News: Experts Meet In Egypt Over Moving King Tut Property

Archaeologists and conservation experts are meeting in Cairo to discuss the safe transportation of King Tutankhamun’s throne, chests and bed from the Egyptian Museum in central Cairo to a new one being built on the other side of the city.

Sunday’s gathering brought together experts from Egypt, France, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark and Japan and is being organized by the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities.

No date has yet been set for the transfer of the priceless items, which would be displayed at two halls in the new museum near the Giza Pyramids. The halls are scheduled to open at the end of 2017.

The tomb of King Tut, who ruled Egypt more than 3,000 years ago, was discovered in 1922 in the southern city of Luxor.

Source: Ahram Online

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News, Cairo: Third Annual Tutankhamun Conference Inaugurated Yesterday

The Golden King Tutankhamun's human remains and furniture, discovered in his tomb, are the main focus of this year's conference. Written By/ Nevine El-Aref.

Under the title, "Tutankhamun: Human Remains and Furniture," the third annual conference on the boy king launched yesterday at Ahmed Kamal Pasha Hall at the Ministry of Antiquities premises.

The conference is organised by the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) since 2015 in an attempt to further discussion of best methods to restore and preserve Tutankamun’s funerary collection and ensure its safe transportation from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square to the GEM overlooking the Giza Plateau.

It also discussed state of the art display techniques, to put on show the golden king’s collection at new permanent exhibition halls at the GEM.

Tarek Tawfik, GEM supervisor general, told Ahram Online that Egyptology professor at the American University in Cairo Fayza Heikal is the head of this year's conference with the participation of 12 scholars from six countries (France, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Japan and Denmark).

Participants during the three days of the conference will discuss 17 scientific papers on the human remains of the boy king as well as his funerary collection.

Tawfik explained that on the first day the king’s chair, bed, and his wooden boxes would be the focus of discussion, while the second day would review the experience of the Berlin Museum in Germany and the Louvre Museum in Paris in transporting parts of their collection, along with new techniques used in exhibiting artefacts.

The third and final day, asserted Tawfik, would focus on the best techniques to be used to restore the king’s funerary collection.

Source: Ahram Online

New Discovery, Luxor: Unique Funerary Garden Unearthed in Thebes

For the first time, an almost 4000 year-old funerary garden is uncovered in Draa Abul Naga necropolis on Luxor’s west bank. Written By/ Nevine El-Aref.

During excavation work in the area around the early 18th Dynasty rock-cut tombs of Djehuty and Hery (ca 1500­‐1450 BCE) in Draa Abul Nagaa necropolis, a Spanish archaeological mission unearthed a unique funerary garden.

Mahmoud Afifi, head of the Ancient Egyptian Antiquities sector at the Ministry of Antiquities told Ahram Online that the garden was found in the open courtyard of a Middle Kingdom rock-cut tomb and the layout of the garden measures 3m x 2m and is divided into squares of about 30cm.

These squares, he pointed out, seem to have contained different kinds of plants and flowers. In the middle of the garden the mission has located two elevated spots that was once used for the cultivation of a small tree or bush.

At one of the corners, Afifi continued, the roots and the trunk of a 4,000 year-old small tree have been preserved to a height of 30cm. Next to it, a bowl containing dried dates and other fruits, which could have been presented as offerings, were found.

“The discovery of the garden may shed light on the environment and gardening in ancient Thebes during the Middle Kingdom, around 2000 BCE,” said Jose Galan, head of the Spanish mission and research professor at the Spanish National Research Council in Madrid.

He explained that similar funerary gardens were only found on the walls of a number of New Kingdom tombs where a small and squared garden is represented at the entrance of the funerary monument, with a couple of trees next to it. It probably had a symbolic meaning and must have played a role in the funerary rites. However, Galan asserted, these gardens have never been found in ancient Thebes and the recent discovery offers archaeological confirmation of an aspect of ancient Egyptian culture and religion that was hitherto only known through iconography.

Moreover, he pointed out, near the entrance of the Middle Kingdom rock-cut tomb, a small mud-brick chapel measuring 46cm x 70cm x 55cm was discovered attached to the façade. Inside it three stelae of the 13th Dynasty, around ca 1800 BCE, were found in situ.

He explained that early studies reveal that the owner of one of them was called Renef‐Seneb, and the owner of the second was “the citizen Khemenit, son of the lady of the house, Idenu.” The latter mentions the gods Montu, Ptah, Sokar and Osiris.

“These discoveries underscore the relevance of the central area of Dra Abul Naga as a sacred place for the performance of a variety of cultic activities during the Middle Kingdom,” asserted Galan. The Spanish mission has been working for 16 years in Dra Abul Naga, on the West Bank of Luxor, around the early 18th Dynasty rock-cut tombs of Djehuty and Hery.

Source: Ahram Online 

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Short Story: Rommel Cave to Reopen

The Rommel Cave Museum in Marsa Matrouh is to reopen to the public within the next two months after almost seven years of closure, reports Nevine El-Aref.

Holidaymakers in the Marsa Matrouh governorate on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast will have more to enjoy than the sun, sand and sea next summer. They will also be able to explore the Rommel Cave Museum, the place where German army field marshal Erwin Rommel, the so-called “Desert Fox”, hid in the area’s cliffs and planned German military operations against the British during World War II.

Rommel was one of Germany’s leading field commanders in World War II, and he was famous for his battle tricks, courage, determination and leadership. He fought the 12-day Battle of Alamein against the British from 23 October 1942, only to retreat on 4 November in the face of an onslaught by British troops.

According to a plaque at the Cave Museum, Rommel died in October 1944, having been accused of plotting against the life of German dictator Adolf Hitler and given the choice of either standing trial or quietly committing suicide to ensure the safety of his family. Rommel chose the latter course, and his death was announced as having been due to a heart attack.

