Valley of the Kings News on other blogs

INTERVIEW: Nicholas Reeves '60% sure' ahead of Nefertiti announcement - Ancient Egypt - Heritage - Ahram Online

Jane Akshar — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 16:35:00 +0000

INTERVIEW: Nicholas Reeves '60% sure' ahead of Nefertiti announcement - Ancient Egypt - Heritage - Ahram Online: INTERVIEW: Nicholas Reeves '60% sure' ahead of Nefertiti announcement
The British archaeologist has been conducting field work with Egypt's antiquities minister after putting forth a theory locating Nefertiti's crypt

Search for Egypt's Nefertiti gains new momentum - US News

Jane Akshar — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 14:08:00 +0000

Search for Egypt's Nefertiti gains new momentum - US News: While touring the burial sites of Tutankhamun and other pharaohs in Luxor's famed Valley of the Kings with British Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves, Minister Mamdouh el-Damaty said he now thinks King Tut's 3,300 year-old pharaonic mausoleum probably contains at least one hidden chamber.

Faith, Archaeology and the Gods

Geoff Carter — Tue, 29 Sep 2015 17:57:00 +0000

Recent events in the Middle East, or rather several millennia of tragedy in the area, has highlighted the issues of Gods, and the problems they cause, so should archaeologists have any dealings with the supernatural?

Meta-parables

Faith changes people’s lives, although it is often other folk’s beliefs, rather than our own that have the most significant impact; my life changed forever at Newcastle University where my work based on mathematics proved no match for a revelatory “Iron Age Building Cosmology”; as we shall see, when creating myth a power-base is more important than an evidence base. While rationality, at least as expressed in science and maths is universal, Gods, despite their claims are usually fairly locally based, archaeology is aware of this because we know where they lived. While Gods clearly can inhabit a variety of elements and dimensions, it probably saves confusion when interacting with human society if they have a principle residence from where they can transact their business.
As a structural archaeologist, I am comfortable discussing the architectural needs and formalities of a residence suitable for those Gods who like that sort of thing, but problems arise with their communications, which have often proved to be a somewhat unreliable source of information. In the past, Gods tended to speak to individuals when they are on their own; we know this because from the Early Bronze Age onwards accounts of these conversations were written down, so we can glimpse of how they wanted society to be organised, and what they regarded as their legitimate business interests.
If you start from the position that history is a subset of archaeology that deals with specialist forms of physical evidence inscribed with text, it makes no sense to draw a line around certain artefacts and treat them differently, but I am happy to leave them to those with specialist skills; archaeology always needs people to sit in the site hut and study the finds. This boundary between the prehistoric and historic represents a quantum leap in understanding, because they can tell us what they thought, or what they want us to believe they were thinking, or perhaps what they wanted others to think.
Archaeology has got a lot to be grateful to the Gods for, since they have been constant companions for the cultures we study, inspiring many of the our most magnificent finds, and just as significantly, many of the people who went looking for them and funded the excavations. Ironically, the intensity of interest engendered by the Supernatural has driven research by generations of archaeologists to the point that we can now understand our own past, without the help of the Gods.
Stiffs

One potential intersection between Gods and archaeology is issues created by finding dead bodies, above and beyond the hassle they create in terms of technical, legal and logistic issues, in certain cultural contexts can be complex and political. We have had an interesting dispute over the remains from Stonehenge, with Neopagans trying to lay claim to advocacy for the mortal remains of the pre-Christian world. in much the same way that many have been posthumously baptised into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; the new cottage industry of ancestral research has much to be grateful to the Angel Maroni.
Archaeology ascribes much significance to burial practices as indicative of the development of ideas about an afterlife, and we can be fairly sure that Palaeolithic humans were burying their dead, but the jury is out on Neanderthal belief. Luckily, it is an area I have never had to deal with, probably because when the opportunity arose, I used the industry term “stiff” in front of a mixed interview panel, although this might be a myth. Depending on age, there are 270 to 206 bones in the Human body, all of which have to be accounted for and recorded. Some anthropologists love this treatment of the dead stuff, I am more than happy to put it in a box send it to someone else and move on, while they may have been in the ground a long time, I would contend that peoples brief lives in and around buildings is the interesting bit.
However, museums have always been well stocked with kit originally intended for an afterlife where status was important. Luckily, most of the graves I have excavated were those of very early Christians, which were empty apart from a chemical signature, which is not uncommon; in archaeology there is no box to tick for resurrected.
It’s alright, I’m an archaeologist.

