Note: most of the categories below will contain reports from more than one source. Readers should also be aware that only a few of the more important lines of the articles are presented here. Please visit the actual sites for the full reports.
1) Updating information on the KV 63 discoveries
2) Argument for resisting repatriation of
archaeological materials
3) The Saint Louis mummy mask debate
4) University of Tübingen voluntarily agreed to
return relief fragments from the tomb of Seti I
5) Will Germany allow Nefertiti to be loaned to Egypt?
6) One of the 100 most influential people in the world
7) New work in progress to change the appearance of
Luxor Temple.
8) Major plans have also been announced for Karnak
Temple
9) New work recalibrates some dates in Mediterranean
ancient cultures
10) Firm progress announced for funding the new Egyptian
museum
11) Egyptian cleric issues a fatwah against ALL
statues in Egypt…ancient or modern
12) And in conclusion…Bosnian pyramids
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1a) This great story cannot be adequately followed
here. The very best advice is to regularly check the official
excavation website (http://www.kv-63.com/pages/1/index.htm)
where there are frequent updates and very interesting photographs.
1b) KV 63: A Look at the New Tomb. This article
covers many of the current questions, such as:
“Sealings from KV-63 have parallels from other tombs
according to Ertman. A grouping of a crocodile, lion, and prisoner is
also known from Tutankhamen's tomb (KV-62) and KV-55. A seated Osiris
is also known from KV-62. Other seals from KV-63 bear the jackal and
nine captives, the sign of the necropolis priests.
“KV-63's shaft overhang, coffins, ceramics, and
sealings all point to an 18th Dynasty date. Connections with material
found in KV-46, 54, 55, and 62 suggest the later part of the dynasty.
Ertman said the inscription on the shoulder of a ceramic vessel gives
the regnal date "Year 5" but unfortunately lacks the pharaoh's name.
(Another inscription, on the alabaster jar from the lower part of
coffin A, reads "Amun-Re King of the Gods.") According to Ertman, the
top of the shaft, just below the level of a cluster of foundations of
19th Dynasty workers' huts indicates KV-63 was sealed no later than the
very beginning of that period.
“We have seven coffins in all. It appears that four
of the coffins are covered in black resin and the remaining three are
"yellow-faced," which we believe to be female, although this might not
actually be the case.
Archaeology
http://www.archaeology.org/online/interviews/wilson/index.html
1c) And of course, the golden small coffin.
“When they first peered into one of the coffins,
they found a layer of six pillows, all of which were almost perfectly
preserved in the vacuum-packed tomb after more than 3,000 years. At
least one of the pillows contained hieroglyphic markings reading,
"life, stability, and power." But as the team carefully removed them,
they noticed a much smaller coffin buried inside. As lead
archaeologist Otto Schaden picked it up, the light of a torch caught a
glimmer of gold.
“So what's inside the 42-centimeter gold-plated
coffin? Nothing. It probably contained a "funerary figurine" which
would represent a person in the afterlife if his or her body were
destroyed, Schaden says, not an infant mummy. The gold coffin is one of
the most dazzling artifacts that has been found in the Valley of the
Kings since archaeologist Howard Carter uncovered the resting place of
King Tutankhamen more than 80 years ago, Geffen says.”
USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2006-05-31-discovery-egypt_x.htm
1d) And is there really evidence for Tutankhamun’s
widow?
“The tomb in which the coffin was found is less than
50 feet from the tomb of King Tutankhamen, and archaeologists have
discovered pottery and face masks inside that date to around the time
of Tutankhamen.
“Mansour Boraik, the head of antiquities in Egypt's
Luxor region, hypothesized in front of Discovery cameras that the tomb
might have belonged to the widow of King Tutankhamen. The
archaeologists found a broken seal in the tomb with the faint
inscription "PA-ATEN," which may have been the former name of the
king's wife.”
USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2006-05-31-discovery-egypt_x.htm
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2) Honor amongst thieves. “Our museums may be
full of stolen treasures, but as long as they're cared for, why give
them back?”, asks a journalist.
“These days, we are less and less comfortable about
having the monuments of other countries in our museums. National
sentiment often runs high in these matters. The Greek campaign to have
the Parthenon marbles - previously the Elgin marbles - returned to be
housed in a handsome new museum in Athens seems quite likely to succeed
in the end. No one could doubt that they would be looked after very
well.
“But many important treasures, such as a hoard of
Kushite gold jewelry, ended up in Berlin and London. There, they are
well lit, beautifully labeled, carefully looked after, and accessible
to whoever is interested. It is not easy to get into Sudan, and such
objects act as small, precious ambassadors for an unfamiliar country.
“It may be, too, that Lord Elgin acquired the
Parthenon marbles in dubious circumstances. But even the marbles, for
most of their modern history, gained authority and luster from the fact
that they were on show not in a provincial capital such as Athens, but
a world city: London. It is one of the paradoxes of culture that
museums confer as much as acknowledge beauty. Strangely, one of the
reasons people visit Athens - and will, in the end, visit Khartoum - is
that a significant part of those cities' treasures is not there, but in
London or Berlin. One ought to recognize that fact before too hastily
handing anything over.”
