Category: Ann - Part 16

Restoring The Avenue of Sphinxes and Protecting it for the Future

the avenue of sphinxes - photo by jennifer willoughby Egypts Minister of Culture, Farouk Hosni, and Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), along with the governor of Luxor, Samir Farag, will embark today on an inspection tour along the Avenue of Sphinxes that connects the Luxor and Karnak temples. During this visit, they will install the piece of red granite that was returned to Egypt by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in its original place at the Ptah temple at Karnak.

Built by the 30th Dynasty king Nectanebo I (380-362 BC), the avenue is 2,700 meters long and 76 meters wide, and lined with a number of statues in the shape of sphinxes. Queen Hatshepsut recorded on her red chapel in Karnak temple (explore the evolution of this temple in Digitial Karnak) that she built six chapels dedicated to the god Amun-Re on the route of this avenue during her reign, emphasising that it was long a place of religious significance.

The Avenue of Sphinxes is one of the most important archaeological and religious paths in Luxor, as it was the location of important religious ceremonies in ancient times, most notably the Beautiful Feast of Opet.

The Opet Festival was celebrated annually in Thebes, during the New Kingdom period and later. The statues of the gods of the Theban Triad – Amun, Khonsu and Mut – were escorted, hidden from sight in a sacred barque, in a joyous procession down the Avenue of Sphinxes from the temple of Amun in Karnak, to the temple of Luxor in order to relive their marriage.

Dr. Hawass said that developing the Avenue of Sphinxes is part of the SCAs collaboration with the Luxor government – one of the issues is to tackle air pollution damaging the monuments – to develop the whole city into an open-air museum. The SCA allocated an amount of LE 30 million to remove all encroachments and compensate those who own houses and shops along the route, as well as another LE 30 million for excavation and restoration works. These works are carried out in three phases; the first was to build a low wall alongside the avenue in order to preserve it from any further encroachment, the second phase is the excavation and the final step is the restoration of the area.

The excavation team unearthed a large number of fragmented sphinxes that are now undergoing restoration efforts led by SCA consultant Dr. Mahmoud Mabrouk in order to be placed on the site.

Along the avenue there were originally 1350 sphinxes. Many of the stone guardians were removed and reused during the Roman period and the Middle Ages.

Each of the excavation sections is revealing more sphinxes as well as the cartouches of several kings and queens.

One of the reliefs bears the cartouche of Queen Cleopatra VII. Dr. Hawass believes that this queen likely visited this avenue during her Nile trip with Mark Anthony and implemented restoration work that was marked with her cartouche.

Remains of Queen Hatshepsuts chapels, which were reused by king Nectanebo I in the construction of sphinxes, have been found as well, along with a collection of Roman buildings – remains of wine factories and a huge cistern for water.

Examples of other restoration and protection works currently ongoing in Egypt are the make-over for the Giza area – including the construction of the Grand Egyptian Museum and drilling under the Sphinx to keep its paws dry – as well as preventing Saqqara’s Step Pyramid from collapsing. The Getty Institue is getting it very busy cleaning King Tut’s tomb (just what are those weird brown spots?!), but in the end, we tourists might even end up with an entire Replica Valley of the Kings to visit. What about things (a tiny bit) less ancient? Watch the video about the restoration of one of the oldest Coptic Monasteries still existing, Deir Mar Antonios.

Mel Gibson Demands Realistic Pillaging and Old Norse For New Viking Movie

Actor and Director Mel Gibson is working on a Viking-themed film that is going to star Leonardo DiCaprio, who will have to brush up on his Old Norse. The script is in the hands of Oscar-winning screenwriter William Monahan, and will chronicle the Viking raids on England and Scotland in the ninth century.

When asked about the Viking project at a recent press event, Mel Gibson told Collider.com: I think its going to be English – the English that would have been spoken back then – and Old Norse. Whatever the 9th century had to offer. Im going to give you real.

Gibson certainly has some previous experience when it comes to realism in ancient world movie-making: The Passion of the Christ contained Aramaic, Hebrew and Latin, and of course, there is *coughs* Braveheart.

I want to see somebody who I have never seen before speaking low guttural German who scares the living shit out of me coming up to my house.

Will this movie give you the real Viking experience? If it is up to Mel, definitely: I want to see somebody who I have never seen before speaking low guttural German who scares the living shit out of me coming up to my house.

The Vikingsused their famed longships to travel as far east as Constantinople and the Volga River in Russia, and as far west as Iceland, Greenland, and Newfoundland. This period of Viking expansionforms a major part of the medieval history of-and lead to a seriousexpansion of the gene poolin– Scandinavia, Britain, Ireland and the rest of Europe in general.

Hopefully, shooting for this Viking epic will start this year. I’m definitely looking forward to this one! Regardless if this ‘edutainment‘ will teach me anything beyond Old Norse grunts and Viking fashion sense or not.

