New Discovery, Luxor: Coptic Tombstone Unearthed at Sphinxes Avenue in Luxor

The object is carved of limestone and decorated with a cross and Coptic texts. Written By/ Nevine El-Aref.

Egyptian archaeologists in Luxor have stumbled upon a decorative Coptic tombstone buried on the eastern side of the Sphinxes Avenue, under Al-Mathan Bridge. The tombstone is carved of limestone and decorated with a cross and Coptic texts, Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, told Ahram Online.

The exact date of the object has not yet been ascertained, nor the identity of the deceased. However, Mostafa Al-Saghir, director of the Sphinxes Avenue, said experts are now studying the tombstone find out.

The excavations in the Sphinxes Avenue are part of a Ministry of Antiquities programme to restore the area and transform it into an open-air museum. The avenue was the location for the procession of the Festival of Opet, which included priests, royalty and the pious, who walked from Karnak Temple to Luxor Temple. Some 1,350 sphinxes, with human heads and lion bodies, lined the 2,700-metre- long avenue, and many of them have been now been restored.

The avenue was built during the reign of Pharaoh Nectanebo I to replace an earlier one built in the 18th Dynasty, as recorded by Queen Hatshepsut (1502-1482 BC) on the walls of her red chapel in Karnak Temple. Hatshepsut built six chapels dedicated to the god Amun-Re on the route of the avenue during her reign, demonstrating its longevity as a place of religious significance.

Source: Ahram Online 

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Videos: Excerpt From “Amarna” Movie (Aton-Num Exhibition)

Excerpt from one of the movies displayed in Aton-Num exhibition.

Akhenaton and Nefertiti: Digital story of a revolution.

Exhibition from April 4th to 29th, 2016.

Excerpt From “Amarna” Movie (Aton-Num Exhibition) 

About Aton-Num Exhibition Click Here 

News, Cairo: Attempt to Smuggle 19th Century Antiques to Lebanon Foiled By Egyptian Authorities

The Collection Subjected to Smuggling

The Badr City Antiquities Unit of Egypt's Customs Authority foiled an attempt Wednesday night to smuggle a collection of six 19th century porcelain pots and two metal jardinière to Lebanon. Written By/ Nevine El-Aref.

Ahmed Al-Rawi, head of the Seized Antiquities Unit at the Ministry of Antiquities, explained that the items were seized at Badr City's dry land port, confiscated, and sent to the ministry because they fall under the legal category of Egyptian antiquities, which are protected by the Antiquities Law 117 of 1983 and its later amendment in law 3, 2010.

Ahmed Fatouh, Director of the Antiquities Units in Dry Land Ports, said that the collection includes a vase decorated with flora and fauna as well as a rose-colored tea set of five cups, complete with plates and a sugar container, which depict a European woman surrounded by plants.

Director of the Badr Antiquities Unit, Mamdouh Abu Amar, said that also among the confiscated lot were two metal jardinière bearing the monogram of Egypt's King Farouk. Illegally transported antiquities and heritage items are a common find at Egyptian ports.

El-Rawi told Ahram Online that authorities at Cairo International Airport recently seized original scripts for a well-known Egyptian radio program, "Tasali," which aired in the 1970s and 1980s and was presented by famous Egyptian anchor Inas Gohar.

Source: Ahram Online

New Discovery, Sakkara: Head of Queen Ankhnespepy II Statue Discovered in Giza's Saqqara

The Discovered Head of The Queen

The wooden piece, probably depicting sixth-dynasty queen Ankhnespepy II, has been unearthed near her pyramid. Written By/ Nevine El-Aref.

A French-Swiss archaeological team have unearthed the head of a wooden statute of Queen Ankhnespepy II (6th Dynasty, Old Kingdom, around 2350 BC), near her pyramid in the Saqqara area in Giza.

Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, told Ahram Online that the head is of almost-human proportions, and is around 30cm high. The ears are decorated with wooden earrings.

Professor Philippe Collombert, the head of the Geneva University mission, said that the head was found in a disturbed layer to the east of the queen's pyramid near the area where the pyramidion was uncovered early this week.

Over the last two weeks, he said, the mission has uncovered the upper part of a granite obelisk that may belong to the queen's funerary temple, as well as the pyramidion of what may be an undiscovered satellite pyramid.

Collombert said that the head is not in good condition and will be subjected to restoration and documentation.

"It is a promising area that could reveal more of its secrets soon," Waziri told Ahram Online, adding that the mission is to continue its excavations in an attempt to discover the satellite pyramid and the rest of her funerary complex and collection.

