Wrapping up smuggled goods

From Al-Ahram Weekly by  Nevine El-Aref (Link to original article)

The Ministry of Culture and the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) have been at the forefront of a campaign since 2002 to stamp out the trade in artifacts illegally smuggled from Egypt and bring them back home. To put the campaign into effect, the SCA has created a new department in its administrative body, the National Committee to Return Smuggled Antiquities (NCRSA), to list all the objects that have been illegally smuggled out of the country together with those missing from archaeological storehouses and museums. It also traces all reports provided by Egypt’s embassies and consulates abroad of possible infringements of the antiquities law, and from time to time it checks the sale catalogues of well known auction houses such as Bonhams and Christies.

The report goes on to mention an “outreach” programme, aimed at education Egyptians about the issue of antiquities smuggling, as well as hoping to engage Egyptians more with their own history:

On the local level, the NCRSA will raise the awareness of Egyptians for their heritage and its importance through history. This will be implemented through establishing seminars and open discussions highlighting such subjects, as well as organising a touring archaeological exhibition to visit towns in Egypt and publishing a periodical newsletter.

Despite the efforts vested in trying to persuade foreign countries to co-operate in the tracing down and return of stolen artefact’s, it is these local activities that have the potential to really  make an effective impact on  antiquities smuggling and theft. At the present there is little awareness of the harm of this trade amongst the  bulk of the Egyptian public. Education and, for want of a less annoying word, “outreach”, is the order of the day on the part of the SCA.

However, though I’d dearly love to be optimistic about this matter, at the end of the day as long as the average Egyptian  earns, if he is lucky, a twentieth of what an average  western European or American does, and as a long as  said western European or American is willing to  part with a thick wodge of that money to own a “little bit of Ancient Egypt”, then it’s going to be a very hard trade to stop.

Hard cash is mighty tempting to a  man with  a hungry  household, regardless of how honest and educated he may be. I’d like to believe this will work, but as long as poverty remains the norm in Egypt, her past will always be at risk, and from more than just theft.

 

The Pharaohs are alive, with the sound of music

From the Daily News Egypt (June 3rd) – Link to original article

By Ahmed Maged

CAIRO: Some of the images found on ancient Egyptian papyri and tombs reflect the variety of musical instruments used at the time, attesting to the developed state art had reached during the Pharaonic age.

Abdel Halim Nureldin, professor of archaeology and former director of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, spoke of Israeli attempts to claim that those instruments are part of the Jewish heritage which began to take shape in ancient Egypt when the Jewish people emerged as a distinct community.

Nureldin, who had given a lecture last month on the subject at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, pointed out that in spite of the fact that some Pharaonic documents prove that music was present at royal ceremonies, funeral processions and other events, no musical notes were found to translate that music into melodies.

Ancient Egyptians used many string, wind and percussion instruments including the harp, lute, pipe, flute, hand-held drums, the sistrum, bells and others. Men and women alike played music professionally as reflected in the depictions on the walls of tombs and papyri.

And who doesn’t like a little bit of controversy in the morning? I must admit that this controversy over the origin of musical instruments in Pharaonic culture is something new to me. It should be made clear, however, that that musical instruments are known to have existed in Pharaonic Egypt from at least as early as the Old Kingdom. There is no indication that any single outside culture brought a musical revolution to Egypt, though in later periods new instruments appear that most likely were introduced via various inter-cultural influences and exchanges, particularly in the Greco-Roman period. Certainly the most important musical instruments – those which appear most frequently in Pharaonic era art and cultural references – were in place by the Old Kingdom, including the harp, pipes and the sistrum, amongst others.

An interesting table of the first known appearances of various musical instruments in Ancient Egypt can be found here at UCL’s Digital Egypt site.

 

Athens museum to show its priceless Egyptian collection

From the Daily News Egypt – Link to original article

By Nicholas Paphitis

First Published: May 14, 2008

ATHENS, Greece: A priceless ancient Egyptian collection opened to the public Wednesday, featuring a wooden body tag for a mummy, a stunning bronze statue of a princess, and a 3,000-year-old loaf of bread with a bite-sized chunk missing.