Guardian Unlimited
http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,,1759955,00.html
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3a) St. Louis Museum Won't Return Egypt Mask
“The Saint Louis Art Museum will keep a
3,200-year-old mummy mask unless it gets more proof that it belongs to
Egypt. The museum won't meet a May 15 deadline set by Egyptian
antiquities authorities to return the mask, Museum Director Brent
Benjamin said Friday. He noted that the Supreme Council of Antiquities
never officially gave the museum a deadline.
“Zahi Hawass said the mummy mask was probably stolen
before it was obtained by the art museum in 1998. "Nothing that
we have seen to this date supports his claim," Benjamin said.
“"Either provide us with the documentation,"
Benjamin said, or end the attacks on the museum.” The museum
bought the mask from an art dealer in the United States in 1998 for
about $500,000, only after checking with authorities and the
international Art Loss Register to see if the item was stolen. The
museum also approved the purchase with the Egyptian Museum, Benjamin
said.”
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/12/AR2006051201046.html?nav=rss_artsandliving/entertainmentnews
3b) Art Museum won't return Egyptian mask
“The Monday deadline set by an Egyptian antiquities
official for the St. Louis Art Museum to return a mummy mask will pass
without the museum returning the object.
“In a letter dated Feb. 14, Hawass charged that the
mask was illegally taken from a storage facility in the early 1990s and
demanded that the process of returning it start within two weeks.
Hawass later changed his deadline for the mask’s return to Monday. But
the museum maintains that it has not received any communication from
him setting a date. Hawass has not replied to a Post-Dispatch request
for comment made late Thursday.
“Benjamin has said the museum exercised due
diligence at the time of the acquisition to determine whether the mask
had been legally exported from Egypt. In today’s press
conference, Benjamin said, "In all of this research, no authority ever
identified this important work of art as missing, lost or stolen."
“Hawass has not specified what action he would take
if the Monday deadline were not met, but at a May 1 press meeting in
Cairo, he told the Post-Dispatch that he would disparage the museum in
the art world. "I will make their life hell," he said.”
St Louis Today
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/entertainment/stories.nsf/visualarts/story/047864FE811E649C8625716C001B070A?OpenDocument
3c) Zahi Hawass presents his case.
“Officials with the museum are evaluating documents
from the council that seek to prove that the mask from around 1307-1196
B.C., could have been stolen from an Egyptian Museum storage room.
“"We don't feel like we've seen everything yet,"
Saint Louis Art Museum Director Brent Benjamin said. "It's premature to
speculate what the outcome will be. We are looking at documentation and
we are still awaiting other materials from Egypt."
“Zahi Hawass said he has grown impatient with the
St. Louis museum and will turn the matter over to law enforcement or
the legal system if the museum does not act soon. "I have sent them all
the proof they need," Hawass said. "I don't understand why they insist
on fighting this."
“Hawass said under no circumstances could the mask
have reached the United States legally because it belonged to the
Egyptian Museum and there is no indication that the museum ever sold
it.”
MSNBC
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12598537/
3d) Museum refuses to return mummy mask
“Hawass gave the museum some documentation,
including a register that recorded the burial mask of Ka Nefer Nefer
being sent to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Egypt, in 1959.
Hawass has been critical of the museum for not returning the mask and
has threatened to turn the dispute over to authorities. He also has
threatened to tarnish the museum's reputation.
“The museum bought the mask from an art dealer in
the United States in 1998 for about $500,000, only after checking with
authorities and the international Art Loss Register to see if the item
was stolen. The museum also approved the purchase with the Egyptian
Museum, Benjamin said. The museum has a money-back guarantee with
the dealer, if the mask has to be returned to Egypt.”
The Mercury News
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/gossip/14565141.htm
3e) U.S. museum rejects deadline for returning mummy
mask to Egypt
“The St. Louis Art Museum has refused to meet a
Monday deadline for returning a mummy mask to Egypt. (Museum
director) Brent Benjamin has said the museum independently verified the
mask's known provenance, or history of ownership; that it contacted the
Art Loss Register and Interpol to see if the mask had been reported
missing, lost or stolen; and it consulted with Mohammed Saleh, then
director of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, to ensure that the pending
purchase was appropriate. "In all of this research, no authority ever
identified this important work of art as missing, lost or stolen," he
said.
“Hawass is expected to visit Chicago in the next two
weeks when the "King Tut" exhibition opens there. Should he take a
side-trip to St. Louis, Benjamin said, "Dr. Hawass is always welcome at
the St. Louis Art Museum."”
Kansas City Star
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/14566196.htm
3f) And the battle remains heated.
