With timing that could be considered an example of instant karma, the November 16, 2009, issue of The New Yorker hit newsstands with a ten-page article by Ian Parker that asks “Is Zahi Hawass bad for Egyptology?”

So in case you haven’t heard, Zahi Hawass called Beyonce a “stupid person.” 

While on a recent visit to the Giza Pyramids the pop-star failed to show a sufficient level of interest, treating the occasion as a mere photo opportunity.  Not previously noted for her interest in Egyptology, Beyonce rather shallowly treated the Giza monuments as a backdrop to highlight her own celebrity.  Ignoring for the moment any benefit he may have gained from having Beyonce as a backdrop to his own celebrity, Dr. Hawass (not previously noted for his interest in R&B music) became offended.

“She’s a stupid person and she doesn’t understand a thing and she doesn’t want to understand” Hawass reportedly said (Source:  Bikya Masr – Egypt’s Zahi Hawass calls Beyonce “stupid person”).

But the real story in the Bikya Masr article doesn’t start until the third paragraph from the end.  “He insults and is so controlling that it has become extremely difficult to work in this country,” was the response of one archaeologist, speaking under condition of anonymity. 

Further down, another anonymous archaeologist voiced her/his own disdain for the General Secretary of the Supreme Council of Antiquities—and now Vice Minister of Culture—also asking for his/her identity to be protected.  Celebrity tabloids aside, the real story beneath the story is the extent of Dr. Hawass’ control and why professionals in the field are afraid to speak out.

The New Yorker article, “Letter from Cairo – The Pharaoh:  The man who controls Egyptology” pretty much sums up its content with its title.  Although Dr. Hawass might disagree, the article is not a hatchet-piece.  Writer Ian Parker does an admirable job of treating the complex subject of the man who stands “at the intersection of archaeology, show business, and national politics” with fairness.  Parker gives a just account of Dr. Hawass’ efforts to “Egyptianize Egyptology” and concedes that Hawass has decolonialized Egyptology largely by force of his own personality.

But Parker doesn’t shy away from showing Zahi Hawass as a despot, benevolent or otherwise.  He quotes Dr. Hawass’ long-time friend and colleague, Salima Ikram of the American University of Cairo, as describing his tenure at the SCA as a “dictatorship,” noting that SCA press releases often announce discoveries while neglecting to name who made the discovery (p. 54).

Zahi Hawass wears his power as comfortably and casually as his trademark Stetson.  “To control all of this,” Parker quotes him as saying, “you have to make them fear you and make them love you at the same time” (p. 61).  Whether professionals working in Egypt are feeling the love is an open question, but the fear of Zahi has clearly been instilled.

In addition to the two archaeologists quoted in Bikya Masr, Ian Parker spoke with several people who felt a need to protect their identities.  Again, Dr. Hawass’ power and how he wields it was at issue.  One cited the case of Joann Fletcher, who was made persona non grata for allegedly going public with her work without first submitting her findings to the SCA, a charge her team denies (p. 54). 

Another source went so far as to say that Egyptologists fear making the sort of discovery that would attract Hawass’ attention.  The implication is clear—angering Zahi, or even finding something he would have rather found himself, can be fatal for your career.

Which brings us back to the real story beneath the Zahi/Beyonce dust up. 

In the case of both articles—Bikya Masr and The New Yorker—archaeologists and others working in the field in Egypt do not feel free to speak out about what they perceive as unprofessional, and on occasion unethical, behavior by Dr. Hawass because they fear retribution.   In one particularly telling example, Duncan Lee, a 3D imaging specialist with a production crew filming Dr. Hawass in 2004, made the mistake of raising the Good Doctor’s ire.

“You’ll never work in Egypt again,” Zahi Hawass allegedly threatened, “You’ll never get home.  Your equipment will disappear” (Parker, p. 54).

One can’t help but wonder how things will change with Dr. Hawass as Vice Minister of Culture, especially now that he has decided to retain his position with the SCA as well.  What is that old saying about absolute power?

See Also:

• Squelching Scholarship? The Case of Ahmed Saleh
• Zahi Hawass to the Terrible God Set: Silence!
• Nefertiti, the Life and Death of King Tut, and KV64: The October Checklist

Copyright by Keith Payne, 2009.  All rights reserved.