The National Archaeological Museum in Athens is putting more than 1,100 pieces from the collection on permanent exhibition, as more of its halls open to the public following years of renovation.

The previous Egyptian display, shelved six years ago, included just 350 artifacts.

Most of the current collection — which museum officials say is one of the best in the world — has never been shown to the public before due to lack of space.

A further 6,000 Egyptian artifacts remain in underground storage.

This should be fascinating, given that the display includes many Egyptian items that were discovered in Greece, having come there through trade. The relationship between the Minoans, Hyksos and early New Kingdom rulers has intrigued me for a few years now. Ahmose I (founder of the NK) is widely held to have built a palace in the re-conquered city of Hatwaret/Avaris that featured Minoan style decoration, a possibility that has long raised many questions in my mind.

The miniature was made in the red century BC in Alexandria, the Greek-Egyptian port city founded by Alexander of Macedon that grew into a major intellectual and administrative center.

This part of the article does irk me somewhat. It is now known that the city of Alexandria predates the conquest of Persian controlled Egypt by Alexander, and was founded in the Pharaonic period. Details are still very sketchy, but recent work shows the city existed at least as far back as 1000BCE, according to drill core samples. I don’t know why many publications still do not take note of the new findings.

 

Massive upgrading for Egyptian Museum

From State Information Service – Link to article

06/05/2008
Massive upgrading for Egyptian Museum

Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Dr Zahi Hawwas has said that the Council has launched a massive upgrading project at the Egyptian Museum in downtown Cairo.

“The museum will be one of the most unique museums all over the world,” he told reporters at a press conference that was attended also by the Italian ambassador in Cairo.

He said the upgrading would cost 1.3 million euros in cooperation with the Italian government.

 

‘Who Owns Antiquity?: Museums and the Battle over Our Ancient Heritage’

From the Wall Street Journal via Andie Byrnes’ Blog – Link to original article

by James Cuno

For years, archaeologists have lobbied for national and international laws, treaties, and conventions to prohibit the international movement in antiquities. For many of these years, U.S. art museums that collect antiquities have opposed these attempts. The differences between archaeologists and U.S. art museums on this matter has spilled over into the public realm by way of reports in newspapers and magazines, public and university symposia, and specialist—even sensationalist —books on the topic.

At the center of the dispute is the question of unprovenanced antiquities. In conventional terms, an unprovenanced antiquity is one with modern gaps in its chain of ownership. As it pertains to the United States, since in most cases we are an importer of this kind of material, this means there is no evidence that the antiquity was exported in compliance with the export laws of its presumed country of origin (these are always modern laws, hence the qualifi cation above, modern gaps). Archaeologists argue that unprovenanced antiquities are almost always looted from archaeological sites or from what would become archaeological sites.

A very interesting book review from the Wall Street Journal. Another one for the Amazon wish list, I think. This is a very important subject, and very high charged for everyone involved. However it is also extremely complex, and not just legally, which is what this book mainly focuses on. Hopefully I shall have the chance to write more on this soon.

 

In the reign of the Black Pharaohs

From Al Ahram Weekly  - Link to full article

Which country has the largest collection of pyramids? Think again, for it is not Egypt, but Sudan. Join Mohamed El-Hebeishy as he visits north Sudan in search of answers

Our great grandfathers called it Ta-Seti, Land of the Bow. They were referring to the area south of the First Cataract at Aswan, and the reason behind the name was the unparalleled skill its inhabitants demonstrated when using the bow as a method of arm. Those excellent bowmen were actually the Kushites.

At first, Egyptians, as back as the First Dynasty, would send expeditions to the area in pursuit of slaves as well as the exploration of new sites where copper and gold could be mined. Egyptian influence grew and by the Middle Kingdom, a series of strongholds and fortresses controlled the Nile at the Second Cataract. Their influence over the area grew further through the New Kingdom; Pharaoh Tuthmoses III marched as far south as the Fifth Cataract. But change is a question of time, and by the end of the New Kingdom, Kush began to rise.

 

Underwater archaeology in the Nile at last!

