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NILOMETER - Current Egyptological News
They may not have managed to place a new capstone on the Great Pyramid on the stroke of the new Millenium but there still seems to be a lot of exciting things happening on the Giza Plateau. Whilst preparing the Great Pyramid for the capstone, Dr. Zahi Hawass and his team made a detailed survey of the top which revealed previously unknown graffiti and marks on the stones. Work continues on the restoration of the tomb of Khentkawes and as reported previously in Nilometer, it is hoped to be open to the public in the near future.As you read this the 8th International Congress of Egyptologists in Cairo has just finished. Approximately 350 papers will have been presented on such subjects as archaeology, history, art, site management and conservation. How much good will come of it remains to be seen and hopefully we will hear more over the coming months. Personally I hope conservation is high on the list and people take not and more is done to help preserve Egypt's heritage for future generations. It's human nature to enjoy reading about the latest discoveries coming from a land with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of artefacts awaiting to be excavated, but surely we can't keep exposing more and more in the name of 'science'. If we continue todo this we face being accused by future generations of being 'grave robbers', no better than our forefathers in the 19th century. How many of us who have visited Egypt regularly have commented onthe poor condition of the sites compared to their earlier visit; if we fail to act now we will deserve to be branded 'barbarians' and 'gold seekers' instead of scientists and people of vision. Dr Zahi Hawass shares my views and would like to see a halt to digging for 10 years to give priority to conservation work. Unfortuneately I doubt it will happen, as those who work in Egypt seem to want results in the form of finds rather than in just help maintaining those sites we already take for granted. Alas familiarity breeds contempt and we are in danger of losing forever those sites we all love and visit so frequently.
It's with this in mind that Dr.Hawass has managed to concentrate on conservation work on the Giza Plateau. For a number of years now extensive work has been underway in and around the famous pyramids and Sphinx of Giza.Each of the three major pyramids has undergone or is undergoing work to preserve them for future generations whilst keeping them open and accesible to the public of today. From the Ist of January this year all stables, food concessions,souvenir shops etc., will be moved and concentrated into an area just south of the pyramids. In May all cars will be banned from the plateau and tourists will be ferried to the site by electric cars, similar I suppose to those funny looking 'trains' in the Valley of the Kings. They say that tourists will be restricted to just 300 visitors a day, with all attractions open on a rotation basis. For example the newly conserved pyramid of Khafre will be opened soon and the Pyramid of Menkaure will close for vital restoration work. Dr.Hawass would like to see such schemes throughout Egypt and warns that the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the kings which has 5000 visitors a day will be destroyed within 15 years if immediate action isn't taken.
The fabulous jewelry of Tutankhamen
The face lift at the Cairo museum continues with new cases installed in the Old Kingdom section, and further work in both the Jewelry Room and parts of the Tutankhamen exhibition. New piping has been fitted and the reconstruction of the Amun/Mut diad is now complete and on display in the museum. The Animal Mummy project has now almost completed its x-raying of the museum's cat mummies and is now focusing on the birds and dogs with monkeys/apes to follow. The x-ray team has been surprised to discover just how many ancient fakes have been revealed by x-rays.
At Saqqara, conservation work continues at the 6th dynasty mastaba tomb of the vizier Merefneber where they have erected a stone shelter to protect the tomb from further damage. A large area around the mastaba has been cleared to determine exactly the history of the area in the vicinity of the Step Pyramid.It's believed that there is the possibility of a dry moat and terracing surrounding the Step Pyramid. Several Graeco Roman burials were discovered in the upper part of the trench and a mud brick structure which may indicate a tomb shaft. Several such tomb shafts dating from the same 6th dynasty period have already been found in the vicinity to the east of Merefneber's mastaba. Twenty seven shafts were found, all robbed in antiquity but some had a few objects left, mainly pottery, but also some limestone and wooden models depicting food preparation. All the shafts were the normal type of tomb, approached by a small courtyard with a fake door and an offering table as a focal point just in front of where the shaft was situated. During the clearance of this area, the excavating team also found carved limestone blocks believed to be from the Saite period.