The documentary is in French, but there are numerous segments with Jean-Pierre and Bob Brier that are in English, and the 3D animations, of which there are many, are just fantastic.  A good bit of Khéops Révélé can be viewed at this link to France 5.  I am not certain if it is the documentary in full, but there is plenty there worth viewing.  In addition to Khéops Révélé there are interactive 3D animations, driven by Dassault Systemes, with English versions.  But even the French segments of the documentary are so well produced that you will have very little trouble following the story.

As support for Houdin’s work continues to gain momentum it is hoped that pressure will continue to build for allowing him to put his theories to the test.  Thus far Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities has resisted proposals for even the least invasive forms of analysis, such as infrared thermography.  General Secretary Zahi Hawass’ opinion has vacillated from open-minded support to dismissive.  Increased media attention, support from the professional community, and growing public attention will hopefully force an endgame to what is looking more and more like a case of suppression of a well-founded but contrary theory. 

The next installment of Hemienu to Houdin, Em Hotep!’s exclusive in-depth series exploring Jean-Pierre’s work, is nearing the rough-draft stage.  In Part Two we will be looking in detail at the internal ramp theory and Jean-Pierre’s solution to the perplexing problem of navigating those 2.5 ton blocks, on sleds, around sharp right angle turns.  Here is a hint:  Herodotus had part of the story.  Keep checking back with Em Hotep! for the rest!

Related Stories:

Hemienu to Houdin: Building A Great Pyramid – Introduction

Hemienu to Houdin Part One: How Do You Prefer Your Ramp, Straight or With a Twist?

New Theory on the Great Pyramid

Copyright by Keith Payne, 2009.  All rights reserved.

Graphic of the internal ramp inside the Great Pyramid of Khufu courtesy of Dassault Systemes.

Dr. Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, has sanctioned France’s Louvre Museum with an across the board embargo of all research activities in Egypt.  Prompted by what he says is the museum’s refusal to return artifacts stolen from Egypt in 1980, the SCA has put a halt to archaeological digs, conferences organized with the museum, and a major project planned for the Old Kingdom necropolis of Saqqara. 

“It is unfortunate that they would do this because the museum administration is different from us workers who continue to do great stuff and deal positively with the Supreme Council of Antiquities,” stated one French archaeologist, “…We have always worked with Egyptians under Hawass’ command, so it doesn’t make sense” (source:  Bikya Masr, Zahi Hawass Strikes Again). 

The artifacts in question come from the tomb of Tetaki (TT 15), an Eighteenth Dynasty official who was buried in a section of the Theban necropolis called the Tombs of the Nobles (source:  Looting Matters, Egypt Requests Return of Reliefs from Paris).  The necropolis, located on the west bank of the Nile across from the city of Luxor, is divided into sections such as the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens.  The Tombs of the Nobles is a section where priests, court officials, and other powerful Thebans were buried.   Thebes was the primary religious center of ancient Egypt, particularly during the New Kingdom Period. 

The Tombs of the Nobles at the Theban Necropolis (photo by Raymond Spekking)

The four fragments, which depict Tetaki’s journey to the afterlife, were hacked from the walls of his tomb back in 1980 (source:  San Francisco Chronicle-SF Gate, Egypt Severs Ties With Louvre Over Artifacts).  How they spent the next 20 years is not exactly clear, but they were acquired by the Louvre in 2000 and 2003 “in good faith,” and questions regarding the legitimacy of the purchase only arose in 2008, when archaeologists rediscovered the tomb and the nature of their painful extraction became clear (source:  Bloomberg, Egypt Claims Louvre Stelae; French Minister in Favor). 

Dr. Hawass does not seem to be convinced by the Louvre’s argument that the artifacts were purchased under conditions of transparency and good faith.  “The purchase of stolen steles,” he claims, “is a sign that some museums are prepared to encourage the destruction and theft of Egyptian antiquities,” (source:  Middle East Online, Egypt Breaks Ties With Louvre Museum).  

