- TODO SOBRE EL CAT REALIZADO A LA MOMIA DE TUTANJAMON (TUTANKHAMON) -

- VER ADEMÁS FOTOGRAFÍAS NUEVAS Y ANTIGUAS DE LA MOMIA DE TUTANJAMON -

25/02/05
- La embajada egipcia recupera antigüedades robadas de Época predinástica -
Egyptian embassy retrieves stolen antiquities
The Egyptian Embassy in London yesterday received seven pieces of antiquities that date back to the pre-dynasty era from Bonham after intensive contacts with the British authorities and the auction hall officials. Egyptian Ambassador in London Gihad Madi said these pieces were stolen from the museum of the Cairo University, Faculty of Arts in 2002, adding that documents and evidence proving Egypt's rights were offered to the British authorities and the auction hallthanks to coordination with Zahi Hawwas, the Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities SCA).
Fuente: EOL
  

21/02/05
La maldición de Rey Tut obsesiona a una mujer de luto
Una mujer sudafricana y el dueño de una pieza de joyería que se cree robada de la tumba de Rey Tutanjamon han pedido ayuda al gobierno del Cairo para la ayuda a romper la maldición del rey Tut después de que dos miembros de su familia sufriesen muertes inoportunas.En una carta al ministerio de cultura, el dueño de un escarabajo antiguo atribuyó las tragedias que le acontecieron a la mujer y a y un dueño previo del objeto a la conocida maldición, dijo un funcionario del ministerio el Cairo al diario Al Akhbar. Varias personas relacionadas en 1922 con el descubrimiento de la tumba delrey Tut han muerto misteriosamente, dando la opción a la especulación acerca de una maldición del Faraón. El escarabajo llegó supuestamente a las costas de Africa del Sur después de que un marinero que pasaba por Egipto lo ganó en una mesa de apuestas. Poco después de darle el artículo a su hija, él se perdido en el mar. Entonces, apenas días después de que sucuerpo apareciera en tierra, la mujer joven murió de leucemia. El día antes la transacción su marido murió de repente La esposa del marinero, creyendo que el artículo había traído su mala suerte, se lo dio a la mujer que ahora lo posee. El dueño actual perdió a su propia hija por leucemia pronto, después de tomar posesión del escarabajo. Habiendo oido acerca de las muertes misteriosas de varias personas implicadas en el descubrimiento de la tumba de Rey Tut, la mujer encontró un comprador para el escarabajo. Pero la tragedia debía golpear otra vez. El día antes de la transacción su ,arido murió de repente. Hundida en la depresión, buscó información acerca de las tradiciones que rodean al Rey Tut y creyó que la única manera de romper la pretendida maldición era repatriando el escarabajo. Ella lo ofreció al ministerio decultura. El Jefe Supremo del Consejo Supremo de Antigüedades egipcio, Zahi Hawass, dijo que su organización mandaría una delegación a Africa del Sur para traer de vuelta el escarabajo a Egipto. El rey Tut, se estima que pudo haber muerto a los 18 años, y haber gobernado entre 1319 y 1309 AC durante la XVIII Dinastía.

Fuente: IOL
Traducción: Teresa Soria

18/02/05
Halle Berry encarnará a la reina egipcia Nefertiti
La actriz estadounidense Halle Berry interpretará a la reina egipcia
Nefertiti, según ha anunciado la Berlinale por medio de su revista oficial,
'Screen'. El director será Marc Forster, que ya tuvo a la estrella ante su
cámara en 'Monster's Ball'. La cinta recuperará el género de películas sobre
el antiguo Egipto, que creció en paralelo al 'peplum' a través de títulos
como 'Sinuhé el egipcio', aunque en esta ocasión estará dedicado a la vida
de quien fuera la esposa de Akenatón. La cinta se empezará a rodar a
principios de 2006.
Fuente: El Correo Digital.
 
17/02/05
- El misterio de la muerte de Tutanjamon será resuleto en marzo -
Tutankhamun Murder Mystery Hangs on March Report
CAIRO (Reuters) - A team of experts expects to announce in March whether the latest test results on the mummified body of Tutankhamun will provide evidence for the theory that the boy pharaoh was murdered.Zahi Hawass, head of the Egyptian government's Supreme Council for Antiquities, told Reuters that results from a high tech x-ray scan of the mummy would help explain a bone chip in the skull that has sparked themurder theory. "This hole in the skull, people talked about it a lot, we have to tell the public and the scholars what is this hole exactly and therefore we need time," Hawass said. "We are finishing the examination and the announcement will be at thebeginning of March." Although the treasures and artifacts from his burial tomb have famously toured the world, the mummified body of the boy king has been examined only four times in detail since British archaeologist Howard Carter stunned the archaeology community by finding Tutankhamun's tomb intact in1922. In January, the mummified corpse was given its first CT (computed tomography) scan, which uses special x-ray equipment to obtain image data from different body angles. Archaeologists last opened the coffin in 1968, when an x-ray revealed thechip of bone in his skull which led to the theory that the king was killed with a blow to the head. His high priest and army commander have been mooted as chief suspects. Tutankhamun ruled during a troubled and confusing period in Egyptian history, starting shortly after the death of the monotheist pharaoh Akhenaten in 1362 BC, who may have been his father. Tutankhamun died just ashe was reaching adulthood. "Many things happened with the mummy. We are examining and answering all these questions," Hawass said. Hawass said the team of experts was currently made up of Egyptians, including experts in pathology and anthropology, but said they would bejoined by experts from Italy and Switzerland at the end of the month. 

Fuente: Reuters
 
En castellano:
Misterio sobre muerte Tutankamón podría desvelarse en marzo
Thu February 17, 2005 4:43 PM GMT+01:00
CAIRO (Reuters) - Un equipo de expertos prevé anunciar en marzo si los últimos resultados de los análisis realizados sobre el cuerpo momificado de Tutankamón proporcionan pruebas de la teoría de que el niño faraón fue asesinado.Zahi Hawass, responsable del Consejo Supremo de Antigüedades del Gobierno egipcio, dijo a Reuters que los resultados de un análisis de alta tecnología con rayos-x de la momia ayudaría a explicar una marca en el hueso del cráneo que ha desencadenado la teoría del asesinato. "Este agujero en el cráneo, del que la gente habla tanto, tenemos que decir al público y a los expertos qué es este agujero exactamente y por tantonecesitamos tiempo", dijo Hawass. "Estamos terminando el examen y el anuncio se hará a principios de marzo". Aunque los tesoros y objetos de su tumba han recorrido el mundo, el cuerpo momificado del niño rey ha sido examinado sólo cuatro veces desde que el arqueólogo británico Howard Carter asombró a la comunidad arqueológica al encontrar la tumba de Tutankamón intacta en 1922. En enero, el cuerpo momificado se sometió a su primera tomografía porordenador, que utiliza un equipo de rayos-x especial para obtener imágenes desde diferentes ángulos del cuerpo. El ataúd fue abierto por última vez en 1968, cuando rayos-x revelaron la muesca en el hueso de su cráneo que llevó a la teoría de que el faraón fue sesinado de un golpe en la cabeza. Entre los principales sospechosos se ha hablado de su alto sacerdote y de su comandante del Ejército. Tutankamón gobernó durante un problemático y confuso período en la historia de Egipto, que empezó poco después de la muerte del faraón monoteístaAkenatón en el 1.362 a.C., quien podría haber sido su padre. Tutankamón murió cuando iba a alcanzar la edad adulta. Hawass dijo que el equipo de expertos estaba formado actualmente por egipcios, incluyendo especialistas en patología y antropología, pero señaló que a finales de mes se unirían expertos de Italia y Suiza.
Fuente: Reuters
  
12/02/05
-Nueva ley egipcia para combatir el robo de antigüedades-
Draft law for harshening penalty of stealing antiques Supreme Council of Antiquities

SCA Secretary-General Zahi Hawas said a bill law has been prepared for combating the antiques stealing which includes harshening thepenalty for deterring the antiques thieves. He, moreover, added that the SCA will hire high-trained guards to help prevent the stealing of the artifacts in the International and Arab Organizations Forum for museums in Aswan, the SCA Secretary-General added that his council could restore, in the last three years, more than two thousand artifacts from all the world countries. On the other hand, the public prosecution is keen on adopting the legal procedures for restoring 57 thousand missing artifacts that were smuggled abroad by ten defendants who are accused in the case of robbing and smuggling the antiques and will be put into trial today.