Saxon Queen Eadgyth’s remains discovered in Germany

Opening Princess Eqdgyth's Tomb at the Magdeburg Dom Germany Remains of one of the oldest members of the English royal family, Edith of England, have been unearthed at the Magdeburger Dom in Germany. (image slideshow) A lead coffin was discovered, bearing her name ‘Eadgyth’ and accurately recording the transfer of her remains to the German cathedral in 1510. Inside the coffin, a nearly complete female skeleton was found, wrapped in silk.

Queen Eadgyth, the sister of King Athelstan and the granddaughter of Alfred the Great, King of Wessex became the wife of Otto I, the Holy Roman Emperor in 929. She lived in Saxony and bore Otto at least two children, before her death in 946 at the age of 36. She was then buried in Magdeburg in Germany and her tomb was later marked in the Cathedral by an elaborate sixteenth century monument.

In 2008, as part of a wider research project into Magdeburg Cathedral, this tomb was investigated. It was known that she was initially buried at the Monastery of Mauritius in Magdeburg, and if bones were to be found, they would have had to been moved to this later tomb; it was thought that this tomb was most likely a cenotaph.

Click To Watch Video

The Legend of the Saxon Queen Eadgyth

Scientists announced that bones excavated in Magdeburg Cathedral in 2008 are those of Saxon Queen Eadgyth (‘Edith of England’) who died in AD 946.

CLICK TO WATCH

However, when the lid was removed, a lead coffin was discovered, bearing Queen Eadgyths name and accurately recording the transfer of her remains in 1510. Inside the coffin, a nearly complete female skeleton aged between 30 and 40 was found, wrapped in silk.

Dr Harald Meller of the Landesmuseum fur Vorgeschichte in Saxony Anhalt, who led the project said: “We still are not completely certain that this is Eadgyth although all the scientific evidence points to this interpretation. In the Middle Ages bones were moved around as relics and this makes definitive identification difficult.” (update:identity confirmed!)

We know that Saxon royalty moved around quite a lot, and we hope to match the isotope results with known locations around Wessex and Mercia, where she could have spent her childhood.

Apart from the fragmentary bones – wrapped in textiles – inside the lead coffin, other finds included soil sediments and entire beetles. All the findings and the lead coffin itself are being studied and conserved by a team of scientists including osteologists, archaeologists, archaeometallurgists, specialists in medieval textiles, forensic scientists, pedologists, biologists, art-historians and epigraphers.

As part of the research some small samples are being brought to the University of Bristol for further analysis. The research group at Bristol will be hoping to trace the isotopes in these bones to provide a geographical signature that matches where Eadgyth is likely to have grown up.

Professor Mark Horton of the Bristol University’s Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, who is coordinating this side of the research, explained the strategy: “We know that Saxon royalty moved around quite a lot, and we hope to match the isotope results with known locations around Wessex and Mercia, where she could have spent her childhood. If we can prove this truly is Eadgyth, this will be one of the most exciting historical discoveries in recent years.”

Eadgyth is likely to be the oldest member of the English royal family whose remains have survived. Her brother, King Athelstan is generally considered to have been the first King of England after he unified the various Saxon and Celtic kingdoms following the battle of Brunanburgh in 937. His tomb survives in Malmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire, but is most likely empty. Eadgyths sister Adiva – also offered to Otto as wife, but he choose Eadgyth instead – was also married to an unknown European ruler, but her tomb is not located.

The discovery of Eadgyths remains illustrates the close links between European states in the early medieval period and how in the formation of both England and Germany intermarriage between the emerging royal houses of Europe was commonplace and has left a lasting legacy in the present royal families of Europe.

The preliminary findings of this discovery will be announced at the conference ‘Princess Eadgyth of Wessex and her world‘ at the University of Bristol today.

Queen Berenike’s Bastet Temple Discovered in Alexandria

Ptolomeic Cat Statue discovered at Queen Berenike Temple The remains of a temple of Queen Berenike – wife of King Ptolemy III – have been discovered by archaeologists in Alexandria, Egypt. Dr. Zahi Hawass said the remains discovered are 60 meters by 15 meters, and extend under Ismail Fahmy street. About 600 Ptolemaic statues – amongst which are beautiful depictions of the cat goddess Bastet – were also unearthed.

Dr. Mohamed Abdel Maqsoud, Head of Antiquities of Lower Egypt, said that the mission excavating at Kom el Dikka on property of the Alexandria Security Forces included 18 skilled excavators and restorers. The large collection of Bastet statues indicates that the temple was dedicated to her.

The Bastet statues were unearthed in three different areas of the site, alongside other limestone statues of unidentified women and children. Clay pots and bronze and faience statues of different ancient Egyptian deities have also been uncovered, as have terracotta statues of the gods Harpocrates and Ptah.

Head of a statue from the Ptolemaic era, one of more than 600 statues discovered at the excavation site in Alexandria. Early studies on site revealed that the temples foundation can be dated to the reign of Queen Berenice – the wife of King Ptolemy III Euergetes (246-222 BC) – making this the first Ptolemaic temple discovered in Alexandria to be dedicated to Bastet. It also indicates that her worship continued in Egypt after the decline of the ancient Egyptian era.

Bastet originally took the form of a lion and protected the king during battle. However the Greek rulers of the Ptolemaic Dynasty associated her instead with their own Artemis, changing her appearance to that of a cat and calling her Ailuros, a lunar goddess.

