Is academic criticism the personification of evil itself?

Egypt’s Vice Minister of Culture Zahi Hawass seems to think so.  As the critics, both pro and con, chime in with their own analysis of the recent JAMA article, Dr. Hawass seems to cross the line between making a response and taking offense.

“I call on Set, the [ancient Egyptian] god of evil to remain silent this time!”

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Tags: Albert Zink, Forensic Mummy Studies, Genetic Mapping, Journal of the American Medical Association, Otzi Iceman, Zahi Hawass

Mark Rose, the Archaeological Institute of America’s online editor, has written a well-timed editorial in Beyond Stone & Bone, Archaeology Magazine’s blog, regarding Jean-Pierre Houdin’s work with Khufu’s Pyramid.

If we can take physical samples from some of the most important and fragile “artifacts” in all of Egypt—royal mummies—then why can’t we allow Jean Pierre to conduct completely non-invasive work which may unravel one of humankind’s most abiding riddles:  How was the Great Pyramid built?

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Tags: Archaeological Institute of America, Bob Brier, Dieter Arnold, Infrared Thermography, Internal Ramp, Jean-Pierre Houdin, Khufu's Pyramid, Mark Rose, Rainer Stadelman, The Secret of the Great Pyramid

Plus:  Catching Up Em Hotep!

All the world is abuzz with the long-awaited release of the current genetic study of the Eighteenth Dynasty, particularly as it relates to the goose that continues to lay the golden eggs—King Tut. 

Your humble scribe is still mulling over the subject before attempting his own contribution, but in the meanwhile, here are a few excellent pieces from some of the most excellent writers in the Egyptology blogosphere.  In the spirit of parsimony, I have narrowed my selection down to the three which I found to be the most unique in their approach and thought provoking in their implications.  Enjoy!

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Tags: Eighteenth Dynasty, Forensic Mummy Studies, Genetic Mapping, Tutankhamun

In the first part of January the media began breaking the news that the old yarn about slaves having built the pyramids had finally been dispelled.  Dr. Zahi Hawass of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities announced that three large tombs had been newly discovered very close to the pyramid itself.  As the final resting place of some of the overseers of the workforce, both the structure and location of the tombs made it clear that these were no slaves.

Dr. Hawass’ statement that “These tombs were built beside the king’s pyramid, which indicates that these people were not by any means slaves” (source) was widely repeated in the press under headlines announcing that the belief that slaves had built the pyramids could now be retired.  But Egyptologists have long known that the Slave Hypothesis was pure Hollywood. 

Along with Hawass, Egyptologist Mark Lehner began uncovering the truth of the pyramid builders more than 20 years ago.  Lehner was consumed with the question of where such a large workforce could have lived.  After conducting the first detailed “to scale” survey of the Giza Plateau, he narrowed his focus to the area around the enigmatic Wall of the Crow, a colossal wall with no apparent related structures.

Lehner hit pay dirt, and his dogged pursuit of these ancient builders led to the excavation of the very city where they lived and worked—a large complex of barracks and permanent housing, distribution centers, industrial sites, and scribal workshops.  The recently discovered tombs tell us something of the status of the workers, but the Lost City of the Pyramid Builders gives us the everyday details of their lives.

Most of Em Hotep’s readers will be familiar with Dr. Lehner and his work.  But if you are not, then his total absence from the recent news stories may have left you with an incomplete picture of just how strong the case against the Slavery Hypothesis really is.  In this three-part series we will take a look at what Lehner discovered about the pyramid builders.  We will examine the evidence that the workforce had a surprisingly modern division of labor, followed by a tour of the city itself.

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Tags: AERA, Bak Hypothesis, Fourth Dynasty, Giza Plateau, Giza Pyramids, Mark Lehner, Old Kingdom, Pyramid City, Pyramids, Slave Hypothesis, Tombs, Wall of the Crow, Zahi Hawass

If you are curious about how the Great Pyramid was built, and want to have the best theory to come along explained by one of its earliest advocates, then you are in luck. 

Dr. Bob Brier, co-author with Jean-Pierre Houdin of “The Secret of the Great Pyramid”, will be delivering a free lecture, open to the public, at Poughkeepsie, NY, on January 27, 2010.

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Tags: Bob Brier, Jean-Pierre Houdin, Khufu's Pyramid

News is beginning to pop up about a new tomb discovered in the Saqqara area of the Memphis Necropolis, and it’s a big one!  Actually, two tombs have been discovered, and while they seem to have already been looted, archaeologists have found artifacts, including human remains.

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Tags: Saqqara, Tombs, Zahi Hawass

Tim Reid, proprietor of The Egyptians, one of the most excellent Egyptology blogs on the internet, has posted his Top 10 stories of 2009.   I couldn’t possibly improve on his coverage, and why reinvent the wheel?  So if you haven’t checked it out yet, here is Tim Reid’s 2009 in Review!

