Category: Ann - Part 17

Mummy Recycling: From Ancient Rags to Paper

Did ‘mummy paper’ – paper made out of recycled mummy bandages – exist for sure? Worchester librarian S.J. Wolfe believes it is not the myth historians believe it to be. Ms Wolfe recently published her book ‘Mummies in Nineteenth Century America’ about the import of mummies in the USAin the 1800’s. Her research into what happened to these 560 ‘honorary guests’ to the USA’s carnivals and exhibitions (often further dismemberment and a travelling life) lead the researcher to what she calls a smoking gun: proof that ‘mummy paper’ is not an urban myth.

Mummy-recycling was a popular passtime or even main profession in 19th century Egypt. As mummies weren’t that rare (you did read this story in the Onion, right?) yet back then, a whole army of the ancient Egyptian dead was available to make a profit from: first you raid the tomb, then make sure to undress your mummy to find any valuables that – hopefully – are inside, after which you sell the rags and grind up the bodies for fertilizer (if you were lucky, you could also sell an arm or a leg for medicinal purposes, as mummy limbs were believed to have certain healing powers, yes, also in Europe).

The material of which this is made was brought from Egypt. It was taken from the ancient tombs where it had been used in embalming mummies. A part of the process of manufacturing is exhibited in the procession.

What does this have to do with mummy paper? You would take a solid American tree and make paper out of that one, rather than importing rags from Egypt? The idea of using mummification bandages to make paper might sound ridiculous, but before paper manufacturers began using wood pulp to make paper in the late 1850s, paper was manufactured exclusively from rags. Several American paper manufacturers in Maine and Connecticut were believed to have imported ‘Egyptian rags’ to make paper. But the evidence was anecdotal and largely confined to newspaper clippings, which many historians dismissed as unreliable.

S.J. Wolfe, during her research into mummy-related early 19th century events, stumbled upon a broadside printed in Norwich, Connecticut, for that city’s bicentennial celebration in 1859. This particular broadside for Norwichs bicentennial was printed by the Chelsea Manufacturing Co. (Chelsea is a village in Norwich), one of New Englands largest paper manufacturers. Wolfe told The Telegram what the fineprint on the ad says:

The material of which this is made was brought from Egypt, reads text at the bottom of the broadside. It was taken from the ancient tombs where it had been used in embalming mummies. A part of the process of manufacturing is exhibited in the procession.

Definitely a lucky find, this fineprint might not be undeniable proof that ‘mummy paper’ is actually made out of mummy – there’s still the possibility it was a 19th century marketing stunt – but it means we’d definitely have to consider the option that the production of paper out of ancient Egyptian rags is more than just urban myth. Folks, do check all your early 19th century bibles (my family definitely holds a few) for references to ancient Egypt outside the Old Testament! You might just discover your holy book is made out of (linen bandages inscripted with) the Book of the Dead. 😉

Roman Graffiti: From Pompeii with Love

When someone tweeted “Follow penis symbols to find ancient brothel!” in reply to the news of Pompeii being the next – after Stonehenge and parts of the Wall of China – world heritage site to be available for ‘armchair tourism’ on Google Earth, this reminded me of some of the ancient graffiti found at Pompeii. Because – guess what – apparently the Roman inscriptions did not differ that much from the graffiti, scribbling and tagging that you can find on a contemporary toilet wall (or for the web 2.0 generation: Facebook). Some are thoughtful and offer valuable advise – “the smallest evil if neglected, will reach the greatest proportions” – but more often, they are on the level of a teenage X <hearts> Y or well… the more questionable – and often pornographic – works of toilet-door-scribbled-art.