“(Museum director) Benjamin said yesterday the
museum considers Hawass’ allegations to be very serious, "but it seems
that drama has gotten in the way of the facts." He reiterated
that "the Saint Louis Art Museum would reconsider its rightful
ownership of the mask if valid documentation surfaces refuting our
proper ownership."
“Hawass has a reputation as colorful and
entertaining. ARTnews said admirers find him charming and enthusiastic;
detractors see him as autocratic, egotistical, vindictive and
publicity-hungry. ARTnews noted that Hawass proclaimed, "I am Pharaoh!"
upon entering a gallery at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York,
where the exhibition "Hatshepsut" was on view.”
Columbia Daily Tribune
http://www.columbiatribune.com/2006/May/20060513News025.asp
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4a) “The University of Tübingen in Germany,
under the leadership of Dr. Christian Leitz, has voluntarily agreed to
return to Egypt five relief fragments of the royal tomb of the 19th
dynasty pharaoh Seti I. Culture minister Farouk Hosni announced
today. He added that these fragments will be handed over to Egypt
next month (June) and it is one of the most beautiful fragments that
once decorated the walls of Seti I tomb's which was subjected to mutual
thefts along the last century when early travelers to Egypt hacked
pieces out of the walls and now are in collections around the world.
“The tomb of Seti I, once the most heavily visited
tomb in the Valley, is currently closed to the public, to protect it
from the hazards of unchecked tourism. As part of a conservation and
restoration project, the SCA is attempting to collect as many of the
scattered pieces of relief from the tomb as possible, so that they can
be restored to their proper places. Tübingen’s generous decision
is received with gratitude by the SCA.”
Guardian
http://guardians.net/hawass/news/Five_relief_fragments_to_be_returned_to_Egypt.htm
4b) A very similar article.
“The university made its decision "voluntarily" and
agreed to return the artifacts "without any conditions," said Zahi
Hawass. The fragments are to be restored to their original resting
place at the tomb, which is currently closed to the public because of
the damage.
“Many artifacts removed from the site, sometimes
referred to as Belzoni's tomb, are currently on display in museums
around the world, including a sarcophagus in the Sir John Soane Museum
in London.
“Egypt has warned it will end cooperation with
foreign museums and institutions that buy stolen artifacts.”
Yahoo news
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060525/lf_afp/egyptgermany_060525173251
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5a) Will Germany allow Nefertiti to be loaned to
Egypt?
Descendant of the Pharaohs
“Hawass says that Berlin’s bust of Nefertiti “should
be in the motherland,” and is mounting a campaign to repatriate
artistic icons from museums around the world. In a recent
interview at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Hawass told
ARTnews that he plans to ask UNESCO to support his demand. He does not
charge that the five objects he is asking for were looted. He calls
them “icons of our Egyptian identity”—unique artifacts of Egyptian
cultural patrimony. “They should be in the motherland,” Hawass insists.
“They should not be outside Egypt.”
“Hawass’s list of national icons starts with the
Nefertiti bust in Berlin and the Rosetta stone (ca. 200 BC.) in the
British Museum in London. Both of these objects left Egypt a long time
ago, the Rosetta stone in the 1820s and the Nefertiti bust in 1912.
From the Louvre, Hawass wants the Dendera zodiac (50 BC a map of the
heavens that was sawed and blasted out of the ceiling of the Temple of
Hathor at Dendera by the agent of a French collector in 1821. By modern
standards the Rosetta stone and the zodiac were looted, although the
term wouldn’t have made sense to the French and British agents who
swarmed over Egypt in the early 19th century in a competitive quest for
treasure—nor to most Egyptians.
“Hawass is also encouraging other countries to
demand the repatriation of their own national icons. He is planning a
conference in Cairo next year of nations that have lost artifacts of
their heritage, including, he says, “China, Greece, Italy, Syria,
Jordan, Mexico, Sudan.
“The mask is only one of thousands of objects Hawass
is after. He seeks “anything stolen from Egypt after 1972,” when the
UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting the Illicit Import,
Export, and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property went into
effect, and every piece recorded in a site register book, even if it
was stolen before 1972.”
Artnewsonline
http://www.artnewsonline.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=2039
5b) And the argument from the view of an Egyptian
writer.
“Hawass asked the German government to offer the
famous bust to Egypt on a three-month loan so that it could go on show
at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo to coincide with the centenary
celebrations of the German Archeological Institute in Egypt in November
2006. In return, Hawass pledged that the SCA would offer another
statue on loan to the Egyptian Museum in Berlin for the three months
while Nefertiti was in Egypt.
“Hawass told Al-Ahram Weekly that the SCA was
willing to provide the Germans with all the guarantees required to
assure the return of the bust after the completion of the exhibition.
"However that would not affect or contravene Egypt's request to
repossess this key item of the country's cultural heritage which it had
been deprived of for almost a century," Hawass insisted.
