Jane has left the building - off on hols to the UK

By the time you read this I will be in an aircraft winging my way to rainy Britain. On Friday I will attend my graduation ceremony after 4 years study with Manchester Uni doing the Certificate. As I was going to be in the UK I decided to attend summer school at Liverpool Uni, both weeks. Maybe I finally get the hang of hieroglyphs. My evenings in Liverpool are fairly free so if anyone wants to meet up let me know. I will have access to emails on a phone. I will back in sunny Luxor on 13th August.

Ra II Voyage: How Ancient Egypt inspired Pre-Colombian civilizations - Ancient Egypt - Heritage - Ahram Online

Thor Heyerdahl has two connections with Egypt not mentioned in this article. If you go to the Pharonic Village as you go in you will see a copy of the boat, that is because Dr Ragaab was hugely helpful to Thor and provided the papyrus. Also Dr Donald Ryan, excavator in the Valley of Kings worked with Thor for many years.

Ra II Voyage: How Ancient Egypt inspired Pre-Colombian civilizations - Ancient Egypt - Heritage - Ahram Online: - Sent using Google Toolbar

Egyptology Resources Digs

Thanks to the Fitzwilliam for this great resource, a list of all the digs in Egypt with links!

Egyptology Resources Digs: Thebes West

Tomb of Senneferi (TT99)
Tomb of Djehuty (TT11) (with Arabic summary)
Tomb of Huy TT14 | 2003-5 | 2008
The tomb of Harwa (TT37)
Tomb of Neferhotep (TT49)
Tomb of Menna (TT69)
TT96 and 29 (in French)
TT121 and TT72
South Assasif Conservation Project
Malqata
Waseda University
Western VK Project
Malqata Palace
Malqata South
Tombs of the Nobles
DB320--the Royal Cache
KV 63
Temple of Thutmosis III
Theban Mapping Project
Satellite Survey of Western Thebes
Theban Hills (IFAO)
Amarna Royal Tombs project
Work at the mortuary temple of Amenhotep II
No web site, but two reports here
CNRS work in the Ramesseum and the tomb of Ramesses II (iin French; also available in Arabic)
IFAO Deir el-Medina
University of Arizona Egyptian Expedition
DAI work at Dra Abul Naga

Thebes East

Chicago House
Centre franco-égyptien d'étude des temples de Karnak
Karnak IFAO
Karnak Hypostyle Hall project
Akhenaten Temple Project (with links to other related digs)
North Karnak
JHU work at the Mut temple at Karnak
Brooklyn work in the Mut temple at Karnak

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Palaeopathology Workshop (KNH Centre for Egyptology - The University of Manchester)

Palaeopathology Workshop (KNH Centre for Egyptology - The University of Manchester): Palaeopathology Workshop
Body 89/686 from Koshtamna (Firth 1912)
August 29th-30th 2012

A workshop to be held at The Natural History Museum (London), organised by The Natural History Museum and the KNH Centre for Biomedical Egyptology, The University of Manchester, as part of a joint project funded by The Wellcome Trust.

The first Archaeological Survey of Nubia published its final report just over 100 years ago, drawing to a close one of the largest set of palaeopathological investigations ever carried out. The human remains from this and other such studies during the last century have granted us incredible insights into the lives and deaths of the ancient Nubians and their neighbours to the north, the Egyptians. The skeletons and mummies of these two great civilisations have also helped drive the development of palaeopathology as a discipline. To celebrate this centenary, we invite you to attend a workshop to learn about and discuss the past work, present research, and future direction of human and animal palaeopathology in this region.

The workshop will include plenary lectures by:

Prof Don Brothwell, The University of York

Dr Derek Welsby, The British Museum

Prof Albert Zink, EURAC

Prof Rosalie David, The University of Manchester

A public lecture will also be given by Prof. Michael Zimmerman from Villanova University on the evening of the 28th August, with tickets for workshop attendees included free of charge.

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English teacher needed in Luxor

My doctor, Dr Ahmed Youness, phoned me with a request. He is looking an English lady to teach at new school being set up on the East Bank. Preferably Muslim but at least in tune and accepting of Islam. This is a paid position involving the teaching of English to girls 3-6. If you are interested please text him 01005766350, text rather than ring as he may be in his clinic or with patients. They do have someone who can do 2 days a week but want someone full time.

Charities to support for Ramadan

With Ramadan coming up some of you may want to support the Egyptian people at this special time of year.

Help in Egypt support the dirt poor community of Beshlaw, they have teamed up with an exisitng Egyptian charity and have UK registration. they have a Facebook group http://www.facebook.com/groups/13037937039030 and a website http://www.helpinegypt.com/

Resela is an Egyptian charity, you will need Google translate for this website http://www.resala.org/

The Small Pyramid is a German charity http://www.die-kleine-pyramide.de

and for the animal lovers
AWOL looks after animals on the West Bank http://www.awol-egypt.org/ 

Moulid of Abu Goom San

Just went to this Moulid, I am sure that is not how you spell the name but it sounded like that. There was stalls, horse dancing, stick dancing and loads of people enjoying themselves. It was held on the area behind Seti I temple at the Valley of kings roundabout and the horse stuff was just before the Ramasseum. People were so friendly, making sure i got good photos. A really lovely atmosphere but I was the only white face there sadly. Apparently it is quiet low key this year because there is little money but the smiles were as wide as ever.