We’ll skip the boring politics, except maybe for this; a person named ‘Vatia’ must have been incredibly popular with the Pompeii lowlifes. “The sneak thieves request the election of Vatia as Aedile. The whole company of late drinkers favor Vatia. The whole company of late risers favor Vatia.” It is thus not surprising that the the aediles were responsible for maintenance of public buildings and regulation of public festivals such as the Saturnalia. More surprisingly is probably that the sneak thieves actually had something to say in this? Probably the merchant who wrote “Lucrum gaudium” (Profit is happiness!) would not have protested the election of Vatia. 😉

Let’s get one to the more interesting graffiti, shall we? The ‘romantic teenage love’ department doesn’t offer that much choice. It seems that while the Romans weren’t as literate as the Egyptians, at least they out-eroticise the Amarna poems and maybe even the Turin papyrus. “If anyone does not believe in Venus, they should gaze at my girlfriend” is one of the few near-romantic statements to be found on Pompeii’s ancient walls. From there it all goes amusingly downhill.

On the brothel walls there is the usual (still today, even on Facebook) bragging such as “Celadus the Thracier makes the girls moan!” – wherein the army definitely shouts the hardest (“Gaius Valerius Venustus, soldier of the 1st praetorian cohort, in the century of Rufus, screwer of women“) and “Myrtis, you do great blow jobs.” The only thing still missing is their hastily-scribbled phone numbers. Oh, and Ladies, beware; “Restitutus has many times deceived many girls.“

“Weep, you girls. My penis has given you up. Now it penetrates mens behinds. Goodbye, wondrous femininity!” might just be the earliest ancient ‘outing’, although the Romans seemed to have taken a more casual, laid-back approach to gay porn.

This collection of Pompeii graffiti – gathered at Pompeiana for more reading and chuckling pleasure and not to be confused with some of the more literally works found in the Villa of the Papyri – are just some of the diverse ancient Roman, albeit it less classy, alternatives to quoting Catallus’ Carmina in email? As for the young lady, maybe she should have just mailed back, “Chie, I hope your haemorrhoids rub together so much that they hurt worse than when they every have before“?

Egypt to Host ‘Repatriation of Artefacts Abroad’ Conference

Egypt will host an international conference next March for countries seeking the return of ancient indigenous treasures being kept in foreign museums, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the SCA and deputy-Culture Minister, said the conference – with Greece, Italy, China and Mexico attending – would be a world first.

”We expect around 12 countries to participate, possibly several more,” Dr.Hawass told the Herald. ”There is a moral imperative for museums around the world to return certain artefacts to the countries they came from, and we are going to identify how we can help each other to increase the pressure on the keepers of those artefacts.” Dr. Hawass added, ”I am calling on all nations who want their important artefacts returned to attend the conference.”

Egypt is demanding the return of six iconic pieces that are among the world’s most famous archaeological discoveries. “We own that stone, the motherland should own this,” Dr. Hawass told an Al-Jazeera audience two years ago, referring of course to the Rosetta Stone that now takes pride of place in the British Museum. Dr Hawass lists a top five “objects that Egypt, the homeland of the pharaohs, does not have”: The Rosetta Stone and Nefertiti’s bust; the Dendera Zodiac in the Louvre; the Statue of Hemiunu (the architect of the Great Pyramid) in Hildesheim Museum and the Bust of Ankhhaf (architect of Khafre’s Pyramid) at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Add to that the mask of Ka-Nefer-Nefer, purchased by the St. Louis Art Museum in 1984, and you have Dr. Hawass’ big ‘must have (back) six.

The standards of our new museums in Egypt are better than the standards of security at the British Museum and therefore I decided that we are not going to ask for a loan. We are going to bring it back for good.

A German delegation is scheduled to meet with Dr. Hawass tomorrow to discuss the return of the Nefertiti bust – other say Dr. Hawass will travel to Germany at the end of December, after his London Book Tour. Dr. Hawass is expected to reclaim the bust, stating it left Egypt illegally – kidnapped by Ludwig Borchardt, you might say. The Louvre will of course counter that the bust was aquired legally – and that it is now to fragile to make the long journey to Egypt – although ‘the Queen’ was perfectly fit to travel to the Neues Museum. Should the Neferitit bust be returned to Egypt? We’ve listed the ‘jok’ and ‘njets’ here, do join the team you’re on in the comments!