“In response to Hawass's statement, the Berlin
Museum director told reporters that Queen Nefertiti did not wish to
leave Germany, and all legitimate international agreements admitted
Germany's legal possession of the bust.
“Hawass told the Weekly that if the SCA officially
demanded the return of the bust and the Berlin Museum refused to hand
it back to Egypt, "all scientific ties between the SCA and the museum
will be cut off and Egypt will prohibit the establishment of any future
exhibitions to be held in Berlin Museum."”
Al-Ahram Weekly Online
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/797/he1.htm
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6a) Zahi Hawass has been named one of the 100 most
influential people in the world! The article below has a list of
all the nominees, but read on…
“TIME Magazine unveiled its annual list of the most
influential people in the world over the past year - the TIME 100. The
list profiles the lives and ideas of the world's most influential
people and is split into five categories: Leaders &
Revolutionaries, Builders & Titans, Artists & Entertainers,
Heroes & Icons, and Scientists & Thinkers."”
CNW Group Ltd.
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/April2006/30/c2112.html
6b) A lengthy discussion of this new honor can be
seen in an Al-Ahram piece.
“Zahi Hawass has been selected by Time magazine as
one of the world's most influential people. Described by Time as
"The Guardian of Egypt's Antiquities" and "The perfect image of a
modern-day archeologists with his jeans and trademark Indian Jones hat"
Hawass has to be -- and is -- a master of multi-tasking. He tours the
world lecturing, making TV appearances and churning out a steady stream
of books and articles. He has been described as theatrical, passionate
about Egypt and archeology, as well as controversial. He makes news by
demanding the return of artifacts stolen and smuggled out of Egypt and
his recent edicts restricting new excavations, particularly in such
popular sites as Saqqara and the Valley of the Kings, have aroused the
ire of some foreign archaeologists.
“"Yet those regulations as well as his focus on
conservation may be Hawass' most lasting legacy," Time wrote. "There
are already too many monuments in danger of destruction, both by
natural forces and by the tourism on which Egypt's economy largely
depends -- and which Hawass has done so much to encourage."”
Al-Ahram Weekly Online
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/793/eg10.htm
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7) New work in progress to change the appearance of
Luxor Temple.
“Dr. Samir Farag, president of the Supreme Council
of Luxor, has big plans for his city and the wealth of antiquities
there. One plan is to restore the road connecting Luxor and Karnak.
Stretching over three kilometers, the planned road would cut a 60- to
70-meter-wide swath right through a largely residential area of modern
Luxor.
“The plan to turn the city of Luxor into what Farag
refers to as “a living museum” is broken down into phases. He has
declared phase one — which consisted largely of planning — complete and
says they will commence work on phase two shortly. Phase two includes,
among other things, starting to evacuate residents and businesses
living and working on the old temple road.
““Everyone who has to be moved will get a free
apartment, even those who are only renting,” Farag says. The apartments
will be in a new city which will be built right outside Luxor. “Not too
far outside,” he assures. While phase two is ready to move ahead, the
plans to build the new city were only formally proposed a couple of
weeks ago. It’s an open question when ground might break on the new
city, a fact that has left many residents worried about where they may
be living in the coming years.”
Egypt Today
http://www.egypttoday.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=6683
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8) Karnak facelift approved…and rumors put to rest
“Rumors of the environmental disaster that would be
wreaked by the Karnak Development Project, approved by the Supreme
Council of Antiquities (SCA) and Luxor City Council (LCC), began to
circulate early in May. The project would, said its detractors, destroy
the context of Karnak Temple, and in its attempts to prevent further
encroachment had opted for cosmetic solutions. A two-meters wide
concrete wall to be built around the temple, violating archaeological
layers and creating a ring over the remains of five temples from the
time of Akhenaton, almost dividing them in two areas, came in for
special criticism, as did uprooting trees planted on the temple's
northern side.
“It was also reported that both the SCA and LCC had
agreed that a marina be established, and that a 129 000-square-metre
space between the temple and the Nile Bank be cleared, involving the
demolition of bazaars, residential houses, the French mission's dig
house and the wooden house built for French Egyptologist George
Legrain.
“In responding to the report Francesco Bandarin,
director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, wrote to Zahi Hawass,
suggesting alternative solutions be sought, and threatening to remove
Karnak Temple from the World Heritage List should the project go ahead
as planned.
“Hawass said Bandarin had based his conclusions on
conjecture and gossip, and forwarded a detailed report on the planned
project, the aim of which is to curtail infringements on the
archaeological site and clear a site for the excavation of the ancient
harbor and canal that once connected the temple to the Nile.”
Al-Ahram Weekly Online
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/798/fr2.htm
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9a) New work recalibrates some dates in Mediterranean
ancient cultures. A series of announcements in Science Magazine
sparked numerous articles discussing the significance of the new dates.
The first paper here is the main announcement.
You will need to consult the actual magazine or have a subscription to
Science to read the entire paper.
