In 2011, photographer Christopher Michel chanced upon an online course about ancient Egypt and signed up. What was intended to be a diversion led, some six years later, to a voyage of 8,509 miles, to the orange deserts of Sudan.
Although it's less famous than the grouping of pyramids at Giza in Egypt, the complex at Meroë in Sudan is remarkable. More than 200 pyramids, primarily dating from 300 B.C. to A.D. 350, mark the tombs of royalty of the Kingdom of Kush, which ruled Nubia for centuries. They are recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, yet they remain relatively unknown. The Nubian pyramids differ from Egyptian ones: They are smaller—20 to 90 feet on a side, compared with the Great Pyramid's 756 feet—with much steeper sides, and most were built two thousand years after those at Giza.
"When I thought of pyramids, I thought about the Great Pyramids of Giza," says Michel. "I hadn't known that Egypt had significantly influenced the Kushite Kingdoms of Nubia to the south—and that over 3,000 years, the Nubians would adopt aspects of Egyptian language, religion, and technology. While the ancient Egyptians basically abandoned pyramids for hidden tombs, the Nubians continued to use pyramids."
The endless Sudanese desert near the pyramid field of Meroë.
For an archaeological site of such significance, Michel found Meroë to be remarkably tourist-free—no doubt due to the warnings about travel in Sudan. As a precaution, he bought a satellite phone and registered with the U.S. State Department. "It turned out to all be completely unnecessary," he says. "The Sudanese people couldn't have been kinder or more hospitable."
Most of Michel's time in Sudan was spent camping and visiting archaeological sites. "It was pretty rough going—blazing desert heat, blowing sand, and millions of very, very annoying gnats. But completely worth it," he says. "Sunrises and sunsets over red, wind-sculpted sand dunes engulfing vast pyramid complexes. And almost no tourists. Just the occasional villagers or desert nomads living very traditional lives amidst ancient, yet advanced, artifacts of another time."
Michel traveled with renowned Egyptologist Bob Brier, known as "Mr. Mummy," for the experiment in which he mummified a modern human cadaver. Atlas Obscura chatted with Michel about his experience and the particular thrill of retracing the steps of ancient rulers.
What did it feel like to stand in such an ancient setting, surrounded by pyramids?
Honestly, it felt like I had been transported back 2,000 years. These ancient places haven't been commercialized. It's just you, desert, and history—and the occasional camel, who wander unbothered through the deserts.
Sand dunes consistently threaten to cover the pyramids. All Photos: Christopher MichelThe steep, smaller Nubian pyramids differ significantly from their Egyptian counterparts.
Did Bob Brier tell you any unusual or surprising stories about Meroë?
Archaeologist, explorers, and treasure hunters have been digging around the Meroë complex for over a thousand years. Almost all the Nubian pyramids have been plundered by tomb raiders looking for treasure—sadly causing significant damage to these sites over the years. Bob shared the story of a treasure hunter and doctor, Giuseppe Ferlini, who blew up more than 40 tombs looking for valuables in the 1830s. At the time, no one thought it was a problem. Hard to believe.
Workers are constantly digging sand from around the pyramids to keep the desert at bay.A few of pyramids look new because they have been reconstructed.
You've photographed in some interesting and remote locations. What stood out to you about your experience in Sudan?
I have one very specific memory of visiting a deep desert well. Above the well was a wooden frame and rusted pulley—and there was a large nomadic family there collecting water. A young girl was leading two donkeys that pulled the bucket from the well. Twenty or so camels fought to drink the well water that was poured into a wooden trough. Nearby the pulley was a rusted, wrecked electric motor. In remote Sudan, the old ways are the ones that work. I imagine that the lives of these people may not be much different than those of their ancestors who watched those pyramids being built. In Sudan, the past is alive.
Nomadic life at a well.Sudan's color palette: blue and orange.Local villagers are offer camel rides for the right price.
What precautions do you have to take with your equipment when you're photographing in a desert, in the heat and the sand?
I brought two cameras—a Fuji X-Pro2 and a Mamiya 7II medium-format film camera. There was a dust storm almost every day. And that Sudanese sand is some of the finest, most invasive sand in the world. The trusty Mamiya delivered for the whole trip. But, although I kept my Fuji covered most of the time, the sand absolutely destroyed that camera. Badly enough that it just stopped working altogether, and was buried in Sudan. One day, some future archaeologist will find that camera and start looking for the bones of the photographer.
A close look at the differences between the reconstructed and original pyramids.Red sandstorms blend sky and land.
Liverpool's World Museum opens doors of its new Ancient Egypt gallery
May 3, 2017 - 14:34 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Liverpool's World Museum opened the doors of its new Ancient Egypt: A journey through time gallery, revealing one of the UK's most significant collections of ancient Egyptian and Nubian antiquities, Art Daily reports.
The gallery has trebled in size to create the biggest ever display area for its ancient Egypt collection. At 1,000 square metres, it is the UK's largest ancient Egypt gallery outside of the British Museum.
The new, enhanced gallery sees around 1,000 key objects displayed including many items that have never been on public display before such as a recently identified statue part of Nefertiti and two mummy masks, including one with a magnificent representation of the vulture goddess Nekhbet, her wings outstretched and patterned. Also new on display are Djed-hor's Book of the Dead and a brightly painted coffin belonging to a man named Haty from 8th century BC Thebes. The coffin comes from the collection of Sir Robert Mond of Wigan, an industrial chemist whose chief hobby was Egyptian archaeology.
