• egypt

    Preview – King Tut and the Golden Age of the Pharoahs Hits Toronto

    Tut has returned to Toronto. After 30 years the boy king’s treasures are back in the Canadian city, with a new show set to open this Tuesday, at the Art Gallery of Ontario. It’s the first time the king’s been in town since 1979.  In that year Egyptomania was at its height, and Steve Martin was doing his King Tut dance and all. Before the media preview began today, the organizers tried to re-create a little bit of that 1970’s magic. A pair of dancers from the group ‘For the Funk of it’ performed a tutting dance routine in front…

  • site

    Taposiris Magna

    Attribution: Troels Myrup Abousir Egypt Key Dates The town was inhabited during the Predynastic era. Napoleon’s scholars recorded the town’s monuments in 1801. Key People Cleopatra, the famous queen of Egypt whose tomb is rumoured to be housed in Taposiris. Ptolemy II, who built a prominent tower at the site. Cleopatra Ptolemy II Philadelphus The ancient town and temple of Taposiris Magna is located on the banks of Lake Mariut, just west of Alexandria. In modern times the town was swallowed up by the metropolitan area of the city, and is now officially within the Alexandrian suburb of Abousir. In…

  • owenjarus

    More Politics for Treasures of Afghanistan, but Ottawa Hopeful of End to Strike

    UPDATE – Chantal Schryer just emailed me. She says that, as of November 15 (three weeks into the exhibit) 7,711 people have seen the show. In an email she said. “It is important to note that November is a slower month in terms of visitors ship.It is like that every year. Regardless of that fact, as I told you yesterday, the exhibition is very popular and so far, thousands of people have come to see it and we expect many more. It is in fact the most popular exhibition right now.” —- As Heritage Key reported yesterday, it has been…

  • lyn

    10 Ways to Get Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site

    The UNESCO World Heritage List is possibly the best known list, of anything, anywhere on Earth. One of UNESCO’s core projects, it is intended to identify and safeguard the world’s natural and cultural treasures. Listing by UNESCO is the ambition of many sites, large and small, around the world because it not only brings prestige and tourist dollars, but it also brings with it the clout of UNESCO and and expertise in the preservation and conservation of sites. Jethro Lennox is the publishing manager responsible for UNESCO‘s new The World’s Heritage: A Complete Guide to the Most Extraordinary Places, which features every UNESCO World Heritage…

  • sean-williams

    Is Repatriation Good for Archaeology? Zahi Hawass’ Quest for Egypt’s Antiquities

    The opening of Berlin’s Neues Museum and its ceremonial re-unveiling of the Bust of Nefertiti has provided a stark contrast to the recent climate on the repatriation of ancient artefacts. At the forefront of the debate is Zahi Hawass, chief of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA): marauding worldwide with dossiers in hand, strong-arming museums into giving Egypt back its most prized possessions. Dr Hawass even sent one of his antiquities droogs to Berlin this month with a letter for the Neues‘ director. One can imagine it won’t be a shining eulogy to his work. Dr Hawass’ Famous Five “We…

  • owenjarus

    One Month on and Pickets Still up at Site of Afghan Treasures Exhibit

    Its been nearly one month since Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabulwent on display in Ottawa, at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. For that entire time there has been a strike on – with 400 workers manning picket lines. The strikers include educational staff and tour guides. The museum is a crown corporation – owned by the federal government. People who want to see the exhibit have had to crossthe line to go and see it. There have been no talks since early October. Wages, job security and the contracting out of jobs have been themajor bones of…

  • sean-williams

    Oldest Babylonian Cuneiform Seal Fragment in Egypt Discovered, at Hyksos Capital of Avaris

    Austrian archaeologists have unearthed the oldest cuneiform seal inscription fragment ever found in Egypt. The piece dates to the Old Babylonian reign of King Hammurabi, who brought the world its first code of law, between 1792 – 1750 BC. Egypt’s culture minister Farouk Hosni announced the discovery today, made by the Austrian Archaeological Mission in a pit at Tel El-Daba, modern name of ancient Avaris, 120km north-east of Cairo in the Nile Delta. Dr Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s antiquities chief, noted the seal was the second of its type excavated in the region. The first seal had been found in the…

  • owenjarus

    Egyptomania Set to Rock Toronto: King Tut Exhibit Plus Lecture Programme Announced

    We are just one week away from King Tuts stop at theArt Gallery of Ontario, in Toronto Canada. The Canadian exhibition will feature artefacts from the Tutankhamuns reign including the largest statue of King Tut ever found. The exhibit aims to go beyond Tut andgive viewers a lookat what Egypt was like during the Amarna period. On November 20, Heritage Key will be at at the media preview of the King Tut exhibit. We will be publishing a fullwrite-up before it opens on November 24. In conjunction with the Tut exhibit, the art gallery will be holding a lecture series…

  • sean-williams

    Digging for Cleopatra’s Tomb at Taposiris Magna

    It’s the most exciting project in Egypt, and one that’s captured the hearts and minds of people all over the world: could Kathleen Martinez have discovered the tomb of Cleopatra? The Dominican expert certainly thinks so, and tells Heritage Key all about it in this special video. A Long Route to Egypt It has taken Dr Martinez ten years to convince herself Taposiris Magna, just outside Alexandria, is the famous queen’s final resting place. And she knew from the off she had to get out in the field herself to have any chance of finding the tomb. “I needed to…

  • owenjarus

    Dogs and Men Went Mouth-to-Mouth in Old Kingdom Egypt

    Beverley Miles, a doctoral candidate at MacQuarie University in Australia, has been researching the relationship that dogs and humans had during the time that the pyramids were built. She presented her results at an Egyptology symposium in Toronto a week ago – and they are not for those of a delicate disposition! Shes found some pretty convincing evidence in the form of three pieces of art that dogs and humans shared a very close relationship. How close? Well, one artefact, pictured here, depicts a human male making mouth to muzzle contact with a dog. These objects are highly unusual, said…