As for the Rosetta Stone, Hawass first asked the British Museum to lend the Rosetta Stone to Egypt for a temporary display at the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum. However, he was angered when the BM’s trustees asked him to provide assurances that the stone would be safe: “The standards of our new museums in Egypt are better than the standards of security at the British Museum and therefore I decided that we are not going to ask for a loan. We are going to bring it back for good,” said Hawass. He is unlikely to make a formal request for the permanent return of the stone until next spring.

Earlier this year Dr. Hawass severed ties with the Louvre – and suspended its excavations – because he said it was refusing to return a series of artefacts that were stolen from Egypt in the 1980s. ”We banned all archaeological expeditions connected with the Louvre from being allowed to work in Egypt. It didn’t take them long to return the pieces.”

With thousands of artefacts sold on the black market over the past 100 years, Dr. Hawass has tightened security at Egypt’s air, land and sea borders. The Herald also reports on new laws that come into force this month mean that anyone found guilty of trying to smuggle artefacts will face up to 25 years in jail – which makes me wonder; is that sign ‘smuggling drugs will cost you at least one hand’ still up at the Cairo airport?

Should the Rosetta Stone, the Benin Bronzes, the Elgin Marbles and so forth return ‘home’? Or do they have a more noble cause, as ambassadors for the nations they originate from? Join the discussion on Heritage Key!

King Tut’s Treasures Expensive for Australian Museum

King Tut's Golden Sandals The blockbuster exhibition ‘King Tut and the Golden Age of the Pharoahs’ will not tour Australia because museums cannot afford it – not surprisingly if you look at the price tag. Egypt wants to prolong the world’s most successful tour of artefacts from the tomb of the boy-king but offers to host the exhibition have been underwhelming, to say the least. The Director of the Australian Museum, Frank Howarth, told the Sydney Morning Herald that the show’s $10 million price tag and its size were too big for Australian institutions to handle.

Dr. Zahi Hawass said – despite earlier claims from Egypt that Tutankhamun’s treasures would never leave the Cairo Museum (check out its basement in this video!) again when this tour is completed – the exhibition could travel to Australia early in 2012 if a museum was willing to host it. ”I want to see King Tut go to Australia,” Dr Hawass told the Herald in his office in Cairo last week. ”I have been planning for it to go to Australia but no one from Australia has asked me at all.” ”Nothing like this has ever been to Australia before, and it will be many, many years before the opportunity will come again,” Dr Hawass added.

We couldn’t get the level of return that would justify the King Tutankhamun show.

Egypt wanted to charge $10 million for every six months that the objects for ‘Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs’ (currently in Toronto) were on loan – for which you don’t get Tut’s Golden Death Mask. That amount required audiences Australia did not have, the Director of the Australian Museum, Frank Howarth said. ”There’s no way an Australian venue would return that sort of money,” he told the Herald. ”We couldn’t get the level of return that would justify the King Tutankhamun show.” (Having slaughtered my piggy bank as well as my savings account and coming no where near the amount needed to get myself an autographed ‘A Secret Voyage’, I can somewhat relate.)

In stead, the Australian Museum – until December 6th – hosted ‘Egyptian Treasures: Art of the Pharaohs‘, from the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Austria. By contrast, it cost about $1.5 million. For that amount you still get:1 mummy (Nekhet-iset-aru) including linen bandaging, 3 coffins and over 30 statues – including a 2 metre statue of Sekhmet and the Sphinx of Pharoah Amenhotep III (watch the video about his mortuary temple) as well as some ‘Book of the Deads’, Egyptian jewellery, canopic jars, amulets (non-alien), steles and some tiny shabtis for good measure. Not that bad a deal? Besides, you don’t need the artefacts to Do the Tut and… you can always have a good look at the Boy King’s amazing treasures – for free – in Heritage Key’s King Tut Virtual.

Terracotta Army sets up camp in Chile

Only weeks after a devision of Terracotta Warriors went on show National Geographic Museum in Washington DC– check out Graecyn’s splendid photographs here – another unit of the First Emperor’s Army “marched thousands of kilometers to Chile”. Last Friday Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet inaugurated the exhibition ‘The Ancient China and the Terracotta Army’ in the central hall of the Cultural Center La Moneda Palace in Chile’s capital Santiago. The exhibition, which will run for the next five months, includes 123 terracotta soldiers and horses.

