CyberNews-03 1) Black, Brown or White Tutankhamun controversy again 2) Attempt to smuggle pharaoh's statue foiled 3) Antiquities go missing from Egyptian museum 4) Sudanese-Hungarian Expedition in Nubia 5) Crackdown on websites that sell stolen monuments 6) More on Egyptian wine-making 7) Egyptian styled mill in England to be restored 8) Seven-mile ceremonial burial route to the Step Pyramid discovered 9) Mummy post-mortem in Manchester 10) Dubai to rebuild “Seven Wonders” 11) The Magic of Tut 12) Visit to Minya and Beni Hassan 13) Ancient Egypt in Wakefield Museum exhibition 1) Black, Brown or White Tutankhamun controversy again Computer-generated portraits of Tutankhamun in an exhibit coming to Fort Lauderdale's Museum of Art in December have sparked criticism and protests by black activists who say they depict the boy king as white. Researchers hired by the National Geographic Society, one of the exhibit's sponsors, say current forensic data and recent CT scans of his mummy were used to create the images. "We're concerned about fake pictures of one of our ancestors," said Ricky Innis, who leads Kheprera, a local black study group that focuses on ancient Egyptian history and culture. "I'm sure people are disappointed the system would perpetrate this myth of information." Only the medium-skinned portrait was included in the Los Angeles exhibit. Activists from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Committee for the Elimination of Media Offensive to African People and the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations picketed outside the Los Angeles County Museum of Art when the show opened there in June. Orlando Sentinel http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-tut2505sep25,0,5185973.story?coll=orl-home-headlines XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX How Do You Take Your Tut, Black or with Cream and Sugar? King Tut's coming to Fort Lauderdale's Museum of Art in December, and he won't be alone. There is a coterie of "African scholars" and black activists who will be protesting the appearance of the boy king. You see the ex-Pharaoh's portrait doesn't look enough like Kanye West. King Tut appears in a medium skin tone as scientists chose the most common skin color in Eqypt today. According to the so-called scholars Tut was black. However, Terry Garcia of the National Geographic Society says, " there is no way to judge a skin tone." So, scientifically you can't tell Tut's skin color from his corpse. Depictions of him within the tomb vary from light brown to dark brown to almost black. Can you really base the fact of his skin color on the varying skin tone interpretations of artists who’ve been dead for millennia? The African scholars want to erase any doubt that Tut was anything other than a full-fledged black man, and they’re not going to wait for science to bear that out. The question is, who are these people? In attendance at the Los Angeles museum were the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. As you can tell by it's name, this is an antiquated group. They've managed to drive the Civil Rights movement so far into the ground they should be picketing in China before long. At first, I thought it ill-advised that George W. Bush snubbed these folks in last year's convention prior to the election. But one can only smell the irrelevance and obsolescence of the NAACP. The president was stuck between snubbing them, pandering to them, or infuriating them by telling them the truth that they don't represent anybody anymore. He probably chose the wisest route by not showing up. Last, the black activists of today are indeed not funny. Their doctrine is a form of radical Afro-centrism and they’ve had considerable success pushing their political agenda on academia (of course, the Left always says that that’s what Republicans do). So, what is the goal of Afro-centrism? Scholars say it gives confidence to African-Americans who want to be proud of their history. How it is their history and why it’s important to them is a mystery. I have never met a real African-American; someone born, say, in Nigeria and migrated to the United States. Granted, how certain cultural structures such as music and recipes for Gumbo survived the turmoil of slavery is interesting, but not of bedrock importance. The tradition of America with it’s lofty creeds blows any other tradition away. That’s why the rest of the world is envious, and looking back thousands of years, mutating history in the desperate effort to find a competitive alternative. To use a favorite epithet of the Left, they “just don’t get it.” Opionion Editorials http://www.opinioneditorials.com/freedomwriters/jjordan_20050929.html XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 2) Attempt to smuggle pharaoh's statue foiled Egyptian police have foiled an attempt to smuggle an ancient statue of Pharaoh Ramses II out of Egypt for sale to a foreign museum or private collector. Security sources said Thursday that thieves found the granite statue in the region of Giza near Cairo in the area of the big pyramids and did not report it to the authorities. Police were tipped off about the discovery, however, and policemen posing as art merchants convinced the thieves to sell them the statue for 4 million Egyptian pounds ($695,000). The thieves, who planned to break the statue into several pieces to facilitate smuggling it out of the country, showed the disguised policemen to the place where they had been hiding it. Science Daily http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/?feed=TopNews&article=UPI-1-20050915-06373800-bc-egypt-smuggling.xml XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 3) Antiquities go missing from Egyptian museum The disappearance of three items from the Egyptian Museum has prompted investigations that may be taken over by the General Prosecutor, according to