Re-wrapping a mummy, new Pyramid Texts, Abydos abides, the Akhenaten Museum, Hieroglyphs 101, Hanging out with Dr. Andrzej Cwiek, and WV22?

Whence (and who-ence) mummy WV22?  Tim Reid of The Egyptians raises some questions about the mummy found in KV35, but named WV22.  And it is actually a little more confusing than that:  “the badly damaged mummy was inscribed as Amenhotep III but lying in a coffin trough for Ramses III with a lid for Seti II.”  Check out Tim’s article:  “WV 22?”

Jane Akshar of Luxor News attended a lecture by Dr. Andrzej Cwiek, the Assistant Director of the Polish Mission at Hatshepsut’s temple at Deir el Bahri.  As if that isn’t enviable enough, she spent some one-on-one time with him after the lecture dialoguing and getting a closer look at his work with hieroglyphs.  And if that isn’t enviable enough, the next morning Dr. Cwiek gave Jane a personal tour of the Deir el Bahri site!  Jane shares all the details and some exclusive photography in “Fall of Senenmut – New Evidence from the temple at Deir el Bahri – Dr Andrzej ?wiek” and “A morning with Dr Andrzej Cwiek.”

If you are interested in learning some hieroglyphic grammar (or is that, grammar involving hieroglyphs?), check out Mummy’s Wrap, the online home of archaeologist Page Strong.  In particular:

• Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs: Phonograms
• Hieroglyphs: Determinatives
• Hieroglyphs: Ideograms

And yes, this will be on the exam.

Which came first, the mummy or the museum?  Is the newly-announced Akhenaten Museum a result of the Heretic King’s mummy having been recently identified, or did a previously planned Akhenaten Museum pressure the project to discover the king, whether they really did or not?  Kate Phizackerley, the reincarnated Theban sage who runs News from the Valley of the Kings, continues to assess the emperor’s new clothes.  Read “Akhenaten Museum Planned” for the latest.

I am a sucker for anything about Abydos, and Su Bayfield has posted an entry from her travel journal, Reflections in the Nile, which has me especially nostalgic.  I have only had the privilege of spending less than a day at this very important heritage site, and man, if I knew then what I know now.  Su’s photography is especially enjoyable, but she has a shot of the Osirion you have got to see.  The water tables are especially low, and the shot captures the entire structure.  See it at “The Abydos Pilgrimage.”

A couple of stories leap out from Vincent Brown’s Talking Pyramids.  In “Photos of the Re-Wrapping of Anonymous Man,” Vincent offers some slideshows of the four-day process of re-wrapping a Roman Period Egyptian mummy by a team from the Brooklyn Museum back in February.  Vincent also has some video clips of the event in “Re-wrapping a Mummy Live in the Lab!”  In “Burial Chamber with Pyramid Texts Discovered” and “Deciphering the Pyramid Texts of Behenu” Vincent covers the recently discovered burial chamber of Queen Behenu at Saqqara.  Vincent is doing his own translation of some of the Pyramid Text, which he offers for our perusal.

Copyright by Keith Payne, 2010.  All rights reserved.