Also new on display, and displayed for the first time, is a reassembled Predynastic burial (3200 BC), discovered in the desert sand in 1906 by John Garstang of the University of Liverpool. This better reflects how approximately 90% of people relied on sand to bring decomposition to a halt, as mummification was a skilled and time-consuming process which most could not afford.
The larger gallery also gives space to redisplay objects that were damaged in 1941 when World Museum was bombed in the Blitz. A number of objects are on display for the first time in 76 years, after the Second World War, including several mummies and artefacts from the royal city of Meroe in northern Sudan, borrowed by the Louvre Museum in 2010 for an exhibition about ancient Egypt's southern neighbours, the Kushites.
The extended gallery also sees the reopening of World Museum's Mummy Room for the first time in 150 years. With a total of ten mummies on display, this is the UK's largest display of mummies outside of the British Museum, and double the number of mummies on display at the Museum previously.
The atmospheric Mummy Room houses nine mummies, four of which are being displayed for the first time after the Museum Blitz of 1941 - a female temple musician called Ankh-es-en-aset; a woman called Ta-enty who was buried in her bedsheets; a teenage woman whose name remains unknown to us, and a priest from Abydos called Hor-wen-nefer.
There is an additional mummy in the main gallery, the mummy of Nesmin, who served as a priest in the temple of the male fertility god Min 2,300 years ago. Recent CT scans revealed Nesmin died from a fall. The mummy and coffins were previously owned by Sir Rider Haggard, author of King Solomon's Mines.
Steve Judd, Director of World Museum, said: "Our mummy collection is world-renowned and has always proved to be incredibly popular with visitors of all ages.
"Until now, space restrictions have limited us from showing the full scope of our collections. By expanding the gallery, we look forward to wowing visitors with never-before seen objects displayed in new and exciting ways."
World Museum's ancient Egypt collection has been amassed over more than 150 years. The gallery takes visitors on a journey spanning 5,000 years of history from the time of the first settlers in the Nile Valley through to the impact of the Roman Empire. The collections are presented in seven themes: 5,000 Years; Collection Highlights; River Nile; People of Egypt; African Kingdoms; Afterlife; and the Mummy Room. Visitors can find out about Liverpool's long connection to excavations in Egypt and Sudan, and how thousands of artefacts made their way into the Museum.
In Victorian times Liverpool's Egyptian collection was the largest after the British Museum and was displayed in the main hall of the Museum. In the May Blitz of 1941, more than 3,000 Egyptian objects were destroyed when the Museum was hit by an incendiary bomb. The collection increased in size over the following 40 years, with 10,000 new acquisitions. The dedicated gallery that opened in 1976 was modest, with just two mummies on display, and improvements to the gallery in 2008 allowed a further three mummies to be brought out of storage.
Archaeologists working at the ancient Egyptian site of Dahshur recently discovered a lost pyramid. The pyramid dates approximately to 1800 BCE, corresponding to the thirteenth dynasty of Egypt's Old Kingdom. Only below-ground sections were discovered, the actual pyramid part of the structure having long since vanished. Which raises an interesting question: how does a pyramid get lost?
There's no ready answer, but pyramids often met sticky ends. According to medical physicist Kurt Mendelssohn's theory, which he published in The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology in the 1970s, there was a period of experimentation in pyramid building techniques during the reign of King Sneferu, and mid-construction collapses informed many of the choices that were made. At Meidum, about 50km from Dahshur, Sneferu tried to cut corners by adding sides to a previously existing step pyramid. It was a rush job, and at some point, disaster struck. The addition collapsed, leaving the original step pyramid surrounded by a ring of rubble.
Engineers addressed the problem on the fly, reducing the slope of the sides to prevent collapse.
Sneferu pressed on with a new pyramid. Everything started off well, but at some point during construction serious structural flaws emerged. Sneferu's engineers addressed the problem on the fly, reducing the slope of the sides to prevent collapse. The result is known as the Bent Pyramid, which mostly resembles a pyramid until it abruptly starts leveling off about 2/3 of the way up. (Mendelssohn theorized that this might have been a reaction to what happened at Meidum.) Finally, Sneferu perfected his technique with the Red Pyramid, a true, smooth-sided pyramid just north of the Bent Pyramid.
But pyramids faced other threats besides poor engineering. Huge blocks of stone are very useful but take a lot of effort to make and transport. As a result, a huge pyramid full of usable stone was not left alone for long. According to University College London Egyptologist Barbara Gilli, later rulers would appropriate the stones for their own construction, but local residents also routinely used pyramids and temple buildings as quarries. Nor was it just stone; rulers often recycled statues and other artwork by simply chiseling off the previous owner's name and adding their own. Particularly efficient tomb builders simply renamed the entire monument, something which may have occurred in the newly discovered pyramids.
In the end, it isn't too hard to imagine a ruined pyramid being completely scavenged for usable materials. The pyramids of Sneferu and the better known Great pyramids at Giza, while robbed of facing stones and valuables, still stand in part because, (weird shapes aside), they were so well built that the effort required to fully dismantle them rivals the immense effort it took to put them up. Over time, that effort was impossible to sustain and later pyramids, such as the new one, were poorly built. By around 1500 BCE, pharaohs abandoned troublesome pyramids altogether and opted for more discreet underground tombs.