No health and safety regulations on this ride, the owners take it round the country when ever there is a celebration. The kids were certainly enjoying it.

The stick dancing obviously has riles but I have never worked out what they are :) This video shows a complete bout, can you work it out?

and the band played on 

Caravanserai

I took one of my guests to this fabulous shop the other day. I have blogged about it before. She bought this gorgeous galabeya which we wonder if it would have been a wedding dress.

Memories of Old Gurna

I was going through my old 1979 Egyptian holiday photos and Little Mohammed who works for me was looking. Suddenly he stops me 'it's my house!!!!' He used to live at Gurna before they took the houses off the hill and I had a photo of his house taken 5 years before he was born. I managed to scan it before he took it to show his family. What are the chances of that

Walking Tours with Mohammed Ismail

Several of my guests have recently been walking with the delightful gentleman Mohammed Ismail. I was first introduce to him by Richard Sellicks and those of you that have seen Richards photos of obscure and remote sites and wondered how he got them, wonder no more. it was Mohammed. I have recommended him to others and he has featured in blogs lie this http://ancientcivilization-geology.blogspot.com/2007/02/hike-with-mohammed.html If you go walking you are always going to be accosted by locals and this can be irritating. The best way to stop this is to hire someone who knows the hills and has a decent grasp of Egyptology, that is where Mohammed comes in.

He is a proper Old Gurna local who used to live in a tomb as you can see in this video. He scraps a living sell souvenirs at the Valley of Nobles so you really help if you use him to go walking.

Update from Osirisnet

Dear friends,

We present to you today the tomb of Amenemope, TT148, which dates from the 20th Dynasty. 

Amenemope was Third Prophet of Amon, descended from a powerful family of which many representatives are mentioned in the chapel. The monument is on the north hillside of Dra Abu el-Naga, an area of which the prestige and the direct view of the pylons of Karnak, compensated for the poor quality of the local rock, which along with the prolonged occupation, caused serious damage to the decoration. What has survived is of a great artistic quality and allows the previous splendour of this tomb-temple to be realised
http://www.osirisnet.net/tombes/nobles/amenemope148/e_amenemope148_01.htm

Enjoy.

Thierry Benderitter

A map from Richard Sellicks

Those of you that love Richards photos, check the label will appreciate this map that shows where some of his more obscure photos were taken. He has promised me some more when he has done a bit more sorting.

Manchester Certificate Mini Reunion

At Flats in Luxor this year we had a number of students from the online course from Manchester Uni staying who were working on the South Asasif dig. This project has volunteers every year and we offer special rates for those working there. It is great fun for me as a student of the course myself as I get to meet so many fellow students face to face. We build up great friendships online and to actually meet is the cherry on the cake. There were students from all years, the certificate course is great for forging friendships across age ranges, countries and background. Details here http://www.egyptologyonline.ls.manchester.ac.uk/

This month we were lucky enough to welcome our tutor Joyce Tyldesley and her husband Stephen Snape who had to come to Egypt to gather material for their courses. Such a big treat for all of us, with students from Kuwait, Australia, Germany, Canada and the UK staying at the flats, many of those would not get a chance to met Joyce in the normal course of events unless they came to Manchester for the graduation.

Joyce is super busy but arrange to met for tea and cake. I ordered a cake from Atta our West Bank baker but I should not have handwriten the name because when it arrived it said Welcome Gogce! still it tasted great. It certainly made the guest of honour laugh.

Poor Joyce, she posed for photos, signed books, cut cake and will always be known as Gogce to this group of students. It was good to meet Stephen as well as many of us had read his works although he teaches at Liverpool.

Most of us hope to go on to do the Diploma as we have enjoyed learning so much, Manchester has to be the only online course with such a great reputation as well as being accredited. so anyone thinking of studying an online course I totally recommend the Manchester Certificate and Diploma, of course you will learn a lot, have great tutors but you will also make great friends and maybe have opportunities like this, to be on a dig and have face to face meetings with the Posh and Becks of Egyptology.

PS Even Little Mohammed wanted to get in on the photos.

Breasts - Sexy, Sacred or Secular my dissertation on Ancient Egypt now for sale

My dissertation has been marked, and I got some great comments, so now I can sell it. It is called Breasts - Sexy, Sacred or Secular and it explores the Ancient Egyptian attitude towards the breast and the conclusion was not what I expected at all. :)

I did analysis of love poetry, pornographic papyrus and graffiti. I looked at the portrayal of the breast in art, both 2-D and 3-D.  Goddesses, both tree and cow, suckling Pharaohs and the dead. Breast cancer was explored as well as the use of wet nurses.And I didn’t leave out the men either, man boobs get looked at! The most interesting thing I learned was the impact of breast feeding and I discuss this in my conclusion.

Here is the link so you can buy it http://www.egyptologycourses.com/products/breasts-sexy-sacred-or-secular/

We are hoping the sales from this book will keep us going until tourism picks up this winter. Fingers crossed