The paper is “Chronology for the Aegean Late Bronze
Age 1700-1400 B.C., Sturt W. Manning, Christopher Bronk Ramsey, Walter
Kutschera, Thomas Higham, Bernd Kromer, Peter Steier, Eva M. Wild”
The abstract states “Radiocarbon (carbon-14) data
from the Aegean Bronze Age 1700–1400 B.C. show that the Santorini
(Thera) eruption must have occurred in the late 17th century B.C. By
using carbon-14 dates from the surrounding region, cultural phases, and
Bayesian statistical analysis, we established a chronology for the
initial Aegean Late Bronze Age cultural phases (Late Minoan IA, IB, and
II). This chronology contrasts with conventional archaeological dates
and cultural synthesis: stretching out the Late Minoan IA, IB, and II
phases by ~100 years and requiring reassessment of standard
interpretations of associations between the Egyptian and Near Eastern
historical dates and phases and those in the Aegean and Cyprus in the
mid–second millennium B.C.”
Science Magazine
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/312/5773/565
9b) The second paper appeared at the same time.
You will need to consult the actual magazine or have a subscription to
Science to read the entire paper.
The paper is “Santorini Eruption Radiocarbon Dated
to 1627-1600 B.C., Walter L. Friedrich, Bernd Kromer, Michael
Friedrich, Jan Heinemeier, Tom Pfeiffer, Sahra Talamo”
The abstract states “Precise and direct dating of
the Minoan eruption of Santorini (Thera) in Greece, a global Bronze Age
time marker, has been made possible by the unique find of an olive
tree, buried alive in life position by the tephra (pumice and ashes) on
Santorini. We applied so-called radiocarbon wiggle-matching to a
carbon-14 sequence of tree-ring segments to constrain the eruption date
to the range 1627-1600 B.C. with 95.4% probability. Our result is in
the range of previous, less precise, and less direct results of several
scientific dating methods, but it is a century earlier than the date
derived from traditional Egyptian chronologies.”
The paper further states “Our wiggle-matched
sequence adds to the already strong evidence of an eruption date in the
late 17th century B.C. It is the first accurately (close to annually)
defined sequence based on an object buried alive by the eruption. A
date around 1520 B.C. or later, as assumed by some archaeologists
working with Egyptian contexts, is not consistent, even within 3{sigma}
(99.7% confidence), with our result, which consequently suggests a flaw
in either their linkage of the Aegean to the Egyptian chronology or in
the chronology itself for the relevant time range.”
Science Magazine
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/312/5773/548
9c) Of the commentaries that appeared, the following
example is most informative.
“The findings, which place the Santorini eruption in
the late 17th century B.C., not 100 years later as long believed, may
lead to a critical rewriting of Late Bronze Age history of
Mediterranean civilizations that flourished about 3,600 years ago,
Manning said. Manning and colleagues analyzed 127 radiocarbon
measurements from short-lived samples, including tree-ring fractions
and harvested seeds that were collected in Santorini, Crete, Rhodes and
Turkey. Those analyses, coupled with a complex statistical analysis,
allowed Manning to assign precise calendar dates to the cultural phases
in the Late Bronze Age.
“"At the moment, the radiocarbon method is the only
direct way of dating the eruption and the associated archaeology," said
Manning, who puts Santorini's eruption in or just after the range 1660
to 1613 B.C. This date contradicts conventional estimates that linked
Aegean styles in trade goods found in Egypt and the Near East to
Egyptian inscriptions and records, which have long placed the event at
around 1500 B.C.
“To resolve the discrepancy, Manning suggests
realigning the Aegean and Egyptian chronologies for the period
1700-1400 B.C. Parts of the existing archaeological chronology are
strong and parts are weak, Manning noted, and the radiocarbon now calls
for "a critical rethinking of hypotheses that have stood for nearly a
century in the mid second millennium B.C."”
Cornell University
http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/April06/Bronze.age.AK.html
9d) Another reporting Science magazine was less
impressed about the potential impact on Egyptology.
“"I am not impressed," says Egyptologist Manfred
Bietak of the University of Vienna in Austria, who prefers to rely on
detailed Egyptian records for the same period. Manning and colleagues
used a new radiocarbon calibration curve (described last year in the
journal Radiocarbon) as well as sophisticated statistical models and
cross-checked some samples among three different dating labs. They
dated the eruption to between 1660 and 1613 B.C.E., within 95%
confidence intervals.
“Manning and colleagues say the early dates suggest
that the conventional linkage between Minoan and Egyptian chronologies,
which puts the apex of Minoan civilization contemporaneous with Egypt's
16th century B.C.E. New Kingdom, is wrong. The New Kingdom, especially
during the rule of Pharaoh Ahmose, was the high point of Egyptian
power. Rather, the Minoans would have reached their own heights during
the earlier Hyksos period, when the Nile delta was ruled by kings whose
ancestors came from the Levant. Rutter says Egyptologists have tended
to discount the importance of the Hyksos, whom Ahmose eventually chased
out of Egypt: "The Hyksos have gotten lousy press." At the very
least, Manning says, "it would make the Hyksos world much more
important and interesting." Manning adds that the earlier chronology
would create "a different context for the genesis of Western
civilization."
