicting the deceased with his wife in several postures before deities, during mummification, and in the expected afterlife.
In the Egyptian Museum both coffins were on display on the second floor along with a collection of Sennedjem's funerary objects such as ushabti figurines and boxes, pots, chairs, cosmetic chests, canopic jars, and a distinguished painting showing the deceased sitting beside his wife with a chapter from the Book of the Dead on one side.
AT THE GEM: In the vast, shade-dappled atrium of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), the scene was totally different from at the NMEC this week, with the roar of heavy machinery filling the air and construction work surrounding the colossal statue of Ramses II and the column of his son Meneptah.
Beside them, on the footsteps of the GEM's grand staircase, stand four gigantic artefacts recently arrived from the Egyptian Museum where they were displayed in the garden. They include two rosy granite colossi of Senosert I, a 20-ton red granite triad statue featuring Ramses II between the deities Ptah and Sekhmet, and the top of a Hatshepsut obelisk weighing 14 tons.
Eissa Zidan, director of restoration and transportation at the GEM, explained that before the transportation the objects had been documented and restored. The collection had been placed inside iron cages and covered with special foam layers to absorb the vibrations caused during the transportation, he added.
"The trip lasted four hours, as the maximum speed of the vehicles was 7km per hour," Zidan said. The objects will now be restored before being placed in their final locations in the GEM.
Elsewhere in the GEM in the lab for wooden objects, the outer gilded coffin of king Tutankhamun was removed from its fumigation tent this week and the conservation work begun.
The coffin was transferred to the GEM in July for restoration for the first time after 97 years lying inside the quartzite sarcophagus inside the king's tomb in Luxor. It was placed inside a plastic incubator with state-of-the-art equipment to fumigate it as a first step in its restoration. After six weeks, the restoration work has started.
"The coffin is finally being restored for the first time since its discovery inside the tomb in November 1922," El-Enany said, adding that soon after the discovery of the tomb the innermost gold coffin and the middle gilded wooden coffin were transferred to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, while the large outer gilded coffin was left inside the tomb with the king's outermost quartzite sarcophagus.
The outer coffin had now been transferred to the GEM for restoration in order to be exhibited on the museum's opening in 2020, together with the boy-king's treasured collection and the two other coffins.
"The golden Pharaoh's three coffins will be displayed together for the first time since their discovery, and as Tutankhamun wished them to be," El-Enany said. He explained that the coffin had been in poor condition as it had never been restored and had been left inside the tomb where it had been subject to humidity, heat and erosion.
"It is the only royal coffin in the Valley of the Kings carved in the organic material of wood, since all the others are sarcophagi carved in stone," El-Enany said.
Al-Tayeb Abbas, supervisor for archaeological affairs, told Al-Ahram Weekly that preliminary examination carried out on the coffin before transportation had revealed that it had developed cracks in its gilded layers of plaster, especially those on the lid and base.
Atef Moftah, supervisor of the GEM project and its surrounding area, told the Weekly that the construction work on the GEM would be completed at the end of this year and the newly transported obelisk from the San Al-Hagar archaeological site in Zagazig in the Delta would also join the collection of the GEM.
He said it would be put on show in the Obelisk Square at the GEM's main entrance and would be the first obelisk in the world to be placed in a special display, offering visitors the opportunity to walk beneath it and see the cartouche of Ramses II engraved on its bottom. Ancient Egyptian royal figures used to engrave their cartouches on the bottoms of obelisks as a mark of ownership.
The estimated cost of the GEM project is $1.6 billion, with costs increasing as a result of delays but still being trimmed by some $770 million. Some 44 of the 87 large objects that will be exhibited on the GEM's grand staircase have already been transported. Moftah told the Weekly that the GEM had a 17-metre esplanade in front of it and a striking architectural design that incorporated a wall 50 metres high and 800 metres long with a total surface of 27,000 square metres.
The GEM complex, overlooking the Giza Plateau, is a cultural institution located on an area of approximately 500,000 m2. Adjacent to the Pyramids of Giza, the complex includes one of the largest museums in the world, displaying the heritage of the ancient Egyptian civilisation. It will contain over 100,000 artefacts, reflecting Egypt's past from prehistory through the Greek and Roman periods and is set to open in 2020.