Frederic Mitterrand, France’s Minister of Culture is sympathetic with Hawass’ concerns and agrees that the fragments should be restored to Egypt, but still claims innocence for the Louvre.  “It wasn’t until November 2008, after archaeologists rediscovered the tomb from which the frescoes appear to have come, that serious doubts emerged about the legality of their removal from Egyptian territory,” the statement from the Culture Ministry reads. 

The situation is complicated by what appear to be some discrepancies.  For one, the French count five fragments associated with Tetaki’s tomb, while the Egyptians have only detailed four.  There also seems to be an issue with the timeline. Dr. Hawass states that the Supreme Council of Antiquities sent a letter to the Louvre eighteen months ago requesting the items be returned, and that Henri Lovette, Director of the museum, agreed but failed to act (source:  ANSAmed, Egypt, Louvre Museum in Talks Over 5 Stolen Luxor Paintings). However, according to Mitterrand’s statement the illicit nature of the artifacts’ removal from Egypt was not revealed until the tomb was rediscovered in November of 2008, which would be eleven months ago.  

Another interesting note about the timeline is Dr. Hawass’ statement that even though the announcement is only being made now, the decision to cut ties with the Louvre was made two months ago.  There has been some speculation that this is intended to disassociate the decision with the defeat last month of Egypt’s Culture Minister Farouk Hosni in his bid for the directorship of the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) (source:  AFP, Egypt Breaks Ties With France’s Louvre Museum). 

Regarding Lovette’s agreement to return the artifacts to Egypt, whether made eighteen or eleven months ago, that is actually up to the Cultural Ministry.  Mitterrand has stated that if the artifacts are stolen they should be returned, and The National Scientific Commission for the Museum Collections of France will meet on Oct. 9 to make that determination (source). 

The Zodiac of Dendera (photo by Paul Cowie)

Dr. Hawass has made the repatriation of Egyptian artifacts a priority since taking his position at the head of the SCA, and the four fragments from Tetaki’s tomb are not the only items on his list from the Louvre.  He has also made clear his intentions to retrieve the famous Zodiac of Dendera, a section taken from the painted ceiling of the Temple of Hathor at Dendera. 

Mask of Ka-Nefer-Nefer

Nor is the Louvre alone in being blacklisted from relations with Egypt.  The St. Louis Art Museum has been similarly sanctioned as a result of refusing to return the mask of Ka-Nefer-Nefer, a 3,200 year old burial mask acquired under apparently dubious circumstances. 

 Other artifacts Dr. Hawass is attempting to recover include the Rosetta Stone, currently in the British Museum, the bust of Achhaf, the architect of Khafre’s Pyramid, from the Museum of Fine Arts at Boston, and a statue of Hemienu, the architect of Khufu’s Pyramid, from the Roemer-Pelizaeu Museum in Germany.  The most high profile repatriation effort is the current battle with Berlin’s Neues Museum for the bust of Nefertiti. 

 Dr. Hawass, who is in his final year as head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, seems determined to leave a full legacy, with long-awaited announcements regarding the results of genetic tests associated with King Tutankhamun and the location of a new tomb due for this month alone. 

Copyright by Keith Payne, 2009.  All rights reserved. 

Photographs ”Valley of the Nobles (Luxor) – aerial view.jpg” by Raymond Spekking, “Dendera Zodiac.jpg” by Paul James Cowie, are provided courtesy of Wikimedia Commons  and are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0 License. In short: you are free to share and make derivative works of those files under the conditions that you appropriately attribute them, and that you distribute them only under a license identical to this one. Official license 

And here, next to the two-headed calf..  Ramesses I!

To understand this story we have to go back to Nineteenth Dynasty Egypt.  Or at least to the Nineteenth Century Egypt.  Or the Nineteenth Century United States.  Or Canada.  It depends on when you visit the Freaks of Nature show, you see, it exchanged hands several times.

Or we could start with Cairo, 2002.  Egyptologist Ahmed Saleh has been something of a thorn in Zahi Hawass’ side ever since disagreeing with him back in 2002 over the identity of a mummy returned to Egypt from the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Atlanta, GA.   The Carlos Museum had purchased the mummy as part of a collection acquired from a Niagara Falls “museum” that was little more than a tourist trap, mutant farm animals included.