ISIS grip on Egypt's northern Sinai widens, seeks to impose Islamist rule
By REUTERS
May 2, 2017 14:22
The Islamic State's widening geographical reach and shift in focus present a challenge for President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
An Egyptian army soldier looks on from his postion at a checkpoint in Al Arish city, the troubled northern part of the Sinai peninsula. (photo credit:REUTERS)
ARISH, Egypt - One Monday in early April, Shaher Saeed was driving south of the city of Arish in Egypt's North Sinai when he came upon a group of Islamic State militants who had stopped a truck carrying cigarettes.
"I saw them forcing the driver from the vehicle and stripping the upper part of his clothing before tying him to the door of one of their cars," said Saeed, who lives in the area. "They hit him on the back more than 10 times, then burned all the cartons of cigarettes ... They let him go after warning him not to trade cigarettes again."
Interviews with residents of North Sinai and reviews of Islamic State videos suggest the group's local affiliate, known as Sinai Province, is seeking to impose its hardline interpretation of Islam on the local populace for the first time. According to Sinai Province videos reviewed by Reuters, the group has created a morality police force, known as a Hisba, to enforce strict rules against such behavior as smoking, men shaving their beards or women exposing their faces.
Coupled with a sharp increase in attacks on Christians inside and outside its predominant area of operations in North Sinai, the developments mark a significant change of tactics for Egypt's Islamic State affiliate. Previously, the group had mostly attacked police, soldiers and their informants.
The group's widening geographical reach and shift in focus present a challenge for President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who came to power in 2013 vowing to eradicate Islamist extremism and restore security. Despite government crackdowns that have seen hundreds of militants and protesters killed and thousands jailed, Islamic State is still mounting deadly attacks in Egypt.
The developments reflect how Islamic State is expanding operations in the Arab world's most populous country as the extremist group faces setbacks in Syria, Iraq and Libya, say analysts. While the group has failed to capture territory in Egypt, it is trying to stoke sectarian tensions and social unrest. An examination of what's happening in North Sinai, a region rarely accessible by reporters, shows the strategy is scoring some success.
A 25-minute video posted in late March on an internet channel often used by Islamic State showed jihadists announcing the creation of a Hisba in North Sinai, modeled on religious police units operating in parts of Iraq and Syria controlled by Islamic State. The video denounced Christians and Sufi Muslims, and showed enforcers, wearing jackets identifying them as Sinai Province Hisba, burning confiscated cigarettes and drugs and destroying tombs and shrines, which they consider un-Islamic.
In the video, an unmasked young militant warns that the Hisba will punish dissenters according to its interpretation of Islam. Enforcers are shown hitting one man with plastic tubing and beheading two elderly adherents of Sufi Islam, accusing them of sorcery and apostasy. Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the video, which has since been removed from the internet.
Egypt's military spokesman declined to comment on the incidents in North Sinai, the thinly populated but strategic peninsula between the Suez Canal, Israel and Gaza where a legacy of government neglect has created fertile ground for radicalisation among disenfranchised locals. A security source downplayed concerns that the militants were capable of spreading the kind of sectarian violence that has torn apart Iraq.
"They are trying to have an impact, and we are not saying we have completely eradicated them, but they are weak," he said.
The latest shift in militants' tactics began in December, when an Islamic State suicide bomber killed 28 people at the main Coptic Christian cathedral in the heart of the capital Cairo. In February, Sinai Province declared in another video its intent to wipe out Egypt's Christians, who account for about 10 percent of the 92 million population.
Christians have long faced sporadic attacks in Egypt, usually sparked by disputes over land, church-building or inter-religious love affairs. But the murder of seven Christians in North Sinai in the three weeks from Jan. 30 was different, more systematic and more insidious, officials and rights groups said at the time. About 175 families fled the area. Some of them told Reuters that hit lists of local Christians had been circulated online and pushed under doors.
Last month, Islamic State militants killed at least 45 people in two church bombings on Palm Sunday, prompting Sisi to declare a state of emergency.
Mokhtar Awad, research fellow in the Program on Extremism at George Washington University, said the new campaign against Christians was an effort to tear at the fabric of society and state when other means had failed. "A confluence of factors has seen this escalation happen now," he said. "They hope that this is the first step to basically unravel the country."
As well as launching attacks in major cities like Cairo, Alexandria and Tanta, where the church bombings took place, militants are ranging further afield inside North Sinai. Where fighting once centered around the cities of Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid, near the Gaza border, militants have carried out more attacks in and around Arish, the provincial capital about 52 km (32 miles) further west.
ABANDONED AND DESTROYED
Since 2014, when homegrown Sinai militant group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis pledged allegiance to Islamic State, Egypt has resorted to ever more destructive means to root out the jihadists. It has smashed a network of tunnels used to smuggle weapons in from Gaza; razed hundreds of homes to create a no-man's land; and mounted numerous air strikes. Those policies have prevented militants seizing territory, but at a high cost for locals.
In the stretch of highway that separates Sheikh Zuweid from Rafah lie about 14 villages. Eleven of them, say locals, are now abandoned. A Reuters reporter drove through three of the villages in October and saw empty streets, destroyed homes and orchards felled by the military to deprive militants of cover.
In the village of El Zahair, about half the residents had gone. Those who remained said they had little alternative.
"We live by planting the land near our house with tomatoes, beans, whatever and eating them. If I went to Arish, I have no money to rent a flat; and if I managed to find a flat, how would I find the money to eat?" said Suleiman Abu Hameed. "The security forces have besieged the terrorists but they have besieged us, too."
