Last year, Dr Zahi Hawass spoke to Heritage Key in a video interview about the restoration work being carried out at the Moses Ben Maimon (Maimonides) synagogue in Cairo by the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities (see the video at the bottom of this page). With the project nearing completion, the SCA chief has today announced that a planned celebration to mark the reopening of the restored monument has been cancelled.
Dr Hawass explained that the decision comes in the aftermath of Israeli authorities prohibiting worshippers from praying in the Al-Aqsa mosque in the West Bank.
We set the task of nominating London’s most influential invaders and talking-up the Big Smoke’s most important ancient sites in the first two rounds of our Ancient World in London Bloggers Challenge, and got some fantastic responses from the blogosphere. In round three we’re posing a new question, to again be answered in blog form in competition for prizes both real and virtual. It’s sure to prove contentious:
Should the British Museum return the Rosetta Stone to Egypt?
Round three of the Ancient World in London Bloggers Challenge poses a question that's sure to prove contentious: should the British Museum return the Rosetta Stone to Egypt?
As ever, all you need is a blog and an opinion to enter, and compete for a prize of five books of your choice from the current Thames & Hudson catalogue, as well as enter the running for the AWiL grand prize of a holiday in Turkey. The deadline for entries is midnight, GMT on 25th March 2010.
Read more about Ancient World in London Bloggers Challenge 3 here.
“I don’t get to introduce rock stars,” said Art Gallery of Ontario CEO Matthew Teitelbaum.
Well tonight he did.
Forget the critical New Yorker article, the mixed reviews of the new Tut exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario, or the fact that local Toronto media largely stayed away from this lecture.
The world’s most well-known Egyptologist completely filled Convocation Hall, with people who had all paid a small admission fee (no more than $18) to hear him speak.
There was a line snaking up Kings College Circle (the street outside the hall) an hour before it even started.
Now, before I get into what Dr. Hawass said, I should say this – I’ve been cursed.
Dr. Zahi Hawass will be speaking at a special “one night only” event at Convocation Hall at the University of Toronto in Canada. This will be his first major lecture since the King Tut DNA tests were announced. He will be discussing Tut as well as the search for Nefertiti’s mummy, the discovery of KV 63 and a chamber recently found in the Valley of the Kings. He will also discuss recent discoveries at the pyramids and the search for the tomb of Cleopatra and Mark Antony.
After two years of investigation and negotiation, the 21st Dynasty coffin of Imesy is being returned to Egypt. Minister Farouk Hosni describes the coffin as beautifully plastered and painted with colourful religious scenes.
It was intercepted at Miami International Airport in 2008 when the importer failed to show the necessary documents to prove his ownership of the ancient Egyptian sarcophagus, which was part of a shipment from Spain. This raised concern amongst the American authorities that the coffin had left Egypt illegally.
An investigation was started by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS). As the earliest public record of the piece dates to 2007 when it was being exhibited in Madrid, they concluded that the coffin had left Egypt after 1970. ICE then confiscated the coffin and contacted the SCA, who petitioned for the artefact's return to Egypt.
When I wrote that it was most likely we'd see more conlusive information on King Tut's pedigree on TV first, I obviously was wrong, partly. Spoiler alert: yes, King Tut died at age 19 of (in order) a failing immune system, a leg fracture and malaria, but for the the fine details, and juicy imagery, you'll need to tune in to Discovery Channel's 'King Tut Unwrapped'. The network - which sponsored Egypt's 'mummy lab' - promises us an unprecedented forensic investigation into the life and times of King Tut that reveals the identity of Tut's parents and grandparents, details on his cause of death and new details of his reign.
This Wednesday the long awaited results of the DNA research on King Tut's mummy - and some of his possible family members - will be announced at a press conference with Egyptian Minister of Culture, Farouk Hosni and Dr. Zahi Hawass. They will announce new discoveries surrounding the family of Tutankhamun and the cause of the young king's death.
The study on the family of Tutankhamun (keep an eye on all things Tut on our dedicated page) was conducted through the Egyptian Mummy Project (EMP) headed by Dr. Zahi Hawass, and a team composed of Egyptian scientists from the National Research Center, members from the Faculty of Medicine at Cairo University, and two German DNA specialists.
Question – who can completely fill up a cavernous 1,500 seat domed hall on a Saturday night in Toronto?
A multi-national team of Egyptian and European archaeologists excavating at the site of 
After two years of investigation and negotiation, the 21st Dynasty coffin of Imesy is being returned to Egypt. Minister Farouk Hosni describes the coffin as beautifully plastered and painted with colourful religious scenes.
This Wednesday the long awaited results of the DNA research on King Tut's mummy - and some of his possible family members - will be announced at a press conference with Egyptian Minister of Culture, Farouk Hosni and Dr. Zahi Hawass. They will announce new discoveries surrounding the family of Tutankhamun and the cause of the young king's death. 