The mummy enters this tale when a tomb was accidentally discovered in the 1800’s by Abd el-Rassul, a goat herder and part-time grave robber who began peddling the contents of his discovery to tourists and collectors.  By the time officials were able to properly survey and inventory the tomb they discovered 40 mummies and an empty coffin belonging to Ramesses I. 

A “murky’ trail of “ancient records from the tombs, diaries and letters from the mid-19th century, and scholarly conjecture” tentatively connected the empty coffin to a Canadian physician named James Douglass, who purchased the mummy in question around 1860 for the Niagara Falls “Freaks of Nature” show, where it shared the floor with a two-headed calf, a five-legged pig, and American Civil War memorabilia for about 140 years (source:  National Geographic, U.S. Museum to Return Ramses I Mummy to Egypt).

Other more scientific means of identifying the mummy were eventually applied, including carbon dating, CT-scans, and computer imaging.  Combined with observations such as the posture of the mummy and the nature of its embalmment, these tests seem to indicate that the mummy is very likely to be that of a royal person dating from the time of Ramesses I. 

But short of having actually discovered the mummy in the coffin of Ramesses I, rather than at a roadside freak show, “very likely” is probably about as far as scientists should go in associating the mummy with Ramesses I.  DNA testing may carry the ball further down the field, but in the tradition of the scientific method, it is probably best to say that so far we have been unable to rule out the possibility that this mummy may be that of Ramesses I.

This, of course, leaves the notion of Ramessid nobility open to question, and that is just what Ahmed Saleh did.  When the mummy was finally returned to Egypt, Zahi Hawass announced that the mummy was indeed that of Ramesses I, with qualifiers such as maybe or probably conspicuously absent.

“I sent him my official opinion,” Saleh says.  “This could not have been the mummy of Ramses I, because it had been lost in ancient times. He just ignored me, so I wrote to [weekly Egyptian newspaper] Akhbar al-Adab,” (source:  Egypt Today, “Drop the Mummy, and Nobody Gets Hurt” [no longer available online]).  Saleh’s reward was a two-day vacation without pay.  Hawass, however, states that it is Saleh contacting the press, not his disagreements, that that are the cause of the friction.

The Court of the Media

The Boy King: "Haven't I been through enough already?"

In 2005 Saleh publicly disagreed with Hawass’ plans to move the mummy of King Tutankhamun to the Egyptian Museum.  “When journalists called to ask my opinion I said the mummy should not be moved,” Saleh said.  “The SCA had no clear plan of how it was going to move the mummy, which is in an already dilapidated state” (source).  Additionally, Saleh was concerned over the glass case in which the world-famous mummy was to be kept, which he felt did not provide sufficient environmental protection.  Hawass disagreed, insisting that the case was equipped with temperature and humidity sensors.

“But despite the scientific method that was to be applied, a person who loves to say no just for the sake of objecting tried to stir public opinion with lies,” Hawass responded.  “Unfortunately, some journalists listened to him” (source).

But taking one’s case to the media does not make one wrong, and ANHRI feels Saleh’s complaints have merit.  “It seems Hawass would not accept a subordinate who is more knowledgeable, even if the researcher’s propositions are proved to be correct and for the good of the Egyptian antiquities,” a spokesperson for ANHRI said (source:  The Media Line, Egyptian Antiquities Spat Fuels Criticism over Lack of Freedom). 

The purpose of the media is to provide checks and balances of those who are in power, and it seems appropriate that Egyptian media should seek all sides of an issue and that Egyptologists with opposing viewpoints should feel free to express their informed opinion.  If Saleh is truly being marginalized by the SCA or singled out by Dr. Hawass for having dissenting views, then it is not just Saleh who is under attack, but Egyptology itself.  That seems press-worthy.

Nor has Dr. Hawass been shy about taking the disagreement before the media.  According to Saleh, Hawass has brought more than forty legal actions against him in the last two years, accompanied by announcements and newspaper stories disparaging Saleh and his work (source:  Bikya Masr, Zahi Hawass, Antiquities Dictator?).  And Dr. Hawass holds the formidable combination of pop-culture status and administrative authority.   

Professional Rivalry?

