Saturday, 9 December 2017

More on the new tomb via the wonderful EEF



* MoA Press release 9-12-2017:

"As the Ministry of Antiquities declares that year 2017 is the year of discoveries in Egypt, Minster of Antiquities Dr.
Khalid El-Enany announces today Saturday 9/12/2017, the discovery of a new tomb and the re-discovery of an older one at Draa Abul Naga necropolis on Luxor’s west bank.
Dr. Mostafa Waziri, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities and Head of Egyptian excavation mission explains that both tombs were given special numbers by German archaeologist “Frederica Kampp” during the 1990s.
The first tomb has the number of “Kampp 161” and has never been excavated before while the second one has the number of “Kampp 150” and archaeologist Kampp started its excavation until reaching its entrance gate but never entered it.
Since then both tombs were left untouched until the Egyptian archaeological mission started its excavations during the recent archaeological season.

# Tomb Kampp 161

Location:
It is located to the north of tomb No. TT225, and the tomb of city’s councilor Userhat (Kampp 157) uncovered in April.

History:
Although the name of the tomb’s owner is yet unidentified, the wall paintings, engravings and inscriptions found in the tomb suggest that it could be dated to the era between the reign of King Amenhotep II and the one of King Thutmose IV.

Owner of the tomb:
The owner of the tomb is yet unknown

Architectural Planning:
The tomb has a court lined with stone and mud-brick walls. It has a six meters deep burial shaft at its southern side that lead to four side chambers.
The tomb’s entrance is located at the eastern side with a sandstone façade without any inscriptions. It leads to a rectangular hall with a Niche. Studies reveal that the tomb was reused in antiquity.

The inscriptions of the Tomb:
All the inscriptions are found on the western wall located at the tomb’s northern end. It shows two feast scenes. The first depicts a person, probably the deceased’s brother, presenting offerings and flowers to the deceased and his wife.
The second scene is found below the first one and shows a number of guests standing in four rows among which a row consists of three men and three women. The first man in the row is the Keeper of the storeroom.

The artifacts discovered inside the Tomb:
Most the discovered items are fragments of wooden coffins. The most important are:
A large wooden mask which was originally a part of an Osirian coffin A small painted wooden mask.
A fragment of a gilded wooden mask in a bad condition of preservation.
Four legs for wooden chairs that were among the deceased funerary equipment.
The lower part of a wooden Osirian shaped coffin decorated with a scene of goddess Isis lifting up her hands.


# Tomb Kampp 150

Location:
It is located to the south of tomb Kampp-157 and next to tomb
TT167

History:
According to the cartouche of king Thutmosis I found engraved on the ceiling of one of the tomb’s chambers, it could be dated to the end of the 17th Dynasty and the beginning of the 18th Dynasty

Owner of the tomb:
The tomb’s owner is unknown yet but there are two possibilities.
The first suggests that the tomb could belong to a person named “Djehuty Mes” as his name was engraved on one of the walls.
The second possibility sees that the owner could be the scribe “Maati” as his name and the name of his wife “Mehi” were inscribed on 50 funerary cones found in the tomb’s rectangular chamber.

Architectural Planning:
The tomb has five eastern entrances that open on a rectangular hall partly damaged with two burial shafts. The first one is located at the northern side and the second is at the southern side. Another two chambers were found which one of which has a niche and two burial shafts of ten and seven meters deep.
A burial of a woman named “Isis Nefret” was found. Studies suggest that it could be the mother of the tomb’s owner. Inside the burial a wooden coffin painted with yellow and different ancient Egyptian scenes was found along with 36 Ushabti figurines. A very special ushabti depicting Isis Nefret in the form of Osiris is found. It is 60 cm tall and painted in white, red, green, blue, yellow and black.

Tomb’s Inscriptions:
The tomb has only one inscription on one of its northern pillars.
It shows a scene of a seated man offering food to four oxen, the first one is kneeling in front of the man who is giving it herbs.
The scene also depict five people while fabricating funerary furniture.
The entrance of the long hall inscribed with remains of hieroglyphic text with the name of “Djehuty Mes.” The ceiling of the chamber is inscribed with remains of hieroglyphic inscriptions and the cartouche of King Thutmose I.