In the village of Moqataa near Sheikh Zuweid, mounds of rubble dotted the streets where houses once stood. Even buildings unscathed by the near-four-year-old war between Egypt's army and Sinai Province were abandoned.
Karam al-Zubeiydi, a former resident of Moqataa, works at the Arish post office earning 1,200 Egyptian pounds ($65.97) a month and has no immediate plans to return.
"At any moment, an air strike could kill me and my children" there, he said. The military had destroyed his olive trees, Zubeiydi said. "So I planted tomatoes, but then I couldn't get fuel for the engine that draws water from my well, so I couldn't live there."
Zubeiydi's children used to go school in Sheikh Zuweid, but it became too dangerous and time-consuming to send them, he said, because of the army and police checkpoints on the road. Many people who remain in the villages now educate their children at home, Zubeiydi added.
ROADBLOCKS
On some stretches of road between Sheikh Zuweid and Arish, a coastal city that once drew visitors to its beaches, army and police checkpoints are so close together that one can be seen from another.
To prevent car bombings and shootings, security forces place concrete barriers in zigzag formations or set up defense lines reinforced with sandbags. Some checkpoints force cars to take short detours off the main road. Such measures, however, have not stopped Islamic State fighters from setting up their own impromptu roadblocks, where they check IDs, tell women to cover up and carry out public punishments, locals say.
One female teacher said she was on her way from Arish to the school where she works in Rafah in late February when three masked Islamic State fighters stopped her bus. Two got on and advised the women to veil their faces and travel with chaperones, she told Reuters.
A few days later it happened again, she said. This time, the advice to wear the niqab, or face veil, came with a threat of punishment by lashings or acid attacks for those who refused. The teacher said she did not comply.
"The situation is difficult. People are scared," the teacher said. She declined to give her full name for fear of retaliation by Islamic State fighters, who have beheaded locals they accuse of going against their austere interpretation of Islam or of collaborating with Israel or Egyptian security forces. She was one of two female teachers who told Reuters that Islamic State fighters had boarded their buses.
Ibrahim al-Tadawy, the top Education Ministry official in North Sinai, said teachers were traveling as normal in ministry-organized buses from Arish to schools in Rafah. "North Sinai is secure and stable and the educational process is taking place as usual," he told Reuters by telephone.
Despite the tight security, residents of southern Rafah said Islamic State fighters had confiscated satellite dishes, and residents of Arish said a shop which sold videos and DVDs had been attacked. Reuters was unable to track down the owner of the shop, now closed.
The military spokesman declined to comment. The security source said the militants were unable to impose themselves on society.
"This is all nonsense," the source said. "They come out for two minutes and film two cars and say, 'We set up a checkpoint.' This was all for the media, for people like you to write things that bear no relation to the reality on the ground."
While the army has had some success in purging jihadists from the border areas, militants have resurfaced elsewhere, according to police and residents based in Arish. They say the militants have moved into the city and are now all around them, hiding among the civilian population.
"The places they were living no longer exist or now have a large security presence. Now they have started to come out of the streets in the city to attack us and then disappear among the people," said Badr Ali, a policeman at an Arish checkpoint. "The problem is that the people, if they spot the gunmen, are too scared to even point to them."
Mona Barhoum, a local rights activist from Rafah, said that while Islamic State's affiliated militants don't control the region, "they are present, they pop up like a jack-in-the-box, they kill or kidnap someone and go back into hiding."
Egypt: Relentless assault on rights of workers and trade unionists
Dozens of workers and trade unionists in Egypt have faced arrest, detention, dismissal from work or trials in military courts, merely for exercizing their freedom of expression, association and assembly, Amnesty International said in a statement published to mark Labour Day on 1 May.
Amid rising economic hardship in Egypt and a wave labour strikes in the private and public sector, as well as military-owned industries, the government is using a series of disciplinary measures and criminal sanctions to crack down on workers and trade unionists. It is also seeking to amend existing laws to further restrict labour rights.
"The Egyptian authorities have waged a punitive campaign against workers and trade unionists to deter and punish them from mobilizing or going on strike. Demanding your labour rights and expressing your grievances should not be a criminal offence. The right to strike and peaceful assembly are enshrined, both, in Egypt's Constitution and international human rights law. Egyptian authorities must stop punishing people for exercising and demanding their rights," said Najia Bounaim, Campaigns Director for North Africa at Amnesty International.
The Egyptian authorities have waged a punitive campaign against workers and trade unionists to deter and punish them from mobilizing or going on strike
Many workers have been arrested simply for taking part in a strike or a peaceful protest. Some have been held in pre-trial detention for prolonged periods or subject to restrictive probation measures. Just last week, 16 workers from the Telecom Egypt Company in Cairo and Giza were arrested for participating in a peaceful demonstration under Egypt's anti-protest law. They were released after solidarity protests.
In some cases disciplinary measures including pay cuts, suspension or dismissal from work are used to punish workers. At the state-run Zagazig University Hospital, 12 nurses were suspended after participating in a week-long strike in February 2017 during which the hospital provided only emergency services.
Workers in military-owned factories face additional risks as they can be subject to unfair trials at military courts,. Twenty five workers from the military-run Alexandria Shipyard Company are currently on trial before a military court. They have been charged with "inciting workers to strike", and could face up to two years in prison.
The authorities have also interfered with the functioning of independent workers unions, by targeting members with disciplinary action and by hampering their activities. The government has also proposed amendments to the Labour Law and Trade Unions Law that will make organizing strikes even more difficult and will make it virtually impossible to establish or join an independent trade union.