The mummy and case, kept beneath Perth Museum and Art Gallery
A fundraising appeal has been launched to help raise an ancient Egyptian mummy from its resting place beneath one of Scotland's oldest museums.
The 3,000-year-old exhibit is a survivor from the time the pyramids were built.
Her story has fascinated visitors and staff since she was first presented to Perth Museum and Art Gallery in the 1930s.
But now Ta-Kr-Hb – pronounced Taherheb – needs the public's help before she is lost to the history books forever.
Her condition has become so fragile that she can no longer go on display. However, culture chiefs in the Fair City want her as a star exhibit at the new look Perth City Hall museum, due to open in three years.
Culture Perth and Kinross, the charitable trust that manages Perth's museums and galleries, said it will cost £16,000 for Ta-Kr-Hb's much needed conservation work.
More than half of that has already been gathered and donated to the trust over the years, but more than £7,000 is still needed to ensure her survival.
The money will help pay for work to stabilise her condition, but will also allow for a 3D digital reconstruction of her face.
Mark Hall, collections officer at Perth Museum said: "This is a wonderful opportunity to give Ta-Kr-Hb the specialist care and attention she needs so that she can more fully share with us the story of her life in ancient Egypt."
A rare acquisition for a provincial museum, the body which is believed to be that of a priestess or princess was donated to the museum by the Alloa Society of Natural Science and Archaeology in 1936.
Shrouded in mystery, in an effort to learn more about the mummy it was transported to Manchester Children's Hospital in 2013 for a scan and x-ray.
The work revealed that the skeleton had been damaged some time in the past — possibly during efforts to remove the body from her coffin — and that her teeth were ground down due to her diet.
An expert from Manchester Museum was able to decipher some of the hieroglyphs on the sarcophagus, revealing the mummy's name for the first time in centuries.
Join photographer Jacqueline Thurston for a talk and reception celebrating the opening of the exhibit Sacred Deities of Ancient Egypt.
About this Event
Sacred Deities of Ancient Egypt is a photography exhibit featuring work by artist and author Jacqueline Thurston, on view at the Hearst Museum of Anthropology through January 2020. Thurston's photographs of depictions of deities in ancient Egyptian tombs grant the viewer access to otherwise inaccessible dimly lit chambers and bring light to the power of feminine figures in the ancient past.
Join us for a free talk and reception celebrating the opening of the exhibit. Light refreshments will be provided while you explore the exhibition. Thurston's recently published book featuring her photographs and writing included in the exhibit will also be available for purchase and signing.
Jacqueline Thurston, M.A., is an artist, a writer, and Professor Emerita in the Department of Art and Art History at San Jose State University. She is twice the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Photography Grant and is a former Fulbright Scholar to Egypt. Her photographs are in major international and national public collections, including the Bibliothèque Nationale, the Library of Congress, the Carnegie Museum of Art, the George Eastman Museum of Photography, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
The American Research Center in Egypt, Northern California Chapter, and the Near Eastern Studies Department, University of California, Berkeley, invite you to attend a lecture by Dr. Galina Belova, Center for Egyptological Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The Mystery of the White Wall: New Discoveries at Memphis
Sunday, October 13, 3 pm Room 20 Barrows Hall UC Berkeley Campus
(Near the intersection of Bancroft Way and Barrow Lane)
About the Lecture:
In 2001 the Center for Egyptological Studies of the Russian Academy of Science (CESRAS) was granted permission by the Supreme Council of Anqituities to explore the northern part of the site of Memphis. The Russian concession includes three areas: Kom Tuman, Tell Aziziya and Kom Dafbaby. During the 2015 excavation of Kom Tuman, a massive defensive wall was discovered. This structure, 8 meters wide, was coated on both sides with a limestone-base plaster averaging 5 cm in thickness that appeared dazzling white in the sun. Our speaker has come to the conclusion that this is the wall referred to as "white" in the written sources, and that Kom Tuman could be the site of the ancient capital named The White Walls. Her lecture will present the recent results of CESRAS excavations in Memphis, and what they suggest about the area over time. About the Speaker:
Galina A. Belova graduated from the Faculty of History of the Moscow State Pedagogical University in 1972. In 1975 she entered the postgraduate studies of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences with a degree in Ancient World History (Egyptology). In 1978 she defended her PhD thesis on "Formation of the Administration in Nubia (3000-1200 BC)." In 1995 Belova got her doctorate in historical sciences, defending her thesis on "Ancient Egypt and Neighboring African Countries."