Various unknown Ancient Egyptian scribes
At Tell Ibrahim in the Delta the excavation team there was severly hampered by the rising subsoil water levels and had to borrow a powerful pump to enable digging to continue. Progress was slow but with the aid of the pump and with meticulous excavation techniques the team managed to reach down to Predynastic levels. Here they found traces of the earliest known brick temples to be found anywhere in Egypt. The most striking finds of the season were a small, primitive ivory statue and a unique triple vessel. Work will continue this year to analyse all the pottery finds to establish the chronology of thesuccessive phases of the structure.
In Luxor, the Theban Mapping Project has announced that it's hoping to publish it's work by April 2000. In the Valley of the Kings, G.T.Martin and N. Reeves and their team continue to search for the lost Amarna cache in the last part of the triangle that Howard Carter was clearing before he discovered the Tomb of Tutankhamen in 1922. The team has already found the stone remains of workmen's huts, identical to those found over the stairwell of Tutankhamen's tomb and they hope to go further in this new season. G.T.Martin will be talking to our society later this year about their discoveries and hopes at this fascinating and exciting dig.
Of course one team that has been undergoing vital conservation work and restoration work over many years is the Epigraphic Survey team based at Chicago House in Luxor. They have been at Luxor Temple for 20 years, recording the eroding scenes and reliefs for future Egyptologists in much the same way as the early travellers to Egypt, such as David Roberts did for us to marvel at. The salt line at Luxor Temple continues to rise, much of it caused by the increased cultivation made possible by the Aswan High Dam. Rising damp and the resulting salt damage is prevalent throughout the monuments of Egypt and especially in and around Luxor where so many sites are concentrated. The Egyptian Governemnt hasdiscussed environmental issues and its problems and possible solutions. There is talk of reopening drainage channels to redirect water away from Karnak and Luxor Temples. There is also a proposal to grow beet instead of sugar cane as it requires irrigation to grow it. Whatever the solutions might be, the problems are very real and affecting all the ancient monuments of Egypt.
Evidence of this can be seen at Medinet Habu where the surrounding mudbrick walls act like wicks, sucking up the subsurface water and keeping the lower parts of some temples perpetually damp. One of the longest conservation projects in Egypt is now nearing completion with the opening of the third terrace at the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el Bahri.
At Karnak the French Mission has virtually finished reconstructing the Red Chapel of Hatshepsut in the Open Air Museum and are continuing with the conservation work on the dismantled Amenhotep 1 blocks. Other sites where conservation work has been carried out and should now be open to visitors are as follows:- Horr Moheb Temple, Gabal el Silsila in Kom Ombo, Ninth Pylon at Karnak Temple, Ptah Shepses Tomb and Sahure Funerary Temple at Abu Sir, Merenptah Tomb and Senemut Tomb in the Tombs of the Nobles and the Isis Temple at Aswan.
Nespekashuti Horemhab Amenhotep
Nigel and Helen Strudwick continue with their dig in the Tomb of Senneferi (TT99) at the Tombs of the Nobles.This a long ongoing dig that is entirely funded by Nigel and Helen, having no outside funding or sponsorship. I was lucky enough to visit this dig on my recent visit to Luxor. Nigel was kind enough to break off from his work to talk about his work to myself and fellow travellers. This18th dynasty tomb is littered with thousand's of broken pieces of pottery and sarcophagi from the original interment and later Graeco Roman burials. The Strudwicks and their small dedicated team are meticulously building up a picture of the history of this tomb. You can catch up with them at the following link (News and Gossip)
http://www.newton.cam.ac.uk/egypt/news.html
The on going survey of ancient stone quarries in the eastern desert continues with the discovery of several previously unknown granodiorite quarries and a gold mine, both dating to Ptolomaic or early Roman times. The work tends to progress by the method of interviewing Bedouin Tribesmen who, of course, wander the desert and know of many such forgotten sites. By using this method the team has learned about five other ancient quarries not previously known about.
In Alexandria a villa known as The Villa of Birds is to be opened to the public soon. Named after the mosaic pavement depicting nine recognisable birds and has a surface of 110 square ins. The mosaic floor was preserved when a fire swept throught the villa causing the walls to fall on the mosaic where it lay covered and protected. An elevated walkway provides a viewing platfrom for visitors and whilst this was being constructed archaeologists found another mosaic. Thisone depicts a panther with part of its prey in its forepaws. The Villa of Birds can be seen at the Alexandria Archaeological Park along with the Imperial Bath Complex and the Odean Theatre.