For more information about the labour rights situation in Egypt see the full statement here
A Spanish archaeological mission working in Draa Abul Naga necropolis on Luxor's West Bank has discovered a unique, almost 4000-year-old funerary garden, Mahmoud Afifi, head of Ancient Egyptian Antiquities, announced Wednesday.
This archaeological discovery confirms an aspect of ancient Egyptian culture and religion that was hitherto only known through iconography.
Afifi explained that the funerary garden was unearthed in the open courtyard of a rock cut-tomb of the Middle Kingdom.
The layout of the garden measures 3 x 2 meters and is divided into squares of about 30 cm.
These seem to have contained different kinds of plants and flowers. In the middle there are two elevated spots for a small tree or bush.
At one of the corners, the root and the trunk of a small, 4,000-year-old tree have been preserved to a height of 30 cm. Next to it, a bowl was found containing dates and other fruits, which could have been presented as an offering.
"The discovery of the garden may shed light on the environment and gardening in ancient Thebes during the Middle Kingdom, around 2000 BCE," Afifi said.
Jose Galan, head of the Spanish Mission and Research Professor at the Spanish National Research Council in Madrid, noted that on the walls of a number of New Kingdom tombs, a small squared garden is represented at the entrance of the funerary monument, with a couple of trees adjacent.
It probably had a symbolic meaning and must have played a role in funerary rites, Galen added.
Hani Abul Azm, head of the Central Administration for Antiquities of Upper Egypt, said the mission also announced that a small mud brick chapel (46 x 70 x 55 cm) was unearthed, attached to the façade. It is located near the entrance of the Middle Kingdom rock‐cut tomb.
Inside the chapel, three stelae of the 13th Dynasty, ca. 1800 BCE, were found in situ. The owner of one of them is called Renef Seneb and the owner of the other stela is "the citizen Khemenit, son of the lady of the house, Idenu". The latter mentions the gods Montu, Ptah, Sokar and Osiris.
"These discoveries underscore the relevance of the central area of Dra Abu el-Naga as a sacred place for the performance of a variety
of cultic activities during the Middle Kingdom," said Galan.
The Spanish mission has been working for 16 years in Draa Abul Naga, on the West Bank of Luxor, around the early 18th Dynasty rock‐cut tombs of Djehuty and Hery (ca. 1500-1450 BCE).
A holiday in Egypt is perfect if you're looking for a cheap package deal, usually to Sharm el Sheikh. But this year, why not try something different but still stay within your budget? Give Luxor a look and discover the ancient Egyptian capital, the sun-soaked banks of the River Nile and the many important temples and archaeological sites nearby.
Where is Luxor?
Luxor is a city in southern Egypt, on the banks of the River Nile. It's 500 kilometres south of Cairo, the capital of Egypt and it's largest city. Between 1500 to 1000 BC it was Egypt's most important city and the most respected rulers, including the famous King Tutankhamen, chose to be buried at the nearby Valley of the Kings. The city flourished, and many of the area's most important sites, including the Luxor and Karnak Temples, were built during this time.
Why is Luxor so popular?
Egypt has experienced a tough few years, but growing numbers of us Brits are booking flights to Luxor, partly due to an increase in the number of flights you can catch there - March alone saw the launch of four new flights from Europe to the ancient capital. It's also the Capital of Arab Culture for 2017. And then there's the mummies...There have been quite a few exciting recent discoveries: in March, the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities announced that scientists working in Luxor had discovered a statue of Queen Tiye, the grandmother of King Tutankhamen.
This ancient city, which hugs the banks of the River Nile, is often referred to as the world's biggest open-air museum. Its west bank is dotted with some of the oldest temples in Egypt and several of Egypt's most important archaeological sites, like the Valley of the Kings, are easily accessible on day trips from Luxor.
"While destinations like Sharm el Sheikh are fantastic beach resorts with great facilities for sun, sea and sand-seekers, Luxor is regarded as one of the world's largest open air-museums," explains Marlen Taffarello Godwin at Discover Egypt.
What to see and do in Luxor
The Temple Complex of Karnak is one of Luxor's most popular attractions. It's an enormous complex of three main temples dedicated to the Theban Gods, and includes a lake and the Avenue of the Sphinxes, which was once several kilometres long, and connected the complex to the Temple of Luxor. The Valley of The Kings, on the outskirts of the city, has over 60 tombs, including the resting place of Tutankhamen. The sprawling Luxor Temple, which dominates the city's downtown, and the Luxor Museum both deserve full-day visits if your looking for ways to escaping the sun. Other must-sees include the Temple of Deir el-Bahri, Medinet Habu (a beautifully-decorated temple on the Nile's western bank) and the Tombs of the Nobles - here you'll have more than 400 tombs to explore! A great way to get around between all of the ancient sites is on a Nile cruise. Discover Egypt offers a number of fantastic cruises, including ones which stop in Aswan and Cairo.
What's the weather like in Luxor?
The best time to go to Luxor is between March-April and October-November. The weather will still be warm but not stiflingly hot, and you'll avoid the largest crowds, which usually descend on Luxor in winter. Temperatures peak between May and September. Remember that a visit to Luxor usually involves a huge amount of time outside, wandering around vast temple complexes and walking from one historic tomb to another. In other words, pack PLENTY of sun cream, and try to book outside of both the hottest and coldest months, during the UK's spring and autumn.
