The Christian Monastery of Saint Anthony, or Deir Mar Antonios, is the the first ever monastery, and lies at the coast of the Red Sea, to the east of the Fayum oasis. Dedicated to St Anthony, it was founded in 356 AD immediately after the saint’s death, and is now the oldest Christian monastery still active in the world. Near the monastery (2 km away) there is also St. Anthony’s cave, where he lived as a hermit. This video provides a rare glimpse inside this wonderful monastery, filled with art and the postumous home of a hermit saint, Saint Anthony.…
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After 3,000 years its appears all but certain that the husband of the mummy of Djedmaatesankh has been found. We know from her coffin that his name is Paankhntof. She was a musician at the temple of Amun-Re in Thebes – he was a doorkeeper at the same temple (actually something of an important position). At the weekend symposium, researchers presented evidence that the mummy of her husband is now located at the Art Institute of Chicago. Heritage Key broke the story a week ago here. The research was presented by Gayle Gibson of the Royal Ontario Museum and Stephanie…
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When visiting King Tutankhamun’s tomb – or its virtual counterpart King Tut Virtual – did you ever notice the strange brown spotson the wall paintings? They definitely were not there when Howard Carter discovered KV62 in 1922, and nobody knows what is causing them, not even Dr. Zahi Hawass: “I always see the tomb of King Tut and wonder about those spots, which no scientist has been able to explain.” Now the Getty Conservation Institute – specialised in conservation techniques for art and inparticular forancient sites – in cooperation with the SCA will start a five-year conservation project to determine…
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An Italian duo have revealed what they claim is the ‘real’ face of Queen Nefertiti. Ethnologist Franco Crevatin, from the University of Trieste, and cosmetics expert Stefano Anselmo, started with a recent CAT scan of the famous queen’s bust, held in Berlin’s newly-reopened Neues Museum. The scan of ‘Nonofret‘ as she’s known in Germany, appeared to show a second face, made of stone, buried beneath the stucco top layer the world has come to adore. Using computer imaging, Crevatin and Anselmo have made what they feel is a faithful reproduction of the hidden face. And though differences are subtle –…
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Heritage Key takes a trip to explore the British spirit of adventure, where we’ll be meeting with Lord and Lady Carnarvon at Highclere Castle . We are shooting some new video that will dig deeper into information about the man who funded Howard Carter’s work as well as the history of the incredible castle itself. We hope to be able to share new images and more insight into the tomb paintings and key artefacts of King Tut. Let us know if you have any questions – You might get them onto the video. You can use the comments box below,…
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Iran has taken a step closer to its goal of moving its capital away from Tehran to a new, as yet unbuilt location near the town of Qom. This seems like an extreme move but it’s one that has been repeated throughout history – as far back as the Egyptian dynasties of the Middle Kingdom, in ancient China and many times during the Roman empire. Sometimes there are practical reasons for capital-moving. In Iran’s case it claims that Tehran, a city of 12 million people, sits on 100 seismic fault lines and is therefore a major natural disaster waiting to…
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The recent reopening of Berlin’s Neues Museum has brought back into the limelight one of the ancient world’s greatest treasures. Yet as Thutmose’s masterful Bust of Nefertiti takes centre stage in Germany’s latest collection, the woman behind Egypt’s most famous sculpture remains a conundrum. Heresies, lost kingdoms and mysterious kingships have made Nefertiti more than the ‘most beautiful woman in the world’. But who was she, and how did she become one of the greatest leaders in Egypt’s history? Nefertiti’s origins are a mystery. Born some time around 1370 BC, theories abound that she was the daughter of army general…
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The Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities, and the Royal Ontario Museum,kicked off a three day symposium in Toronto. Im going to be filing more detailed blogs at the end, once I have the time to do a proper write-up of all the research. For now here are some news-briefs that I want to fill you in on. –The Seila Pyramid is flat! No it is not a step pyramid. It is a true pyramid. Professor Kerry Muhlestein of Brigham Young University, presented the latest research. A team of engineers, using GPS equipment, completed a3D model of the pyramid…
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Athree day Egyptian symposium starts, in Toronto,in a matter of hours. The Scholars’ Symposium (or Scholars’ Colloquium) is curated by The Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities (SSEA), and brings together a stella lineup of speakers. Todays session will be at the Royal Ontario Museum, and tommorows will focus on Egypt and the Bible and willbe held on the University of Toronto campus. The temperature is hovering at around 0 degrees celcius – not exactly what you would find at Giza! As I talked about in previous posts an update on research in the Sinai desert and at the…
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Amidst the charming Victorian cases of jewellery along the walls of the larger room in the Petrie Museum is the Framing the Archaeologist exhibition (follow their blog here); a series of framed photographs from 1880 1900 categorised into excavation sites of Petrie; Giza 1800-1883, Delta sites 1883-86, and Al Arabar Al Madfunda (Abydos) 1899-1900. Each framed image is accompanied by a quote from a contemporary report or letter, giving some insight into the people depicted and their activities. One of the first pictures in the exhibition is the fabulous image of a young Petrie leaning casually against the wall of…