Underwater archaeologists have found the submerged city of Herakleion 10 metres beneath the Mediterranean. Divers have found temples, houses and statues datinfg from the 5th Century BC and are believed to span Pharaonic,Ptolemaic and Byzantine eras. The French teamled by Franck Goddio made its discoveries in Aboukir Bay, the site at which Nelson sank Napoleon's fleet in 1798. The city's existence has been known for many years but until now no one had the evidence. It was a city which grew rich from taxes and was known as the 'city of sin' because of its lax morals. Thecult of Isis was worshipped here well into the first Millenium. Its believed to have been destroyed by an earthquake and scientists are hoping to find out if more if this is correct as more and more artefacts are retireved from the sea.
The symbolic tomb of the God Osiris containing a granite sarcophagus has been excavated at the Giza Plateau between the Sphinx and the Pyramid of Khafre. It dates from the New Kingdom and was surrounded by the remains of four pillars built in the shape of a hieroglyphic House of Osiris. The tomb had been discovered some years before but was always full of water. The 4,000 year old remains of a pyramid belonging to Queen Ankh-sn-Pepi, wife of Pepi 1, has been discoveredat Saqqara. It contained a stone bearing texts only previously found in the pyramids of Kings. At Meidum a joint expedition of Egyptian and French archaeologists have found two additional chambers and a corridor inthe collapsed pyramid. It is not yet known what the purpose of the hidden chambers was, but it is thought that they could have been built to lessen the weight of the burial chambers below.
The tomb of a powerful governor, God Khensu Eyuf Ankh who thought himself equal to Pharaoh has been found in the in the Bahariya Oasis. He ruled the Oasis during the rule of Pharaoh Apis in the 7th Century BC. The mostly decayed mummy lay inside two finely carved sarcophagi, one inside the other.Paintings on the walls portrayed him on a level with that of the pharaoh. Working in the desert west of the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, a team from the University of Warsaw has discovered a beautifully prserved tomb pf a previously unknown vizier named Fefi. from the well preserved wall paintings it would appear that Fefi had five wives and a 'girlfriend' whom he is seen cavorting with. He lived in the Sixth Dynasty duringthe reign of Teti, a time of political chaos when power was effectively in the hands of bureaucrats such as Fefi.The tomb has not yet yielded up the mummy of Fefi, but it has given fresh insight into the life and politics of the time.
PAUL, September 2000
BOOK REVIEW Amarna, Ancient Egypt's Age of Revolution
by Barbara Watterson
The story of Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti is one that most of us know fairly well. It is certainly one of the most written about periods in Egyptian history, and to this date it is one full of controversy and debate. Akhenaten always seems to encourage extreme views in the way people today perceive him. You either love him or loathe him, find him extremely handsome or very ugly, think of him as a revolutuinary or a mad heretic. There is never, it seems a middle road. As most people know I am a big fan of Akhenaten as I was asked by the committee to review this new book about the Amarna Period.
As you can imagine in the past I have read many books on the subject, ranging from Cyril Aldred's acknowledged work 'Akhenaten, King of Egypt' to Immanuel Velikousky's ludricrous 'Oedipus and Akhenaten'. Everyone seems to be an 'expert' on the subject, even Agatha Christie, it seems wrote a play based on Akhenaten. Keeping abreast of the latest theories that come along almost on a daily basis is a job in itself but serves to keep all the debates raging and interest in the period high. Was Tutankhamen and his wife murdered by Aye ? Was Nefertiti disposed of by Akhenaten or did she change her name, and rule along side her husband as Neferneruaten ? What was Tutankhamen's relationship to Akhenaten ? Who was buried in Tomb KV 55 ? Did Akhenaten suffer from some disfiguring disease such as Frohlich's Syndrome as his portraits would suggest ? Was it artistic licence, or a new freer artistic style. All these questions and many more fuel the ever increasing interest in the Amarna Period.