The artifacts discovered inside the tomb:
100 funerary cones
Painted wooden funerary masks
A collection of 450 statues carved in different materials such as clay, wood and faience Small box in the shape of a wooden coffin with a lid. It was probably used for storing an Ushabti figurine of17 cm tall and
6 cm large
A collection of clay vessels with different shapes and sizes A mummy wrapped in linen where its hands are on its chest in the Osirian form. The mummy was found inside the long chamber.
Studies suggest that the mummy could be for a top official or a powerful person



* Note the tombs had already numbers, Kampp -150- and Kampp -161-, which refers to the survey of (excavated and unexcavated) tombs by Friederike Kampp in Die Thebanische Nekropole. Zum Wandel des Grabgedankens von der XVIII. bis zur XX. Dynastie (Mainz 1996). So different numbering than the TT numbering.

BTW if you want to join the EEF mainling list which I highly recommend details are here http://www.egyptologyforum.org/EEFApply.html 

Friday, 8 December 2017

Egyptian antiquities minister to announce newly discovered mummy mask

Antiquities Minister Khaled El-Enany is set to formally announce the discovery of two tombs at Draa Abul Naga in Luxor on Saturday, one bearing a painted wall.
According to a source who requested anonymity, the tombs belong to two top officials from the New Kingdom (16th to 11th centuries BC); the mummy mask of one of the deceased was also discovered.
In September the minister as announced the discovery of the tomb of god Amun-Re’s goldsmith in Draa Abul Naga.
The tomb had a rich funerary collection and a large number of ushabti funerary figurines, gilded coffins, mummies wrapped in linen and funerary mask and cones were unearthed.

Thursday, 7 December 2017

Amen Hotep Huy AT 28 Dr Francisco Jose Martin Valentin




As I went in Ibrahim Soliman told me the lectures are coming back every Sunday which is brilliant news. AND we have another lecture this Sunday by Dr Campbell Price on Perfected Forms - The Functions of Late Period Non-Royal Sculpture. Spoilt or what

The Tomb belonging to Amen Hotep III vizier, Amen Hotep Huy 28 seasons 2009 – 2017 Dr Francisco Jose Martin Valentin


Image result for francisco martin valentinTonight’s lecture was very fascinating as Dr Francisco had some interesting things to say on the co-regency between Amenhotep III and Akhenaton. This is one of these subjects that if you get four Egyptologists in the room discussing it you will get five different theories so it was fascinating to hear his views.


The project started in 2009, the location of the tomb is close to the causeway of Hatshepsut and the purpose of the project was to protect to the tomb.

The tomb is unfinished and follows a pattern of a longitudinal hall, followed by a smaller room, then a larger room followed by a hypostyle hall with 30 columns in three rows. Very influenced by the tomb of Kheruef TT192. The central way has columns in various stages of decoration. There is a statue Amenhotep Huy CG590 and vizier year 30-32, he was southern vizier. The tomb has suffered Damnatio memoriae with specific damage to the body and face.

In 2009 the entrance was covered and there was a lot of debris filling the tomb. It had been reused for burials and mummification preparation in the late 20th, third intermediate period and late period. There was graffiti of the worship of Osiris. A shabti of high clergy of the 3rd intermediate period Padi Iry Khonsu had been found. He was a relative of Osorkon. By 2010 they had cleared the entrance to the tomb (the slides showed an amazing difference).

Dr Francisco spoke about his conclusions regarding the co-regency of Amenhotep III and Akhenaton. He thinks there was a short co-regency of 2-3 years followed by a period of co-existence of 8 – 9 years. (During the question and answer sessions at the end I asked what he meant by that and roughly Amenhotep III was the living God and Akhenaton was the actual ruler).


The inscriptions showed a mixture of Amenhotep III and Akhenaton cartouches with both being described with royal titular. He believes this def indicates a co-regency. There was a co-regency at the first Heb Sed

Interesting one title says beloved of the ruler of Ipy Sut (Karnak) which is Amen Re. The inscriptions are similar to Kheruef (published by Chicago). In the 27th day of the 2nd month in the 30th year there were two viziers of southern Egypt, Amenhotep Huy and Ramose evidence by the Soleb temple in years 29-31 Amenhotep Huy was Amenhotep III vizier. Ramose was Akhenaton’s. There is strong evidence that work on the tomb stopped suddenly and dramatically.

There are the same mistakes in the inscription in Kheruef and Amenhotep Huy indicating the same artist. Instead of the sign U19 (the adze) I10(the snake) is used.
They have reconstructed the pillars as it is most important to preserve these inscriptions. The columns are 4.25 high and 1.75 wide at the base, closed papyrus capitals.