“This is one part of the globalization we need to boost. It means dialogue of cultures, deep connection among the people and communication of dreams,” President Bachelet said during the inauguration ceremony. “We use the verb ‘to orient’ in Spanish, which refers to the quest for the good path,” she explained. “Our people need to learn about oriental history and culture, mainly that of China.”

Xinhua – the official press agency of the Chinese governement – reports that Bachelet stressed that the exhibition furnishes proof of Chinese civilization’s development by displaying history from the unification of the empire to the consolidation of the Han dynasty. She added that the Terracotta Warriors display will enable children in Chile to broaden their horizons, eliciting both their amazement and admiration.

‘La Antigua China y el Ejrcito de Terracota‘ (Ancient China and the Terracotta Army’) is on show at the Centro Cultural Palacio de La Moneda, Santiago until the 30th of April 2010. If Washington DCis just that tiny bit closer, you can catch ‘The Terra Cotta Warriors: Guardians of China’s First Emperor’ at the National Geographic Museum until March 31th 2010.

Zahi Hawass’ a Not-So Secret Voyage through London – Book Signing at Harrods’ Waterstone’s

Dr. Zahi Hawass in KV63 photograph by Sandro Vannini Dr. Zahi Hawass is coming to London, to promote the massive – you can take that quite literally – art book ‘A Secret Voyage’ and the more normal-sized – but still stunning, we’re sure – ‘Inside the Egyptian Museum with Zahi Hawass’. To the list of must-attend events is now added a book signing at the most famous Egyptian-owned location in London:Harrods.

Book Signing at Harrods

Invited to London’s most famous departement store by owner Mohamed Al Fayed, the Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (that’s Dr. Hawass) will sign copies of his new books at Waterstones, Third Floor, on Thursday 10th December – we assume this means you can also bring your copy of The Lost Tombs of Thebes.

‘A Secret Voyage‘ is a limited-edition – exclusively priced – book from Heritage World Press which chronicles Dr. Hawass adventures as Egypts real-life Indiana Jones and tells his unique story of discovery and exploration. Only 750 copies will be printed, and each one will be signed by the author making it a must-have for collectors with a significant disposable income.

But at Harrod’s, it’s omnia omnibus ubique. Looking for a more moderately priced book to put under your – of course, King Tut themed – christmas tree? Dr Hawass and Sandro Vannini will also be signing copies of ‘Inside the Egyptian Museum‘ (35), which is exclusive to Harrods (and Amazon, at 33.25) in the UK. This guide includes photography from acclaimed – ‘King Tut Treasures’ – photographer Sandro Vannini. (And for your little nephews and nieces there is Egyptian-inspired Lego and/or Playmobil, as far as we know not published by Dr. Hawass. Personally, I predict that this year’s Egyptologist’s-stocking-fillers will be Rosetta Stone mousemats.)

Can’t make it to Harrods the 10th? No worries!You can still attend the reception and special lecture by Dr. Hawass at the British Museum, or even join him and Sandro Vannini for dinner.

The Dmanisi Skull on Display at Naturalis, Leiden

Dmanisi Skull at excavation site How does one transport a 1.8 million-year-old skull that might rewrite the history of mankind and has never before left the vault of the National Historic Museum in Tbilisi, Georgia? Very carefully, of course! The only person allowed to travel with the The ‘Dmanisi Skull’ – which suggests a Eurasian chapter in the long evolutionary story of man – is Professor David Lordkipanidze, director of the Georgian National Museum who brought the extra-ordinary find to the Naturalis Museum, Leiden for a special exhibition to end their one-year celebration of evolutionary scientist Charles Darwin.

Archaeologists started in 1936 by excavating the mid-evil city Dmanisi, in the foothills of the Caucuses, Georgia. In 1984 they uncovered a surprise find:in an old waste disposal they found bones that belonged to a long-extinct rhinoceros rather than ordinary cattle, hinting at the presence of ancient fauna. A year later they started uncovering primitive tools, until the first human jaw was unearthed in 1995.