The temple is thought to have been destroyed in later eras when it was put to use as a quarry, which lead to the disappearence of most of its stone blocks.

The inscribed base of a granite statue from the reign of King Ptolemy IV (205-222 BC) was also unearthed. It bears ancient Greek text written in nine lines stating that the statue belonged to a top official in the Ptolemaic court. Dr. Maqsoud claims the base was made to celebrate Egypts victory over the Greeks during the Battle of Raphia in 217 BC.

A Roman water cistern, a group of 14 meter-deep water wells, stone water channels, the remains of a bath area and a large number of clay pots and sherds that can be dated to the 4th century BC were also uncovered.

According to Dr Maqsoud, it is very possible that this find – made during routine excavations at the Kom el Dikka area – is the first trace of the real location of Alexandria’s royal quarter.

19th Century Travel in Egypt: the Journey of Gustave Flaubert and Maxime Du Camp

Dendera Temple 1850 by Maxime Du Camp Gustave Flaubert – the author of ‘Madame Bovary’ – travelled through Egypt from October 1849 to July 1850. Together with his friend and photographer Maxime Du Camp he journeyed from Alexandria in the North to Sudan in the South and back. This journey is the focus of the exhibition ‘Het Egypte van Gustave Flaubert’ (Gustave Flaubert’s Egypt), which runs at the RMO in Holland until April 4th 2010. The expo follows the famous French writer on his journey through Egypt and takes its visitors from the amazing pyramids at Giza and the sanctuaries at Luxor to the gigantic pharaonic statues at Abu Simbel in the deep south. Through fragments from Flaubert’s letters and diary, unique photographs by Du Camp and about a hundred ancient Egyptian artefacts the exhibition recreates a typical view of Egypt at that time, as seen through the eyes of a European traveller.

Gustave Flaubert‘s travel diary – published as ‘Flaubert in Egypt‘ – gives a detailed account of his journey through Egypt. His travelling companion Du Camp took many exquisite photographs of the monuments and excavations they visited together, at that time not yet crowded with tourists and still partly hidden under the sand. Thirty-five of these pictures, amongst which some original calotypes, can be ~~seen~~ marvelled at in the exhibition. The combination of Flaubert’s very personal writings and the distant, professional photography of Du Camp creates an exotic view of 19th century Egypt.

But even without Flaubert’s words, Maxime Du Camp’s astonishing photographs speak for themselves, evoking romantic thoughts of an Egypt without – or with not to many – tourists, a desolated frame that presents the ruins of Ancient Egypt splendidly. I’m at risk of repeating myself, but being a ‘holidaymaker’ in the 19th century seems that much more magical than doing ‘all inclusive’ in the 21th. Or am being a bit to unrealistic? Let’s see, Flaubert complained about – in no particular order – stubborn donkeys, hungry hyenas, boredom and depression in Philae, fever and bad cheese. Not to mention that the local bird population was using the Sphinx as well as Cheop’s Pyramid as the public toilet.

Besides the diary fragments and Du Camp’s photographs, Gustave Flaubert’s journey (overall a quite satisfying journey, don’t let the typical tourist complaints above mislead you) is illustrated at the RMO with over a hundred ancient Egyptian objects, including a sarcophagus of a priestess, crocodile mummies, papyri and two sphinxes. These valuable objects – on loan from different museums, and all related to or from the monuments and excavations the duo visited – give the public an idea of the archaeological splendour that these 19th century travellers encountered.

Although Ihardly dare to quote Flaubert’s impressions of the Sphinx (the Frenchman’s reasoning why the Sphinx must have been an Ethiopian king would be considered very ‘not done’ nowadays), here are his words on the Colossi of Memnon.

On May 2nd 1850, Gustave Flaubert wrote, “the Colossi of Memnon might be giant, but they are far from impressive. Very different from the Sphinx! The Greek inscriptions are clearly visible, it was so easy to discover them. Beholding the rocks that have fascinated so many people, visited by that many, does give a certain pleasure. How many bourgeois did not raise their eye at these? Each voiced their opinion on these, and then continued their own path.“

Personally, what I find the most refreshing about a ‘travelogue’ from the 19th century, is that – for once – it’s not all about King Tut. 😉

The RMOhas extended ‘Gustave Flaubert’s Egypt’ onto the internet; on the exhibition’s website you can read a selection of Flaubert’s diary fragments (in Dutch) and Du Camp’s magnificent photos whilst tracking Flaubert’s journey which is plotted on Google Maps, as well as voting for your favourite picture.

‘Het Egypt van Gustave Flaubert’ – curated by Dr Christian Greco and Dr Esther Holwerda – runs until April 4th 2010 at the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden, The Netherlands. Admission is included in the museum entrance fee, which is 9.