How to get to Luxor
Getting to Luxor is easy. Flights from the UK go via Cairo, and can be booked with a number of airlines including Turkish Airlines and EgyptAir. The flight time from the UK to Cairo is just under five hours, and flights from Cairo to Luxor take just over an hour. The cost of flights from London to Luxor start at around £407 for flights with Egyptair. Wondering how to get to Luxor from the airport? It's just 10km away, and while most hotels in Luxor will organise a transfer, a cheaper option is to book with a transfer operator. You'll pay around £20* for a return trip in a private car, or £7 for shared coach ride. An even cheaper option is to book one of the official taxis touting for business outside the airport, but be prepared to barter hard. Most drivers will start by quoting a rate which is double what you should actually pay, so aim to reduce their initial quote by at least 40%.
Where to stay in Luxor
Some of Luxor's best hotels can be found on the banks of the River Nile. Anyone who's researched Luxor hotels online will find fantastic reviews of the Sofitel Winter Palace (from £77* per double room) a Victorian hotel with great views over the river. The Jolie Ville Kings Island Luxor (from £40 per single room) is on a small island, slightly away from the Luxor's centre, but if you book a room here, you'll be able to hop on the hotel's courtesy boat, which runs throughout the day. If you're looking for hotels in the centre of Luxor, opt for the Hilton Luxor Resort and Spa (from £124 per single room). You'll find a beautiful swimming pool at this five-star hotel in Luxor and you'll be just a short walk from the nearby ferry service to the Nile's tomb-dotted west bank. It's also a great option if you're searching for a hotel near the airport, as it's just a 10 minute drive away.
4 000-year-old model garden found outside Egypt tomb
AFP
A handout picture released by the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities on May 3, 2017, shows the remains of a nearly 4,000 year old model garden following its discovery at the Draa Abul Nagaa necropolis on the west bank of the Nile River in the southern city of Luxor. / AFP PHOTO / EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES MINISTRY / HO / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / HO / EGYPTIAN MINISTRY OF ANTIQUITIES" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS
It was found in an open courtyard outside a Middle Kingdom (2050 to 1800 BC) tomb.
Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a nearly 4 000-year-old model garden outside a tomb in the ancient Egyptian capital of Thebes, the antiquities ministry said on Wednesday.
The find was made by a Spanish team in the Draa Abul Nagaa necropolis across the Nile from the modern-day city of Luxor, the ministry said. The three metre by two metre (10 foot by seven foot) garden consists of equally divided square plots each about 30 centimetres (a foot) across.
It was found in an open courtyard outside a Middle Kingdom (2050 to 1800 BC) tomb. The garden "probably had a symbolic meaning and must have played a role in the funerary rites," the ministry cited the head of the Spanish team, Jose Galan, as saying.
"The like has never been found in ancient Thebes."
The ministry's head of ancient Egyptian antiquities, Mahmoud Afifi, said the tiny square plots seem to have each contained different species of plants and flowers.
"In the middle there are two elevated spots for a small tree or bush," the ministry cited him as saying.
"At one of the corners, the root and the trunk of a 4 000-year-old small tree have been preserved to a height of 30 centimetres (a foot).
"Next to it, a bowl was found containing dates and other fruits, which could have been presented as an offering."
In ancient Egypt, the dead were traditionally surrounded by objects they enjoyed in life, so they could continue to enjoy them in the afterlife. The team also discovered a small mud-brick temple attached to the tomb containing three stone slabs, one of which contained a dedication to the Egyptian gods Montu, Ptah, Sokar and Osiris.
The Draa Abul Naga necropolis is located near the famed Valley of the Kings, where many of the pharaohs, including Tutankhamun, were buried.
It is where a separate team of archaeologists found several 3 500-year-old mummies and more than 1 000 funerary statues in a discovery announced by the ministry last month.
Modern technology and research has restored an ancient Egyptian woman, Meritamun, creating a unique teaching tool for medicine and health science
By Andrew Trounson, University of Melbourne
Reconstructed from a mummified head dating back at least two millennia, the fine-featured ancient Egyptian face looks out from an artist's studio in the forested hills of rural Victoria.
Ancient Egypt has fascinated everyone from conquerors like Alexander the Great and Napoleon to movie directors chasing cursed mummies and lost treasures. That same fascination is now driving a unique research and teaching collaboration to test the limits of technology and learn all we can about an ancient Egyptian whose head has been preserved, largely unknown, for almost 100 years at the University of Melbourne.
It is a multi-disciplinary project with the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences that combines medical research, forensic science, computerised tomographic (CT) scanning, 3D printing, Egyptology and art. The team has already produced a reconstruction of the head of an 18 to 25-year-old woman who lived at least 2000 years ago that they named Meritamun, which means beloved of the god Amun. But her serene face is only the start of a journey to answer questions about how she may have died, what diseases she had, when she lived, where she was from, and even what she ate.
"The idea of the project is to take this relic and, in a sense, bring her back to life by using all the new technology," says Dr Varsha Pilbrow, a biological anthropologist who teaches anatomy at the University's Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience.
"This way she can become much more than a fascinating object to be put on display. Through her, students will be able to learn how to diagnose pathology marked on our anatomy, and learn how whole population groups can be affected by the environments in which they live."
Meritamun has been brought back to life using CT scanning, 3D printing, forensic science and art. Picture: Paul Burston.