They found an intact burial from the 22nd dynasty of a Wab priest. Ceramics from the jubilee and an interesting solar stele RN 10683-17 with a depiction of the sun between the mountains like the sign N27

A book is being published of a preliminary report


Campbell Price to give a lecture on Sunday


Sunday 10th December, 7pm at the Mummification Museum Dr Campbell Price on Perfected Forms - The Functions of Late Period Non-Royal Sculpture

Tuesday, 5 December 2017

Prof Rosalie David – The Temple of Sethos at Abydos Mummication Museum Lecture



It was great to be back at the Mummification Museum for a lecture. There is another on Thursday at 7pm Dr Francisco Martin-Valentine talking about Amen-hotep, Huy Tomb AT 28. And another on Sunday at 5pm subject to be announced.

Tonight’s lecture was live streamed on Facebook by Moamen Saad if you check his Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/moamen.sca you will find it.

Prof Rosalie David – The Temple of Sethos at Abydos – Analysing the wall scenes and decoration.


Prof David has been working on mummified remains at Manchester but her PhD was on the subject of Abydos.

Abydos is central to Egypt not only geographically but religiously because of the cult Osiris. It wasn’t that long since the Amarna period and Seti wanted to reaffirm religious orthodoxy and the legitimacy of his line. Her PhD was to analyse the decoration and assess whether it was just pictorial or ritual. Although it is now accepted as ritual, back in 1967 this was not known.

A temple had 4 aspects
·         Island of Creation
·         House of the God
·         Development from hut shrines
·         Position of the king

Island of creation
The ancient Egyptians believed creation started with an island emerging from an expanse of water. There was a stick in the island and a bird alighted on it and all temples were based around this concept and follow the same pattern. Except Abydos is different it is L shaped with several sanctuaries. The Osirion is the cenotaph of the god. Rosalie believes that it originated in the Old Kingdom because of its similarity to Chephren’s temple.

Two temples can be divided into cult and mortuary. Cult is for the worship of the god. Mortuary is for the worship of the god and the king both during his lifetime and after his death. A cult ritual was the same ritual and a mortuary had the same ritual plus worship of the ancestors. It seems weird to us but the king would actually worship himself as a dead defied being.

Scenes can either be formal depicting historic events, e.g. battles, royal family members and coronation or they can be cultic rites. Abydos has mortuary depictions with the addition of Osiris rituals.

In First and Second courts the pylons have gone and the roof has been concreted over in the hypostyle hall so the view looks very different. The decoration is by Ramses II, the courts were open and the scenes are propaganda and historic showing battles, royal princesses and depicting him as the pious son of Seti.

The many columns are not needed to support the structure; they are representing the plant forms on the island of creation. The decoration is formal showing the king and the gods. It provides a processional way to the sanctuaries. There are 6 sanctuaries which means there are 6 chances to observe the ritual. They can be compared to other temples and papyrus like the Berlin papyrus which had 66 rituals of Amen.

The ritual which they though was essential to the continued existence of Egypt consists

  • ·         Awakening the statue of the God
  • ·         Cleansing with water and incense
  • ·         Putting on clothes, makeup and insignia
  • ·         Prayers and meals 3 times a day
  • ·         Putting the statue to bed

An interesting side point is because the priests and their families partook of this rich diet of meat and alcohol they suffered side effects. Atherosclerosis which was thought to be a modern disease has been identified and Rosalie has written an article published by the Lancet.

As well as these rituals for the statue the sacred bark would have been censed. Additional there is the ritual of the royal ancestors or Amenhotep I. We have temple reliefs, stele and papyri describing this. This took place in the left part of the temple, the extra rooms, the 7th chapel and the gallery of the lists. The suite of rooms Nefertem Ptah Sokar Hall and rooms was an important part of this. In the hall of barks there was a sandstone ledge that was used for barks and offerings.

The corridor of the bull was decorated with magical/mythological scenes not ritual. In this area you also have the foundation of the temple scenes. One room, the butchery room was separate from the rest for pious reasons.

The Osiris Mysteries took place in the Osirion and Osiris complex. The raising of the Djed pillar is the most notable part. The second Osiris hall is the hall of life.

The scenes are
·         Decorative/Formal/Propagandist
·         Historical
·         Ritual

Doing the analysis
Rosalie had to look at who was in the scene what they were doing and what they were saying. The entire temple had to be transliterated, Sequence had to be established and finally identify the function and use. There was a lot missing so it was a difficult task. The results were originally completed in 1971. A 2nd edition was published in 1981. In 2016 it was revised and has ALL translation, line drawings, transliteration and plates.