The Lost World of Old Europe in New York

The Danube Valley Exhibition - Varna Gold Bulls A splendid exhibition in New York – ‘The Lost World of Old Europe: The Danube Valley’ – brings to the United States for the first time more than 250 objects recovered by archaeologists from the graves, towns, and villages of Old Europe, a period of related prehistoric cultures that achieved a peak of sophistication and creativity between 5000 and 4000BC in what is now southeastern Europe. The cultures mysteriously collapsed by 3500 BC, possibly brining a shift from female to male power. The exhibition – made possible through loan agreements with over 20 museums in Romania, Bulgaria, and Moldova – features the exuberant art, enigmatic goddess cults, and elaborate metal ornaments and weapons of Old Europe.

Long before Egypt or Mesopotamia rose to an equivalent level of achievement, Old Europe was among the most sophisticated places that humans inhabited. Some of its towns grew to citylike sizes. Potters developed striking designs; and the ubiquitous goddess figurines found in houses and shrines have triggered intense debates about womens roles in Old European society. Coppersmiths were, in their day, the most advanced metal artisans in the world. Their passionate interest in acquiring copper, gold, Aegean shells, and other rare valuables created networks of negotiation that reached surprisingly far, permitting some of their chiefs to be buried with pounds of gold and copper in funerals without parallel in the Near East or Egypt at the time.

For many visitors to The Lost World of Old Europe: The Danube Valley the region and its historical context, as well as its material culture, may be largely unfamiliar. Discussions of Western civilization often move from the Venus of Willendorf to the Lascaux cave paintings and then on to Egypt and Mesopotamia, without ever mentioning the art and culture of what is known as Old Europe, an area corresponding geographically to modern-day southeastern Europe and defined by a series of distinct cultural groups that attained an astonishing level of sophistication in the 5th and 4th millennia BC.

The Lost World of Old Europe brings to an American audience, for the first time, a civilization barely mentioned in university classes but of exceptional importance within the development of human societies, said Roger S. Bagnall, Director of ISAW. Through these artifacts and their archaeological contexts, we discover that already in the 5th and 4th millennia BC the Danube basin was the hub of a trade network stretching from the Aegean to northwest Europe, as well as the home of sophisticated metallurgy, based in towns that even 4,000 later would have been considered sizable. As an institute devoted to studying the connections of ancient societies across time and space, ISAW is excited to bring these dramatic finds to New York.

The Lost World of Old Europe attempts to redefine commonly held notions of the development of Western civilization by presenting the surprising and littleknown artistic and technological achievements made by these still enigmatic peoples – from their extraordinary figurines, to their vast variety of copper and gold objects, to their stunning pottery types.

ACouncil of Goddesses?

Perhaps the most widely known objects from Old Europe are the mother goddess figurines. Fashioned by virtually every Old European cultural group, these striking miniaturized representations of females are frequently characterized by abstraction, with truncated, elongated, or emphasized body parts, and a surface decorated with incised or painted geometric and abstract patterns. The figurines heightened sense of female corporeality has led some scholars to identify them as representations of a powerful mother goddess, whose relationship to earthly and human fertility is demonstrated in her remarkable, almost sexualized forms. The great variety of contexts in which the figurines are found, however, has led more recently to individualized readings rather than to a single, overarching interpretation. The set of 21 female figurines and their little chairs from Poduri-Dealul Ghindaru that is central to the exhibitions installation of this category of objects, for example, was found near a hearth in an edifice that has been interpreted as a sanctuary.

One widely accepted interpretation based upon its context, then, is that the figures represent the Council of Goddesses, with the more senior divinities seated on thrones. Others take a more conservative approach suggesting that the figurines formed part of a ritualistic activity – the specific type of ritual, however, remains open to interpretation. As The Lost World of Old Europe illustrates, the refinement of the visual and material language of these organized communities went far beyond their spectacular terracotta figurines. The technological advances made during this 1,500-year period are manifest in the copper and gold objects that comprise a significant component of this exhibition.

Gold and precious metals

The earliest major assemblage of gold artifacts to be unearthed anywhere in the world comes from the Varna cemetery, located in what is now Bulgaria, and dates to the first half of the 5th millennium BC. Interred in the graves are the bodies of individuals who may have been chieftains, adorned with as much as five kilograms of gold objects, including exquisitely crafted headdresses, necklaces, appliqus, and ceremonial axes. Indeed, it is in Old Europe that one sees the first large-scale mining of precious metals, the development of advanced metallurgical practices such as smelting, and the trade of objects made from these materials.

Old Europe trade

It is also important to note that these cultures did not live in isolation from one another, but instead formed direct contacts, most clearly through networks of trade. Gold and copper objects were circulated among these cultural groups, for example. The most striking material traded throughout much of southeastern Europe, however, is the Spondylus shell. Found in the Aegean Sea, Spondylus was carved into objects of personal adornment in Greece from at least the early Neolithic period forward. The creamy white colored shell is known to have been traded as far as the modern United Kingdom by the 5th millennium BC. Many of the most-common forms are on display in this exhibition and include elaborate beaded necklaces, tubular bracelets, and pendants or amulets. The shells can perhaps be read as markers of a common origin or as indicators of the owners elite position within society.