Source: Ahram Online

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New Discovery, Abu Sir: Parts of A Ramses II Temple Uncovered in Giza's Abusir

Cartouche of Ramesse II. Courtesy of the Czech Institute of Egyptology

The newly uncovered temple in Abusir necropolis helps piece together the activities of Ramses II in the Memphis area. Written By/ Nevine El-Aref.

Parts of a temple to King Ramses II (1213-1279 BC), along with reliefs of solar deities, have been uncovered by an Egyptian-Czech mission during excavation work in Abusir necropolis in the the governorate ofGiza

Mohamed Megahed, deputy to the mission director, told Ahram Online that the temple is located in an area that forms a natural transition between a terrace of the Nile and the floodplain in Abusir. He added that the temple is 32 by 52 metres and behind it was a large forecourt along with two identical and considerably long storage buildings to the right and left side of the complex.

Studies carried out so far, Megahed explained, show that it can be assumed that stone columns lined the side walls of the court, which was enclosed by mud brick walls that were in at least some places painted blue. The rear end of the court, a ramp or staircase leads to an elevated stone sanctuary whose back part was divided into three parallel chambers.

“The remains of this building, which constitutes the very core of the complex, were covered with huge deposits of sand and chips of stone of which many bore fragments of polychrome reliefs,” Professor Mirsolave Barta, director of the Czech mission, told Ahram Online. He pointed out that the fragments not only show the decorative scheme of the sanctuary, but also function to help date the entire complex.

A relief on which is engraved the different titles of King Ramses II was also found, as well as another connected to the cult of solar deities such as Re, Amun and Nekhbet.

“The discovery of the Ramses II temple provides unique evidence on building and religious activities of the king in Memphis area and at the same time shows the permanent status of the cult of sun god Re who was venerated in Abusir since the 5th Dynasty and onwards to the New Kingdom,” Barta asserted.

Source: Ahram Online

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News: Roma to Promote Tourism to Egypt

CAIRO – An agreement has been signed between the Italian club AS Roma and an Egyptian tourism office in Italy for launching a promotional campaign for tourism in Egypt.

This campaign will be the sponsor of the match between Napoli and Roma played on Saturday, using the match as an excellent platform to internationally promote tourism to Egypt.

The Italian player of Egyptian origins, Stephan Sha'arawy, will be the featured model of this campaign, as he will hand out the awards to the winners, giving them the chance to travel to Sharm El-Sheikh, Luxor, Aswan, Marsa Alam and Marsa Matrouh.

The Italian promotional campaign is hanging banners all around the Italian stadium about the best Egyptian cities, presenting a promotional video about Egypt on the main four mega-screens in the stadium.

For more publicity, promotional campaigns will be broadcasted on Italian television channels, such as Sky Clacio, a channel that has more than 5 million subscribers, and also on the official Italian club’s television Roma TV.

Source: Egypt Today

New Discovery, Sakkara: Old Kingdom Pyramid Peak Discovered in Sakkara

A granite pyramid peak, probably belonging to Queen Ankhnespepy II, was unearthed in Sakkara. Written By/ Nevine El-Aref.

The Uncovered Pyramidion

A Swiss-French archaeological mission directed by Professor Philippe Collombert from the University of Geneva has unearthed a large granite pyramidion, or pyramid peak, probably belonging Queen Ankhnespepy II, in the Sakkara necropolis.

This is the second discovery in a week by the Swiss-French mission, according to the secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Mostafa Waziri.

The team previously unearthed the largest obelisk fragment ever discovered from the Old Kingdom, measuring 2.5 meters tall. This week's discovery measures 1.3 metres high and 1.1 metres wide on its sides. Its upper part is partly destroyed, but shows that it had been covered by metal foil, either gold or copper.

“The surface of the pyramidion’s lower part is not clean, as if it had been reused, or better, as if it had been left unfinished,” Collombert pointed out, adding that the area under the pyramidion is clearly smooth, and also shows the usual carved recesses that permit its fixation of top of the pyramid.

“We think that it is the pyramidion of the satellite pyramid of Queen Ankhnespepy II, as it was found near the place where we should expect the satellite pyramid to have been located,” Collombert told Ahram Online. He asserted that this fragment comrpised the only part of this secondary pyramid yet to be found. The queen's main burial pyramid was discovered in Saqqara in 1998.

The Head of the Ancient Egyptian Sector at Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities, Ayman Ashmawy, said that the mission is progressing well this archaeological season, and that the new discovery suggests the team will soon locate the queen's complete funerary complex. Queen Ankhnespepy II (ca. 2288-2224 BC) was a 6th Dynasty consort of King Pepy I and the mother of King Pepy II.

Source: Ahram Online

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