She currently heads the Russian archaeological missions in Memphis, Deir el Banat, and Luxor.
She was the director of the Centre for Egyptological Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (CESRAS) from 2000 to 2017 and is now the scientific director of CESRAS. She was co-director of the Russian-Dutch and Russian-German expeditions to Tell Ibrahim Awad between 1995 and 2001 and at the tomb TT320, the so-called "Royal Cache," between 1998 and 2005. Belova also participated in the activities of the Working Group "Informatics and Egyptology" of the International Association of Egyptologists.
She is the editor of the "The Secret Word of the East" series and the editor-in-chief of the journal "Egypt and Surrounding World" (in Russian).
Lectures are free and open to the public. Donations are welcomed.
Parking is available in UC lots after 5 p.m. on weekdays and all day on weekends for a fee. Ticket dispensing machines accept either $5 bills or $1 bills, and debit or credit cards. The Underhill lot can be entered from Channing way off College Avenue. Parking is also available in lots along Bancroft, and on the circle drive in front of the Valley Life Sciences building.
Egyptologist Zahi Hawass held a book signing on Thursday at the Nile Ritz-Carlton in Cairo for "Asrar Masr" (Secrets of Egypt), a book he authored about the tourist sites of Egypt such as Luxor's Valley of the Kings and Fayoum's Wadi El-Hitan. The book also tells about Egyptian streets, churches, mosques and coffeeshops from the Islamic and Coptic eras.
Hawass said at the event that the book contains ten chapters full of his memories and adventures with the monuments over his career and a full description of the tourist sites of Egypt, along with maps of several sites.
In June, he signed the book at a celebration in the United States after delivering several lectures on ancient Egyptian civilizations at the Houston Museum of Natural Science in Texas. The lectures were attended by 600 persons.
Hawass pointed out that the government unveiled the newly discovered 2,500-year-old mummy of a high priest in Minya in April, demonstrating that Egypt still contains several un-excavated antiquities.
Hawass invited Minister of Antiquities Khaled al-Anani, Ex-Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni, Ex-Minister of Antiquities Mohamed Ibrahim, Ex-Minister of Electricity Hassan Younes, Artists Hussein Fahmy and Yehia El Fakharany, Ex-President of Ahly Club Mahmoud Taher, and Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Mostafa Waziri to attend the Ritz-Carlton signing.
Artists Wafa Salem and Ahmed Shaker, Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Antiquities Museum Hussein Abdel Basser, Professor of Egyptian Antiquities at Cairo University Ahmed Badran, the French and US Ambassadors, President of the American University in Cairo (AUC), and several ministers and ambassadors of Arab and other foreign countries also attended the celebration.
Hawass was listed by National Geographic as an Explorer in Residence, and was also included among the world's Top 100 Most Influential People for the year 2005 by TIME Magazine. In 2008, he was notably granted the position of Goodwill Ambassador to Japan by the Egyptian and Japanese Ministries of Foreign Affairs.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The gilded coffin of a high-ranking ancient Egyptian priest, which had been buried, looted and illegally sold before going on public display at a New York museum, was returned on Wednesday to Egyptian authorities.
The Gold Coffin of Nedjemankh is displayed during a news conference to announce its return the the people of Egypt in New York City, U.S., September 25, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
The coffin of Nedjemankh, which dates back to the first century B.C., came to New York two years ago by way of a global art underground network before being sold to an unwitting Metropolitan Museum of Art for $4 million, authorities said.