You can get the book on UK amazon http://amzn.to/2ko4hRK or US Amazon http://amzn.to/2Ax8pmn

 

Sunday, 3 December 2017

Statues of ancient Egyptian lioness deity Sekhmet uncovered in Luxor

A collection of 27 fragmented statues of the goddess Sekhmet has been unearthed at the King Amenhotep III funerary temple on Luxor’s west bank

luxor 

Further details http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/282656.aspx

Saturday, 2 December 2017

Lecture 5th December Rosalie David

I cant believe it another lecture at the Mummification Museum and by the great Rosalie David, we are being spoilt
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10213341626071083


Thursday, 30 November 2017

CONFERENCE Luxor, 7th of December, 2017. 19,00 h Mummification Museum. Luxor.

Teresa Bedman has just published this on Facebook, a lecture at the Mummification Museum. I am so pleased.  Dr Francisco Martin-Valentin talking about Amen-hotep, Huy Tomb AT 28.

Sunday, 19 November 2017

Local Life in Luxor



I just went out for a pottle on my mobility scooter in the village. First I went to the family to visit, it is so lovely when the kids see the scooter and run out yelling Jane, Jane. The date palm next to the house was being cut. They use these young branches to weave furniture, chairs, beds etc. The boy climbing the tree had no safety equipment. He just ran up there with a loop of loose rope which he would hitch up the trunk. Once up he dispensed with that and just hung on. I don’t look, it scares the willies out of me. Trundling along loads of people were saying hello, everyone seemed to be out. The weather is so pleasant. Just dropped below 30 and the nights are a bit chilly 15 now. In the sun it was quite warm.

I bought some peanuts, bananas, crisps and a drink. All without leaving my scooter, the shop keepers came out and served me. Only in Egypt.





Down at the Nile there is a medical clinic that is open, free to everyone, until Wednesday. It is sponsored by Vodaphone and from a private university hospital in 6th Oct a district of Cairo. I had a chat with one of the doctors. They are doing operations like hernias, c-sections, carpal tunnel for poor people. We had a chat about my back and he agreed, don’t let anyone touch your spine until you cant sit or are in continual pain.


They were also giving away free books for the childrem

Coming back a woman lowered a basket from her balcony to pass a dish to her friend, a traditional way of buying things from the street.  Although I love the history of Luxor it is also a joy to experience everyday life in the village

Thursday, 16 November 2017

Campaign to renovate Hassan Fathy Village in Luxor

http://www.egypttoday.com/Article/9/32729/Campaign-to-renovate-Hassan-Fathy-Village-in-Luxor

UNESCO, the American University in Cairo and Luxor’s governor teamed up together to bring Hassan Fathy Village in Luxor to life again after years of destruction from erosion. 

2-_mosque_at_Hassan_Vilage_-=_Five_Photos_Website_-_14_November_2017


Tuesday, 14 November 2017

Last minute Christmas holidays


Last minute Christmas holidays at www.flatsinluxor.co.uk, stay in the heart of historic Luxor in a sunny apartment with views of the sites. We have vacancies for Christmas and there are direct flights from Heathrow to Luxor with EgyptAir.
Within a short distance of all the historic sites, Valley of the Kings, Tutankhamen, Karnak, Hatshepsut. Local life and culture and the option for catered meals in your flat with fabulous views.

Thursday, 9 November 2017

Wednesday, 8 November 2017

Egypt tourism ministry increases incentives for international charter flights to several Egyptian cities

Egypt’s tourism ministry has approved an increase in incentives for charter airlines for every flight carrying a certain number of passengers on international flights coming to Luxor, Aswan, Marsa Matrouh, Taba, and Alamein, deputy tourism minister Adla Ragab told Al-Shorouk Tuesday. The minister said that the incentive has been increased to $3,000 from $2,000 per flight provided each plane is carrying a minimum number of passengers.
The announcement came on the sidelines of the international travel trade show World Travel Market in London, which is running until Wednesday.......

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/3/12/281126/Business/Economy/Egypt-tourism-ministry-increases-incentives-for-in.aspx

Monday, 6 November 2017

Valley of the Kings update





From Facebook, the guide Mohamed A Fahmy reports

Valley of the kings update:
Tutmosess III is closed from today for renovation
Ramesses III tomb is opened again
Photo/Video ticket is available at the kv tickets office


Thank you Mohamed 




Thursday, 2 November 2017

Big discovery at the pyramids

'Big void' identified in Khufu's Great Pyramid at Giza

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-41845445

It is not known why the cavity exists or indeed if it holds anything of value because it is not obviously accessible.
Japanese and French scientists made the announcement after two years of study at the famous pyramid complex.
They have been using a technique called muography, which can sense density changes inside large rock structures........................