Fuente: EOL
  
10/02/05
- Cuando parte del Sahara no era desierto -
In the Valley of Life, oil is death to the art of a lost civilisation
Hammers threaten rock carvings that show a corner of the Sahara was not always a desert.
It is hard to imagine how dry the desert is until you have gone for a stroll in the Sahara. After a couple of hours' walk across this lunar landscape, tracking along the steep escarpment of the Messak Settafet plateau, a pasteof salt, sand, and sweat forms on every square inch of exposed skin. Halfway up the slope, picking his way through a giant's playpen of boulders, Hassan Ahmed Breki stops, unwraps his long, white headscarf, and runs a finger along lines carved into a rock surface. Here,out in the open for all to see, is one of Libya's national treasures: rock engravings, some possibly dating back 9,000 years or more, created by a mysterious, prehistoric culture.
The graceful forms that emerge beneath Hassan's hand - humans among elephants, crocodiles, giraffes and hippopotamuses - reveal what scientists have now confirmed: rather than barren and dessicated, it was once lush and green here at Wadial-Hayat (the Valley of Life, also known as Wadi al-Ajal) in the Fezzan region of south-west Libya. Scattered along the slope, taking photographs, measurements, and recording the global coordinates of each piece of rock art by GPS, is a team of British researchers led by Tertia Barnett, an archaeologist working for English Heritage. Along with Hassan, an archaeologist from the Libyan Department of Antiquities in Tripoli, the team are working through their holiday with an urgency that might seem unusual considering the ancient subject matter. But the search for Libya's more lucrative treasure, petroleum, could spell doom for the rock art. Criss-crossing the desert are seismic survey lines where enormous hammers have been used to ping the underlying rock layers in search of oil deposits. These boulder-shattering blows and the construction of roads and pipelines are expected to increase exponentially now that international sanctions have been lifted from the country.  As if this weren't enough pressure, other obstacles keep appearing. The entire trip was jeopardised when their 26kg laser, used to take 3D pictures of engravings, was held up in Libyan customs for several days due to embargo-era red tape. One of the laser experts, Kate Devlin, from the University of Bristol, was completely incapacitated by what later turned out to be an infection of parasitic cryptosporidiosis protozoa. And in one hair-raising episode, the team's truck was stuck deep in the Sea of Sand. But it is all worth it, says Barnett, who is working against the clock to document and study engravings that could be lost within a few years. Seen from the plateau, the ever-shifting dunes loom to the north, and in between lies the flat expanse of a long-extinct lake. One thing unifies the millennia of human history that have taken place here, says team member Nick Brooks, a climatologist at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and cofounder of the Saharan studies programme at the University of East Anglia. "It's all about water." Before the last Ice Age, the Sahara was even larger and more inhospitable than it is today. Then, some 10,000 years ago, a shift in climate brought rainfall. In the ensuing years of plenty, a pastoral way of life thrived. The desert came back with a vengeance about 3,000 years ago and, as the remaining surface water supplies dwindled, the inhabitants were forced to dig for it below the ground.
A better understanding of how people adapted to these drastic environmental changes is more than academic, says Brooks. It has profound relevance to our own future, with climate changes forecast for the coming centuries and thedeveloping world particularly hard hit. "In many ways our options will be more limited than those of the early Saharans," he says. They relied on mass migration and an adaptable diet to cope with the changes. "Mass migration is less possible today due to large populations and national borders." Perhaps the best insight we have into the culture of the prehistoric Saharans is the rock art they left behind. But this is a field in its infancy, says Barnett. So far, dating the engravings is "extremely difficult" and determining what these images actually meant to the people who inscribed them will require many years of study, if we can ever know. But how much time remains for Libya's rock art? "Oil exploration is indeed a problem," says Sa'ad Abdul Aziz, director of the nearby Germa Museum who coordinates archaeological research for the Department of Antiquities. Aziz admits there are very few Libyan archaeologists and none who specialise in prehistory. "The situation is rather bleak," says Professor David Mattingly, an archaeologist at the University of Leicester with 25 years' experience in Libya. A plan for a system of national parks that would protect the most vulnerable areas has been on the table for years, he says, but with little progress. "The major problem is that the Department of Antiquities is under-resourced." The lifting of the embargo could in principle provide the funds needed to preserve and protect the country's prehistoric relics. One way forward is for Libya to make the rock art a source of pride, as Britain has done with Stonehenge. "It would be a shame if this sustainable resource were sacrificed for the sake of short-term development," says Brooks. After all, with 10,000 years already weathered, "archaeology and heritage-based tourism will outlast the oil".
Fuente: The Guardian
  

18/02/05
- Los antiguos egipcios atesoraban aceite crudo -
Ancient Egyptians Hoarded Crude Oil
New research suggests that oil and its by-products were valued and traded in the Mideast at least 3,000 years ago, the same region that dominates world production and export of crude oil today. According to a forthcoming paper in the Journal of Geoarchaeology, scientists found tar on several ancient Egyptian mummies. Because everybatch of tar contains unique biochemicals, the researchers were able to trace the sticky substances back to their origins. Since the study found that crude oil sources were scattered over hundreds of miles throughout the Middle East, the researchers now believe that ancient Egyptians not only valued oil, but that they traded it, using routes that have changed little over themillennia. The Egyptians particularly valued tar, which can result naturally when crude oil is exposed to air. Evaporation, oxidation by light, and the breakdown of microbes transforms oil into tar. Egyptians went to great lengths to obtain tar primarily because it was oneof the substances used in the mummification process. In fact, the word mummy was derived from the Arabic word mumiya, meaning bitumen, which is a component of tar. Mahlon C. Kennicutt II, lead author of the paper and a professor of oceanography at Texas A&M's College of Geosciences, told Discovery News that tar retains evidence of the organic matter that originally produced it. "The precursor biochemicals have very complexchemical structures," Kennicutt said. "Some of this complexity is preserved in the oil. These 'molecular fossils' can then be used to provide unique fingerprints for oils of various origins." Focusing primarily on various types of triterpane and sterane compounds, Kennicutt and his team determined that Egyptians looked far and wide for their oil supplies. Some tar came from a site called Gebel Zeit - which in Arabic means "Oil Mountain" - located at the Gulf of Suez in Egypt. Other tar originated hundreds of miles away in the Dead Sea, near Israel. The researchers believe ancient trade routes were widespread and common, mirroring travel routes that still are in use. It is likely that people outside of Egypt also used tar, given its value outside of preserving bodies. Tar was like the duct tape of the ancient world, and more. "There is evidence at one of the (Egyptian) sites that tar was used as a fuel in the glass-making process," Kennicutt said. "From other regions we also know tar was used to caulk boats and in some cases was believed to have medicinal properties."Michael Lewan of the U.S. Geological Survey in Denver has worked on similar studies involving tar fingerprinting. He believes that his and Kennicutt's work represents "a novel and fascinating application for oil research." In other mummy news, last week the Egypt Minister of Culture, Farouk Hosni, announced that a team of Spanish archaeologists working in Egypt found approximately eleven tombs and 12 arched chambers within a cemetery that dates back to 2061-2190 B.C. The tombs, made of unburnt bricks, contained jewelry consisting of chains, as well as necklaces that were made of precious stones formed into seashell shapes. Fake gates and religious paintings also were found at the ancient cemetery.

Fuente: Discovery Channel

08/02/05
- Una nueva colección de criaturas momificadas podrían ayudar a desvelar algunos de los misterios del la sociedad del antiguo Egipto -
Menagerie of mummies unwraps ancient Egypt
A new collection of mummified creatures could help unravel some of the mysteries surrounding ancient Egyptian society. The Egyptians mummified both humans and animals to preserve them for the afterlife. Mummified cats, birds, monkeys and even gazelles have in the past been found buried alongside their owners. Researchers say the new collection - including mummified cats, birds, baboons and crocodiles gathered from a variety of collections - adds weight to the idea that the humble house cat was first domesticated animal to provide a source of ritual offerings for the gods. Scientists at the Natural History Museum in London, UK, compared numerous specimens and used X-rays to peer beneath the animals' bandages. They found fresh evidence that many were killed specifically to provide religious offerings. Votive offerings But animals may also have been mummified as votive offerings to the gods. Mummified cats, for example, might have been offered to the feline-headed goddess, Bastet, who Egyptians believed protected the home. Richard Sabin, curator of mammals at the museum, notes the collection includes both the African subspecies of wild cat Felis silvestris lybica and the smaller predecessor to the modern domestic cat. This may mean mummification might have played a role in the domestication of the cat. We're looking at a point in time that is very close to the origin of the domestic cat," Sabin told New Scientist "It adds to the body of evidence and to the theory that cats were being bred for the mummification process." Sabin adds that many of the mummified cats in the collection have skeletal damage suggesting their necks were deliberately snapped. "Interestingly, there is the suggestion that these animals were being selectively bred and killed," he says.
Preserved pets
But the new collection also illustrates the fondness with which Egyptians regarded some of their animals. Jo Cooper, curator of the bird collection at the museum, notes the preserved birds show different kinds of mummification. The falcons, for example, thought to have been kept as pets, are lavishlymummified with great care. Meanwhile ibises and hawks, which may have made offerings to the Moon god Thoth, are mummified in a more casual manner. Animal statues and amulets also on display in the exhibition reinforce the importance of animals in the world of ancient Egypt. "It's interesting to start getting a feel for how people interacted with animals and to see them as objects of symbolism," says Cooper. "We're getting insight into the Egyptians as curators and preparers of these votive offerings." But Sabin also points out that the Egyptians' sheer enthusiasm for mummification can sometimes pose a problem. "It can be difficult to draw conclusions because they were mummifying anything they could get their hands on," he says. The collection will also go on display at the Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum in Hertfordshire, UK, from 14 February in an exhibition called Animal Mummies of Ancient Egypt.
Fuente y fotografías: http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6989

08/02/05
- Abierta la pirámide de Kefren para los visitantes -
Chephren Pyramid open for visitors
Culture Minister Farouk Hosni opened the Pyramid of King Chephren in Giza after the completion of restoration works. The third Pyramid of Mycerinus will be closed for a year to start necessary rejuvenations, adding that 2005 will witness a giant restoration project torestore King Chephren's funerary temple and the stone blocks in the area south of the temple. This is the third time King Chephren's Pyramid is restored since 1995. Restoration efforts went on for two years and involved cleaning, strengthening of internal walls, removing visitors' graffiti and refurbishing the king's sarcophagus.The pyramids of Egypt, built at Giza during the 4th Dynasty, are the oldest of the Seven Wonders and the only ones remaining intact today.
Fuente: Travel vídeo.

