Egypt Starts King Tut’s Tomb Restoration and Other News about Antiquities in Egypt
Egypt has started implementing the tomb of Tutankhamen restoration project, Culture Minister Farouq Hosni said on Tuesday 10/11/2009. The Tutankhamen project will undertake detailed planning for the conservation and management of the tomb and its wall paintings.
“I always see the tomb of King Tut and wonder about those spots, which no scientist has been able to explain. I was worried about these, and have asked experts to examine the scenes,” Dr. Zahi Hawas, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) pointed out.
By comparison with other tombs in the Valley of the Kings, Tutankhamen’s tomb is relatively simple. Of the tomb’s four rooms, only the walls of the burial chamber are decorated.
The wall paintings in this chamber, as well as some of the
tomb’s other surfaces, are marred by disfiguring brown spots, which were noted by Carter’s excavation team.
The nature and origin of the spots have never been fully ascertained, and they are among the technical conservation challenges presented by the tomb.
Four archaic wells discovered in Egypt
Egyptian -French archaeologists have unearthed in El- Sharqiya province four ancient wells that date back to the 25th and 26th pharaonic dynasties. The wells are part of a newly-discovered Sacred Lake in a temple to the Egyptian goddess Mut in the ruins of ancient Tanis.
Supreme Council of Antiquities Secretary General Zahi Hawwas said on Sunday 8/11/2009 the wells vary in shape and size.
Two of them have circular shapes with a 210-220 cm diameter, while the other two are square.
They are believed to have been used by the people for daily purposes, he added.
The Sacred Lake was uncovered in October. It was found 12 meters below ground at the San al-Hagar archaeological site in Egypt’s eastern Nile Delta and was 15 meters long and 12 meters wide and built out of limestone blocks. It was in good condition. Â It was the second sacred lake found at Tanis, which became the northern capital of ancient Egypt in the 21st pharaonic dynasty, over 3,000 years ago.
The first lake at the site was found in 1928. The goddess Mut, sometimes depicted as a vulture, was the wife of Amun, god of wind and the breath of life. She was also mother of the moon god Khonsu.
Discoveries of Polish archaeologists in a Byzantine basilica in Egypt
Polish archaeologists discovered an unknown baptistery, and a few hundred bronze coins during the tenth archaeological season in Marea, a town situated 45 kilometers southeast of Alexandria.
Whilst excavating the floors in the basilicas main nave and its northern side nave the scientists discovered a baptistery. Its dimension is 4.5 by 2.5 meters and is 1.5 meters high. It is built from large stone blocks.
The archaeologists also discovered a well attached to the baptistery with special holes in its walls for the people who where to clean it. , that was attached to the baptistery, It hasn’t been established whether water from the well,
Two giant structures were discovered in the southern cave. Â They were probably built there to create a small area next to the side entrance to the basilica. Archaeologists discovered fragments of a marble bowl for holy water between them. In the northeastern corner of the basilica archaeologists discovered a camouflaged cellar made up of two rooms, partially rock-hewn. The cellar was full of almost one hundred small water vessels and olive lamps. They also discovered a few hundred bronze coins. Two ditches above the cellar served to ventilate it.
Egyptian, Hungarian culture ministers inaugurate archaeological cultural celebration in Egyptian Museum
Egyptian Culture Minister Farouq Hosni and his Hungarian counterpart Istvan Hiller opened Saturday 7/11/2009 an exhibition showcasing 140 artifacts discovered by the Hungarian archaeological mission in Egypt.
Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) Zahi Hawwas was present.
The exhibition, which was held at the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square, is organized to mark the 102nd anniversary of the Hungarian archaeological mission operating in Egypt.
Members of the Hungarian archeological mission and several
Egyptian archaeologists attended the event, at which the Egyptian and Hungarian culture ministers hailed bilateral cooperation in the cultural and archaeological fields.
The Hungarian mission operated in and around Thebes 102 years ago, Hawwas said.
Hammurabi Seal Discovered
An Austrian archaeological mission discovered the remains of a seal made of burnt clay with inscriptions in cuneiform. The remains of the seal, found by the mission of the Austrian Archaeological Institute in Cairo and the Egyptology Institute of the University of Vienna, were unearthed during excavation works in the archaeological area of Tal El-Daba’a in al-Sharqiya governorate, 120 kilometres northeast Cairo
Zahi Hawas, the Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), said the seal, dating back to the Babylonian era, namely the ruling time of King Hammurabi (1792-1750 BC), is the second of its kind to be discovered by the Austrian mission.
“The first seal is similar to this one. It had been discovered inside the palace of King Khayan of the Hyksos (1653-1614 BC), dating back the late Babylonian era,” said Hawas in statements.
Manfred Bietak, the Chief of the Austrian archaeological mission in Egypt, said the two seals are of paramount importance, being the most ancient Babylonian ones found in Egypt as they date back to 150 years before the discovery of similar seals inside the ancient archaeological city of Tal al-Amarna.
Bietak noted that the two seals also indicate that the Hyksos, known as the shepherd kings and had been notorious Asiatic invaders, had trade relations with the Far East that stretched to Babylonia.
Hammurabi is the sixth King of Babylon from 1792 BC to 1750 BC. Hammurabi is known for the set of laws called Hammurabi’s Code, one of the first written codes of law in recorded history. Hammurabi’s portrait is in many government buildings throughout the world.
Carter Rest-House Project Inaugurated
Zahi Hawwas, the Secretary-General of the Supreme council of Antiquities (SCA), inaugurated on Wednesday 4/11/2009 the rest house of Howard Carter, the discoverer of ancient Egyptian King Tutankhamen’s tomb in 1922, after its restoration.
“Soon, the members of King Tut’s family will be uncovered after finishing the DNA tests,” he said.
He said the rest-house, located at al-Bar Al-Gharbi (West Bank of the River Nile)
in the Upper Egyptian archaeological city of Luxor, will be leased for three nights annually, including 4 November, the day the tomb was unearthed, for a sum of $20,000.
December 11, 2009
Posted in: Egypt