The Curator
How and why the University of Melbourne has a mummified Egyptian head in the basement of its medical building is a mystery. It may well have been part of the collection of Professor Frederic Wood Jones (1879-1954) who before becoming head of anatomy at the University in 1930 had undertaken archaeological survey work in Egypt.
Treasure trove gathered from afar
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Meritamun is housed in a purpose-built archival container alongside rows of human specimens preserved in glass jars and formaldehyde solution at the Harry Brookes Allen Museum of Anatomy and Pathology, in the School of Biomedical Sciences. She lies face up, as she would have been buried. Even though she is covered in tightly wound bandages and blackened by oil and embalming fluid, her delicate features are clear.
"Her face is kept upright because it is more respectful that way," says museum curator Dr Ryan Jefferies, who wears plastic gloves as he reverently unties the box to show her. "She was once a living person, just like all the human specimens we have preserved here, and we can't forget that."
The genesis of the project was Dr Jefferies' concern that the head, whose origin remains a mystery, could be decaying from the inside without anyone noticing. Removing the bandages wasn't an option as it would have damaged the relic and further violated the individual who had been embalmed for the afterlife. But the scan revealed the skull to be in extraordinarily good condition. From there the opportunity to use technology to research the mystery of the head was one that was too good to resist. "The CT scan opened up a whole lot of questions and avenues of enquiry and we realised it was a great forensic and teaching opportunity in collaborative research," says Dr Jefferies, a parasitologist.
Meritamun was identified as ancient Egyptian by Dr Janet Davey, a forensic Egyptologist from Monash University who is based at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, where the head was scanned. She jumped at the opportunity to study the head further, and at the Institute she had a wealth of forensic expertise on which to call.
"There are not too many people I know who aren't interested in Egyptology and the mysteries of ancient Egypt, so when you need to tap into expertise there always seems to be someone prepared to give up their time for you," says Dr Davey, who habitually wears around her neck a gold pendant of Egyptian Queen Nefertiti.
Dr Davey determined Meritamun's gender from the bone structure of her face, identifying such markers as the smallness and angle of the jaw, the narrowness of the roof of her mouth, and the roundness of her eye sockets. But to be sure she had her conclusions confirmed by anthropologist Professor Caroline Wilkinson from Liverpool John Moores University in the UK. She is a world expert in facial reconstruction and made headlines when she restored the face of King Richard III, who was killed in battle in 1485.
Forensic Egyptologist Dr Janet Davey says the lure of ancient Egypt is great for encouraging research collaboration. Picture: Paul Burston.
Dr Davey guesses that Meritamun was probably about 162cm tall, given accepted thinking that ancient peoples were generally shorter than people today. If the researchers had bone from her arm, leg or even just her heel they could have established a more accurate estimate.
Dating her is also difficult. Meritamun has some significant tooth decay that conventional thinking would date her to Greco-Roman times when sugar was introduced after Alexander's conquest of Egypt in 331BC. But honey could also account for the decay. And while mummification was more accessible to Egyptians after Alexander's time, the fineness of the linen bandages suggest Meritamun was high status enough anyway to be embalmed at the earlier time of the Pharaohs.
"There is always a lot of mystery to unravel in forensic Egyptology and it is why it is so important to keep an open mind and follow the evidence," says Dr Davey.
She is now waiting on radiocarbon dating to give a better idea of when Meritamun lived, which Dr Davey says could be as long ago as c1500 BCE. Radiocarbon dating works by measuring the amount of organic carbon atoms that are left in a tissue sample. Since carbon atoms decay over time, the fewer carbon atoms there are in a sample, the older it is.
The Masters Student
University of Melbourne biomedical science masters student Stacey Gorski, under the supervision of Dr Pilbrow, is using forensic pathology to try to uncover how healthy Meritamun was and how she may have died.
Just from reading the CT scans Gorski has been able to see that in addition to two tooth abscesses, there are patches on the skull where the bone had pitted and thinned. It is a clear symptom of anaemia, which is a lack of red blood cells that starves the body of oxygen. The thinning occurs when the bone marrow swells as it goes into overdrive in an effort to produce more red blood cells.
In Meritamun's case, it may have been caused by malaria parasites such as malaria or the flatworm infection schistosomiasis, both of which would have been hazards in the Nile Delta in ancient times. "The fact that she lived to adulthood suggests that she was infected later in life," says Gorski. Nevertheless, the parasites and anaemia would have left her pale and lethargic at the end.
Stacey Gorski and her supervisor, Dr Varsha Pilbrow, with part of Meritamun's 3D printed skull. Picture: Paul Burston.
"Anaemia is a very common pathology that is found in bodies from ancient Egypt, but it usually isn't very clear to see unless you can look directly at the skull," says Gorski. "But it was completely clear from just looking at the images."
Without having the rest of Meritamun's body it will be impossible to know for sure how she died, but the anaemia could certainly have been a predisposing factor, as could the abscesses if they had become seriously infected.
Gorski is now working to find out what caused the anaemia. One possible way to find out would be to undertake a molecular analysis of a small tissue sample taken from her exposed neck in the hope of finding some DNA evidence of a parasite.
The 3D printed skull of Meritamun took 140 hours to print. Picture: Paul Burston.
But such DNA analysis, assuming any could be found, is expensive and beyond the project's budget. Instead, she plans to undertake what is called a "histological" study in which she will rehydrate a small tissue sample and use an electron microscope in the hope of finding evidence of diseases or parasites.
