Dr. Zahi Hawass has vowed to fight for the repatriation of the bust of Nefertiti, but as he prepares to pounce, the Germans brace for the battle. Like a couple of prize fighters circling the ring, the champion of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities and Dietrich Wildung, director of Berlin’s Egyptian Museum, have been sizing each other up for this October title fight.
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Tags: Altes Museum, Archaeology, Bust of Nefertiti, Dietrich Wildung, Ludwig Borchardt, Nefertiti, Neues Museum, Repatriation, Zahi Hawass
Dr. David O’Connor is the Co-Director of the Yale University-University of Pennsylvania-Institute of Fine Arts, NYU Excavations at Abydos, which just had their group symposium at Penn Museum on September 19, 2009.
I interviewed Dr. O’Connor for Heritage Key under my daytime name, Keith Payne. Dr. O’Connor offered his insights on such subjects as the Cult of Osiris, royal mortuary chapels, the excavation of an entire fleet of ships, and human sacrifice!
Read the interview at: Exclusive Interview: Dr David O’Connor of the Abydos Expedition.
Tags: Abydos, Archaeology, David O'Connor, Tombs
The Altes Museum in Berlin has certainly dug its heels in on this issue–Nefertiti’s iconic sculpture is now a “part of German cultural identity.” But what exactly does this fight over an Egyptian artifact obtained under very questionable circumstances communicate about Germany’s cultural identity?
Props go to Timothy Reid of The Egyptians for first blogging about the latest news in this on-going controversy. After you check out his scoop, Nefertiti Please Come Home, hop over to Heritage Key where I blog about this as well under my daytime name, Keith Payne: The Bust of Nefertiti – A Century-Old Archaeological Detective Story Nearing an End?
Zahi Hawass is going full court. We’ll see how far he gets!
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Tags: Altes Museum, Archaeology, Bust of Nefertiti, Eighteenth Dynasty, Heritage Key, Modern Egypt, Nefertiti, Repatriation, Zahi Hawass
More than two thousand Egyptophiliacs lined up outside Clowes Memorial Hall for what Director of Operations Karen Steele informed me was a sold-out house.
It would not be too much of an exaggeration to say the event had the feel of a rock concert. We were there to see a star. What secrets would he reveal tonight? What announcements would he make?
Shemsu scoops the news for Heritage Key.
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Tags: Archaeology, Egyptian Tombs, Eighteenth Dynasty, Forensic Mummy Studies, Giza Plateau, Indianapolis, Indianapolis Children's Museum, Khufu's Pyramid, Mummies, Nefertiti, Osiris Shaft, Queen Tiye, Secret Doors, Valley of the Kings, Zahi Hawass
My interview with Zahi Hawass has been posted to Heritage Key!
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Tags: Archaeology, Cairo Museum, Egyptian Tombs, Egyptian Tourism, Forensic Mummy Studies, Giza Plateau, Giza Pyramids, Grand Egyptian Museum, Horemheb, Indianapolis, Islamic Egypt, Ka-Nefer-Nefer, Khufu's Pyramid, Memphis Necropolis, Mummies, National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, Nefertiti, Osiris Shaft, Seti I, Suzanne Mubarak Children's Museum, Valley of the Kings, Zahi Hawass
The Current issue of Archaeology (Volume 62 Number 4, July/August 2009) has a great article by Bob Brier regarding the theory first proposed by Jean-Pierre Houdin about the possibility of an internal ramp inside Khufu’s Pyramid.
The theory accounts for some anomalies in a microgravemetric survey couducted by French researchers in the 1980’s, and includes his trip up the side of the pyramid to explore the “niche”. He discovered an unexplored chamber right where you would expect one if his theory of an internal ramp was correct…
Archaeology was kind enough to put the entire article online. Read it here - Update: Return to the Great Pyramid.
Tags: Archaeology, Bob Brier, Giza Pyramids, Jean-Pierre Houdin, Khufu's Pyramid, Pyramids
The Seti I replica tomb project, Egyptian rock art, the Guardian Geese of Abusir, and more.
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Tags: Abusir, Akhenaten, Amarna, Archaeology, Cairo Museum, Egyptian Tombs, Egyptian Tourism, Islamic Egypt, Rock Art, Seti I, Valley of the Kings
It’s the northern tip of a vast cemetery that spans the desert from Memphis to Cairo. It’s the home of the Great Sphinx, scores of pyramids, and thousands of tombs. One of its features, the Great Pyramid, is the last remaining Wonder of the Ancient World, and the best minds still can’t agree on how it was constructed.
Welcome to the Giza Plateau, the only place on Earth that is recognizable from outer space because of a few 4,600 year old buildings.
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Tags: Archaeology, Egyptian Tombs, First Dynasty, Giza Necropolis, Giza Plateau, Giza Pyramids, Memphis Necropolis, Pyramids, Saqqara, Senedjemib-inty, Seshemnefer IV, Solar Boat Museum, Sphinx