“But many proponents of the later chronology are
sticking to their guns. The radiocarbon dates create "an offshoot from
the historical Egyptian chronology of 120 to 150 years," says Bietak.
"Until the reasons for this offshoot are solved, we are chewing away at
the same old cud."
“"There are no current grounds for thinking that the
Egyptian historical chronology could be out by more than a few years,"
says archaeologist Peter Warren of the University of Bristol, U.K.
"This chronology has been constructed by hundreds of expert
Egyptologists over many decades."”
Science Magazine
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/312/5773/508
9e) And one more…
“Imagine that the chronology of early American
history was off by 100 years, and it was really 1392 when Columbus
sailed the ocean blue. Scholars have long argued over the possibility
of a time discrepancy of similar magnitude for a crucial period in the
Late Bronze Age of Greece and the Aegean world. Scientists now
report new radiocarbon evidence to support the contention that the Late
Bronze Age in the Aegean began in the 17th century B.C., at least a
century before the date previously assumed by many scholars. The
radiocarbon samples showed that the age extended from about 1700 B.C.
to 1400 B.C.
“Until recent years, archaeologists generally dated
the eruption at around 1500 B.C. This was estimated mainly by comparing
the pottery, art and other artifacts of the Aegean region with cultural
goods in Egypt and Mesopotamia, which more firmly dated chronologies.
The revised radiocarbon chronology, if it stands, would mean that the
Minoans at their height were not contemporaries of Egypt’s expansive
New Kingdom of the 16th century B.C.
“Early indications suggest that proponents of the
later chronology are not backing down. Their main line of defense is
the Egyptian historical chronology, derived from its written records as
well as pottery and iconography. They insist that a chronology tied to
the Egyptian record could not be off by as much as 100 years.”
Columbus Dispatch
http://www.columbusdispatch.com/science/science.php?story=dispatch/2006/05/09/20060509-D6-01.html
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10a) Firm progress announced for funding the new
Egyptian museum.
“Egypt and Japan signed a cooperation protocol to
build the planned Grand Egyptian Museum. Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif,
Culture Minister Farouk Hosni and Fayza Abul-Naga, minister of
international cooperation, gathered at the palace's Mashrabiya terrace
along with scores of Egyptian ministers, government officials and the
Japanese ambassador to Egypt to exchange notes on a long-term loan
offered by the Japanese government to help in the construction of the
Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM). The loan provides $300 million of a total
approximate budget projected at $550 million.
“"According to such an agreement, Japan has granted
Egypt 70 per cent of the whole sum," she pointed out, adding that
through the last three decades Japan has been a strong supporter of
Egypt's development projects. At the end of her speech Abul-Naga
expressed her appreciation to the Japanese government for its support
to help Egypt built such an important museum, which has been described
internationally as "the project of the millennium".
“Abdel-Salam pointed out that they aim at collecting
$150 million in order to supply the GEM with the state-of-the-art
equipment needed. He also stressed that the loan offered is the biggest
loan that Japan has offered to Egypt, or to any other country in the
Middle East.”
Al-Ahram Weekly Online
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/793/eg9.htm
10b) And a second announcement added…
“Japan will extend up to $307.7 million in
loans to Egypt to help rebuild the Egyptian Museum. The loans will
cover nearly half of the total rebuilding costs of $617.09
million. The plan is to rebuild the museum, which opened in 1902,
to a new museum called Grand Egyptian Museum, with about 100,000 items
on display.”
UPI
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060501-055105-5801r
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11a) An Egyptian cleric has issued a fatwah against
ALL statues in Egypt…ancient or modern, urging their destruction.
The first article below discusses the first announcement, while others
review reaction of Egyptian and foreign writers.
“A fatwa issued by Egypt's top religious authority
that forbids the display of statues has art-lovers fearing that it
could be used by Islamic extremists as an excuse to destroy Egypt's
historical heritage. Egypt's Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, the country's top
Islamic jurist, issued the religious edict that declared as un-Islamic
the exhibition of statues in homes, basing the decision on texts in the
hadith (sayings of the prophet). The fatwa did not specifically mention
statues in museums or public places, but it condemned sculptors and
their work. Still, many fear that the edict could prod Islamic
fundamentalists to attack Egypt's thousands of ancient and Pharaonic
statues on show at tourist sites across the country.
“"We don't rule out that someone will enter the
Karnak temple in Luxor or any other Pharaonic temple and blow it up on
the basis of the fatwa," Gamal Al Ghitani, editor of the literary
Akhbar Al Adab magazine, said.