Pottery that lives up to modern standards

Within their homes Old Europeans stored an impressive array of pottery that has been methodically studied over the last hundred years by many southeast-European archaeologists. The diverse typologies and complex styles suggest that this pottery was used in household and dining rituals. Bold geometric designs – including concentric circles, diagonal lines, and checkerboard patterns – distinguish the pottery made by the Cucuteni culture, examples of which are featured in this exhibition. Part of the potterys allure is the resonance of its composition and design to a modern aesthetic. Indeed, one is easily able to envision a Cucuteni vessel displayed in a contemporary home.

Exhibitions at ISAW are not only meant to illustrate the connections among ancient cultures, but also to question preexisting and sometimes static notions of the ancient world. With The Lost World of Old Europe, New York University’s Institue of Study of the Ancient World desires to show that a rich and complex world can be found when looking beyond traditional and narrow definitions of antiquity, and indeed beyond standard depictions of the development of Western civilization.

You can still visit ‘The Lost World of Old Europe: The Danube Valley, 5000-3500BC’ until April 25th 2010 at the Institue of Study of the Ancient World at New York University. There’s no admission fee, so no excuse not to visit! Unless living far, far, far away but then you can still buy the book.

Journey through the afterlife: the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead coming to the British Museum

Never before the Book of the Dead has been the focus of such a major exhibition as the one upcoming at the British Museum in November this year. Rumours of the exhibition started to surface (or at least, reach my ears) ever since the Colloquium on the Book of the Death last year, but was only recently confirmed. ‘Journey through the afterlife: the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead’ will focus on how the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead was thought to guide the deceased safely through the dangers of the underworld, ultimately (hopefully) ensuring eternal life. The Book of the Dead is not a single text, but a compilation of spells – often with illustrations of the underworld – of which the content evolved over time.

‘Journey through the afterlife: the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead’ will feature illustrated manuscripts of the Book of the Dead on papyrus and linen – used by Egyptians from around 1600 BC to the 1st century AD – many from the British Museums own collection, supplemented by loans of important items from other museums worldwide. The exhibition will focus on the most important papyri – many of which cannot be on permanent display for conservation reasons – to tell the story of the journey to the next world and to set in context crucial episodes such as the “weighing of the heart”, by which the dead were judged.

One of the most famous versions of the Book on display in London will be the complete papyrus of Hunefer, one of the most beautifully painted of all and with 37 metres the longest Book of the Dead known.

Through all of these these remarkable objects – also in display will be funerary items such as shabtis, amulets, jewellery, statues and coffins, all used to aid the deceased in attaining the perfect afterlife – the exhibition will explore the full journey from death to the afterlife.

The British Museum promises that through using state-of-the-art visualisation technology and recent research, the exhibition will provide new and interactive ways of understanding the Book of the Dead.

‘Journey through the afterlife: the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead‘ runs from November 4th, 2010 to the 6th of March 2011 at the Reading Room of the British Museum. The entrance fee is 12, and British Museum members get in – as many times as they want – for free.

If you want to brush up on your Book of the Dead related knowledge in advance of the opening, have a look at what Sean and I learned at the ‘Book of the Dead’ conference that was held at the British Museum last year. My favourite must have been the clear explanation that Britget Leach and Richard Parkinson from the British Museum gave on the use of pigments and ‘serial manufacturing’ on the Papyrus of Ani.

Forensic Aspects of Ancient Egypt with Joyce Filer

Star in 'Mummy CSI' at Joyce Filer's study day 'Forensic Aspects of Ancient Egypt' at the University of London The 21st century has seen incredible advances in our knowledge and use of forensic sciences – to investigate crimes and to find out about people from ancient times. How can we apply this information to the people of ancient Egypt? Find out – and test your own skills in a hands-on practical session – at ‘Forensic Aspects of Ancient Egypt‘ presented by Joyce Filer.

The study day – being repeated due to popular demand – will take place on Saturday the 20th of February and will add to your knowledge about the difference between male and female mummies (not as easy as you might think!), determining a mummy or skeleton’s age at death, discovering their medical history (heart problems, anybody?) and how facial reconstructions are done. All that and an info about a broad range of other scientific ‘mummy CSI’ techniques, as well as afternoon refreshments for only 30!

Joyce Filer – formerly Curator of Human & Animal Remains at the British Museum and one of the leading experts on mummies – has undertaken cemetery excavations (in Egypt, Sudan and Britain) and participated in many CT-scanning projects and forensic examinations (the body from KV55, possibly King Tut‘s brother). She wrote ‘The Mystery of the Egyptian Mummy‘ about Hornedjitef as well as other publications on ancient Egypt.

‘Forensic Aspects of Ancient Egypt’ presented by Joyce Filer will take place on Saturday the 20th of February from 11am to 5pm at the University of London, Garden Halls, Cartwright Gardens, London WC1. For booking (which is obliged, and done preferably before February 4th) information see this .pdf flyer.