08/02/05
- Una compañía internacional espera poder hacer una película sobre la reina Hatshepsut -
International company to shoot blockbuster on Hatshepsut
An international financial company announced it is making feasibility study for a big film on the famous ancient Egyptian Queen Hatshepsut. The movie is expected to cost a colossal sum of $ 120 million. The scenes will be shot in Egypt and will make use of the facilities of the Sixth of October Media Production City. This will be the first international movie to tackle the story of theEgyptian powerful Queen. Hatshepsut, the fifth ruler of the 18th Dynasty was the daughter of Thutmose I. Dressed in men's attire, Hatshepsut administered affairs of the nation, with the full support of the high priest of Amon, Hapuseneb and other officials. When she built her magnificent temple at Deir El Bahari in Thebes she made reliefs of her divine birth as the daughter of Amon. A large film team from Britain and the US will visit Egypt in the next few weeks to inspect the potential locales and get acquainted with the available facilities in the Media City which is dubbed as the" Hollywood of the East.
 
08/02/05
- Científicos hallan una prueba fósil del clima del antiguo Egipto -
Scientists find fossil proof of Egypt's ancient climate
'At a snail's pace'
Earth and planetary scientists at Washington University in St. Louis are studying snail fossils to understand the climate of northern Africa 130,000 years ago. While that might sound a bit like relying on wooly bear caterpillars to predict the severity of winter, the snails actually reveal clues about the climate and environment of western Egypt, lo those many years ago. They also could shed light on the possible role weather and climate played in the dispersal of humans "out of Africa" and into Europe and Asia. Periods of substantially increased rainfall compared to the present are known to have occurred in the Sahara throughout the last million years, but their duration, intensity, and frequency remain somewhat unconstrained.

06/02/05
El misterio del ejército desaparecido y la joya de Tutankhamón
En mitad de la nada se encuentra el único yacimiento de cristal líbico que existe en el mundo
En un área minúscula en mitad del desierto Líbico se encuentra el único yacimiento conocido de una roca más rara que el diamante y bautizada como cristal líbico. De aspecto lechoso, el cristal de sílice se encuentra en mitad de los corredores que forman las cadenas de dunas. Su origen podríaestar en el impacto de un meteorito, hace 29 millones de años. Una temperatura y una presión extraordinarias habrían dado origen a la misteriosa materia. Tal vez ese origen incierto esté detrás de la atracción que suscita desde la antigüedad. En el Museo Arqueológico de El Cairo se conserva el tesoro funerario de Tutankhamón. Pues bien, la parte central del pectoral del faraón (una joya que le cubría el pecho) representa un escarabajo alado coronado por el 'wadj', el amuleto egipcio que representa un ojo. Se creía que el cuerpo y la cabeza del insecto estaban tallados en calcedonia. Pero no. Hace seis años un científico demostró que lapieza era de cristal líbico, una piedra única en el mundo perseguida hace ya 3.000 años por los egipcios. «Las altísimas temperaturas y la presión brutal provocadas por aquella colisión crearon esta piedra singular que mereció estar junto a un rey-dios en su último viaje», explica Álvaro. El desierto Líbico, un infierno dentro del infierno, ha dado a luz un puñado de leyendas. Como la del ejército desaparecido. Hace 2.500 años el rey persa Cambises II acudió a consultar el oráculo de Amón. El sacerdote auguró la derrota de los invasores. Cambises, contrariado, juró vengarse, armó un ejército de 50.000 hombres y marchó hacia el templo para derruirlo. En su expedición, los guerreros se internaron en el Mar de Arena. Nunca más se supo de ellos. ¿Qué pasó? Puede que el 'kibli', el sofocante viento del Sur, agostara a la crema del ejército persa y que bajo las dunas, embalsamados por la arena, el calor y el tiempo, duerma desde hace 25 siglos una cohorte de armaduras, escudos, venablos y esqueletos: el sueño de cualquier arqueólogo. El paraíso perdido En ese mismo escenario sin nombre se encontraría también el legendario oasis de Zarzura, citado en 'Las mil y una noches'. Según los relatos de los beduinos, Zarzura dormita en el corazón del desierto custodiado por un pájaro blanco. Sólo los hombres más valientes podrán llegar a él y disfrutar de sus tesoros. En el oasis, bajo las palmeras, yace también una reina durmiente que sólo puede ser despertada con un beso. Almásy quedó seducido por la leyenda del paraíso perdido. En 1932 inició una expedición en su busca. El noble creyó avistarlo desde su avión en una zona de Jilf al Kabir. Cerca de allí descubriría la gruta con pinturas rupestres prehistóricas con los famosos 'nadadores del desierto', la evidencia de que el desierto fue en un tiempo un fértil enclave rebosante de agua.