“Gomaa's ruling overturned a fatwa issued more than
100 years ago by then moderate and highly respected mufti Mohammed
Abdu, permitting the private display of statues after the practice had
been condemned as a pagan custom. The wave of criticisms against the
fatwa has put clerics on a collision course with intellectuals and
artists, who say that such edicts only reinforce claims - particularly
in the West - that Islam is against progress. Some, including
Sayed, compared Gomaa's edict to a similar one issued by the former
fundamentalist rulers of Afghanistan, the Taliban, which led to the
destruction of statues of the Buddha despite an international outcry.”
Middle East Times
http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20060403-043824-7630r
11b) And another…
“The highest religious authority among Egyptian
Muslims, Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, has issued a fatwa banning the display
of statues. Although the fatwa focuses on statues in private homes, it
has raised fears that it mat be misused by Islamists wanting to harm
Egypt's wealth of pre-Islamic art on historic sites and in museums.
Sculptors and their work are generally condemned. His newest
fatwa however has caused shock and outrage among most intellectual
Egyptians. Mr. Gomaa referred to a passage from the Hadith - a
collection of quotes from Prophet Mohammed - saying that sculptors
would be treated harshly on Judgment Day. The Hadith thus clearly had
declared the production and exposure of sculpture as sinful, the Grand
Mufti deducted.
“While the fatwa does not directly address
sculptures in museums and at historic sites - Egypt has one of the
world's highest densities of historic sculptures seen as a world
heritage - it has caused fears that fundamentalists may take the fatwa
to its extremes and attack historic sculptures. Similar events took
place in Afghanistan a few years ago, when the Taliban regime destroyed
the ancient Buddha sculptures at Bamyan, a protected World Heritage
site.
“Egyptian authorities however are not likely to take
the Grand Mufta's fatwa seriously or include it in national
legislation. Several fatwas of the Muslim scholar and his predecessors
have been ignored as erroneous by the widely secular government.
Egypt's historic sculptures and modern artwork contribute greatly to
the national economy due to tourism and historic sites and museums
count on armed state security. Other prominent Egyptian artists
and cultural workers just urged the public to ignore the "ridiculous"
fatwa.”
AFROL News
http://www.afrol.com/articles/18691
11c) The Christian Science Monitor reviewed the
effect of the Fatwah against Egypt art
“Artists and intellectuals here say the edict, whose
ban on producing and displaying sculptures overturns a century-old
fatwa, runs counter to Islam.
“But most fatwas are simply the opinions of
respected Muslim scholars, often on everyday matters. Hundreds, if not
thousands, of fatwas are issued in Muslim countries every day, covering
topics that range from the mundane to the deadly serious. They can
address questions such as "Is it a religious obligation to see in-laws
with whom you don't get along?" as well as "Is it a Muslim obligation
to fight foreign invaders?"
“Egypt is dotted with millennia worth of Pharaonic
antiquities. Mohsen Said, of the country's Supreme Council for
Antiquities, says, "We display statues so they can be studied and so
people can get to know their heritage. This is Egypt's national
heritage. We don't display them for worship."”
Christian Science monitor
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0418/p01s02-wome.html
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A number of more or less silly reports have come
from Bosnia claiming that huge pyramids dot the skyline…and that they
are constructed of carefully placed masonry. The author of all
this is an amateur ‘archaeologist’, and few people have taken him
seriously. Read the short extracts of a few reports below and see
what you think.
12a) Bosnian Pyramids: Great Discovery or Colossal
Hoax?
“It's either one of the greatest archaeological
discoveries of our time, or man has made a giant pyramid out of a
molehill. Some critics have gone as far as to call the pyramid an
absurd publicity stunt.
“"They are jealous," Osmanagic told LiveScience in a
telephone interview. "These people are going crazy because they've been
teaching students that these [Bosnians] were cavemen, and all of a
sudden they are finding complex structures here." Osmanagic first
noticed the irregularly shaped hills on a trip to the town, located 18
miles north of Sarajevo, in April of 2005. Preliminary digging
uncovered mysterious slabs in a stone not native to the immediate area.
Further excavation of the hills in April of this year, along with the
incredible announcement that one would be much larger than the great
pyramid of Cheops at Giza, Egypt, prompted the most recent news
release. The pyramids could be upwards of 12,000 years old, Osmanagic
has deduced, based on geological knowledge of the area.
“"A self-described archaeologist, who believes the
Maya and others are descended from Atlanteans ... has been accepted as
a legitimate researcher by many news outlets," writes Archaeology
magazine online editor Mark Rose, in reference to Osmanagic's somewhat
unorthodox interpretation of the Mayan culture found in his book, "The
World of the Maya" (Gorgias Press, Euphrates imprint, 2005). The
Bosnian spent fifteen years studying pyramids throughout the world and
much of that time was in Mexico and Central America.”
Yahoo News
http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20060504/sc_space/bosnianpyramidsgreatdiscoveryorcolossalhoax
12b) Pyramid in Bosnia, Huge Hoax or Colossal Find?