As the effects of a temporarily malfunctioning immune system forced me to pass on the first edition of ‘Forensic Aspects of Ancient Egypt’, I’m really looking forward to getting a second chance at attending. Who else is attending?Great! Then please, do say ‘Hi!’ to the girl staring suspicious at the mummy whilst mumbling:”I hope this one does not decide to come to life today.” 😉

What value do replicas hold? The many answers

The results of the ‘What value do replicas hold?’ Heritage Key survey are in!Everybody agrees that a replica – regardless of how real it looks – can only ever be a duplicate. Yet the vast majority (79.28%) of those who took our ‘What value do replicas hold?’ survey see good use for these clones, in educations, research, protection from damage and saving on travel costs.

Replica Valley of the Kings and King Tut’s Tomb:Worth a Visit?

The ‘Replica Valley of the Kings’ is hot news lately, with the SCAand the Getty Institute embarking on a joint effort to protect the tomb of King Tut by laser-scanning it with the aim of creating a Dolly-KV62 to herd the masses of tourists into. We were wondering, if this actually happens, would you still travel all the way to Egypt to visit this replica? The answer is a clear ‘njet’, with 79.28% saying a replica would not be worth the trouble. Of course, you could still visit the real Cairo Museum with a replica of the Rosetta Stone!

You might not want to visit the replica tombs, but the majority of respondents agree that permanently closing heritage sites to tourists is justified to protect and/or research them. 44% say both reasons are valid, while a smaller group, 33%, think that only protecting them from damage is enough to close them.

I’m not aware of any evidence of specific cases but given my perceptions of human nature and the apparent value of some artefacts, I would suspect that many would be forgeries.

Though the majority of our survey-takers want to visit King Tut’s treasures at the Cairo museum, many agree that a visit to the Semmel replica exhibition ‘Tutankhamun – His Tombs and his Treasures’ can be worthwhile too – especially if it means a huge discount on the travel budget. 18.52% actually prefer the Semmel exhibition over a journey to Cairo!

The Best Replica in the world…?

Opinions are much divided on which is the best replica out there, but an honourable mention must go to the Rosetta Stone – of which replicas were most often encountered in the Cairo Museum, the basement of the British Museum and Saudi Arabia. The survey’s most popular replicas are the reconstructions of entire tombs and villages, such as the Tomb of Tutmosis III in Edinburgh, incredibly well-executed replicas of Lascaux and other cave dwellings containing rock paintings, the Arbeia Roman Fort’s gateway in South Shields and ‘restored’ sections of the Minoan palace complex at Knossos.

Everybody acknowledges that certain parts of buildings and sites should sometimes be evacuated for protection. In this case replicas are well and truly allowed. The Caryatids at the Erechtheum Temple on the Acropolis is a great example of such a situation. The originals were removed to protect them from pollution and are, aside from one Lord Elgin took to the British Museum, still available to admire in the nearby Acropolis Museum.

The British Museum is leading in the ‘most replicas mentioned’ category (the Rosetta Stone, the Assyrian wall friezes, the Giant Gate) as well as being the home of most originals with replicas elsewhere: the Lycian Sarcophagus at Xanthos, Turkey (original in the BM), the Rosetta Stone in Cairo (original in the BM), the Sutton Hoo treasure (orginal in the BM). Coming in second is the Metropolitan Museum of Art with their Egyptian Tomb and Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Other must-see replicas include the cast of Trajan’s Column at the V&A Sculpture Gallery, the Roman watermill at the Museum of London, the Kouros statue at the Getty Museum (see fakes) and the Hominid Skulls at the Natural History Museum, London (those were fake?! I just visited it a few weeks ago, and didn’t notice).

A must-not-see, according to one of our fans, is “the horrible, badly labelled, poorly explained plastic mould of a hogback viking stone at the Kelvingrove Museum, Glasgow.”

Labelling your Replicas

Some respondents to our survey were convinced they’d never seen a replica in their life. Others opted for “Not sure, they are not always labeled” – which might account for the fact that 94.50% of them say museums should state or label which objects are ‘the real thing’ and which are replicas, reconstructions or the result of experimental archaeologymuch clearer.

Nefertiti and (other?) Fakes

Leiding Swiss historian Henri Stierlin believes the famous Bust of ‘Nofretete’ (held hostage?) at the Neues Museum is a copy, commissioned a century ago by ‘discoverer’ Ludwig Borchardt. Yet 83.16% of those who took the survey agree with Heritage Key writer Paula Veiga that the Nefertiti Bust is genuine.

The ‘Fake of all Fakes’, according to our respondents, is the Turin Shroud, but the most interesting might be Getty’s ‘Statue of a Kouros’ mentioned above. Just like the Bust of Nefertiti, it’s fakeness is still debated fiercely to this day. The signage of the Getty Kouros ominously reads, “Greek, about 530 BC, or modern forgery.”

“I’m not aware of any evidence of specific cases but given my perceptions of human nature and the apparent value of some artefacts, I would suspect that many would be forgeries,” says one of our fans. Fakes &Forgeries curator Paul Denis agrees in a recent interview with Heritage Key.

Digital Modelling: a Tool to Preserve World Heritage

We’ve suggested accurate digital modeling as the best way to preserve a terminally decaying site (with excellent graffiti) like Pompeii. A reasonable 55.96% of respondents agree with us.