Some drowned, some buried

Artefacts immersed in the Nile at Aswan and a 19th-Dynasty funerary collection in Luxor are the most recent discoveries in Egypt, as Nevine El-Aref reports

It is surely in the quiet and relaxing city of Aswan that the Nile is at its most beautiful. The river flows through an amber desert, past granite rocks and round emerald islands smothered in palm groves and tropical plants. This peaceful scene, however, was disturbed last week by archaeologists shouting and yelling at one another from their moored yacht while they carried out the delicate task of hoisting a decorative object from the bed of the river where it had lain for more than 2,500 years.

From Al Ahram Weekly (link to full article)

This is heartening to see. I have long wondered why underwater archaeology hasn’t been deployed in the Nile. And now, at long last, it is. The potential of underwater archaeology in the Nile is obvious. Barges carrying cargos of every sort used the Nile under the auspices of every single ruler from Narmer to Nectanebo II. Ships sink, cargos come loose… And of course, river levels change, as the portico of Khnum shows us clearly. So let us hope that this is the first of many such missions, and that more resources can be secured to retrieve these finds already made in the future.

 

Ptolemaic Temple discovered in Alexandria

From the State Information Service (Full article)

A team of archaeologists have unearthed a Greek temple in the Egyptian coastal city of Alexandria, showing that the Greeks worshipped Pharaonic deities more than 2,500 years ago.

An official of the expedition said that the temple was found during the renovation of an area of Alexandria with the relics of the temple unearthed evidence that Greeks were influenced by the ancient Egyptian civilization.

He added that the Greeks believed in the holy trinity of Isis, Osiris and the child Horus, developing these gods after Alexander the great conquered the city in 332 BC.

No more information at present. The article is a little confusing. I shall post more as information comes to light.

 

Excavation of tomb of Seti I (KV17) – New finds

From the State Information Service (full article)

Egypt announced Thursday 10/4/2008 the discovery of a quartzite Ushabti figure and the cartouche of King Seti I, second king of the 19th Dynasty (1314-1304 BC).They were found inside the corridor of the tomb of Seti I (KV 17) in the Valley of the Kings on Luxor’s west bank.

The discovery was made by the first ever Egyptian mission working in the Valley of the Kings, after being monopolized for the past two centuries by foreigners, said Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA).

A number of clay vessels were also unearthed along with fragments of the tomb’s wall paintings which may have fallen after its discovery. During the process of cleaning the tomb, it was also revealed that the length of the corridor measures 136 meters, and not 100 meters as the tomb’s discoverer, Giovanni Battista Belzoni, originally mentioned in his report, Hawass said.

No more information than this at the moment. However an “extra” 36 meters of corridor is no small thing. Clearly, proper mapping is  needed and this work is beneficial, especially if it can lead to the restoration of the extremely fragile, and spectacularly beautiful, walls of Seti’s tomb. It seems recent times may not have been terribly kind.

For those unaware of the current situation in Valley of the Kings, the SCA has recently been conducting extensive excavation and research work of it’s own in the valley, particularly around the area of Merenptah’s tomb (KV8), where it expects to find previously undiscovered tombs. The Amarna Royal Tombs Project conducted ground radar surveys around the area of Tutankhamun’s tomb (KV62) a few years ago, and though the SCA are not digging in exactly the same area, it is nearby (see the Theban Mapping Project map of the valley for a better idea of the layout) so whether or not there is some relation between the radar findings of ARTP and the current exploration frenzy, who knows… Not much is being said by either side at this point in time.

However it would also appear that work is now being carried out in KV17 as well, which has been closed for some time, and it certainly seems to be paying off. Seti’s tomb (KV17) is regarded as one of the most beautiful in the valley and I hope the fallen wall fragments can be salvaged.

 

Exhibition of the Pharaonic Renaissance (Late Period) in Slovenia

And, whilst we’re on the subject of exhibitions… I’m going to shamelessly promote one. And before you all decry me as a hypocrite whose Ka is bound for Ammit’s belly, I have a flimsy rationalisation ready for you.