“"I am 100 percent sure. There is no other option,"
the Houston, Texas-based Osmanagic said. Last month Osmanagic and
his team began sinking a series of wells into the 700-foot-tall
(213-meter-tall) hill, which Osmanagic renamed the Bosnian Pyramid of
the Sun. The kick-off was observed by a clutch of onlookers,
journalists, and—in what may be a first for such endeavors—contestants
from the Miss Bosnia beauty pageant.
“In response, the executive editor of New York-based
Archaeology magazine, Mark Rose, blasted Osmanagic as a quack and the
press as gullible. To emphasize his case, Rose quoted from online
excerpts of a 2005 book by Osmanagic about the Maya. Passages from the
book suggest the Maya descended from the people of the mythical city of
Atlantis, who themselves are aliens who came to Earth from the Pleiades
star cluster.
“"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary
evidence," said Curtis Runnels, an archaeologist at Boston University
in Massachusetts and a Balkan prehistory expert. "It is not up to
professional archaeologists to explain 200 years of research and
evidence," Runnels said. "It is up to Mr. Osmanagic to prove his
claims."”
National Geographic
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/05/pyramid-bosnia-1_2.html
12c) And an Egyptian geologist came forward to agree
with the pyramid theory.
“Dr Aly Abd Alla Barakata, a geologist of the
Egyptian Mineral Resource Authority, is the first expert from Egypt who
came to find out whether the blocks excavated on the Visocica hill are
natural or a man made formations. He said he concluded that the
structure is not natural and will recommend Egyptian archeologists to
research it further.
“"My opinion is that this is a type of pyramid,
probably a primitive pyramid," said Dr. Aly Abd Alla Barakata, a
geologist from the Egyptian Mineral Resource Authority.
“Osmanagic's theory has been disputed by a number of
experts who claim that at no time in Bosnia's history has there been a
civilization able to build monumental structures and that the hill is
simply a weird natural formation. A petition signed by 22 Bosnian
experts pointed out that Osmanagic is an amateur and claimed that the
stone blocks he unearthed are part of a medieval graveyard.”
ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=1974767&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
12d) Mark Rose, executive and online editor of
ARCHAEOLOGY took the theory to task in a lengthy paper.
“Semir (Sam) Osmanagic, a Houston-based
Bosnian-American contractor first saw the hills he believes to be
pyramids last spring. He is now digging the largest of them and plans
to continue the work through November, promoting it as the largest
archaeological project underway in Europe. He claims it is one of five
pyramids in the area (along with what he calls the pyramids of the
Moon, Earth, and Dragon, plus another that hasn't been named in any
account I've seen). These, he says, resemble the 1,800-year-old
pyramids at Teotihuacan, just north of Mexico City. Osmanagic maintains
that the largest is bigger than the pyramid of Khufu at Giza, and that
the Bosnian pyramids date to 12,000 B.C.
“Construction of massive pyramids in Bosnia at that
period is not believable. Curtis Runnels, a specialist in the
prehistory of Greece and the Balkans at Boston University, notes that
"Between 27,000 and 12,000 years ago, the Balkans were locked in the
last Glacial maximum, a period of very cold and dry climate with
glaciers in some of the mountain ranges. The only occupants were Upper
Paleolithic hunters and gatherers who left behind open-air camp sites
and traces of occupation in caves. These remains consist of simple
stone tools, hearths, and remains of animals and plants that were
consumed for food. These people did not have the tools or skills to
engage in the construction of monumental architecture."
“Others fear that Osmanagic's excavations will
damage real sites (the hill he calls the "Pyramid of the Sun" is said
to have medieval, Roman, and Illyrian remains on it). In one of the few
critical accounts of the Bosnian pyramid story, which appeared in the
Art Newspaper, the University of Sarejevo's Enver Imamovic, a former
director of the National Museum in Sarajevo, is quoted as saying, "This
is the equivalent of letting me, an archaeologist, perform surgery in
hospitals."”
Archaeology Magazine
http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/osmanagic/index.html
12e) And the last word (for now, anyway) is given to
a British archaeologist who recently visited the site and made a report.
“Professor Anthony Harding, president of the
European Association of Archaeologists, visited Visocica hill and said
the formation was natural. "No evidence at all has been found" to
support the claim the site would be an archaeological site, he said.
“Harding, who said he visited the site briefly on
Thursday and looked at the same stone blocks Barakat said were man
made, said on Friday they were a natural formation.
“"I've seen the site, in my opinion it is entirely
natural," he told reporters in Sarajevo. Harding did not visit other
sites in the area which Osmanagic and Barakat say are further evidence
of the existence of pyramids in Bosnia, such as a tunnel leading to the
top of Visocica or a stone pavement made of geometrically regular
shaped pieces.”
Yahoo News
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060610/ap_on_sc/bosnia_pyramid_controversy