Many suggest extra measures that could be taken to slow down the decay (tourist education, limited public access, …) whilst mankind fine-tunes its preservation, excavation and recording techniques. Whilst ‘biodome! biodome!!!’ (or some other sort of cover) was a quite common answer to the question, one person is convinced we should “enjoy it while it lasts” and just keep on digging.

Agree? Don’t agree? Want to add some nuances or just share your opinion? Leave your reply to the ‘What value do replicas hold?’ survey , or join the discussion on replicas, fakes and forgeries on the Heritage Key discussion page.

Current Research in Egyptology XI Conference at Leiden University

After having been held in the UK for the past 10 years, the Current Reseach in Egyptology conference moves to the continent for the first time in 2010. CREXIwill take place January 5th to 8th at the Leiden University in The Netherlands. Originally set up by students at the University of Oxford in 2000, the main aim of the conference is still to provide graduate and post-graduate students the opportunity to present their research.

The conference covers the entire span of the Palaeolithic to the Graeco-Roman and Coptic Periods in Egypt and the Sudan, which leads to a broad range of scholars presenting their research as well as the results of current fieldwork.

Paula Veiga and Melanie Beuken will be covering CREXIfor Heritage Key.

If you are attending the conference in Leiden, make sure to visit the renowed Egyptian mummy collection at the the National Museum of Antiquities (Dr. R.J. Demare’s lecture takes place in the Taffeh Hall) and the temporary exhibit of the Dmanisi Skull at Naturalis as well.

What to expect this year (besides some snow)? Here is the preliminary programme for the Current Research in Egyptology XIconference:

CREXI- Tuesday January 5th, 2010

18.00 Registration of participants in the Taffeh Hall, Rijksmuseum van Oudheden (RMO)
20.00 Keynote lecture by Dr. R.J. Demare – New Lights on the Reigns of the Later Ramesside Kings
21.00 Welcome reception Caf RMO

CREXI- Wednesday January 6th, 2010

Session 1: Politics, power and society
- 10.0010.30 Alessandra Siragusa, Ca’Foscari University – The Swty.w: Brokers and Operators in the small and Large Range Trade
- 10.3011.00 Heba Abd elGawad, Durham University “Out of Bounds Priest’s Property!” The Status of the Ptolemaic Kings at Memphis
Session 2: Funerary texts
- 11.3012.00 Nathalie Andrews, Durham Univeristy – Protecting Personhood in Chapter 17 of the Book of the Dead: The role of the Sacred Eye in Ensuring the Continued Identity of the Deceased
- 12.0012.30 Antonio J. Morales, University of Pennsylvania – Old Kingdom Priestly Texts of Nut and their transmission into the Middle Kingdom
- 12.3013.00 Jens Blach Jrgensen, University of Copenhagen – Myth and cosmography. On the Union of Re and Osiris in two types of religious discourse
Session 3: Arts and Artifacts
- 14.0014.30 Jurgen van Oostenrijk, Leiden University – The “chane opratoire” of Late Period Shabti Groups from Saqqara
- 14.3015.00 Daniel Soliman, Leiden University – Iconographic and stylistic studies of kingly sculpture from Dynasties 13, 16 and 17
- 15.0015.30 Nico Staring, Leiden University – Analysing figural graffiti: stela Louvre C8 as a case study
Session 4: CrossCultural Relations
- 16.0016.30 Alexandros Giannakoulas, University of Oxford – Before Polydamna: Egyptian parturient vessels and the trade of medical lore with the Bronze Age Aegean
- 16.3017.00 Irene Vezzani, University of Florence – LionessHeaded Female Figures between Egypt and Anatolia at the Beginning of the II Mill. B.C.: An Example of the Egyptian Influence on PreHittite Iconography
- 17.0017.30 Felix Hflmayer, DAI Berlin / DEI Amman / SCIEM 2000 – Egyptian pots, Aegean chronology and radiocarbon: Recent research on Egypt and the early Aegean Late Bronze Age
18.0019.00 Keynote Lecture by Dr. B.J.J. Haring Cursive and Monumental: Worlds Apart? The Role of Hieratic in the Composition and Copying of Hieroglyphic Texts.