Until now, the archaeologists have discovered five well-preserved skulls of hominins dating to 1.8 million years ago, all resembling our earliest ancestors, having features in common with both Homo Habilis and Homo Erectus.

Dmanisi Skull - Oldest european hominin One skull stands out for being extremely well-preserved, even the jawbone is intact and has become known as the ‘Dmanisi Skull’. It is thought this skull belonged to a 20-year-old man of about 1 meter 40 centimetres in height.

These finds are the oldest indisputable remains of humans discovered outside of Africa, and suggest that these early humans were far more primitive-looking than the Homo erectus humans that were, until now, believed to be the first people to migrate out of Africa about 1 million years ago.

Professor Lordkipanidze, general director of the Georgia National Museum in Tbilisi, said in his lecture at the British Science Festival: “The Dmanisi hominins are the earliest representatives of our own genus Homo outside Africa, and they represent the most primitive population of the species Homo erectus to date.”

Heavily secured transport of the Dmanisi Skull to the Naturalis Museum, Leiden

Professor David Lordkipanidze is the only person allowed to travel with the skull. He arrived at Schiphol on November 27th and travelled escorted to Naturalis where he placed the skull in the exhibition. Video: Infofilm Leiden

“They might be ancestral to all later Homo erectus populations, which would suggest a Eurasian origin of Homo erectus.”

The hominins – named ‘the Dmanisi people’ – had brains about a third the size of that of the Homo Erectus and were of smaller stature.

“Before our findings, the prevailing view was that humans came out of Africa almost 1 million years ago, that they already had sophisticated stone tools, and that their body anatomy was quite advanced in terms of brain capacity and limb proportions. But what we are finding is quite different,” Professor Lordkipanidze said.

The Dmanisi Skull will be on display as the central artefact in the ‘The Face of Human Evolution – A Misplaced Ancestor?’ (‘Gezicht van onze evolutie – Verdwaalde voorouder?’) exhibition at Naturalis Leiden, the Netherlands until February 28th 2010.

Britain Loves Wikipedia: Wikimedia seeks underexposed UK Museum

Britain Loves Wikipedia is a scavenger hunt and free content photography contest that will be held in museums and cultural institutions across the UK, with the aim of increasing the number of pictures available to illustrate Wikipedia articles and inspire new articles. The event will kick off with a launch event at the Victoria and Albert Museum on Sunday 31 January 2010, followed by a series of events each weekend at locations around the UK. Museums looking for more visitors and exposure are still welcome to sign up.

The event runs throughout February 2010, with members of the (Wikipedia) public visiting participating museum across the UK to photograph out-of-copyright parts of their collections. Rather than just photographing all objects – or specific ones – the contest will be themed with pre-specified targets, to be decided jointly by the museums and Wikimedia UK. Prizes will be awarded in variety of categories including most photographs taken; best photographs, … . The photographs entered into the competition will then be made available on Wikimedia Commons, which is an image library used by a number of websites, including Wikipedia.

Collections Trust sums up a few good reasons for museums to participate in the ‘Britain Loves Wikipedia’ (originally ‘London Loves Wikipedia’) campaign:

Uploaded under a Creative Commons license, the photos can be (re)used by the museums.
The museum can then boast about working with Wikipedia.
The museum will get more articles about its collection on Wikipedia, leading to more exposure and – hopefully – more visitors.

Add to that reasons #5 why museums should have an open photography policy, and this is a must-do campaign to promote your museum! Still not convinced?Wikimedia offer the ‘Wikipedia Loves Art‘ project as an example of succesful cooperation – over 300 photographs just at the Victoria and Albert Museum – between cultural institutions and Wikipedia. Also, just look at how much great photographs – stunning images by Heritage Key’s Graecyn included – and promotion the ‘Terra Cotta Warriors’ exhibition got out of opening the museum to bloggers and photographers alike for just one hour.