"Thus far our investigation has determined that this coffin is just one of hundreds of antiquities stolen by the same multinational trafficking ring," Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said at a repatriation ceremony.
"So, you may well see a few more significant seizures," he added.
Vance credited his office's two-year-old Antiquities Trafficking Unit with untangling a web of forged documents to track down the coffin's true origin.
The unit focuses on the high-powered New York art world, with its museums, galleries and auction houses, much the same as the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Art Crime Team does on a national scale.
The highly ornamented coffin had been buried in Egypt for 2,000 years before it was stolen from the country's Minya region after the political upheaval of October 2011, authorities said. From there, it went on an underworld odyssey through the United Arab Emirates, Germany, France and New York, they said.
After it had been on display for six months, agents for the district attorney's office presented the Metropolitan Museum with evidence early this year that its ownership history documents, including one that suggested the coffin had been exported from Egypt in 1971, were forgeries.
The museum announced last February that it had been defrauded when it bought the coffin and was cooperating with the district attorney's investigation.
The coffin, which is inscribed with the name Nedjemankh, a priest of the ram-headed god Heryshef of Herakleopolis, will now go back to Egypt where it will be put on display next year, Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Hassan Shoukry said.
"This is not only for Egyptians but this is for our common human heritage and our sense that we all share in the values and we all are one of the same international family," Shoukry said at the repatriation ceremony.
Reporting by Peter Szekely; Editing by Sandra Maler
Even for Egyptian royalty, the afterlife was bring-your-own-beef.
To prepare royals for their transition to the afterlife, ancient Egyptians preserved their corpses with ointments and other treatments before wrapping them in linen. Sometimes, they repeated this sacred process with their beef.
Gallery 109 in New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art is home to a 3,500-year-old, custom-made food vessel—a "beefcase," if you will—that likely accompanied the young prince Amenemhat to his final resting place. The mummified cow's shoulder excavated from a pharaonic site near Luxor, Egypt, is one of many "meat mummies" found nestled alongside the remains of high-born Egyptian figures. According to NPR, Tutankhamun was buried with multiple cases that housed joints from poultry and beef.
CAIRO – 17 September 2019: Acclaimed archaeologist Zahi Hawass has finished the script for Tutankhamun Opera, set to debut in the opening ceremony of the Grand Egyptian Museum in late 2020.
Hawass announced that one of the most important scenes in Tutankhamun Opera revolves around Nefertiti's attempt to kill Tutankhamun and snatch the throne for one of her six daughters.
Composed by Zamboni, the opera's score will be completed this December, according to Hawass.
Hawass added that November 4, 2022 will be the centenary of the discovery of Tutankhamun tomb, who is an important king to the whole world not Egypt only.
Hawass stated that the DNA tests will reveal a lot of information about the death of Tutankhamun and that he will announce to the whole world in 2020 how the golden king died.
Hawass said in an interview with Italia 1 Channel that the temporary exhibition of King Tutankhamun currently on display at the Grande Halle La Villette in Paris broke the records of turnout of the French cultural exhibitions.
It is the most visited exhibition in France, where the total number of registered visitors so far has reached 1.5 million, as recounted by Hawass.
In his interview with the Italian channel, Hawass revealed a number of important facts about the family of the Golden Pharaoh, announcing that his father is King Akhenaten and that the mummy of his mother is located at tomb number 35 where the grandmother of Tutankhamun, Tiye, was buried.
Hawass added that Tutankhamun was suffering from lack of blood reaching the feet, flatfoot and malaria.
Tutankhamun was born in the 18th Dynasty, around 1341 B.C., and was the 12th pharaoh of that period.
Tutankhamun did not accomplish much himself; he was placed on the throne when he was a child, and Egypt's prosperous era was beginning to decline with the rise of Pharaoh Akhenaten and his new cult.
Sir Howard Carter, British archaeologist and Egyptologist, had made it his life's quest to find the tomb of King Tutankhamun.
When Carter had begun to work in Egypt in 1891, most of the documented Pharaohs had their tombs discovered. One, however, proved to be elusive; King Tutankhamun, whose resting place had yet to be found and who Egyptologists knew very little about.