Fuente: El Correo Digital

01/02/05
- Programa en directo sobre el Valle de las Momias de oro, transcrito en Internet -
The Valley of the Golden Mummies
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English. I'm Sarah Long.
VOICE TWO:
AP
An Egyptian worker cleans a newly discovered sarcophagus of Badi Herkhib,
the brother of the governor of Bahariya in about 600 B.C.
And I'm Bob Doughty. On our program this week, we tell about recent
discoveries made by archeologists working in Egypt. The discoveries are said
to provide important clues about people who lived thousands of years ago.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
Archeologists in Egypt uncovered the remains of twenty ancient people late
last year. Some of the dead were family members who had been buried
together. The archeologists say the twenty people lived thousands of years
ago during what is called the Greco-Roman period. That is when Greece, and
later Rome, ruled ancient Egypt.
The human remains have lasted so long because they were specially treated
before burial. Experts covered them with a substance called embalming resin.
The treated remains are called mummies.
VOICE TWO:
The area where the twenty mummies were found is called the Valley of the
Golden Mummies. Untold numbers of human remains are buried in the Valley.
Its discoverers believe the area holds some of the most important
archeological finds since King Tutankhamun.
Last month, research scientists used a device called a C.T. scanner to
examine the body of King Tut. The researchers want to learn what killed this
young ruler of ancient Egypt.
Scientists are using technology in the Valley of the Golden Mummies and
other areas. They use radar to find burial areas and x-ray equipment to
study bones. Experts also are performing experiments on the mummies and the
objects found with them.
VOICE ONE:
The Valley of the Golden Mummies is near the Bahariya Oasis, about three
hundred eighty kilometers southwest of Cairo, the Egyptian capital. The
remains of Romans have been found in the Valley. The Romans lived there
between two thousand and two thousand three hundred years ago. The oasis
provided them with water in the desert.
The most famous archeologist in Egypt believes that Greeks may have
developed the burial place at an even earlier time. Zahi Hawass is head of
the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities. He directs archeological
projects in places like the famous Pyramids at Giza. Mister Hawass has been
directing archeology in the Valley and the nearby town of Bawiti for the
past six years.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
The Valley of the Golden Mummies was discovered accidentally in nineteen
ninety-six. For this priceless find, science can thank an animal. One day, a
donkey was carrying an Egyptian security guard across the desert. Then the
donkey missed a step. Its foot slid into the top of a burial place covered
with rock and sand.
Researchers soon learned that many people are buried at the Bahariya Oasis.
The Valley covers an area of at least ten square kilometers. At least ten
thousand mummies are buried there. Some estimates place that number much
higher. Mister Hawass says it is the largest ancient cemetery ever found.
VOICE ONE:
At first, officials kept secret the finding of the Valley of the Golden
Mummies. The Egyptian government wanted to prevent ancient objects from
being stolen. Three years after the discovery, Mister Hawas led a team that
found more than one hundred mummies. They were removed from four structures
for the dead, or tombs.
Mister Hawass clearly remembers opening the first tomb. Gold shone brightly
as the sunlight broke the darkness of thousands of years. Under the light,
he saw the people of Bahariya. They lay in family tombs. Husbands and wives
were buried together. Often their children were with them. Their remains
were discovered inside painted containers, called coffins. Some had golden
head coverings. Money, jewelry, and drink containers were buried with them.
VOICE TWO:
On a later dig, Mister Hawass and his team found more tombs. They also found
wooden structures called stelae (STE-LE). Some were shaped like a religious
center, or temple. These stelae had pictures of gods like Osiris and Anubis.
They ruled the underworld and the dead. Such pictures were often seen in
tombs.
The archeologists unearthed three other tombs in two thousand one. In one
place, they saw a uraeus ((you RAY' us)) on the golden head-cover of a
mummy. Mister Hawass identifies a uraeus as a spitting cobra. He says this
creature represents a ruling family. He suggests that this probably shows
the dead person's desire to become a ruler after death.
VOICE ONE:
Mister Hawass led the research team that uncovered the mummies in the Valley
of the Golden Mummies last year. The Discovery Channel and Britain's Channel
Five television broadcast programs of the work directly from the Valley.
Television cameras showed twelve mummies lying together. One week earlier,
researchers had found the remains in three separate burial areas.
Pieces of money were found near the mummies. Experts say ancient Egyptians
believed they needed the money to enter the After World. The archeologists
also uncovered small wooden statues of the dead. They also found jewelry,
containers for cooking, and objects called amulets. Amulets were worn to
protect against evil.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
Not all the remains in the Valley of the Golden Mummies are under the
ground. Many individual bones lie on top of the sand.
Margaret Cox is a bone expert. Miz Cox says some of the bones already have
provided interesting information. She talked about one head bone, or skull.
She said damage to the nose shows that this person probably suffered from
the disease leprosy. Teeth connected to the skull were in bad condition.
Other physical evidence shows that the person probably died violently.
The Valley of the Golden Mummies has many such secrets about the people who
lived in Egypt under Roman rule. Mister Hawass says the burial area may have
been used during the rule of Alexander the Great of Macedonia. That began
about two thousand five hundred years ago.
VOICE ONE:
Mister Hawass and his team also dug in areas close to the Valley. In the
town of Bawiti, they found a surprise under modern buildings. They found the
burial place of a family that governed part of western Egypt in ancient
times. The remains were discovered in a container, or sarcophagus, made of
limestone. The stone had to be carried to Bahariya from one-hundred
kilometers away. Mister Hawass said this showed that the family was rich.
The sarcophagus holds the remains of Badi-Herkhib. The researchers say he
was the older brother of a governor of Bahariya. The governor served during
the period when the twenty-sixth family of rulers led ancient Egypt. Artwork
is found on both sides of this sarcophagus.
VOICE TWO:
The artwork shows the sign of Maat. Mister Hawass said she was the goddess
of justice and truth. Ancient writing also is found the outer cover of the
sarcophagus. Mister Hawass said the writing means that the dead man had
performed spiritual ceremonies. Perhaps he did so at the temple of Bes.
Mister Hawass identifies Bes as the Egyptian god of pleasure and fun.
Governing Bahariya seems to have been a family activity. Badi-Herkhib was
the grandson of a former governor named Djed-Khunsu. Djed-Khunsu lived more
than two thousand years ago. He served in the administration of Ahmose
Second. Ahmose ruled Egypt in the twenty-sixth period of rulers. Djed-Khunsu
's own burial place was found two years ago in another area of Bahariya.
VOICE ONE:
Mister Hawas says the sarcophagus and its writings show the riches of the
Bahariya Oasis during that period. Many of the people became wealthy in the
wine trade. This was especially true because people wanted to take wine with
them to the After Life.
The wealth from wine products made the people of Bahariya rich enough to buy
gold from mines in Nubia. He compared the Valley to the wine-growing area of
Napa Valley, in the American state of California.
Zahi Hawass says he has uncovered three hundred-fifty mummies during his
working life. But he expresses special pleasure in his work in the Valley of
the Golden Mummies and Bawiti. He says he has not just learned about the
lives of ancient people. Mister Hawass says he has found the people who
lived those lives.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
This program was written by Jerilyn Watson. Cynthia Kirk was our producer. I
'm Bob Doughty.
VOICE ONE:
And I'm Sarah Long. Join us again next week for SCIENCE IN THE NEWS program
in V.O.A. Special English.
Fuente con fotos:
http://tinyurl.com/4auva
  
Enero 2005
Mummy tar in ancient Egypt
For millennia, ancient Egyptians used oil tar to preserve bodies. New geologic research shows that the tar came from several sources, shedding light on how trade routes of old compare to those of today. New research suggests that ancient Egyptians used oil tar from Gebel Zeit in Egypt, shown here, and from the Dead Sea to preserve mummies. Image courtesy of James Harrell. All tar sands - crude oils, asphalts and bitumen - contain source-specific compounds, known as biomarkers, which have unique chemical signatures that are closely related to the biological precursors of the oil. Using gas chromatography and mass spectrometers, geologists can identify these biomarkers in the oil to create a very specific "fingerprint" that enables them to trace the location where the oil originated. This fingerprinting is frequently used to trace oil spills to a ship or other point of origin (see Geotimes, January 2005). Recently, a handful of geologists have fingerprinted tar originating from natural oil seeps around the Middle East and tar samples collected from the 3,000-year-old wraps of mummies. Most have tested mummies that were preserved in tar originating near the Dead Sea, several countries away, close to what is now Israel. But in 2002, Michael Lewan of the U.S. Geological Survey in Denver, working with colleague James Harrell of the University of Toledo, found one mummy whose tar could be traced to a site called Gebel Zeit ("Oil Mountain" in Arabic) in the Gulf of Suez in Egypt - the first discovery of Egyptian oil having been used in mummy preservation. Following on the heels of this research, Texas A&M University geochemist Chuck Kennicutt, along with colleagues at the University of Alexandria in Egypt and elsewhere, examined the biomarker signatures of several more mummies to see if they could find evidence of mummy tar originating from the same site in Egypt. Publishing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Geoarchaeology, Kennicutt' s team reports finding just that. Their new evidence, in combination with the earlier studies showing tar originating from the Dead Sea, thus confirms, they say, that the Egyptians used oil from several sources in embalming their dead. "Our work expands the idea that trade was going on throughout the Middle East in antiquity, much as it is today," Kennicutt says. Analyzing more mummies, as well as other items that use oil for a variety of purposes - for example, as a sealant for ceramic pottery and baskets and an adhesive for jewelry - may further illuminate trade and life thousands of years ago, Lewan says. "This is a novel and fascinating application for oil research," he says.
Fuente: Geotimes
 
27/01/05
- Italia afirma que devolverá el obelisco etíope en abril -
Italy Says Will Return Ethiopian Obelisk in April
ROME (Reuters) - An Ethiopian national treasure, the ancient Axum Obelisk that was plundered by Italian fascist invaders in 1937, will be returned by Rome in April, Italy's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. The 24-meter obelisk, believed to be at least 1,700 years old, was split in three and hauled off when Italy under Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini invaded Ethiopia in 1937. Italy promised in 1947 to return the 200-tongranite column, a symbol of the dawn ofEthiopian civilization, but arguments and logistical problems delayed it until November last year when the two countries finally agreed to fly it home. "We expect the first flight with the first segment to happen in the first 10 days of March, the other two flights will follow around 20 days apart. In that way, the column will be returned by the end of April," an Italian Foreign Ministry spokesman said. Ethiopia had previously said it expected the obelisk in May. Returning the segments of the monument and the machinery to put it back together is a gargantuan logistical task. Landlocked Ethiopia has had to build a special runway for the only aircraft big enough to carry the pieces, the U.S.-built C-5 Galaxy and Russian-made Antonov 124. The Antonov was the plane finally chosen to bring the obelisk home. The column is a funerary monument from pre-Christian Ethiopia, the largest and finest from the ancient site of Axum in northern Ethiopia. Ethiopia has said it plans to celebrate the obelisk's return with a national holiday.
Fuente: Reuters
 
10/10/04
Descubren en Egipto el mayor campo de cráteres de meteoritos del mundo
Tiene una extensión de 5.000 Km2 y una antigüedad de 50 millones de años El mayor campo de cráteres de meteoritos del mundo, constituido por un centenar de impactos en una superficie de 5.000 kilómetros cuadrados, ha sidodescubierto en el desierto del sudoeste de Egipto, desvelando la huella de una lluvia de meteoritos de una magnitud inédita en la historia de nuestro planeta, que habría tenido lugar hace 50 millones de años. El descubrimiento del campo de cráteres egipcio puede tener una importancia equivalente a la de otro descubrimiento ocurrido en 1972: el del reactor nuclear de Oklo, que entró en funcionamiento hace casi 2.000 millones deaños desvelándonos que la velocidad de la luz no siempre ha sido constante. Por Eduardo Martínez.