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Berlin has given its official response to the Nefertiti Summit and Zahi Hawass’ plans to formally demand the return of the bust of Nefertiti to Egypt—ain’t gonna happen. 

German officials claim that the artifact’s constitution has already been evaluated and she is too fragile for travel, and that the Nefertiti Summit was never about the merits of Egypt’s case to begin with.

Meanwhile, Zahi Hawass intends to assemble a repatriation alliance based on his own model.  “Our strategy became a good case for everyone…. China announced they will do same as we do” (Source: M&C: “Egypt to aid return of Asian, African stolen artifacts”).

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Tags: Artifact Alliance, Bust of Nefertiti, Friederike Seyfried, Nefertiti Summit, Repatriation, Zahi Hawass

The Nefertiti Summit has passed by, leaving little more in its wake than a flurry of media reports which all say basically the same thing, summarized here for your convenience. 

The short version:  Egypt offered no new evidence, but Germany was kind enough to offer some old evidence that seems to favor Egypt, who now feels justified in officially demanding the return of the bust of Nefertiti.

For the long version…

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Tags: Bust of Nefertiti, Friederike Seyfried, Ludwig Borchardt, Nefertiti Summit, Repatriation, Zahi Hawass

Dr. Otto Schaden has posted an update to his webpage stating that the excavation of KV63, the tomb/mummy cache he discovered back in 2005, has been completed.  This milestone was passed this fall when the remaining sealed jars discovered in KV63 were opened and their contents examined.  In addition to seven empty (except for smashed jars and mummification tools) coffins, Dr. Schaden’s team discovered 28 large storage jars in one of the chambers of KV63, most of them sealed.

But with all the jars now opened, work on KV63 is far from over and the most exciting discoveries are certainly yet to come.

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Tags: Eighteenth Dynasty, kv63, Otto Schaden, Valley of the Kings

Vincent Brown’s website, Talking Pyramids, has changed addresses, so please update your links!  The new address is:  http://www.talkingpyramids.com/

If you have read any of the reference articles on Em Hotep!, particularly anything having to do with pyramids, then you have most likely come across Talking Pyramids in my Further Reading section at the end of the articles.  Vincent’s network of websites is always one of the online resources I check when writing a reference piece. 

Did I say network of websites?

Talking Pyramids is just one of several online resources Vincent offers.  Check out Ancient Egyptian Pyramids Network for Pyramid Texts Online, YouTube videos you will want to see, the Pyramid of Man website, and resources for hieroglyphs and learning ancient Egyptian. 

Vincent offers up-to-date news, book reviews, and thoughtful and informed commentary on Talking Pyramids, so if you haven’t been there yet, you should drop in!

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The Swiss Mummy Project has been reviewing all of the studies performed on mummies in the last three decades and has compiled a wealth of data about how the ancient Egyptians lived and died.  They discovered that in addition to bad dental health, the ancients suffered from a wide range of maladies which we normally associate with modern life.

So, what did the mummies have to say about living well?

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Tags: Bob Brier, Forensic Mummy Studies, Frank Ruhli, Gino Fornaciari, Mummies, Mummification, Natron, Ramesses II, Ronald Wade, Swiss Mummy Project, Tao II

The Nefertiti Summit has been moved back from December 8 to December 20, according to a recent article appearing on Qatar’s The Peninsula:  “Egypt to hold talks over bust of Queen Nefertiti.” 

In a previous article that appeared on France 24, Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, stated that the director of the Egyptian antiquities department would be coming to Cairo on December 8, 2009, to present his evidence that the famous bust of Nefertiti had been removed from Egypt via “proper channels” (Source).

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Tags: Altes Museum, Bust of Nefertiti, Dietrich Wildung, Ludwig Borchardt, Nefertiti Summit, Neues Museum, Repatriation, Zahi Hawass

King Tut is known as the Boy King for two reasons.  The first is the young age at which he assumed the throne—around eight or nine.  The second is that he died at around nineteen, so he never really reached adulthood.  Why he died so young is a question that has been with us since his tomb was discovered by Howard Carter in 1922.

In 2005 a team of top radiologists conducted a series of CT scans on Tutankhamun’s mummy, and when the results were announced the following year at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, the results were not 100% conclusive.  Most of the team felt they had settled the question of what had caused Tut’s early death, but there were some holdouts. 

So when Zahi Hawass announced last August that he was on the verge of announcing the exact cause of Tut’s death, Em Hotep! took notice.  So does a new article and video on Dr. Hawass’ website finally put the question to rest?

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Tags: Akhenaten, Amarna, Ashraf Selim, Ay II, Eighteenth Dynasty, Forensic Mummy Studies, Howard Carter, Mummification, Richard Covington, Tutankhamun, Zahi Hawass