René O'Deay gBlog

Why hieroglyphs in Egypt's Stone Book of Thoth carry such potency - "The Ibis Apocalypse":

Glyphs were divine words

Image via Wikipedia

AFP: Sahara made slow transition from green to desert: study: "Sahara made slow transition from green to desert: study

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The Sahara became the world's biggest hot desert some 2,700 years ago after a very slow fade from green, according to a new study which clashes with the theory that desertification came abruptly.

Six thousand years ago, the massive arid region dominating northern Africa was quite green, a patchwork of trees and savannas as well as many sparkling lakes."

"At a rough estimate, over 2 million objects from ancient Egypt are kept in about 850 public collections, dispersed over 69 countries around the world. This website aims to collect them into a global virtual museum, which can be visited at any time, from any place.

The Global Egyptian Museum is a long-term project, carried out under the aegis of the International Committee for Egyptology (CIPEG).

The Basic Mode, currently showcasing 1301 highlights, is geared to the interested public. A glossary of more than 400 items explains Egyptian terms and themes. Many objects are provided with audio comments and 3D-movies.

The Advanced Mode, equipped with a powerful search and data entry engine, opens up the full database - presently 11321 objects - to professionals and amateurs.

Kids! offers information for children at the age of 8-12 years in an interactive way."The Global Egyptian Museum

I've also posted about this fabulous online directory at my Yahoo360 blog: Blasts from the Past.

A fabulous example of how useful this site could be, check out this link to one of the jewels of King Tut.It breaks down the symbols with translations.

Enjoy!

René

Don't believe everything you see and hear in documentaries produced by Discovery and National Geographic.

Recent documentaries have Dr. Zawi Hawass stating that the mother of King Tut was an obscure Queen called Kia, and his father was Akhenaten.

In reality, archaeologists and Egyptologists have no idea who his mother and father were. There are just no hard facts to support anyone's theories, and that's just what they are: Theories!

Hawass has an unfair advantage to push his theories as fact, his position as the 'Czar' of Egyptology, the Supreme Head of Egyptian Archaeology, all the documentaries he now stars in and profits from, as well as his books that accompany the hugely popular tour of Tutankhamen's Treasures.

Even the reknown Dr. Kent Weeks, head of the Theban Mapping Project, says they have no facts to support any theory about Tut's parents.

So many of these documentaries come out with the host or author claiming to 'know' for fact,when they don't, or with so many fallacies about known facts, it is amazing. And I really get disgusted.

My novel, Sun Child, Prince of Egypt, supports one possible theory about Tut's parents, but it is a novel, and I have that right. It is not an impossible theory, in fact some respected and accredited Egyptologists share the same theory.

So how much truth do you think is in this video about Howard Carter and the Discovery of the Tomb of King Tut?



Do chime in and let me know what your views are.

René

Daily News Egypt - Full Article: "Decade-old Luxor massacre changed tourism, terrorism in Egypt
By Daily News Egypt: November 16, 2007 [AP ]
AP: Coffins of 36 victims of the Luxor massacre, 35 Swiss and one foreign Swiss resident, are lined up in a hangar of Zurich airport late in this Nov. 19, 1997 file photo after arriving on an Egyptair flight from Cairo. A total of 58 foreigners were massacred at the Hatshepsut temple
CAIRO: It was a stunning attack, still recalled with horror a decade later: Terrorists armed with knives and automatic weapons massacred 58 foreign tourists, mainly Germans, Swiss and Japanese, at one of Egypt's most popular pharaonic temples. But despite the dramatic bloodshed, the Nov. 17, 1997 attack at Hatshepsut temple in Luxor turned out to be the last gasp in the wave of terrorism that struck Egypt in the 1990s.(?) The 10-year anniversary of the attack highlights the changes that have happened since in Egypt — both in tourism and terrorism.

An Egyptian fundamentalist living in exile in London, says radicals in Egypt have only gone underground, shifting from organized groups to more fragmented ones more difficult to spot.

"Egypt might be witnessing a period calmness but it's just temporarily," said El-Sirri who is facing two death sentences in Egypt for alleged involvement in terrorist groups.

"Groups in Egypt ... might exploit the current social and economic crises to wage new, more dangerous round of terrorism."

Who are they trying to fool?

"...the last gasp in the wave of terrorism that struck Egypt in the 1990s."??

Terrorists have struck tourists in Egypt again and again since then.

Would you go?
René

"Archaeologists from Leiden University and from the National Museum of Antiquities have discovered the remains of a further 3300 year old tomb in a cemetery in Saqqara. It belongs to Ptahemwia, who was the ‘King’s cupbearer’ in the time of pharaoh Akhenaton (1353-1335 BC)."

The newly found tomb provides important new information about the so-called Amarna period (named after Akhenaton’s capital city in Central Egypt).

The Dutch archaeologists are doing an incredible job on these sites. There will be some posts on Tales of King Tut's Blog with some photos and their reconstruction of tomb layouts in Saqarra.

Dutch Expeditions: Egyptian tombs

See my post about this "New" 3,300 year-old tomb: 'Who's that Sexy Mummy?'


René

Al-Ahram Weekly | Heritage | Don't sink the boat: 1 - 7 March 2007, Issue No. 834

"Ever since its discovery in 1954, the magnificent 4,600-year-old wooden funerary barge of Khufu, the builder of the Great Pyramid, has been kept in poorly managed conditions. Its progressive deterioration has been calamitous."

Hani Hanna, chair of the International Conference on Heritage of the Naqada and Qus region, Egypt 2007. said, the museum's environment and the visiting procedures continue to cause both direct and indirect damage to the wood of the boat.

"In addition to the direct damage that may result from environmental factors and visiting procedures, indirect damage is still taking place as a result of the degree of variation they cause in humidity, temperature, light and pollution levels, which in turn increases the risks of detrimental impact to the structure of the boat."

"It's important to set up a scientific committee to study the report presented here in order to determine what further investigations may be required, or what modifications need to be made to it, before a comprehensive plan is drawn up prior to the implementation of a supervised programme of restoration and conservation," Hanna adds.

"Committees take time to do their business, and while the experts talk, the boat continues to deteriorate. How long, Al-Ahram Weekly asks, before decisions and active steps are taken to save the boat which was extracted from the bedrock a century ago?"

Sad to think, that this Boat of a Million Years began to deteriorate as soon as it came to light, and has continued to do so ever since the Boat museum was built, inspite of modifications to prevent it.

Another Project that needs funding.