El mayor campo de cráteres de impactos de meteoritos de la Tierra, de una extensión de 5.000 kilómetros cuadrados, ha sido descubierto en sudoeste de Egipto y podría indicar que una lluvia de estos cuerpos, sin precedentes en la historia de nuestro planetra, cayó sobre esa región hace 50 millones de años. El campo de cráteres está localizado en la meseta de Yilf Kebir y sudescubrimiento es el resultado de una misión franco-egipcia (CNRS-Universidad del Cairo), de la que se hace eco el número de octubre delDiario del Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas de Francia (CNRS). Un centenar de impactos de 20 metros en un radio de un kilómetro de diámetro, y de una profundidad que puede ir hasta 80 metros, fueron detectados con la ayuda de satélites por el equipo dirigido por Philippe Paillou, del Observatorio de Burdeos, mientras que 13 de ellos fueron estudiados sobre el terreno durante una primera misión realizada a comienzos de 2004. Hasta ahora sólo se conocían nueve campos de impactos de meteoritos en el mundo, el más grande de los cuales, en Argentina, cubre únicamente 60 km2. En todos estos casos conocidos los campos de cráteres han sido atribuidos al impacto de un único asteroide que se fragmentó al penetrar en la atmósfera terrestre. Impacto inédito Al entrar el la atmósfera, el meteorito se rompe y los fragmentos se dispersan, golpeando la superficie terrestre en varias decenas de kilómetros cuadrados. Sin embargo, dado que el campo de cráteres descubierto en Egipto  es de 5.000 km2, los científicos creen que fueron varios meteoritos, y no uno solo, los que se fragmentaron al entrar en la atmósfera, un fenómeno del cual no se tiene constancia en la historia de nuestro planeta. El próximo diciembre, una nueva misión se desplazará al campo de cráteres para datar el lugar, levantar un mapa del campo de impactos y tal vez encontrar en los cráteres más pequeños fragmentos de los meteoritos.  El descubrimiento del campo de cráteres egipcio ha sido posible merced a la ayuda de imágenes de satélites radar, que son las que permiten monitorizar un entorno terrestre las 24 horas del día e incluso en condiciones meteorológicas desfavorables, que impiden a otros satélites capturar información.  Los satélites radar se emplean para detectar mareas negras antes de que lleguen a las costas, ya que en aguas de poca profundidad, la información de los radares muestra las corrientes marinas. Estos satélites radar se emplean también para confeccionar mapas de peligrosos bancos de arena ocultos y para cartografiar la topografía del fondo del mar.
Satélites radar para tierra firme
En tierra firme, los datos de los satélites radar se emplean en la monitorización de inundaciones, terremotos y erupciones volcánicas. Las imágenes procedentes de los satélites de radar se emplean asimismo a menudo en agricultura, especialmente para predecir la producción de arroz. La tecnología de satélites radar funciona asimismo muy bien en las zonas muyáridas. Por ejemplo, hay mucha aridez sobre la superficie de Marte y las investigaciones del planeta rojo pretenden enviar instrumentos de este tipo de profundizar en su historia geológica. Estos satélites radar detectaron varias decenas de estructuras geológicas circulares reagrupadas en una región de 5.000 kilómetros cuadrados, al sudoeste del desierto egipcio. Los cráteres y otras estructuras originadas por los meteoritos se denominan astroblemas (o heridas de estrellas). En la actualidad se conocen 160 astroblemas en la Tierra, situadas en su mayoría en Estados Unidos y Europa del Norte.
Correspondencia estadística
Un astroblema se reconoce por la estructura circular que deja el impacto, por la presencia de una huella particular sobre la roca, los conos rocosos creados por la onda de choque, mientras que análisis de laboratorio pueden revelar la presencia de cuarzo incrustado en las rocas.Si había 160 astroblemas en el norte del planeta, estadísticamente debería haber una proporción similar en otras partes del mundo y esta hipótesis fue la que llevó al equipo del CNRS a analizar las imágenes de satélites radar de zonas áridas en busca de indicios semejantes. Al principio, nadie les prestó atención porque estas imágenes no fueron tomadas con un fin específico, sino en misiones rutinarias. Han sido estos investigadores los que, analizando datos recopilados por estos satélites radar, descubrieron indicios de impactos en una gran superficie del desierto egipcio. Posteriormente, una misión terrestre pudo verificar que la mayor parte de estas estructuras detectadas rutinariamente por los satélites, de las que 13 fueron estudiadas al milímetro, eran cráteres resultantes del impacto de meteoritos.
Importancia equivalente a la de Oklo
Su diámetro y profundidad ha llevado a la conclusión de que este campo de cráteres sólo ha podido ser el resultado de la fragmentación de muchos meteoritos de gran tamaño, ocurrida en el momento en que entraron en la atmósfera terrestre.El descubrimiento del campo de cráteres egipcio puede tener una importancia equivalente a la de otro descubrimiento ocurrido en 1972: el del reactor nuclear de Oklo, que entró en funcionamiento hace casi 2.000 millones de años desvelándonos que la velocidad de la luz no siempre ha sido constante.
Fuente: Tendencias científicas
     

23/01/05
World archaeologists help move Ramses Statue to meit Rahina

Arqueólogos de todo el mundo ayudan a trasladar la estatua de Ramses a Mit Rahina
The Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) decided to seek help of world experts to move Ramses II Statue from the Ramses square, downtown Cairo, to a new location in Meit Rahina.The expertise of the world experts will guarantee secure moving of the statue, said Zhai Hawas, the SCA Secretary General.

Fuente: EOL
 
18/01/05
Los antiguos egipcios vendían gatos falsos
Ancient Egyptians Sold Fake Cats
By Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News
Ancient Egyptian mummy wrappings hide a number of frauds and flaws, which a high-tech, digital X-ray machine recently exposed among the collections at Chicago's Field Museum.The machine saw through a mummified cat dated to approximately 500 B.C. that contained only twigs and cotton. It also revealed mummification tools that someone accidentally left inside a real mummy, and it solved a15,000-year-old mystery surrounding what is believed to be the world's oldest known mummy. The findings support the theory that the ancients were just as prone tomischief and mistakes as we are today. Experts believe the Mikron Digital Imaging portable X-ray machine, along with a Radpro X-ray tube, may one day become standarddevices for research use at museums, universities and remote excavation sites. Curators and scientists alike were surprised when the machine showed that the cat mummy did not contain any feline remains."The person who bought it probably used it as an offering to the goddess Bestat, who possessed the head of a cat," said William Pestle, anthropology collections manager at the Chicago natural history museum. He explained that mummy standards began to "fall off" around the 25th and26th dynasties, which existed from 8-7 B.C. "During these later dates, commoners started to manufacture coffins in huge numbers," Pestle told Discovery News. "Sometimes mummies would not fit into the coffins, so makers would have to break the bones or chip off parts ofthe coffin." When Pestle and his colleagues X-rayed a legitimate antelope mummy, they found metal inclusions that were used to give the mummy more heft and stability, along with tools that had been left over from the mummification process."The tools look like a cross between a suture needle and a fish hook," Pestle said. He sent images of the objects to a lab at Henry Ford Hospital for further clarification and study. Perhaps the greatest mystery being unraveled concerns "Mag Girl," a 13,000- to 15,000- year-old mummy excavated in the Dordogne Valley of southwestern France. Mag, short for Magdalenian, was all the rage in 1924 when she went on display at the Field. It was the museum's greatest single day of attendance. Newspapers at the time spun a story that Mag died as a beautiful, young woman who was killed by a jealous lover with an arrowhead. The rumor was fueled by the as-of-yet unproved possibility that an ivory point was found near her remains in the French rock shelter of Cap Blanc. "She actually might be the Magdalenian Crone," Pestle said. The X-rays suggest Mag died in her 30s or 40s, which would have been a fairly long human lifespan for the time. Her molars are impacted, which earlier archaeologists said was evidence of her youth, but it now is thought likely that she suffered from a wisdom tooth problem all of her adult life. Eventually, scientists hope to extract one of her teeth to learn how old Mag really was when she died. Kathy Forgey, a University of Illinois at Chicago radiographer and anthropologist, orchestrated the X-ray project. Forgey often travels to remote archaeological sites in Peru, and hoped to bring the portable device with her. She and colleague Dawn Sturk then decided to try the less than 100-pound machine, formerly used by the armed forces, at the Field Museum. "It was amazing," Forgey told Discovery News. "Curators kept coming up to us saying, 'I've got something that I would like for you to X-ray.' The process poses minimal damage to objects, and it can pursue many anthropological questions." Forgey, like Pestle, was surprised by the amount of modification they found in some mummies. "Often objects that are touted as being authentic wind up having numerous modifications that either occurred when the item was created or later, as it exchanged hands," she said. Forgey and her colleagues hope a benefactor will allow for the purchase of a  Mikron digital X-ray machine, which could be housed at a university or museum for archaeologists to borrow and use.
 
