Ahram Online (Nevine El-Aref)
Eight years after giving the go-ahead for the National Project to Document Egypt’s Heritage, Beni Hassan necropolis in the Upper Egyptian town of Minya has become the first site on the list to be documented.
The Ministry of State for Antiquities (MSA) is responsible for archaeologically documenting Egypt’s cultural and historical heritage, in an attempt to protect and preserve it, as well as providing comprehensive and detailed studies of every site and monument in Egypt for researchers and students in the field.
Mohamed Ibrahim, antiquities’s minister, told Ahram Online that Egyptologists used state-of-the-art equipment and modern technology to document the necropolis and published the findings in a booklet of 337 pages, including 268 photos and 62 drawings and charts.
Director of the ministry's registration department, Magdi El-Ghandour, described the documentation effort as one of Egypt’s major projects to preserve its heritage. He added that the project aims to establish a scientific database for every monument in Egypt, to help the work of researchers.
"It is the second documentation project to be established in Egypt; the first was carried out in 1985 during the Nubian temples salvage operation, documenting the Nubian temples whether rescued or inundated in Lake Nasser."
Egyptian Gazette (Amina Abdul Salam)
A number of archaeologists have launched a project to develop archaeology in Egypt to be carried out by the new government, according to MENA.
The project, which was launched under the title, ‘Egyptian Antiquities’ Renaissance Project ‘ includes a plan to develop archaeology to occupy a prestigious position as one of the state’s main economic sources, said Mohamed Abdel- Maqsoud ,deputy chairman of the Egyptian antiquities sector.
The project aims at changing the technique of work in this field that should controlled by a specialised state security body to protect Egypt’ monuments and archaeological heritage .
Abdel-Maqsoud noted that the antiquities sector is facing financial problems due to the reduced number of tourists visiting Egypt during the last couple of years. The archaeologists have called for cultural tourism to be mainly based mainly on visiting monumental sites throughout Egypt.
It is know the antiquities sector is self -financing , says Abdel -Maqsoud, adding that the annual revenues of the monuments normally reaches to LE1.2 billion nearly($200 million) annually.
Al Ahram Weekly (Nevine El-Aref)
With photos.
With photos.
The discovery of a Middle Kingdom burial of a member of the family of the Deir Al-Barsha governor has given Egyptologists some unique information on the scenario in which the ancient Egyptians conducted their funerary rituals.
Belgian archaeologists cleaning the newly discovered shaft inside Ahanakht I's tomb (top); a collection of copper vases and plates used in funerary rituals
Everything began as normal at this spring's archaeological season at the Deir Al-Barsha necropolis in Minya, which lasted from March to May. As usual, teams of workmen, archaeologists and restorers were busy on all parts of the site, digging and clearing the tombs of the village nomarchs (provincial governors) and searching for artefacts or monumental remains that could tell them more about the history of this particular period of ancient Egypt.
The site of the Deir Al-Barsha necropolis in the sandy gravel desert is famous for its rock-hewn tombs dating from the Middle Kingdom. Although part of the necropolis was investigated at the beginning of the 20th century by the American archaeologist George Reisner, no plans or detailed accounts of these excavations were ever published. Time has since taken its toll of the necropolis, and it was almost totally covered by sand.
In 2002 a Belgian archaeological mission from Leuven University started a magnetic survey there in an attempt to gain some insight into the overall organisation and social stratification of the necropolis.
Egypt at the Manchester Museum
There have been a number of updates by Campbell Price in the last couple of weeks. Have a look at the above page to find out more about the following topics:
There have been a number of updates by Campbell Price in the last couple of weeks. Have a look at the above page to find out more about the following topics:
- Curator’s Diary 10/7/12: Pagans, Christians and Muslims – Egypt in the First Millennium AD
- Photographing Fragrances
- Texts in translation #7: The shabti spell of Horudja
- Curator’s Diary 30/6/12: CT scanning Asru … and a crocodile mummy!
- Texts in translation #6: A stela of Peniwemiteru (Acc. No. R4571 1937)
- Curator’s Diary 15/6/12: More than Musty Mummies…? ACCES seminar in Swansea
- Curator’s Diary 13/6/12: Egyptian Collections and Collectors in Brussels
- Object biography #6: The crown from a colossal statue of Ramesses II (Acc. No. 1783)
Egypt Independent (James Purtill)
St. Catherine’s Monastery is going digital. The monastery that claims to be the oldest in the world — not destroyed, not abandoned in 17 centuries — has begun digitizing its ancient manuscripts for the use of scholars. A new library to facilitate the process is about five years away.
The librarian, Father Justin, says the monastery’s library will grow an internet database of first-millennium manuscripts, which up until now have been kept under lock and key. Should a scholar want a manuscript, they need only email Father Justin.
“And if I don’t have book but see a reference, I can email a friend in Oxford. They can scan and send it the next day,” he says.
Still, as natural and inevitable as it sounds, that’s quite the sea change. Just 10 years ago, bad phone lines made it hard to connect a call with the monastery. One hundred years ago, it took 10 days to travel from Suez with a caravan of camels.
Ahram Online (Nevine El-Aref)
After a year of extensive restoration Salaheddin Citadel on Pharaoh Island, 250 metres from Taba Beach in Sinai, opens to the public in July.
What’s new?
The restorations include repairing all eroded and corroded surfaces, restoring the fence that surrounded the citadel and replacing fallen or missing blocks with new ones that match the others.
A new lighting system makes the citadel appear like a crystal gem in the middle of the Red Sea. They’ve also installed lighting along the visitor paths.
Documentary films and photo exhibition relate the history of the citadel in the visitor centre.
To make visiting the site easier for tourists, during his latest inspection visit, Minister of State for Antiquities Mohamed Ibrahim suggested constructing a closed tunnel to connect the citadel to the Taba beach, which boasts beautiful coral reefs.
He also calls on the Tourism and Antiquities Police to tighten security measures in the Sinai, considering some of the recent instability in the area.
Ahram Online (Nevine el-Aref)
After 14 years of hard work, Bernard O’Kane, professor of Islamic art and architecture at the American University in Cairo (AUC), has managed to compile a detailed report of Islamic inscriptions in the historic zone of Cairo as part of the project to preserve and document inscriptions and epigraphs on Islamic monuments in the city up until the 1800s.
According to a press release distributed by the AUC press office, what drove O’Kane to undertake the project was that many of the Islamic monuments in Cairo were deteriorating and in danger of disappearing; there was no documentation of the inscriptions. “I felt I needed to do something to help with the preservation of information,” he said.
