New! Live Music and Amarna Area in King Tut Virtual

Get up close and personal with the Bust of Nefertiti in Heritage Key Virtual's new Amarna! Image by Meral CrifasiWe’re always busy at Heritage Key striving to bring you exciting new activities and more places to explore. If you have been to King Tut Virtual before you might have had a visit to the Amarna area by the Nile. We have been really extending that area to give you a sign of how life was by the Nile around 1350 BC.

If you come along to the Amarna area now, we’ll offer to dress your avatar as an Egyptian from head to toe, and even get you to dance like an Egyptian. Also, to celebrate the launch of this newly-expanded area, we’re hosting two amazing free gigs in Amarna Virtual.

What You’ll Learn of Your Trip to the Nile

When you arrive in Heritage Key Virtual and get to the travel hub, you’ll see the sign ‘Life on the Nile 1350 BC’. Select this option and we will teleport you to the Amarna area, where you can see the Amarna house, and some of the era’s most distinctive artefacts, including the much-debated, and admired, Bust of Nefertiti.

Try your hand at cooking in Ancient Egypt!See the Amarna Letters – over 300 of them – which were discovered when locals tried to sell several. These tablets reveal a lot about the legal framework and diplomacy of the period. These letters allow for discussion about the political climate at the time, and the impact of Akhenatens revolution.

You can also learn about the nature and the wildlife around the Nile, and spot hippos, crocodiles, fish and birds along the Nile and surrounding area. Meet the fictional scribe of the royal court who resides in our Amarna house, and find out what his day to day life is like. His son is training to do the same job. Other jobs described, shown, or mentioned include vizier, musician, farmer, fisherman, artisan, artist, and servant.

Before you leave Amarna, be sure to try your hand at our ‘Royal Match’ game. In this task you need to pair off three royal couples of the 18th dynasty. Get it right and you win a fantastic reward.

Things to do in Amarna

There’s plenty to do during your visit to the Nile. Try your hand at bread-making, chariot repair, playing the Zumara and Lute, applying Egyptian make-up, and gathering reeds. After all that, you can also try cooling off and relaxing on an Amarna rooftop.

Here are a few things that you can do in our Amarna area:

  • Uncover – find four clay tablets containing clues to a plot against the royal court, as well as who in the household to tell about it. Be careful to tell the right person!
  • Explore – a day-in-the-life challenge that has you exploring seven different tasks – do them all and your reward is a walk-like-an-Egyptian AO and ring.
  • Create – an exploration of the art of the Amarna period – collect a rubbing of all of the items while wearing the charcoal and paper (don’t try this in a RL museum) and you’ll be rewarded.
  • Challenge – do battle on a Nile river raft, either against a friend, or against the river gods. This is a classic rock-papyrus-scissors battle, with the added danger of lurking hippos.
  • Match – find the ‘Royal Match’ game in the house and match the three royal couples to receive your own Sobek mask.

Relax by the river Nile and listen to some great music next weekend in Heritage Key Virtual!

Live Music This Week For the Opening

To celebrate the opening of this great area of the virtual ancient world, we have two amazing live music events coming up, featuring California artists Eric Sampson and Craig Lyons.

Eric Sampson Performs on Wednesday 21st April at 20hr GMT.

Guitarist and singer-songwriter Eric Sampson’s blend of soul, rock and pop is coming to Amarna Virtual on Wednesday 21th of April 20hr GMT. Eric has strummed at some of LA’s most happening nightspots, including The Rainbow, The Viper Room, Key Club, The Mint, Molly Malones and the House of Blues, and just released his first album, There For Me. Hear his music and see some of his videos on his MySpace page.

Craig Lyons will be performing on Saturday 24th April at 21hr GMT.

Craig is a passionate songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and composer who exploded into LA’s independent music scene with the release of his fourth album OnReflection. He was quickly picked up by Universal Music, Fox and MTV. He has been twice nominated for the LAMusic Awards, and scooped ‘Artist of the Year’ at the Star Music Awards in 2008. Craig is a passionate environmentalist, and loves to gig virtually. Help the music industry reduce its carbon footprint by joining Craig in the virtual area for a concert to remember. You can check his profile and music at his website or MySpace page, or you can follow him on Twitter.

Play to Win a Holiday in Turkey!

To take part in these free gigs, just turn up in Amarna Virtual at the specified dates and times, and let us treat you to some real live California soul. We have more events in the pipeline, and will let you know details as soon as we can release them. In the meantime, check our Ancient World in London series, where there are plenty more competitions, quizzes and other things to do. There’s not long left to earn enough points to qualify you to win a holiday in Turkey, and this week we’re giving away bonus points, so get exploring!