Zahi Hawass dismisses Ahmed Saleh as under qualified and disgruntled.  “This guy has no degree, he hasn’t published a single paper, has no credentials and he attacks me on my projects. I never insulted him publicly at all. I just took him to court and the court punished him” (source).

Saleh, who holds a Master’s degree from Manchester in biomedical and forensic studies specializing in mummification and Egyptian antiquities and has held administrative positions for the SCA at locations ranging from Mit Rahina to Abu Simbel, says that the combination of public and private actions by Hawass has had a devastating effect on his career.  His complaint with ANHRI contends that the results of the disproportionate and personally motivated investigations and denouncements have been detrimental to his work and his professional advancement.

“We are in front of a unique case not pertaining to professional jealousy between manager and staff, but to inhibit scientific views, freedom of scientific research and the cherishing of a part of Egypt’s history” states Hamdy al-Assiouty, an attorney for ANHRI (source).

The Supreme Council of Antiquities stands firmly behind Dr. Hawass.  “There is no truth to these arguments that we are attempting to curtail discussion within the antiquities. There is no need for that because we understand and appreciate debate, and this is part of scientific research. When a reporter asks a question, we will respond to help inform the public” (source).

So much for guilty by association with the press! 

Freedom of scholarship is as important for Egyptology as it is for any other discipline, and after suffering under centuries of colonialism that excluded Egyptians from Egyptology, it seems unthinkable that the Supreme Council of Antiquities would allow an Egyptian scholar to be suppressed for doing what all scientists do:  test the status quo.  Hopefully the involvement of ANHRI will help sort this out and allow Ahmed Saleh, Zahi Hawass, and the SCA to all get back to doing what they do the best—Egyptology.

See Also

• Zahi Hawass to the Terrible God Set: Silence!
• Zahi Hawass and Beyonce: Pay No Attention to the Story Behind the Curtain
• Nefertiti, the Life and Death of King Tut, and KV64: The October Checklist

Copyright by Keith Payne, 2009.  All rights reserved.

The title of the lecture was Mysteries of Tutankhamun Revealed.  I was in attendance, and among the most exciting revelations were promises to reveal more revelations in the very near future.

To be more specific, at a lecture on August 7^th, 2009, at Butler University’s Clowes Memorial Hall in Indianapolis, IN, Dr. Hawass assured the crowd that he knew the exact cause of Tutankhamun’s death, long thought (apparently incorrectly) to be murder, and that he would be revealing the cause at a press conference within a month.  (For a full review of the lecture see my analysis on Heritage Key:  Lecture Review: Zahi Hawass’ Mysteries of King Tut Revealed). 

The Boy King, Tutankhamun (courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Dr. Hawass also promised that other forensic results would be made public within the month.  For example, why did the boy king need to use a cane at such a young age?  He also announced that the results of a second paternity test confirming that Tutankhamun is the father of one of the fetuses found in his tomb by Howard Carter in 1922 would be subjected to publication for peer review this month.

It has been one month and one day since the lecture, so maybe what Dr. Hawass meant was that the cause of death would be announced sometime in September.  That effectively resets the clock to T-minus 30 24 days. 

The exhibition Tutankhamun the Golden King and the Great Pharaohs is due to open at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, Canada, on November 24th, 2009 (it is currently running at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, where it will remain until October 25th, 2009).  But there has been no announcement that Dr. Hawass will be speaking in Toronto to promote the exhibition, as he did in San Francisco and Indianapolis.  Besides, that would be two months from now.

The only up-coming speaking engagement for the Good Doctor that I am aware of is the Geotechnical Engineering Conference coming up on October 6^th, 2009, at Alexandria (Hawass to Speak at Geotechnical Engineering Conference), and that doesn’t sound like a very promising venue for a discussion of mummy forensics. 

But on the subject of Egypt and engineering, we have much excitement of our own planned for September here at Em Hotep!, including a multi-part very in-depth review of Jean-Pierre Houdin’s explanation of how the Pyramid of Khufu was constructed.  It’s much more complex than just an internal ramp, as you will see.

So in the meanwhile, stay tuned to Em Hotep! for more death and construction.