The cave is located near the Rommel Beach in Marsa Matrouh, and it was originally cut out of the rocky cliffs during the Roman period as a storage space due to its position near an ancient seaport. When the German troops entered Al-Alamein, Rommel selected the cave as his military headquarters because it was hidden in the cliffs overlooking the harbour.

In 1977, the idea of transforming the cave into a museum was launched as a way of paying tribute to Rommel’s career. However, the plan was not put into effect until 1988, when it was opened to the public in order to display a collection of Rommel’s personal possessions, many of them donated by his son Manfred, as well as weapons, shells and military equipment used during World War I.

Among the exhibited objects are Rommel’s full-length leather coat, clothes trunk, photographs, field telephone, compass, military attire, maps he drew himself, battle plans and medals he received from Hitler. Copies of a newspaper produced by Rommel’s troops in Africa during the war, called Al-Waha (Oasis), are also on display, as well as boxes housing the files of German soldiers from the time.

In 2010, the museum was closed for restoration and development, and it has since been closed to the public. However, last month the Ministry of Antiquities resumed restoration work at the cave and the conservation of its artifacts, saying that it would be reopened to the public within the next two months.... READ MORE.

Source: Al-Ahram Weekly

News, Luxor: First Karnak Temples Conference to Be Held on Today in Luxor

The Karnak Monuments Scientific Research Department will hold the first Karnak Temples Conference on today in Luxor with the aim of exchanging academic studies on Karnak's temples, shrines, sanctuaries, obelisks, colossi and pylons. Written By/ Nevine El-Aref .

Moeimen Saad, director of the Karnak Monuments Scientific Research Department, told Ahram Online that the two-day conference will be held at the Misr Public Library in Luxor.

The conference will provide an opportunity for a large number of Egyptian and foreign Egyptologists – along with the French Institute for Karnak Temples Studies and the American Research Centre in Cairo – to discuss the newest academic studies that have been carried out on Karnak temples for publishing in a book.

Saad explains that the studies will show the latest restoration works that have been carried out on Karnak as well as new discoveries.

Source: Ahram Online

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New Discovery, Nile Delta: Skeletons Of Two Possible Eunuchs Discovered In Ancient Egypt

Recent excavations at the Ptolemaic-Roman site of Quesna in Egypt have revealed two skeletons of individuals who might have been eunuchs. But these people’s above-average height and other skeletal irregularities might also reflect a congenital condition rather than castration.

Skeleton B21 from Ptolemaic era Quesna, Egypt. With its immature bones and 

tall stature, this individual might have been intersex.

Presenting at last week’s American Association of Physical Anthropologists conference, archaeologists Scott Haddow (University of Bordeaux), Sonia Zakrzewski (University of Southampton), and Joanne Rowland (University of Edinburgh) highlighted the two unusual burials out of 151 total interments at Quesna, located in the Nile Delta region of the country.

One person – B21 – was an adolescent of indeterminate sex from the Ptolemaic Era. The burial was oriented rather differently: with the head to the south, rather than the typical head-north orientation of the period. Although the skeleton was poorly preserved, Haddow and colleagues noticed that most of the person's bones looked extremely immature, including the growth plates of the limb bones, which were completely unfused. This meant that the person was taller than average, even though they were not fully grown.

The other person – B26 – was also an adolescent of indeterminate sex, dating to the Roman Era. Buried in a collective tomb, this person was similarly much taller than average with completely unfused growth plates.

Archaeologist Scott Haddow excavating B26, a potentially intersex

individual from Roman-era Quesna, Egypt.

Haddow and colleagues began to suspect these individuals were possibly eunuchs because castration before the onset of puberty typically results in people who are tall and slender, with broad hips, narrow shoulders, and a sunken chest. Although there are few skeletal studies of individuals known to have been castrated, those that exist – such as of the Italian castrati Farinelli and Pacchierotti – also reveal incompletely fused long bones, tall stature, and osteoporosis.

So were these people from ancient Egypt eunuchs? The historical record would certainly allow for that possibility. Intersex individuals were present throughout the ancient world, Haddow and colleagues note, with eunuchs playing important administrative roles in Assyrian, Persian, and Roman courts. Linguistic evidence also indicates the recognition of non-binary gender statuses. In Egypt specifically, there are textual references to eunuchs working in administrative roles in the Ptolemaic and Roman courts.

But the skeletal evidence is not conclusive. Haddow and colleagues clarify that, beyond castration, other causes need to be considered. These involve a number of congenital conditions affecting the endocrine system, including sex chromosome abnormalities such as Klinefelter Syndrome or autosomal disorders such as Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome and an estrogen deficiency called aromatase deficiency. Because these conditions disrupt a person's hormonal balance and subsequent skeletal development in a similar way to pre-pubertal castration, it is difficult to differentiate among them..... READ MORE.

Source: Forbes

 Find More About New Discoveries in Egypt Here 

News, Luxor: The Biggest German Tourism Magazine Holds Its B2B Workshop in Egypt

The Leading German Trade Magazine for Tourism and Business Travel "FVW" continues to hold its high-profile workshops internationally. 

This time "fvw workshop" was held in Egypt (22-26 of April 2017)

40 German tour operators and travel agents came to meet with hoteliers and Egyptian officials to discuss the advantages, potentials and strategies for marketing Egyptian destinations to the German market which is the largest in Europe.

Mr. Klaus Hildebrandt, Editor-in-chief, spoke to Luxor Times on the workshop and tourism situation in general.

Update: You can read (In German) what Mr. Klaus Hildebrandt wrote about fvw workshop inEgypt HERE

For full interview, please watch the video below.

Source: Luxor Times Magazine