It has long been my practice when approached by evangelicals and similar to say “It’s alright I’m an archaeologist”, - using the resultant confusion to escape. It is not something they are prepared for, and it also works well as a response to most openers used by sales people.
While it usually does the trick, the persistent will soon discover my original degree is Archaeology with Philosophy, Psychology, Geology and Ancient History, none of which encourages a magical view of the past. Just for the record, it is my understanding that archaeology does not support or verify the existence of any particular Gods, which surprisingly, is contrary to what many scholars believe. As popular entertainment will verify archaeologists are not the sort to be easily intimidated by ancient Gods, sifting through the wreckage of their temples does take the gloss off their wrath. Even if one of us achieves all archaeologists dream and find the Arc of the Covenant, complete with radiant tablets of stone, it would not prove Moses wrote them; although it might precipitate the end of the world, but that's what being an archaeologists is all about; health and safety.
Nor am I going to be impressed by a tautology like “Prehistoric cosmology” any more than I would give credence to a creationist; critical thinking is a transferable skill. “Prehistoric” means pre- historic or before written records, so we cannot legitimately have a discourse based on the “perceptions” of the participants in the preliterate past. You cannot read the minds of the dead, even “in theory” or on the basis of; “if we could - this is what they would say”. “Ideas” for which we have no relevant data or evidence, and cannot conceivably be tested, are not really theories but articles of faith.
To accept ideas like Iron Age Building Cosmology you would have to believe in some special revelatory processes, similar to those used by Gods to communicate their ideas. The problem with this type of guess work about Prehistoric perception is that it takes ideas and projects them onto the past, rather than working by deduction from the evidence. Fundamentally, it is the difference between astrology and astronomy or religion and science. To understand why this distinction was once considered important we have to go back to the enlightenment, over three centuries ago.
Cogito ergo sum

In the 16th century the Reformation had broken the monopoly of access to the Gods and their devotional texts held by Rome for over a thousand years. They could no longer rely on civic authority to burn mathematicians and other academics for Heresy, thus in following century the intellectual movement known as the Enlightenment was able to argue a that the world could be best understood using reason, rather than through Gods, marking the beginnings of modern science.
Many an undergraduate philosophy course starts with something like Rene Descartes’s Meditations on First Philosophy, published in 1643, although not normally in its original Latin; he is an individual whose view of the world [or “cosmology”] we can be reasonably confident discussing. Descartes was an Enlightenment figure, who was important in the development of the mathematics of archaeological planning. He is probably best known as the originator of the phrase Cogito ergo sum - I think therefore I am; this comes from his Meditations which contains two important ideas fundamental to understanding archaeology, as well other things like science; doubt and belief.