Daughters of Akhenaten Nefertiti
Now, of course, there is even a new dig in the Valley of the Kings searching for a lost Amarna Royal burial. It somehow seems ironic that the one period the Ancient Egyptians tried hardest to erase from history and hide forever is the very one that is, so many years later the most famous and most popular. With so much already written about the period, I was naturally a little wary of Barbara Watterson's book for fear it was just rehashed material saying the same old things and merely cashing in on the popularity of Akhenaten.
However I was very pleasantly surprised by this book. It barely touches on any of the above questions, preferring instead to deal with known facts of the period, presenting them in a clear, precise and understood way. This of course could have made the book a little boring but Barbara Watterson handles the subject in such a way as not only to be factual but also interesting and entertaining too. The book starts, as most do with a brief introduction to the history of Egypt. It then deals with the background of Akhenaten, with a section on Amenhotep 111 and Queen Tiye, Akhenaten's parents.
Akhenaten Amenhotep 111 Queen Tiye
Having established the roots of Atenism Ms Watterson next deals with Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti, making many observations about both of them but leaving the reader to make their own interpretation of these facts. This, I found very refreshing and liked the fact it enables the reader to form their own opinions and theories instead of just digesting those of the author. As the book progresses we get an insight into the religion of the cult of the Aten and how it developed. Next we learn about the city of Akhenaten and the people who lived and worked there. Not just the Royal Family but the ordinary people that lived and died in this extraordinary city. We read of evidence that proves that the ordinary people still worshipped the old Gods, even in Akhetaten itself. The book unravels into a fascinating story that builds into a complete picture of the whole period and not just of Akhenaten as so many such books tend to do.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I found it very readable, containing enough facts on the period to please most people without being too scholarly. I was surprised to find many facts in the book that I hadn't read about before, suggesting to me that Barbara Watterson has done plenty of original research. Whether you are pro or anti Akhenaten, if you have an interest in the Amarna Period you will love this book. This book will of course be added to the Society's library for the benefit of all our members. I recommend you read it and I also recommend you but your own copy as I will be doing, as I believe it is a must for your own reference collection.
PAUL
Votive Statuettes Block Statue Gods of Thebes
SOLAR BARGH
A few weeks ago Jeff and I spent a three day break in London, and I made up my mind before we went that there were two places on my "must" list of places to visit.
The first was Sir John Soane's Museum in Lincoln's Inn Fields. I first visited this small museum several years ago with a group of friends with the express intention of viewing Seti I's sarcophagus, but because it was under tarpaulin due to restoration work taking place in the museum we left without seeing it. Most of the Egyptological items are in the basement, and you have to search around to find them because the place is cluttered with sculptures, busts, cinerary urns and fragments of architecture. This basement crypt was apparently intended to have an atmosphere reminiscent of Roman burial chambers or catacombs ! Four showcases contain fragments discovered amongst rubbish at the entrance of his tomb in 1906. These were presented to the museum by Professor Weidemann in 1910. Other items include a wooden mummy case lid (undated and not attributed to anyone), two small stela, one still showing a small amount of red colouring, part of a canopic chest of Seti 1 made out of alabaster, and a separate small section of Seti's sarcophagus which hangs on the wall depicting the antechamber of the Duat.
The real gem, however, is the actual sarcophagus of Seti 1. It is formed out of a single block of semi translucent calcite. It was originally white with the figures and hieroglyphs being inlaid with a light greenish-blue composition made from sulphate of copper. However, the climate here has caused most of the composition to drop out, and the white stone turn to yellow. It is still magnificent in its present state, and I spent a long time walking around it and peering inside. Both the sarcophagus and the lid are incised, inside and out, with scenes and texts from the Book of the Gates. On the bottom of the sarcophagus is the figure of the goddess Nut, into whose keeping the body of the dead Pharaoh was committed. It was discovered in the Valley of the Kings by Giovanni Belzoni in 1817, brought to Britain in 1821 and purchased by john Soane in 1824 when the British Museum refused to pay £2,000 for it. In April 1825 Sir John held a three day reception in honour of its acquisition, and invited nearly 1,000 people and hired more than 300 oil lamps to light its building. there are other small items on view on the ground floor including a bronze figure of an Egyptian Pharaoh , a 9 inch statue of Sekhmet, a bronze sphinx, a statue of the god Khum, several ushabti figures in wood and faience, and a box for holding a mummified lizard.