For more information on ‘Britain Loves Wikipedia’, see the wiki-entry on Wikimedia.org. I’m curious to see which (ancient) British museums will sign up, and if the British Museum will decide to join. Regardless, we’ll be charging our DSLR’s batteries in time.

The Virtual Museum of the European Roots

European Virtual Museum Museums from Italy, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece have joined hands – and virtual artefacts – to create the first ‘Virtual Museum of European Roots’. They have put their most treasured objects online in 3D for visitors to explore in several thematic routes, as they are guided through European prehistoric culture and heritage. For museum professionals, there are e-courses, training them in the skills needed for establishing and managing a virtual museum.

The ‘Berliner Goldhut‘ (Berlin Golden Hat, in the Neues Museum), thought to be a lunar and solar calendar, is part of a larger group of Golden hats and cane-shaped Bronze Age head-dresses made of a sheet of gold. Yet you are not likely to ever see them together in one exhibition. And how is Marmotta’s Venus (in Rome) related to the famous Venus from Willendorf in Vienna? The Virtual Museum of the European Roots – part of the larger F-MU.S.EU.M. (Form Multimedia System for a European Musem) project – aims to document how Europe is founded upon a common ancient matrix, consequential to the abasence of rigid boundaries and continuous migrations.

To convey this to their virtual visitors they’ve organised their collection of 3D objects – a sequence of photographs assembled in QuickTime VR – by chronology and broad themes rather than one area. If you wanted to ‘be guided’ in your discovery of our shared European cultural heritage, you may always follow their thematic routes – Civilisation; A Gift from the River; The Beginning of Metallurgy or Sport and Role Games in Prehistoric Times – which are text-based but thoroughly illustrated with photographs, 3D versions of the artefacts and video.

For museum professionals there are e-courses in Content Expert, Manager for virtual museums, Webdesigner for virtual museums (definitely read through the 3D photography part, there’s also the video to go with it, if you scroll down at europeanvirtualmuseum.net to FMUSEUM video production and choose ‘3D photo making process’) and Virtual museum communicator (which puzzles me a bit, uniform dress code for virtual museum staff but not Twitter use?)

Personally, I expected a bit more from the ‘virtual artefacts’ – only ‘horizontal spinning’ and loss of quality on zooming in seems a bit mediocre compared to our XXL King Tut Artefacts (which you can actually sit on) – but the idea behind the museum makes up for a lot of that initial disappointment. Because centralising objects in one location, so they can be linked – or tagged? – together in different storylines, regardless which collection or nation they belong to is a great aim. Maybe if Google ‘crawls’ every single museum in the world, this will eventually happen?

The Acropolis Theatre of Dionysus to be Restored

The ‘birthplace of drama’ – the Theatre of Dionysus, located on the south slope of the Acropolis – is to be partially restored in a 6 million project that is set for completion in 2015. The ancient open-air theatre in Athens saw the premire of many of the great dramatic works written during the ‘golden age’ of Greek Tragedy.

Famous ancient playwrights – such as Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles and Aristophanes – took part in competitions staged twice yearly at the Dionysus theatre; the City Dionysia festival during the spring and the Lenaia in wintertime.

The limestone and marble version of the theatre – built in the 4th century BC – seated an estimated 14,000 to 17,000 spectators.

Scholars still differ in opinion concerning the architecture of the first Theatre of Dionysus Eleuthereus in Athens. The size, shape and even the precise location of the original orchestra and of the seating benches that once surrounded it have all been disputed. Some suggest circles for the theatre’s original structure, others suggest trapezoid forms of differing shapes and sizes.

Only a small section of the stone theatre – restored and redesigned by Roman emperor Nero – was excavated in the 19th century and is still visible today. The restoration works will gradually add several tiers to these, using a combination of new stone and recovered ancient fragments, while strengthening retaining walls and other parts of the building.

The restoration of the Theatre of Dionysus is part of a larger project to restore and protect the entire Acropolis area; other examples are the construction of the New Acropolis Museum which opened this year and the rebuilding of the 5th century BCTemple of Athena Nike (parts of which are in the British Museum).