17/01/05
Frustrado en Jordania un intento de robo de 24 estatuillas de bronce de época faraónica
Jordan foils smuggling of Egypt antiques
Amman, Jordan, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- Jordanian customs agents have foiled an attempt to smuggle out of Egypt 24 copper statues dating back to the times of the pharaohs. The statues were concealed in large bags of onions in a truck that was aboutto enter Jordan through the Red Sea port city of Aqaba, official sources said. The statues measure 12 centimeters (less than 5 inches) and are made of copper. The Jordanian police started an immediate investigation and contacted the Egyptian authorities in order to return the stolen antiquities, Amman's daily newspaper al-Arab reported Monday.
Fuente: The Washington Times
 
17/01/05
Drenan aguas subterráneas para salvar templos de Luxor y Karnak
El ministerio de Cultura egipcio ha decidido drenar las aguas subterráneas que corren debajo de los templos de Karnak y Luxor para salvarlos del desmoronamiento. Estos trabajos, inaugurados por el ministro de Cultura, Farouk Hosni, durarán unos 18 meses. Las aguas saladas subterráneas que circulan por debajo de estos dos templos han subido en los últimos diez años en algunos lugares hasta un metro y medio de nivel, anegando la base de las columnas con el consiguiente peligro de que se desmoronen. La sal también ha carcomido los colores y lasesculturas que adornan las columnas. El Alto Consejo de Antigüedades egipcias ya constató los primeros efectos de las aguas en los dos templos hace diez años. La subida de las aguas en esta región del Alto Egipcio se debería a la represa de Asuán, que estabiliza el nivel del Nilo, según Jaled Abdel Hadi, director del departamento de ingeniería de este organismo. Durante más de 5.000 años desde la construcción de estos templos, las inundaciones del Nilo, gracias a un movimiento mecánico de flujo y reflujo del río, disolvían la sal acumulada en las columnas durante el periodo de sequía, explicó. La represa de Asuán, que estabiliza el nivel de las aguas subterráneas a lo largo del año, ha aumentado el nivel de salinidad. Las aguas también reciben residuos de abonos químicos y de diversos tipos de contaminación provenientes de los cultivos vecinos de caña de azúcar y arroz. Las aguas estancadas alrededor de las columnas crean también un entorno propicio para la proliferación de bacterias y hongos. En un primer momento, las autoridades recomendaron a los agricultores que modificasen los métodos de riego para no deteriorar los dos templos. Pero estas recomendaciones han sido insuficientes. El proyecto actual para salvar a los dos templos prevé la construcción de varias canalizaciones alrededor de los mismos para drenar el agua hasta un canal alejado de las columnas. También conlleva la rehabilitación de una antigua canalización que fue obturada por los agricultores, según Sabri Abdelaziz, director de Antigüedades, para "resolver el problema al 100%", agregó. La edificación del templo de Karnak, elcomplejo religioso más importante en Egipto y del mundo, comenzó en el año 3.300 antes de JC bajo el antiguo imperio. Desde entonces, fue agrandado en varias ocasiones sobre todo coincidiendo con las XVIII, XIX y XX dinastías. Los griegos y los romanos agregaron otras construcciones. Es la primera vez en toda su historia milenaria que está amenazado por las aguas subterráneas. La dirección de Antigüedades ya han empezado a realizar estudio para salvarel templo de Esna, también amenazado con desmoronarse por la subida de las aguas subterráneas después de la construcción de una represa en 1993.
Fuente: Univision.com
 
15/01/05
"Encontraremos en Egipto material con mucha información política, social y religiosa"
José Manuel Galán (1963) es egiptólogo. La entrevista tiene lugar en su despacho del CSIC antes de que parta hacia Luxor para iniciar otra temporada de excavaciones, que se podrá seguir al día en www.excavacionegipto.com.

Pregunta. ¿Nuestra cultura le debe mucho al antiguo Egipto?

Respuesta. Ya los intelectuales griegos consideraban a Egipto como la cuna de la sabiduría. Era el lugar al que iban a estudiar matemáticas, astronomía, medicina y ciencias, que estaban muy desarrolladas. El arteegipcio influyó en el griego. Allí  fueron Platón, Aristóteles y Herodoto, al que los sacerdotes enseñaron las claves de su cultura.
P. ¿Existió también una influencia en el aspecto religioso?
R. Los griegos encuentran en los dioses egipcios un gran paralelo con su panteón. Los dioses son encarnaciones de fuerzas abstractas o de conceptos ue emanan de un dios creador del universo y padre de todos ellos.

P. ¿El monoteísmo latente de los egipcios influyó en Israel?
R. Tuvo repercusiones sin duda en la Palestina de Moisés; pudo inspirar al pueblo judío incipiente. Había muchos viajeros de la zona que venían a aprender medicina, matemáticas, etcétera.
P. ¿Se ha dilucidado si Moisés fue un personaje histórico?
R. Es difícil probar su existencia. Moisés es una raíz egipcia que significa "el nacido" y que, por ejemplo, está en el nombre de Ramsés, que quiere decir el nacido de Ra. Ramsés II se casó con varias mujeres de origen semítico y el personaje bíblico pudo ser hijo de una de ellas. Yo me inclino porque Moisés sí existió.
P. Las pirámides siguen atrayendo la atención de todos...
R. Es apasionante el simbolismo enorme que tienen y la complejidad que hay detrás de ellas. Son un monumento funerario relacionado con el faraón para recordar su memoria tras la muerte física. Marcan el punto por donde el sol penetra para volver a renacer; el faraón pretende unirse al sol en su ciclo y renacer también. Es un juego simbólico.
P. ¿Está claro si se utilizaron esclavos en su construcción?
R. Se calcula que tardaron unos 20 años en levantar las más voluminosas, como las de Guiza. El concepto de esclavo es anacrónico para aquella época. No había salario para los trabajadores: lo hacían por el vestido y la comida, que es lo que la gente esperaba. La compra y venta de personas no existía en ese tiempo, empezó más tarde con los cautivos de guerra que no tenían derechos.
P. Egipto le debe mucho al medio ambiente...
R. El factor determinante del país fue el Nilo y las crecidas periódicas, que hicieron darse cuenta a la gente de que el movimiento cíclico de la naturaleza no sólo eran los días y las noches sino las estaciones. Esto caló hondo en la religión. La naturaleza muere para volver a nacer.
P. Es un mundo distinto al del Tigris y el Éufrates.
R. Las crecidas de los ríos mesopotámicos son muy diferentes y no tan exactas. En Egipto se construye con piedra de canteras de buena calidad. En Mesopotamia se utiliza el barro para la construcción y la escritura (tablillas). Los egipcios escribían con patitos, con jeroglíficos, y los otros con patas de pollo, con signos cuneiformes.
P. ¿Y en lo que se refiere a los hallazgos arqueológicos?
R. Hay una diferencia notable entre la egiptología y la asiriología. Los hallazgos arqueológicos de la primera están relacionados en un 80% con el mundo religioso y funerario; en la segunda se han excavado palacios yciudades, por lo que se sabe  mucho del comercio. Sin embargo, se han encontrado muchos aspectos comunes entre ambas culturas como, por ejemplo, el lenguaje político.
P. ¿Habrá más hallazgos?
R. Será difícil descubrir otro tesoro como el de Tutankamon, pero sí veremos salir a la luz material con mucha información política, social y religiosa. 

P. ¿Y las excavaciones que está usted realizando en Luxor?
R. Vamos a comenzar la cuarta campaña con dos tumbas de nobles importantes de 1.500 antes de Cristo. Una es de un alto funcionario de la reina Hatshepsut, una de las pocas mujeres que ejerció el cargo de faraón. La otra es de 50 años antes.Se encuentran excavadas en la montaña con inscripciones y relieves en paredes que contienen gran información, además de muchos objetos de enorme interés artístico y cultural.

P. En la Tabla del Aprendiz, que usted ha encontrado previamente, aparecía el faraón Tutmosis III mirando de frente, cosa inusitada en el arte egipcio.
R. Sí, aunque estudios posteriores nos han llevado a la conclusión de que no era Tutmosis III, sino la reina Hatshepsut, quien tras su coronación se hizo representar como hombre.
P. ¿Es que las mujeres egipcias eran más atrevidas y por eso miraban de frente?
R. Al esculpir a los faraones de perfil no se pretendía reflejar una actitud humana. En realidad se trataba de una convención de los artistas para representar en una sola figura la complejidad del ser. 

Fuente: El País (suscripción) y en papel.
 
07/01/05
Documentales contarán los secretos de los reyes egipcios: el primero de ellos versará sobre Tutanjamon. El acuerdo para rodar los documentales ha sido firmado por el SCA y la US National Geographic Institution.
Documentaries to tell kings' secrets
A series of documentaries narrated at the tongue of ancient Egyptian kings will be produced under an agreement signed between the US National Geographic Institution and the Supreme Council for Antiquities (SCA). The kings will relate secrets of their lives part of which will be revealed through a state-of-the-art scanning device which the SCA obtained from a well-known company.The first of these documentaries will be on Tutankhamen the most controversial of ancient kings. His death as young as l8 is still a riddle that archaeologists have not yet revealed.The film will be fully produced by the National Geographic Institution and the SCA will have the right to show it to visitors of the Egyptian Museum. Dr Zahi Hawass Secretary-General of the SCA said that the Tutankhamon collection discovered in 1922 was the best preserved of any of the royal tombs. The items pertain to the l8th dynasty, the most flourishing times of the New Kingdom that witnessed th ivingtrade relations with neighbouring countries as well as military campaigns. The Tutankhamen collection comprised 358 items including the magnificent gilded mask, three sarcophagi, furniture pieces and funerary items, statues, fishing tools and many others. Lord Carnavon , an English nobleman interested in archaeology had obtainedan excavation license at the Valley of Kings in Luxor. He asked Howard Carter to undertake excavations in Thebes and he did discover the tomb of Tohotmos IV and the tomb of Yoya and Toya. He had to suspend excavation in l914 owing to World War I and resumed work in l9l7 and in l922 he shifted excavations to a site near the entrance of the tomb of Ramsis VI. Workers stumbled in a hole full of debris. They found that it led to stairs carved in rock that ended up with an entrance covered with mortar and sealed with a stamp of royal cemetery.The tomb when tapped yielded the best ever discovered of ancient ntiquities. Dutch researchers had announced a few years ago that their examination of the clothes of the young king found in his tomb indicate his affliction of a fatal disease. They said the waist of the young Pharaoh was 30 cms more than the chest periphery which points to excessive indigestion. However, Dr Hawass has reason to believe that Tut's death was a conspiracy having to do with conflict over authority.
Fuente: EOL
 