CREXI- Thursday January 7th, 2010

Parallel session 1A: Religion
- 09.3010.00 Susanne Tpfer, University of Leipzig – A (new)edition of the Embalming Ritual after the papyri Boulaq 3 and Louvre 5158
- 10.0010.30 Jared Brent Krebsbach, University of Memphis – The Persians and Atum Worship in Egypt’s Twenty Seventh Dynasty
- 10.3011.00 Kata Jasper, University Budapest – Ha, Lord of the West. Some Remarks on the Figure of an Ancient Egyptian Personification
- 11.0011.30 Paula Veiga, Independent Researcher – Osiris green: his body represented in medicinal plants
Parallel session 1B: Cultural Identity
- 09.3010.00 Sander Mskens, Leiden University – Cultural Choice and Constructing Identity in later Roman Egypt: Funerary Stelae from Behnasa
- 10.0010.30 Yanne Broux & Sandra Coussement, K.U. Leuven – Creating Identities in GraecoRoman Egypt: Double Names in the Ptolemaic and Roman Period
- 10.3011.00 Kim Ridealgh, Swansea University – Yes Dear! Spousal Relationships in the Late Ramesside Letters
- 11.0011.30 Gwen Jennes, K.U. Leuven – Creating Identities in GraecoRoman Egypt: Theophoric Names
Parallel session 2A: Household Archaeology
- 12.0012.30 Miriam Mller, University of Vienna – An elite quarter of Avaris/Tell elDab’a multicultural life in a town of the Second Intermediate Period
- 12.3013.00 Lara Weiss, Leiden University – Encountering liminal zones at Deir elMedina?
- 13.0013.30 Maria CorreasAmador, Durham University – Egyptian Mud Dwellings: An Ethnoarchaeological Perspective
Parallel session 2B: Linguistics
- 12.0012.30 Ines Khler, Freie Universitt Berlin – Prototype semantics and its approach in the Ancient Egyptian lexicon
- 12.3013.00 Anita Sempel, Leiden University – Participles and Aspect
- 13.0013.30 German Ruiz Ruiz, HalmaIpel Univeristy of Lille – The Notion of Combat in Ancient Egypt: A lexicographical Study of the Terminology
Parallel session 3A: Early Christianity
- 14.3015.00 Renate Dekker, Leiden University – Peeping into the Bishop’s papers: Reedition of the archives of Pesynthios of Coptos (seventh century)
- 15.0015.30 Joost Hagen, Leiden University – Church and state in medieval Christian Nubia: The evidence of the Coptic texts from Qasr Ibrim
- 15.3016.00 Lisanne Kleiterp, Leiden University – From Temple to Church: the Christian reuse of pagan temples
Parallel session 3B: Predynastic Egypt
- 14.3015.00 Grazia Di Pietro, University “L’Orientale”, Naples – Models from Predynastic daily life
- 15.0015.30 Gavin Smith, Liverpool University – The transmigration of Predynastic and Protodynastic typologies, and their economic utility
Parallel session 4A: Interdisciplinary Approaches
- 16.3017.00 Stephanie Atherton, University of Manchester – Sacred Ibis mummies in the Manchester Museum: a morphological and forensic study
- 17.0017.30 Conni Lord, University of Manchester – The life and death of the sacred bulls: what we really know
- 17.3018.00 Howard MiddletonJones, Coptic UK Research – The Digital 3D Reconstruction of the Coptic Church at Qubbat alHawa
Parallel session 4 B: Middle Kingdom Society
- 16.3017.00 Margaret Maitland, University of Oxford – Spatial hierarchy in Middle Kingdom Elite Culture
- 17.0017.30 Melinda NelsonHurst, University of Pennsylvania – The Evolving Roles of Collateral and Female Kin in Society and the Funerary Cult from the Middle Kingdom through the Second Intermediate Period
- 17.3018.00 Rita Gautschy, Universitt Basel – Lunar and Sothic data from the archive of Illahun revisited: Absolute Chronology of the Middle Kingdom
18.3019.30 Keynote Lecture by Dr. M.J. Versluys – Egyptology versus Egyptomania? Stages in the mnemohistory of Egypt

CREXI- Friday January 8th, 2010

Session 1: Temples
- 09.3010.00 Carina van den Hoven, Leiden University – Balancing the gods. Priestly design in the temple of Kalabsha
- 10.0010.30 Kenneth Griffin, Swansea University – An Analysis of the Rekhyt Rebus on the Columns of the Temple of Seti at Abydos
- 10.3011.00 Marta Sankiewicz, Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznan – Coregency of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III in the light of iconography in the Hatshepsut Temple at Deir elBahari
Session 2: Literature
- 11.3012.00 ShihWei Hsu, Freie Universitt Berlin – The power of the image and the image of the power: “The griffin” as a visual and written image for the king
- 12.0012.30 Lea van de Sande, Leiden University – The 21th maxim of the Instruction of Ptahhotep: a comparison of versions
- 12.3013.00 Linda Steynor, University of London – The function of Metaphor in The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant
Session 3: Predynastic Burial Customs
- 14.0014.30 Maarten Horn, Leiden University – Dressing the Dead during the Tasian, Badarian and Early Naqadian Periods in the Qau Matmar Region A Comparison and Interpretation
- 14.3015.00 Veronica Tamorri, University of Durham – Preliminary Observations on Practices of Bodily Manipulation in Predynastic Egyptian Funerary Contexts
- 15.0015.30 Sarah Foster, University College London – Landscape and Cosmology in the Badarian (c. 45004000 B.C.): an insight provided by ‘exotic materials’
Session 4: Egyptology, Archaeology and Museology
- 16.0016.30 Henning Franzmeier, Freie Universitt Berlin – The Cemetery of Sedment in the New Kingdom New Light on an old Excavation
- 16.3017.00 Gemma Tully, University of Southampton – Answering the calls of the living’: Collaborative Museology and the Representation of Ancient Egypt in Western Museum Displays
- 17.0017.30 Michal Kurzyk – Geophysical surveying in Egypt: the Polish contribution