With the end of World War I, Carter made it his goal to be the first to uncover the tomb of Tutankhamun. Carter had worked in Egypt for 31 years since he was 17, using his skills as an artist to copy inscriptions from walls.
He would then become appointed inspector-general of monuments in Upper Egypt. In 1907, he started to work for George Herbert, the fifth earl of Carnarvon, who would aid him in his quest to uncover the lost tomb of Tutankhamun.
Carter was certainly dedicated, spending massive amounts of money and time in order to track down where the tomb might lie.
With Lord Carnarvon as his sponsor, he began working earnestly at excavating the Valley of Kings. Alas, even after five years of work, Carter wasn't able to report back on anything substantial.
He refused to give up however, tirelessly working to fulfil his quest, and soon enough, Carter would be rewarded beyond his imagination.
The discovery of steps beneath the sand on November 1, 1922 was a breakthrough for Carter. At long last, his tireless search for Tutankhamun would finally bear fruit.
Carter announced the discovery on November 6, and it took three weeks until he could begin work on excavating into the tomb.
Workers exposed all of the steps and the sealed doorway into the tomb, which at one point had been broken in by tomb robbers but resealed again, leading to hope that the contents had not been plundered.
Carter finally entered on November 25, finding evidence of resealed holes but noting that it had likely been thousands of years since anyone had entered again.
When Carter made a hole inside the sealed door and peeked inside, he was left astounded. Gold flooded his senses, and animal statues, rich perfumes, piles of ebony, childhood toys and the Pharaoh himself adorned the room alongside countless other treasures.
It was a bounty of riches the likes of which had never been seen before. Carter couldn't have anticipated this finding in his wildest dreams.
CAIRO - 19 September 2019: Ever wondered if you can go out to a nice, fun outing without bearing too much costs? An annual event that happens only once a year might be the right answer for you.
A few events are taking place where you can go with friends or family, and enjoy some classy forms of art that offer sublimity to the soul:
The International Samaa' Festival for Spiritual Music & Chanting in its 12th edition will take place with the participation of more than twenty bands from different countries of the world in the period from September 21 - 26.
The opening ceremony will be staged on Bir Youssef Theater in Salah el Din Citadel at 8 pm. Admission is allowed starting at 6 pm, free of charge during all the days of the festival. All you need is your transportation money, if any!
On Sunday, September 22nd, the largest international carnival will be held with the participation of almost all countries in Al-Moez Street, starting at 4 pm in front of Bab el-Fotouh.
On Monday (Sept. 23), Tuesday (Sept. 24) and Wednesday (Sept. 25) numerous events will be held at 8 pm in Bir Youssef theater in Salah El-Din Citadel, Al-Moez Street, Al-Ghoury Dome at the end of Al-Azhar Bridge in Al-Ghouria, Al-Hanager Square inside the Opera House, and at 6 pm at the Freedom Park at the end of Kasr El-Nile Bridge. The sublimity of the Complex of Religions
Also on September 25, the Forum of Religions will be held with the participation of several countries. It will be held at 8 pm at the Coptic Museum in the Complex of Religions in Masr el Kadima district, in front of Mar Girgis Metro Station.
The closing ceremony of the events will be held at Bir Youssef Theater in Salah el Din Citadel on Sept. 26 at 8 pm, with the participation of several countries. The Magic of Salah el Din Citadel - Pinterest This festival is targeting all family members, specializing events and commodities for all ages. In Salah el Din Citadel, there will be a heritage market for traditional and handicraft products from the governorates of Egypt, as well as an exhibition of traditional handicrafts. Beauty of El Moez Str. A global festival attended by thousands of audiences. Because it is completely free-of-charge, the festival imposes the first arriving - first entry way because the capacity of the place is suitable for only about 4,000 individuals. The festival is a great way to spend some quality time with the family and is completely free of charge. Make sure you don't miss it!
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.
"Since I grew up in the vicinity of [El-Kurru], the work in the archaeological site itself makes me feel closer not just to the past of childhood, but to the ancient past," he says.