press reports on Monday. The three artefacts dating back to 2649-2150 BC were found missing September 7 - five months after being lent to the museum for an exhibition, the state-owned daily al-Ahram reported. The items were never put on display, but kept under guard the museum's basement along with thousands of others. The three missing artefacts are a limestone statuette of a seated figure that is 23,5cm tall, a statue of a couple that is 35cm tall and a wooden box without a cover that contains a statuette of Osiris, according to the al-Ahram report. Iol http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=588&art_id=qw1127122741724B221 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 4) Sudanese-Hungarian Expedition in Nubia A team of Hungarian archaeologists, headed by Egyptologist Gabor Lassanyi, will conduct excavations in Sudanese Nubia - an area on the river Nile conquered by ancient Egyptians - the Hungarian news agency MTI reports. Work will be conducted close to the Merowe Hamadab dam, a huge hydroelectricity project which will turn a 174-kilometre stretch of the Nile into a reservoir, causing the local population to relocate. The Nile valley has more than 2,000 archaeological sites and Hungary has in the past participated in expeditions, like the 1964 mission to Egypt to rescue an ancient palace threatened by the Aswan High Dam's construction. Under a bilateral agreement the findings will be shared and the objects will be exhibited in Budapest's Museum of Fine Arts. AdnkronosInternational http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Trends&loid=8.0.209989248&par=0 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 5) Crackdown on websites that sell stolen monuments In its fight to regain priceless Egyptian artifacts, the Supreme Council for Antiquities has started a crackdown on websites that sell stolen monuments. According to Akhbar Al Adab, the council was able to identify 22 sites that illegally sell monuments for very low prices. The council has reported its findings to the public prosecutor in order to take the needed legal steps to reacquire the items. Cairo Magazine http://www.cairomagazine.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=1334&format=html XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 6) More on Egyptian wine-making In the tomb of Intef, a royal herald of the 18th dynasty of the New Kingdom (1500 to 1100 B.C.), there is a detailed mural of Egyptian winemaking. From the pictures in the mural, and particularly the captions in and under the pictures, we know many details about the way the ancient Egyptians made wine. In 1922, in the Valley of the Kings, Howard Carter found King Tutankhamen's tomb. More to the point, in an annex to the tomb he found a wine cellar with 26 sealed amphoras of wine. Unfortunately, these containers were not vitrified and liquids leach slowly through the sides of the jars. After 3,000-odd years, nothing was left in the jars but solid residue. We missed our opportunity to taste really aged wine. CentreDaily http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/living/12668952.htm XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 7) Egyptian styled mill in England to be restored Developers want to renovate the Egyptian-style Temple Mill in Holbeck, right, and convert it into a "cultural retail" quarter which would include displays, exhibitions as well as shops. At an estimated cost of up to £20m, the conversion forms part of a much wider £180m proposal which would change the face of a large part of Holbeck.The developer, London-based SJS Property Management, also wants to transform a nearby site to the south of Sweet Street West. Temple Mill has been described as the most remarkable industrial building in Leeds. The flax-spinning mill in Marshall Street was built between 1838 and 1840 for John Marshall, founder of the Leeds flax industry. Designed by Joseph Bonomi, it is based on the Temple of Horus at Edfu. It had a grass roof which SJS intends to replace. Leeds Today http://www.leedstoday.net/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=39&ArticleID=1196614 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 8) Seven-mile ceremonial burial route to the Step Pyramid discovered An archaeologist, hailed as Scotland's "Indiana Jones", has discovered one of Egypt's most elusive ancient sites 3,000 years after it was buried in the desert sand. Ian Mathieson, 78, director of Saqqara Geophysical Survey Project, has located part of a seven-mile ceremonial burial route to the Step Pyramid of Djoser, near Cairo. A French archeologist, Mariette, unearthed part of the Way, and 134 sphinxes, in 1890 but his notes and the location were lost. Mr Mathieson and his team use geophysical radar equipment which allows them to search for relics without digging on a meagre budget of £10,000. Other European dig teams spend up to £1 million in Egypt alone. He said: "The images look like an aerial photograph but they are covered with five metres of sand." Scotsman.com http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1929852005m XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 9) Mummy post-mortem in Manchester In the summer of 2004, however, a box was found on the top shelf of an unused cupboard containing the disarticulated mummy wrapped in linen: a delicate hand with nails, a foot, two femurs and a pelvis, which, along with the head and tightly wrapped neck, constituted what is now referred to as the Kittermaster Mummy. A previous post-mortem had identified that the mummy was that of a young female from around 700BC, but little more was known. To build up a picture of this shadowy stranger we would need expert help. We turned to Rosalie David, professor of biomedical Egyptology at the University of Manchester, and she offered to carry out tests. We were invited to Manchester to witness some of the techniques which would be used to extract information from the ancient remains. This introduction was to open up a world of scientific research of which I had previously had no idea. Through a process called immunocytochemistry using tagged antibodies, Prof David and her team are able to identify disease markers in the ancient tissue. In this way they hope to chart minute changes in the molecular biology of disease and see if there are any alterations through the millennia. Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connected/main.jhtml?xml=/connected/2005/09/21/ecfmum21.xml&sSheet=/connected/2005/09/21/ixconnrite.html XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 10) Dubai to rebuild “Seven Wonders” The Gulf emirate of Dubai will build a city of life-size replicas of seven wonders of the world at an estimated cost of $1.5 billion to house offices, shops and flats, a developer said today. Three buildings will be modelled on structures that were part of the original list of the “Seven Wonders of the Ancient World” the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, and the Lighthouse of Alexandria. Others will be replicas of more modern wonders the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Great Wall of China, a statement said. The Telegraph - Calcutta, India http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050911/asp/foreign/story_5224297.asp XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 11) The Magic of Tut (Caution, a bit odd) The tomb of Tutankhamun lay undisturbed in Upper Egypt’s Valley of the Kings through many centuries, from the end of the 18th Dynasty (BCE 1572-1315) to the twentieth century, when it was uncovered by the British excavator Howard Carter, under the patronage of the Fifth Earl of Carnarvon. When the Earl died unexpectedly within weeks after the discovery, stories spread quickly that an ancient curse had been unleased as a consequence of disturbing the royal burial. The rumors grew extravagantly as time passed and more than twenty key persons connected to the discovery or its excavation died under untimely circumstances. The alleged curse, purportedly written near the entry to the tomb, that “death will slay with his wings whoever disturbs the peace of the pharaoh” was never documented, but it has persisted to this day. Ironically, belief in the existence and power of this mythical curse underscores a pervasive acknowledgement of Egypt’s magical legacy. The key to activating this power lay foremost in the use of Iru (“fabrications, ritual acts”) and Medu Neter, “divine words.” Magical spells and visualizations were believed to have been given to the human race by the gods themselves, by the divine magician Djehuti who brought forth the word of creation, and the artisan of the universe Ptah, who generated the power to fashion and infuse objects with life. From their legends of magical happenings among gods and human beings that took place in timeless time, the ancient Egyptians understood that the world of possibilities, transcending life and death, was accessible to one in possession of the words and acts of creation. Llewellyn Journal http://www.llewellynjournal.com/article.php?id=925 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 12) Visit to Minya and Beni Hassan Riding on the train from the Giza train station to Minya, the scenery is green and full of life. Mud brick homes sit quietly next to sky piercing palm trees that seem to outline the lush horizon. Despite much publicised development schemes in rural Egypt, the three-and-a-half hour trip to Minya gives one the impression that things haven't changed that much at all. Women are still doing their laundry in irrigation canals, as water wheels turn to quench the soil's thirst. Although the train chairs were a little wobbly, a cool AC, complemented by a periodic rattle, helped me descend into an effortless infantile sleep. The following morning I headed to Beni Hassan, a half-hour ride on the Eastern bank of the Nile. The area is named after a Bedouin tribe which used to live there, probably a few centuries after it was part of the Middle Kingdom's Oryx nome. Climbing up the steps to the mountain tombs is quite a workout, especially if you go when the sun is on full blast. A hat and a few bottles of cool water are an utter necessity for this exhausting hike. When you reach the top of the cliff you realise that your efforts did not go in vain; the view is absolutely breathtaking. Presumably that is why the ancients chose this spot as their place of eternal rest. The sun's glimmer on the Nile's pristine blue surface, the green islands in the middle of the water, the seemingly ancient palm trees that sway with the breeze -- I was completely entranced. Just imagining this same view through the eyes of a provincial prince, as he carefully selects his tomb's location, was fascinating. Al-Ahram Weekly Online http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/762/tr1.htm XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 13) Ancient Egypt in Wakefield Museum exhibition An extremely rare Anubis mask depicting the jackal-headed god of mummification is one of the stars of an incredible new Egyptian exhibition at Wakefield Museum. Many of the 200 objects on display are believed to have originated from ancient tombs and give a fascinating insight into ancient Egypt. The exhibition, on loan from Harrogate Museums and Arts, explores ancient Egyptian rituals, beliefs and daily life. A dazzling 3,000-year-old painted sarcophagus mummy case, found by North Yorkshire Egyptoligist Dr Joann Fletcher, and believed to be that of Queen Nefertiti, is also one of the exhibit's star attractions. It is accompanied by other stunning pieces such as the Anubis mask. Leeds Today http://www.leedstoday.net/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=39&ArticleID=1201537 |