05/01/05
Nuevo hogar para Nefertiti en Berlín
Nefertiti gets new home in Berlin
ANCIENT QUEEN: As the wounds of post-war division are finally healing over, the German capital's Egyptian art collection is being brought back together at long last Egypt and Germany have been fighting for possession of her for 90 years but,because Adolf Hitler loved her, she remained in Berlin's Egyptian art museum. In a dispute as old as the land of the Nile itself, Egypt has repeatedly reasserted its claim to the wayward beauty it says is being held illegally in Berlin. The wayward beauty is one of the great masterpieces of Ancient Egyptian art -- the 3,300-year-old bust of 18th Dynasty Queen Nefertiti. Now she is on the move again. She will not be going home to Egypt. Instead, she will be moving across town to new digs, relinquishing her pedestal in a convertedguard house in what used to be West Berlin for more royal surroundings in the heart of reunited Berlin. The wounds of post-war division are finally healing over, and the German capital's Egyptian art collection, one of the finest outside Egypt itself, is being brought back together at long last. The painted limestone and plaster bust, depicting the elegantly chiselled life-sized features of a stunningly beautiful woman wearing a unique cone-shaped headdress, has formed the cornerstone of Berlin's Egyptian collection since German archeologists discovered the bust in the ruins of an ancient artist's studio on the banks of the Nile in 1912. "I know this famous bust, I have viewed it and marvelled at it many times. Nefertiti continually delights me. The bust is a unique masterpiece, an ornament, a true treasure!"  Adolf Hitler The collection initially was housed at the Neues Museum (New Museum) just a few meters from the Hohenzollern Palace in the heart of Berlin. Reflecting the fashion of the times, the museum itself was done up inside to resemble an Ancient Egyptian temple, complete with hieroglyphic inscriptions on the walls. But as bombs rained down on Berlin during World War II, curators hastily stashed the city's art treasures at warehouses outside the city. After the  war, some of those warehouses turned out to be in East Germany, and others in West Germany. Nefertiti ended up in the west and took up residency in West Berlin's makeshift Egyptian museum in a converted guard house across the street from Charlottenburg Palace. But the bulk of the Berlin Egyptian collection remained in the east, and was on view at the Bode Museum in East Berlin until the Berlin  Wall came down. Since then, the city has been working to renovate and, in some cases, rebuild the 19th Century museum complex that once graced the center of this city. Around the middle of the year, work will have progressed enough that the Egyptian collection will be able to be reunited under one roof for the first time since the war.  Nefertiti will be removed from the converted guard house on March 2 to take up temporary residence at the Kultur Forum exhibition hall at Potsdamer Platz in the revivified centre of Berlin. There, she will form the focal point of a six-month exhibit on Egyptian hieroglyphs and their influence on art up to the modern day. If all goes according to plan, Nefertiti will be able to move into the newly rebuilt but anachronistically named Altes Museum (Old Museum). But even the Altes Museum is only temporary lodgings for her. Her original digs in the nearby Neues Museum will be ready by 2008 or 2009, thus bringing her back home again. An alluring mystery has surrounded the bust since its discovery on Dec. 7, 1912, incredibly intact and sporting vibrant colors, after lying in forgotten in the sands since the tumultuous days at the close of the reign of Pharaoh Akhenaton, one of the most enigmatic rulers of all time. In 1913, the Ottoman Empire agreed to allow its finder, part-time German-Jewish archeologist and full-time entrepreneur James Simon, to retain possession of the bust.Simon carted it off to Europe and displayed Nefertiti prominently displayed in his home in Berlin before later lending it to the Berlin museum and finally donating it in 1920 to the Berlin collection. In 1933 the Egyptian government demanded Nefertiti's return -- the first of many such demands over the decades to come. One of the many titles Hermann Goering held was premier of Prussia (which included Berlin) and, acting in that capacity, Goering suggested to King Fouad I of Egypt that Nefertiti would soon be back in Cairo. But Hitler had other plans. Through the ambassador to Egypt, Eberhard von Stohrer, Hitler informed the Egyptian government that he was an ardent fan  of Nefertiti: "I know this famous bust," the fuehrer wrote. "I have viewed it and marvelled at it many times. Nefertiti continually delights me. The bust is a unique masterpiece, an ornament, a true treasure!"
Hitler said Nefertiti had a place in his dreams of rebuilding Berlin and renaming it Germania. "Do you know what I'm going to do one day? I'm going to build a new Egyptian museum in Berlin," Hitler went on. "I dream of it. Inside I will build a chamber,crowned by a large dome. In the middle, this wonder, Nefertiti, will be enthroned. I will never relinquish the head of the Queen." Hitler and his mad dreams are long dead. But Nefertiti continues to smile serenely. As she has for 3,300 years. As if to say, this too shall pass. And I shall endure.
Fuente: Taipei Times
 
01/01/05
Dos nuevos objetos recuperados, una jarra de cerámica y una estatua de Anubis, regresan a Egipto desde Nueva York
Two artifacts returned to Egypt
An Egyptian legal team has retrieved two ancient artifacts from New York and returned them to Egypt, reported Egyptian news agency MENA. Egyptian Minister of Culture Faruq Husni said the two artifacts, a pottery jar and a statue of ancient godAnubis, had been stolen from a store housing ancient pieces. They were eventually found in New York at the Metropolitan Museum and an auction house. The chief of the Egyptology Department at the Metropolitan gave the Egyptian team the pottery jar at a news conference in New York. The piece, dated back to the First Dynasty, has been estimated to be about 5,000 years-old. The Anubis statue, rescued from an auction house before it was sold, dates back to some time between 1070-940 B.C. 

Fuente: The Washington Times
  
30/12/04
Resumen de todos los descubrimientos en Egipto y otras noticias de interés
ocurridas durante el año 2004
From the Mediterranean bed to Kom Al-Dikka, from Akhmim to Sinai, from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo to Basle and Germany and from auction halls in Europe and America to Egypt, there were several exciting archaeological events to highlight this outstanding year.

 
TUTMANIA

This was the year when Switzerland, Germany, France, Greece, the United States and China were caught up in the euphoria of Egyptomania, with 14 exhibitions featuring the Ancient Egyptian civilisation. The one thathogged most of the glory was the touring Tutankhamun circus, which is travelling through Europe and America for the first time in more than two decades.

Egypt prohibited any further showing of the treasured collection following its last exhibition in Cologne in 1981 when damage was sustained by the statue of the deity Selket, which at one point fell resulting in the detachment of its scorpion crown.

According to Culture Minister Farouk Hosni, it was far from easy to convince the Egyptian People's Assembly to approve the tour. Permission was finally granted as a reflection of Egypt's strong diplomatic and cultural ties with Europe and on the condition that only duplicate objects from the Tutankhamun collection would be on show. The famous golden funerary mask is regarded as one of Egypt's national treasures and is no longer lent abroad.

The tour's revenue will be devoted to the construction of the scheduled Grand Egyptian Museum overlooking the Giza Plateau and to restoring more monuments.

The first stop of the exhibition was made last April in Basle, when Mrs Suzanne Mubarak attending its inauguration. The second leg of the exhibition is in the Rhine Valley city of Bonn, which was opened in November by President Hosni Mubarakand  German Chancellor Gerhard Schröeder and will continue until April 2005. It will then travel around the United States for 18 months before returning to Europe for a final six months in London.

While the Tutankhamun exhibition was on tour, the Pharaoh's mummy will be subjected to a CT scan. Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) Secretary-General Zahi Hawass claims this is the first ever attempt since its discovery to give the mummya thorough medical check-up in the hope that something will be learnt about the secret behind the boy king's early death, and if he suffered from any illness during his lifetime. CT scans have been conducted on a number of mummies before the procedure is tried out on Tutankhamun himself.

Meanwhile, France was the host of two Ancient Egyptian exhibitions. The first was held in Grenoble, which hosted the ninth International Congress of Egyptologists (ICE). This exhibition, which is on display until May 2005, features 28 of the 779artefacts discovered by Georges Legrain in 1904 at the so-called Karnak Cachet in Luxor. Mostly statues, these beautiful objects represent different strata of Ancient Egyptian society from the 13th Dynasty through to the Ptolemaic era. They are a testimony to the ordinary life of the Ancient Egyptians as they reveal details of clothes, air and fashion as well as common traditions.

The second exhibition, which was opened last October by presidents Hosni Mubarak and Jacques Chirac at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, displays 250 unique objects from the pre- historic era to the New Kingdom, with 115 of them carefully selected from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo while the restare from the Louvre in Paris, Turino in Italy and Philadelphia University  Museum in the USA.