The ancient royal cemetery of El-Kurru, with the modern town of El-Kurru and the Nile in the background. Courtesy Kate Rose
Recently, Mahajoub has offered his local knowledge to researchers from the University of Michigan on the International Kurru Archaeological Project, which has conducted some of the most extensive work there since the site was first excavated a century ago by American archaeologist George Reisner. El-Kurru consists of pyramid tombs from the seventh and eighth centuries B.C., as well as a pyramid and rock-cut temple built a few hundred years later. On those later structures, the team has documented nearly 1,000 individual carved graffiti spanning hundreds of years—some ancient Kushite, some more recent Christian, and all made as a form of worship.
"The more I know the historical facts about the site," Mahajoub says, "the more I get attached to it."
Some of the graffiti are merely scratched into the stone, while others are more sophisticated, almost like bas-relief. Many depict animals, means of transportation, and overt religious symbols. Some of the most common are merely gouged holes, which the archaeologists speculate were made to grind the temple's stone and ingest it for spiritual and medicinal purposes.
The funerary temple and the largest pyramid at El-Kurru. Courtesy Geoff Emberling
"It could be that it was just easy to do, and you were making a sign that you were there," says Suzanne Davis, head of conservation at the University of Michigan's Kelsey Museum, "but there are also beliefs now in Sudan and parts of Egypt that if you consume part of the stone from an ancient, powerful monument, that it well help you." As for the images, they would not have been easy to make, which, according to Geoff Emberling, an archaeologist with the University of Michigan who supervised the excavations, makes them all the more significant.
"Ancient images were carved and viewed in an environment where there were many fewer images than we're used to seeing," he says. "They were potent in part due to their scarcity."
The earliest of the graffiti are carved on the temple, date to around the time it was built, in the fourth century B.C., and depicted Egyptian and Kushite motifs. The later Christian works were carved into the other structure, the pyramid, by pilgrims during the early medieval period, around the 9th or 10th centuries, near the time when the structure collapsed, centuries after the decline of the Kingdom.
A graffito of a chicken facing two leaping horses in the temple of El-Kurru. Suzanne Davis and Janelle Batkin-Hall / CC BY-SA 4.0
In ancient Kush, Emberling says, an image of something—archers, giraffes, and vipers, symbols of the underworld—could invoke its presence, "a magical quality." Some of the older images bear a resemblance to Egyptian gods and folklore, since the Egyptians once conquered Kush (and later, Kush conquered Egypt right back). The Christian iconography offers clear interpretations: numerous boats (which may indicate how the pilgrims arrived) and monograms that stand for certain saints and other Christian figures. Following the collapse of the Kushite empire in the fourth century, local kings had adopted Christianity. The Christian symbols then may have been learned from missionaries from the north. In any case, Emberling says, the fact that both traditions are present at a single place helps clarify the importance and history of the site.
Vast temple complexes and burial grounds like these typically are windows into the lives and deaths of the rich and powerful; the El-Kurru graffiti, on the other hand, reveals something about everyone else, including how they expressed their beliefs.
"Not only are these marks of a mobile population, a cattle culture," says Emberling, "but they're also the direct testimony of people who are not the elite."
One of the numerous boats on the pyramid walls, likely made by a Christian pilgrim. Suzanne Davis, Janelle Batkin-Hall, Bruce Williams / CC BY-SA 4.0
Photographs of the etchings are on view at the University of Michigan's Kelsey School of Archaeology through March 2020. Davis hopes the exhibition shows visitors—almost all of whom will never visit El-Kurru—a different side of a civilization that thrived for hundreds of years."If you look at what other museums have in their galleries from Kush, you'll see really fancy things that belonged to kings," she says. "It would be like learning everything about the United Kingdom from what's inside Buckingham Palace."
El-Kurru is far, far from Ann Arbor, but this increasingly complex story of ancient Kush is being told there as well.
"I am excited about the visitor center, which the team is working to establish in my village," says Mahajoub. "It will provide a broader understanding of the site for the visitors, the local heritage of the village, and will help in the development of the village."
Part of the transferred artifacts - ET 