The Faraonska Renesansa (Pharaonic Renaissance) exhibition at the Cankarjev Dom, Ljubljana, Slovenia is running from March 4th to July 20th and is unusual and that it has gathered exhibits relating specifically to the oft ignored Late Period, specifically to renaissance of the 25th and 26th Dynasties, the latter of which produced some of the finest and most distinguished sculpture.

Artefacts have been assembled from across Europe for the exhibition and the organisers hope it shall bring to the attention of the public the increasing amount of study of the Late Period.

Although not my primary area of interest, the Late Period, particularly the 26th Dynasty has always grabbed my attention and had a grip on my heart due to it’s concious “Archaic Revival” of Old and Middle Kingdom traditions, and the sheer beauty of some of it’s art. Sadly, due the fact that the main power base and focus of activity at this time was in the Delta region of Egypt rather than the valley, not a lot has survived the damp climate and population pressures.

This is however a very interesting period in Egyptian history, and up until now hasn’t been one presented to the public in the same way that the New Kingdom empire has. This period spanned almost two centuries of revival in Egyptian fortunes, and gifted some prominent rulers, including the five decade long unified rule of Psamtik I, whilst his daughter, Nitocris I, served as God’s Wife of Amun in Thebes (Waset) for seventy years.

The exhibition itself has around 140 exhibits in total, most of them directly relating to the Late Period, and is being academically rather than commercially marketed, which is heartening. As such, my hopes are quite high. I merely hope I have the opportunity to find out in person if these hopes can be justified, and that I will have a chance to visit in person.

I have decided to post information about it here, as although the exhibition is already under way, there is not a great deal of information on it that has been widely distributed online, and that awareness of it is quite low. It does appear to be a professional and well done exhibition that I feel may be of interest to readers of this blog, and I hope that it may be precisely the kind of exhibition that I wrote about previously. A well researched, professional exhibition of the very best of Pharaonic culture of this period. I hope… Let us see…

“The term “Pharaonic Renaissance” indicates a period spanning the beginning of the seventh to the middle of the sixth century B.C. (XXVth and XXVIth dynasty). In this period Egypt knew a moment of renewed splendour after the three centuries of political and economic crisis that followed the New Kingdom.

In the Pharaonic Renaissance, cultural manifestations are characterized by a conscious retrieval of the past. Archaic tendencies aimed at preserving the country’s cultural identity are recognizable in several other moments of Egyptian history. Only in the Pharaonic Renaissance, though, can one find a conscious re-modelling of older artistic expressions into new forms. This resulted in a renewed view of the main religious and social concepts, which undergo noticeable changes indeed during the Pharaonic Renaissance. This moment is vital to the history of Egypt also due to the arrival of the first Greek travellers. The latter, charmed by the Nilotic culture, exported it to their homeland and then to the entire Mediterranean basin. It can be hence said that contemporary European culture is eventually a direct result of the way of feeling and thinking elaborated between the seventh and sixth centuries B.C.

Studies on the Pharaonic Renaissance have grown over the last few years, and the exhibition in Ljubljana aims to reflect this. This is the first time the public is being offered an up-to-date analysis of this era through a highly valuable exhibition. Besides the era between the seventh and sixth centuries B.C., other classical periods of Egyptian history (Old, Middle and New Kingdom) are also documented, supplying a necessary introduction to the event. The exhibition is hence also the spark for a more generic reasoning about archaism and the sense of history in ancient Egypt. This is in turn another topic focusing the attention of contemporary Egyptological research.

140 exibits within the exhibition come from major European collections: the British Museum (London), Louvre (Paris), Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna), the Egyptian museums of Berlin, Munich and Florence, Civico Museo di Storia e Arte (Trieste), Archaeological Museum »A.Salinas«, Palermo, Museum of Fine Arts (Budapest) and Archaeological Museum (Zagreb). Some items belong to the private collection of the lost Giuseppe Sinopoli, who developed in his last years a real passion for classical, Egyptian and near-eastern antiquities.”

From the exhibition website

Tempted?

I’m afraid I do not have information on ticket prices. However, for information on the city of Ljudljana then the city’s official tourism website may be of assistance. EasyJet flies daily from Stanstead, whilst Adria Airways flies from Gatwick. Return fares start from around £125.