This is a long shot since such evidence is more likely to be found in organ tissue, but it is a chance to test new techniques and it may yet uncover other evidence.
Gorski is even hoping to deduce what Meritamun ate and where in Egypt she may have lived, by studying the carbon and nitrogen atoms present in a tissue sample. Different plants, including vegetables, fruit and grains, all produce different types of carbon and nitrogen atoms, known as isotopes.
By comparing the types of isotopes present Gorski may be able to determine Meritamun's broad diet. The results could theoretically place her in an area of Egypt that, for example, we know was more dependent on one crop compared to another.
The Imaging Technician
It took 140 hours of printing time on a simple consumer-level 3D printer to produce the skull that has been used to reconstruct Meritamun's face, not counting the tweaking and design work of the Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience's imaging technician Gavan Mitchell. Because the 3D printer builds from the bottom up and the print is always more detailed at the top, Mitchell has to print out the skull out in two sections to better capture the detail of the jaws and the base of the skull.
"It has been a hugely rewarding process to be able to transform the skull from CT data on a screen into a tangible thing that can be handled and examined," says Mitchell, who has a BSc majoring in scientific photography.
Being able to print out body parts and organs is opening a whole new use for the university's specimen collection. One of the best ways of producing a specimen that can be handled by students is by using plastination, which is a process in which the tissue fluid is replaced with a hard silicon resin. But CT scanning technology combined with 3D printing means that multiple copies of specimens can be reproduced for handling and study, including old rare specimens that display unusual forms of disease or damage.
"We can now replicate specimens with really interesting pathologies for students to handle and for virtual reality environments without ever touching the specimen itself," Mitchell says.
In her studio, sculptor Jennifer Mann recreates Meritamun
The Artist
The printed skull formed the base on which sculptor Jennifer Mann has used all her forensic and artistic skill to reconstruct Meritamun's face.
"It is incredible that her skull is in such good condition after all this time, and the model that Gavan produced was beautiful in its details," says Mann.
Mann learned the technique for facial reconstruction at the Forensic Anthropology Centre at Texas State University where she studied with leading forensic sculptor Karen T. Taylor. She practised on skull casts previously used in actual cases to reconstruct unidentified murder victims.
"It is really poignant work and extremely important for finally identifying these people who would otherwise have remained unknown."
It's estimated Meritamun was between18-25-years-old when she died. Picture: Paul Burston.
She cautions that any facial reconstruction can only be an approximation of what someone actually looked like in life, but the results she had at Texas closely matched those of the eventually identified murder victims.
The methodology involves attaching to the printed skull plastic markers to indicate different tissue depths at key points on the face, based on averages in population data. This data is derived from modern Egyptians and has been specifically selected by reconstruction experts from around the world as the best approximation for ancient Egyptians.
It was then about applying the clay according to the musculature of the face and known anatomical ratios based on the actual skull. For example, Meritamun's nose is squashed almost flat by the tight bandaging, but Mann was able to estimate what her nose would have looked like using calculations based on the dimensions of the nasal cavity. The skull also displays a small overbite that Mann has reconstructed. Meritamun's ears are based on the CT scan results.
Sculptor Jennifer Mann working on Meritamun in her studio. Picture: Paul Burston.
"I have followed the evidence and an accepted methodology for reconstruction and out of that has emerged the face of someone who has come down to us from so long ago. It is an amazing feeling."
The reconstruction was then cast in a polyurethane resin and painted. The researchers have taken a middle course in the long-running debate on what the predominant skin colour of ancient Egyptians may have been, choosing a dark olive hue. The finishing touch was to reconstruct her hair, which has been modelled on that of an Egyptian woman, Lady Rai, who lived around 1570-1530 BCE and whose mummified body is now in the Egypt Museum in Cairo. She wears her hair in tightly-plaited thin braids either side of her head. For the Meritamun reconstruction, replicating Lady Rai's hair was an all-day job for a Melbourne African hair salon.
Restoring identity
For the ancient Egyptians, mummification was about preserving the body so that the dead person's spirit could find it again and secure everlasting life in the hereafter, while in this life their name could be preserved on their tombs. Tragically for the mummified head at the University of Melbourne, her name was lost long ago, but the researchers feel that by giving her a name and restoring her face they have gone someway to making up for what happened to her.
As Dr Davey says, "by reconstructing her we are giving back some of her identity, and in return she has given this group of diverse researchers a wonderful opportunity to investigate and push the boundaries of knowledge and technology as far as we can go".
Lauren Greig, CT Business Manager at Siemens Australia and New Zealand, has provided vital support for the project. Dr Janet Davey was assisted by Monash University PhD candidate Samantha Rowbotham. The following have also contributed generously to this research: Dr Chris O'Donnell and Dr Richard Bassett from the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine; Professor Caroline Wilkinson from Liverpool John Moores University; Mary Asamoah from the African Queen Hair Salon; Lora Collins from the Smithsonian Institution; Kristina Scheelen from University of Gottingen; Rodney Broad, Malmsbury; Karen T. Taylor and the Forensic Anthropology Centre, Texas State University; and from University of Melbourne Associate Professor Chris Briggs, Marica Mucic, Holly Jones-Amin, Dr Andrew Jamieson,Dr Louise van der Werff, Ben Loveridge, Dr Rita Hardiman, Dr Ross Jones and Ben Kruenen.
Banner Image: Meritamun. Sculpture: Jennifer Mann. Picture: Paul Burston