Photograph ”Tête de Toutânkhamon enfant (musée du Caire Egypte).jpg” by Wiki user dalbera, is provided courtesy of Wikimedia Commons  and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License. In short: you are free to share and make derivative works of those files under the conditions that you appropriately attribute them, and that you distribute them only under a license identical to this one. Official license.  Photograph “hawass3.jpg” by Anne Houston Payne is courtesty of Heritage Key–All rights reserved.

ALL OTHER photographs and text are copyright 2009, all rights reserved.

But somehow Nefertiti seems to keep slipping back into the story.

When I interviewed Zahi Hawass for Heritage Key back in August (see Exclusive Interview: Dr Zahi Hawass in Indianapolis) a lot of interesting hints were tossed out for the curious.  It’s no secret that he will be retiring from the Supreme Council of Antiquities, but it’s also no surprise that Dr. Hawass’ influence will continue to be felt in Egyptology for years, probably decades.  After all, he is retiring his position, not his pick and shovel.

In the same interview Dr. Hawass revealed that he would not only continue writing, but that his work in the Valley of the Kings is far from over, so weep not for the Good Doctor just yet.  Zahi Hawass is like the Terminator—so long as there is a spark alive within him he will continue to dig.  But nonetheless, what will the last year at the helm of the SCA hold for Egyptology’s consummate showman?

There are the secret doors in the Great Pyramid, where he has hinted that a major breakthrough has already occurred (See Goings-on at Giza in Lecture Review: Zahi Hawass’ Mysteries of King Tut Revealed in my blog on Heritage Key).  No doubt the news will be exciting.  Personally, I think it would be wonderful, poetic, and kind of funny all at once if what he discovered was Jean-Pierre Houdin’s internal ramp, but you can expect more about that on Em Hotep! in coming weeks.  Stranger things have happened…

There is the restoration work taking place in the complex of Djoser and the tomb of Seti I, and practically everywhere in Thebes.  Historic mosques, even churches and synagogues, are benefitting from conservation efforts as well.  All important, to be certain, but not quite the sort of headline grabbers that get a National Geographic Explorer special.

Let’s not forget the forensic mummy studies.  In the Lecture at Clowes Hall that preceded the interview, Dr. Hawass let drop that he would be revealing sometime in September exactly what caused the death of Tutankhamun.  That’s pretty exciting. 

Then there are the DNA studies…

One of Dr. Hawass’ most exciting projects has been the genetic mapping of the Eighteenth Dynasty.  This is important because there are a lot of anonymous New Kingdom mummies, and hidden somewhere within the pile are such luminaries as Tutankhamun’s parents, Queen Tiye, and yes, Nefertiti.

Another fact Dr. Hawass mentioned in the above lecture is that a second lab has confirmed that Tutankhamun is the father of one of the fetuses recovered from his tomb, and that both studies have been submitted for peer review.  If it turns out that Tut is the father, then cross analysis will also identify the mother, Ankhesenamun, who happens to be the daughter of Nefertiti.

A couple of weeks ago, Dr. Hawass revealed in an article on Al-Ahram Weekly On-Line (“Dig Days:  The Search for Queen Mutnodjmet”) that a genetic profile was to be constructed for Queen Mutnodjmet, as soon as they could relocate her missing mummy.  He goes on to say that this would bring us closer to identifying Queen Nefertiti, who happens to be Mutnodjmet’s sister  is thought by some, including Dr. Hawass, to be Mutnojmet’s sister.  For the full story, see my blog entry at Heritage Key, Queen Mutnodjmet: Another Branch in Tutankhamun’s Genetic Line Found (and Lost)?

This is called triangulation.  I am no Dominick Dunne, may he rest in peace, but identifying Queen Nefertiti through both Ankhesenamun and Mutnodjmet [given that they are sisters--Ed.] seems to make a pretty solid case.  So assuming final confirmation of Tut’s paternity and the subsequent cross analysis of the fetus, and assuming the AWOL Queen Mutnodjmet makes a show, we may have the positive identification of Nefertiti’s mummy some time this year.

