Mid-2012 was confirmed last week as the projected point of opening for the Grand Egyptian Museum, as pen was put to paper on a deal between the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) and engineering firms Hill International and EHAF Consulting Engineers to commence work on stage three of Egypt’s new cultural mecca.
Egyptian culture minister Farouk Hosni looked on as Dr Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the SCA, and Raouf Ghali, board chairman of Hill International, signed the deal. Hosni stated that it will take 26 months to complete the massive building project, in the desert west of Cairo at Giza, just two kilometres from the pyramids.
Finished in 2560 BC, the Great Pyramid of Giza took 20 years to build. 3,000 years on, it doesn’t look like major Egyptian construction projects have hurried up any.
It was recently announced that the opening date for the Grand Egyptian Museum – the massive centerpiece attraction of the epic new vision for the Giza plateau, two and a half kilometres from the pyramids – has been pushed back to 2013, after the latest in a long-running series of delays for the building. The project was officially commenced in 1992, which means that even if the GEM does open on schedule now, it will itself have taken at least a full 20 years to finally come to fruition. History never lacks a sense of irony, does it?
The Tate Britain's Art Now presents an installation by Andy Holden. Comprising of a large knitted boulder and an accompanying film, The Pyramid Piece acts a means of representing and reconciling the guilt of an event from the artist’s childhood – stealing a rock from the Great Pyramid of Cheops, Giza. Holden employs the laborious and repetitive process of knitting as a means of externalising the emotional mass that the stolen rock has come to represent and as a means of reparation.
There is exciting news breaking right now in Egypt. An archaeological team led by Dr. Zahi Hawass has discovered several new tombs that belong to the workers who built the pyramids of Khufu and Khafre.
“This is the first time to uncover tombs like the ones that were found during the 1990’s, which belong to the late 4th and 5th Dynasties (2649-2374 BC),” said Dr. Hawass in the press release.
When we think of Giza we tend to think of the Giza Pyramids. However, while the pyramids were under construction, there was an extensive city to the south that supported the workers. It included houses, bakeries, magazines and a hypostyle hall (See the video below, in which Mark Lehner descibes his work researching this area).
The Pyramids of Giza at the Giza Plateau, Egypt, are one of the most famous sights in the world. It's probably photographed from every possible angle from the ground, but often do you see it from above? Sure, Google Earth might give you an insight into aerial photography, but GeoEye has kindly given Heritage Key amazing satellite imagery at a high resolution, allowing us to see the pyramids as if we were in the space shuttle (or an alien space craft).
Submitted by Sean Williams on Tue, 11/10/2009 - 13:06
The mummy of a young Nazca priestess has been discovered in the ancient city of Cahuachi, Peru. Italian archaeologist Giuseppe Orefici, director of the Nazca Project, made the startling find in a mini-temple between the mysterious metropolis' Great and Orange Pyramids.
The 300-450 AD woman had been buried beneath ropes and reeds, and covered in finely-woven fabrics with killer whale pattern. Several obsidian arrow heads had also been worked into the weave.
The southern Peruvian heritage site of Cahuachi was once the cultural and religious capital of the ancient Nazca tribe, who flourished between 500 BC and 500 AD. The city itself comprises around 40 adobe mounds and structures, and covers a huge area - some believe it stretches up to 24km² along dusty hills overlooking the Nazca River Valley. It is widely thought to have only held a small permanent population, serving instead as a place of pilgrimage, where the elite and religiously important would stay to cater for huge ceremonies. Several mummies have been unearthed in the region, alongside a myriad stunning treasures.
Cahuachi's most famous monument is the Great Pyramid, which hogs the skyline and casts an eye over the Nazca Lines, the geoglyphs which have made the culture so famous. As with most buildings in the city, the pyramid looks like a giant maze thanks to the winding ceremonial staircases which lead to its summit. Other notable landmarks include the Orange Pyramid and the Stepped Temple (Templo del Escalonado) at the foot of the Great Pyramid, so-named because its walls are lined with chakanas, or Andean Crosses, which look like stairways.
Submitted by Sean Williams on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 10:02
Archaeologists exploring the lost Maya city of El Mirador claim they've found the world's biggest pyramid. The massive structure, called La Danta (The Tapir), may have its summit hidden beneath Guatemala's jungle canopy. Yet its volume is reckoned to be larger than that of the Great Pyramid of Khufu in Egypt's Giza Plateau. The city itself, dubbed the 'Maya Cradle of Civilization', is the size of a modern metropolis; bigger than downtown Los Angeles. And experts believe there are thousands more pyramids yet to be found.
BRITISH WRITER DISCOVERS THE PHARAOHS’ LOST UNDERGROUND
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
A British writer has staked claim to finally finding the lost underground of the Pharaohs which has been rumoured to exist since the construction of the Great Pyramid nearly 5,000 years ago, creating a stir that is set to rock the Egyptological world.
Armed only with the forgotten memoirs of a nineteenth century British engineer, history and science writer Andre Coolings, tracked down the entrance to this forgotten tunnel system and was the first to explore it in modern times.
Is it possible that Coolings has beaten the Egyptologists at their own game by finding the entrance to Giza’s lost underground?
Mid-2012 was confirmed last week as the projected point of opening for the 
Finished in 2560 BC, the 
There is exciting news breaking right now in Egypt. An archaeological team led by 