The second "must" was to walk to the Embankment to inspect Cleopatra's Needle, which I had only seen at a distance many years ago. The names of six men are listed who perished in a bold attempt to succour the crew of the ship "Cleopatra" during a storm on 14th October 1877. On each side of its four sides the history of the obelisk is told beginning with it being quarried at Syene and erected at ON (Heliopolis ) by the Pharaoh Tuthmosis 111. Lateral inscriptions were added nearly two centuries later by Ramesses 11 to record his own victories. It was removed during the Greek Dynasty to Alexandria and erected there in the 18th year of Augustus Caesar 12BC. It lay on the sands of Alexandria for centuries before being presented to the British nation in 1819 by Mohammed Ali, Viceroy of Egypt. Through the patriotic zeal of Erasmus Wilson FRS, it was transported from Alexandria encased in an iron cylinder and abandoned during the storm in the Bay of Biscay, then recovered and erected on its present site by John Dixon CE in the 42nd year of Queen Victoria's reign 1878. It was erected as "a worthy memorial of our distinguished countrymen Nelson and Abercromby".
The inscriptions of Tuthmosis are in the centre of each face. One face records the erection of the obelisk at ON at the time of his third celebration of the Heb-Sed festival, two others contain prayers that he may celebrate many such festivals, and the fourth records his offerings on the alter of the spirits of ON. here are scars that disfigure the pedestal of the obelisk and the bases of the sphinxes, which were caused by fragments of a bomb dropped in the roadway close by in the first raid on London by German aeroplanes just before midnight on Tuesday 4th September 1917.
Cleopatra's Needle, Thames Embankment, London
Both the top of the obelisk and the side facing the roadway are exceedingly dirty and the inscriptions are wearing away and are now almost indecipherable. Coaches park just feet away by the kerbside, and the constant passing traffic exuding exhaust fumes do nothing to help preserve this treasured possession of ours ! I spent quite a long time looking at this monument, and while I was there office workers came to sit on the steps at each side to eat their lunches and left their rubbish and empty drink cans where they had put them down. What a sorry state the obelisk and the surrounding area is in ! I was pleased to see just how many people made a deliberate journey to look at the obelisk, while many others who were passing made a momentary stop to inspect it in some way or other. I also noticed that quite a few of the seats along the Embankment have metal winged sphinxes supporting the arm rests ( more reminiscent of the winged sphinx of Naxos though I thought ).
Our committee is giving some thought as to how, if possible, we could celebrate the Millennium. I know it is an impossible dream, but wouldn't it be wonderful if we could co-ordinate fund-raising efforts so that instead of the obelisk just deteriorating as it is doing at the moment, it could be restored to the same condition as the one in Place de la Concorde, Paris ?
I was interested to read in the last edition of "The Scribe" that Paul mentioned the excavation of the Tomb of Osiris.I am able to add that whilst I was watching the programme "Opening the Lost Tombs of Ancient Egypt - brought to you by Mazda" in Hawaii in February, which I told you about in the last edition, Zawi Hawass briefly mentioned this excavation. He said that pottery and bones had been found which were about 2,500 years old.They had dug down 100 feet to a third level and come across a sarcophagus weighing between 11 and 12 tons. The actual sarcophagus is still under one foot of water, although the sarcophagus lid had been hoisted up. There are four supporting columns, one at each corner of the sarcophagus. Maybe when they have finished their excavations we shall learn more of this exciting find. I hope so; as having seen televised pictures of the scene I hate being kept in suspense !
The Egypt Centre at the University of Wales, Swansea, has a museum with over 1,000 Egyptian objects displayed in a newly designed and constructed two-storey gallery with controlled light, heat and humidity. As this is a rich and varied collection well worth viewing, and because it is too far to go to see the collection in a day, Amanda organised a week-end visit on Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th September. She arranged for members to stay in student accommodation to help keep costs to a minimum. Amanda worked very hard once again on members behalf to arrange something new in the hope that members wanted to go, so thanks for supporting her and this event !
Best Wishes to you all, MARGARET BARGH, Chairman of the SSAE.