If I may again refer to the August 7^th lecture at Indianapolis, Dr. Hawass stated that he hopes to reveal a “new tomb” in October.  He then states later that he hopes to reveal the location of Nefertiti’s tomb this winter (2009/10).  To speculate on a connection here would be, well, speculation.  But it would not be unlike Dr. Hawass to announce the location of a new tomb one month, and then identify it several months later.  He is a master of suspense.

The smart money, however, is on the “October Surprise” being KV64, and I have to admit that I tend to agree.  That wouldn’t be a bad thing.  Getting both KV64 and Nefertiti’s tomb within months of each other would make my Christmas merry, and I’m a Buddhist.  But either way, Dr. Hawass did state explicitly that he hopes to reveal the location of Nefertiti’s tomb this winter, probably under a modern rest house just northeast of Seti I’s tomb.  So far that gives us the mummy and tomb of Nefertiti.

To refer again to the Heritage Key interview, one of the things I asked Dr. Hawass about was the repatriation of the bust of Nefertiti.  He responded that he would be writing a letter this October to the Altes Museum in Berlin requesting that the artifact be returned.  In another recent article in Al-Ahram Weekly (“Queen of Egypt’s Heart”) we learn that Germany is prepared for a fight, but so is the dauntless Dr. Hawass.  For more on this, see my blog entry at Heritage Key, The Bust of Nefertiti – A Century-Old Archaeological Detective Story Nearing an End?

Dr. Hawass mentioned in the interview that he has about ten (!) books coming out in the next year, eight of which he more or less identified.  That leaves two.  Who wants to bet one of them will be about Nefertiti?  Of course, I could be way off base with all of this, and Nefertiti may end up playing a bit part in Dr. Hawass’ Final Act with the Supreme Council of Antiquities.  And stockbrokers are hardly reliable these days.  But I stand by my advice—if you are investing in Egyptian personas this year, buy Nefertiti.  You’ll thank me.

Copyright 2009, all rights reserved.

Tim Reid from The Egyptians brings us up to date with the recent doings and future happenings of the SCA.  Read Plans from the Supreme Council of Antiquities.  With our weekly dose of forensic mummy studies, read CT Scan for Iret-Net-Hor-Irw.  And from the Coptic Quarter, read The Hanging Church for details on restorations of St. Marys—The Hanging Church.

Sean Williams from Heritage Key explores the extraterrestrial origins of one of Tutankhamun’s finer pieces of finery.  Balderdash, you say?  Maybe not so much.  Read Is King Tut’s Necklace from Outer Space?

Kate Phizackerley from News from the Valley of the Kings shares a video that examines the evidence that Rameses II was the unnamed pharaoh of the Exodus of Jewish tradition.  But unlike most treatments of this subject, this video draws on the Islamic tradition.  Check out Rameses II and the Quran.

Ben Morales-Correa of Egypt Then and Now brings us news of another Egyptian exhibition—fellow Louisvillians, heads up!—this time in Cincy.  On October 3^rd, the Cincinnati Museum Center will open Lost Egypt:  Ancient Secrets, Modern Science.  Ben does a fine job of providing more info at Lost Egypt coming to Museum Center.  Road trip!  Anne, Meredith, are you reading this?

Pavements of Silver has been at the Louvre this week and brings us a video blog on one of the best pieces of Pharaonic art, “Seti I before Hathor” (B7).  A wonderful photo montage is included.  Tune in at Seti I Before Hathor (B7).

For more on Seti I read Qurna Temple of Seti I, another excursion from Su Bayfield’s Reflections in the Nile.  As usual, delightful prose is accompanied by postcard-worthy photography.

Dissention amongst the ranks of Egyptologists?  Say it isn’t so!  Vincent Brown of Talking Pyramid brings us the story—Exact Date of the Great Pyramid Scorned.  Hell hath no fury like an Egyptologist scorned!  But on a more serious note, Talking Pyramids just celebrated 18 months of existence!  Jump over to Thank you and raise a toast to Vincent! 

The inexhaustible Scholar over at The Egyptian Yell brings us more museum newseum.  Find out what is Upcoming at the British Museum (with regard to Egyptology, of course).  For something coming up at the Arkansas Art Center, read Mummy’s the Word.  And if you have ever wondered “Did pharaohs suffer from Backpacker Fatigue,” the short answer is yes.  For the long answer, consult the Scholar.