Greece hosted an exhibition of Coptic Icons, while Frankfurt -- during the Frankfurt Book Fair -- was the stage for an exhibition of Islamic manuscripts, lamps, and vases inscribed with Qur'anic verses and plant motives. A collection of Coptic Icons featuring Jesus's last supper and theHoly Family during their flight into Egypt were also on show. Some countries received their first ever Ancient Egyptian exhibition. In China 120 Pharaonic objects toured Beijing and Hong-Kong for six months.

NEW DISCOVERIES
Egypt was overwhelmed with discoveries in 2004. This has been an extremely fruitful and exciting archaeological year, with an Egyptian excavation team headed by Hawass unearthing the largest seated statue of the 19th DynastyPharaoh Ramses II in Akhmim, thought to be 13 metres tall and weighing 700 tonnes. The lower part of the limestone statue is seated on a throne, to the right and left of which are figures of two of the Pharaoh's daughters and princess- queens. The statue and the throne stand on a huge limestone base covered with carved hieroglyphic texts.

The base also carries a register of captured enemies surmounting rings that bear the name of their home cities. Remains of colours are still visible. A colossal face that matches the base of the statue, showing the Pharaoh wearing a false beard, has also been found. 

Hawass described the discovery as a splendid one, which would not only attract archaeologists but visitors and the media as well. Early studies revealed that the statue might have stood in front of the entrance of a great temple of Ramses II atAkhmim, and that this suggested the existence of a second statue on the other side which could still be buried in the sand. 

However, a large modern cemetery obstructed any further exploration and excavations were put on hold. To resume the excavations and preserve what Hosni called "an important part of Egyptian history", a presidential decree was issued stipulating that the cemetery be transferred to a site in New Sohag.

Hosni announced that President Mubarak had allocated LE5 million from the government budget to help fund the move, with the SCA providing an additional LE15 million.

The sand of the Valley of the Golden Mummies in Bahariya Oasis yielded more of its golden mummies as the mission unearthed 20 mummies, some of them are gilded, or burned or decapitated. A collection of Ushabti (small wooden statues  f thedeceased), along with pots have been also uncovered. The most beautiful sarcophagus found was an anthropoid clay coffin of a middle class woman whom Hawass sees was the beloved of her husband.

At Al-Sheikh Subi area in Bahariya more tombs of the oasis ruling family have been found along with their sarcophagi and grave collection.

In Alexandria two major discoveries was made, the first under the seabed of Abu Qir Bay where French and Egyptian archaeologists came across thousands of bronze pots, chandeliers, plates, perfume containers, mirrors, spoons, incense burners, glasses, cones and tweezers. Most of them date from the sixth to the second centuries BC, but the objects that generated mostinterest were life-size Ptolemaic statues, busts and heads of Ancient Egyptian deities such as Isis, Anubis and Bastet. Among them was a beautifully carved diorite statue of a tall, bearded person who may be the god of the Nile. Six lines of royal correspondence written in gold and in a way that reflects the superior standard of living that must have been enjoyed by the city's residents were also found submerged.

Lower Egypt Antiquities head Mohamed Abdel-Maqsoud said archaeologists had revealed that the find would help explain elements of religious life in the temple, as well as provide clues to the topographical features and layout of the sunken city of Heracleion as a whole.

In the downtown Kom Al-Dikka area of Alexandria, a Polish-Egyptian excavation team headed by Grzegory Majchereck unearthed a limestone complex of 13 auditoria along the northern side of the Roman theatre Portico,claiming it could reveal the real site of the fabled ancient university of Alexandria which is thought to have schooled some 5,000 students at a time. Most of the auditoria feature three rows of 3.5-metre-high benches running along the walls on three sides and forming a semicircle at the end. Lecturers most probably used an elevated seat in the centre.

This discovery might well throw light on Alexandria's great academic institution, which dominated the Mediterranean region during the late Roman period. It is also concrete evidence of the city's famed intellectual lifehitherto only gained from manuscripts, letters, biographies, textual references and other documents by well known philosophers, professors and scholars.

Sinai also revealed some of its military past.

At Tel Al-Borg, 10 kms east of Qantara East, an archaeological mission from Trinity International University in the United States stumbled upon a complete New Kingdom fortified camp. The site includes the remains of two limestone forts, one dating from the reign of the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh Tuthmosis III and the other from the 21st Dynasty. Bronze arms and a collection of scarabs and reliefs bearing the names of New Kingdom Pharaohs have also been unearthed. These discoveries show how ancient artists drew accurate topographical maps of the Horus Road -- which stretched from Egypt to Palestine -- on the walls of the Karnak Temple in Luxor.

RECOVERED ANTIQUITIES
This year, stolen and illegally smuggled artefacts continued to make their way back home to Egypt. A collection of looted limestone reliefs, Roman mummy masks, clay vases, statues, and necklaces have returned home. At the same timeEgypt succeeded in preventing the sale of pre-historic items put on show at Bonhams auction hall in London. Egypt also succeeded in cracking two major smuggling rings and putting their members behind bars. The first was a massive ring which allegedly removed at least 300 Pharaonic, Coptic and Islamic artefacts from Egypt to Switzerland. The group has also been accused of graft and money laundering. A Cairo Criminal Court sentenced Tareq El-Seweissi, the gang's mastermind, to 35 years for his role in the smuggling. The conviction was for just one of the crimes with which El-Seweissi was charged. He used his position as the former head of the National Democratic Party's Giza office to help advance his schemes, falsifying weapons and money laundering to the tune of LE33 million as well as $16 million, 111,000 euros and 971,000 Swiss francs. Twenty-six other defendants each received prison sentences ranging from one to 20 years. Ten foreigners -- from Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Kenya and Lebanon -- were tried in absentia and sentenced to 15 years and LE50,000 in
fines.
The scam involved the carrying out of illegal excavations at several archaeological sites and taking possession of countless authentic artefacts which were then disguised to resemble replicas like those sold at the KhanAl-Khalili and other bazaars. The 300 pieces now back home span the spectrum of Egyptian history, from the pre- historic to Pharaonic, Hellenic, Graeco- Roman, Coptic and Islamic eras. They include mummies, sarcophagi of various types, statues, mummy masks, chandeliers, and manuscripts. SCA officials say the case is a total success story for Egypt, since it is the first time Switzerland has agreed to help this country with its investigations and return stolen artefacts where they belong. The second case concerned the Al-Shaeir brothers, who were accused of carrying out illegal excavations at several sites and taking possession of countless authentic artefacts, which they also exported as replicas and sold. Another person in this case was Abdel-Karim Abu Shanab, former head of the SCA returned antiquities department, who was accused of falsifying the objects' licences and claiming they were replicas.

INAUGURATIONS AND RESTORATIONS:
A week before 2004 departs, Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif and Culture Minister Farouk Hosni and other concerned ministers; Tourism Minister Ahmed El-Maghrabi, Construction and Housing Minister Ibrahim Suleiman, Investment Minister Mahmoud Mohieddin, Minister of local development Abdel-Rehim Shehata and Cairo Governor Abdel-Azim Wazir inaugurated five newly restoredIslamic complexes. Including Al-Ashraf Barsbay school, Suleiman Akha Al-Selehdar Mosque and sabil-kuttab, Al-Nasser Ibn Qalawun dome and school as well as Al-Zaher Barquq dome and school and Al-Sheikh Al-Mottaher Mosque and sabil-kuttab. All these edifices were like all other Islamic monuments suffered from the ill-use of the area inhabitancies as well as the nonstop encroachments and the leakage of subsoil water. Delighted with the development work that has been executed in mediaeval Cairo, Nazif asserted that all concerned ministries along with Cairo governorate might cooperate together in order to stop any further encroachments in order to upgrade it with view to be an open-air museum. Several other restoration projects in the area have been completed and are waiting for official opening. These include the Amr Ibn Al-Aas Mosque, the Ibn Tulun Mosque and the Hanging Church. Other projects such as restoring the Coptic Museum have begun, along with the Al-Sett Wassila house and the Qait Bey complex.

In Alexandria, President and Mrs Mubarak inaugurated a major restoration project described as the rebirth of the Sayed Darwish Theatre, which was suffering from massive deterioration and neglect. Known as the Alexandria Opera House, the theatre has regained its original splendour and fame.The theatre was built in 1921 to designs by the French architect Georges Barque. It is housed in a 2,568-square metre, three-storey structure decorated with portraits of celebrated musicians. Barque's design fused elements from the Vienna State Opera and the Odeon Theatre in Paris. At the Egyptian Museum, an inventory of its legendary basement storehouse took place. This move came as a result of the misplacing of a relief of the Nile god Hapi that some believed had been stolen after being retrieved in 1985 from Japan. The relief was found after an intensive search. The museum is also carrying out a development project to create a more suitable display for its magnificent collection. 

Another restoration project is now underway at the Islamic Museum at Bab Al-Khalq. The museum should re-open next year to mark its centennial. The extension of Luxor Museum saw the light this year after two years of preparation. The extension, which has the same interior design as the older part of the museum, shows the military glory of the Ancient Egyptians. The simple, two-storey building is connected by a ramp, and reveals how well-organised the Egyptian army was during the NewKingdom by displaying 140 objects carefully selected from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, storehouses at Karnak and Luxor temples, and objects from the basement of
the Luxor Museum.
Fuente: Al Ahram Weekly
   

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