In Meditations Descartes is concerned with the nature of reality, particularly in the relationship between subjective and objective, a relationship we have through our senses. He starts from a position of doubt, because we can imagine things that are not real, perhaps we cannot we trust these processes, since our senses might be deceiving us. This leaves Descartes in a logical puzzle which he can only really escape by invoking a God, who is Good and therefore would not deceive him about his presence, and thus he can be certain of his existence. It is from this famous “circular” argument he goes on the construct the rest of the treatise, illustrating both the importance of doubt in questioning your own prior assumptions, as well as what can happen if subjective and objective become confused. Doubt is one of the most important concepts in any investigation and a theme I have often discussed before in relation to archaeology, a lot of poor practice arises because assumptions are not questioned. We routinely prejudge our investigation in terms of previous results, but archaeological excavation is not a repeatable experiment; it is not chemistry. Expectations based on other excavations, which are often expressed in a project design, can result in only finding what you were looking for and ignoring unhelpful features or evidence.
Recently, I demonstrated that the Roman “Turf Wall” could not have been made of turf by using the only scientific aspect of the evidence presented in the recent peer reviewed English Heritage excavation report, which reached the opposite conclusion by simply ignoring the data that did not fit the presumption of a structure made from turves.
This inability to question our own presumptions and those of others is partially a result of using a methodology that defines relationships and significance on the basis of superficial similarities. In this way, and by ignoring the majority of excavated evidence, British Iron Age archaeology has faithfully reproduced the results of its type site at Little Woodbury for nearly eighty years.
By looking for what other people found and understood, we mitigate against difference in favour of uniformity. Archaeology can thus be reduced to a tick box culture of simplistic concepts by which we can strip and record without recourse to excavation, or the need for a “none of the above” box.
Typology

Traditionally, in terms of Western Europe, most people’s wider perception of the past came from the Bible, and this is what drove much early archaeology, but we should also give mention to emotive power of Homer, and we can cite an enormous trench driven through the mound at Hisarlık by Heinrich Schliemann in his search for Troy. Much of what he dug through was the classical period town that grew up, at least in part to monetise this connection with the heroes of ancient history.
While being unable to verify the participation of any particular Gods or even humans, Archaeology provides a perfectly satisfactory Bronze Age context for the Homeric epic, set in this strategically important location. However, History does illustrate how myths propagate, with Virgil's Aeneid, linking the foundation of Rome, and probably the Julio-Claudian dynasty, to the Trojan War through the character of the Trojan Prince Aeneas, who was also was an ancestor of Brutus the first King of the Britons, whose arrival in Britain is attested by a stone on Fore Street in Totnes, Devon.
It is not until the invention of writing and the creation of devotional literature in the Bronze Age that we start to see what people might believe. For convenience, I will use the term “devotional literature” in its widest since, covering all religious writings, which in reality has a variety of forms with varying factual content and perceived cultural legitimacy. A lot of this material recounts conversations between human characters and super natural beings in as variety of forms and contexts, the veracity of which is difficult to verify archaeologically.
In addition, a non-material concept like an Angel or afterlife present problems for translators; a lot of ancient writings are accounts and lists, which are easier to read if not very interesting. However, they do remind us that religion was part of system that mobilised whole populations around their Gods.

We marvel at Egyptian temples, but not necessarily at the system that could concentrate such vast amounts of wealth at the disposal of their Gods. Civilisation, as we have tended to define it, was a product of small group of people persuading everyone else to work for their benefit, and religion was the tool they used.
There is a marked, but perfectly reasonable tendency for societies to make Gods in their own image, which is the principle interest in their devotional literature, although until comparatively recently, written texts are the province of small elite, most people believed what they were told, which is not necessarily the same thing. While Gods seem to have been free to move about, it becomes impractical to organise their worship if they can be contacted just anywhere, they need a house or some agreed fixed point of contact. Hosting a God is a significant franchise; brand loyalty is imprinted in childhood, and often rigorously enforced. Depending on the track record of your Gods, sacrifice can be seen as a preventative measure, to ward off some impending doom, or gratitude for the services rendered and continued success bringing doom to others. Sacrifice in the approved manner could deter gods from, going rogue, which is why it is such an imperative; if you stopped the world might end badly.
While the world is clearly full of dangers and the fear of death is perfectly reasonable, our empirical mechanistic view of the world works perfectly well most of the time. Daily life is usually safe and predictable, that is what makes it possible, so the profane is important if only to highlight the sacred. As I have discussed in relation to Vitruvius, rationality was important for practical matters, so we should not project an idea of religious naivety and superstition on the past.
Ego-Video Liber Deorum

We tend to associate ideas with the peoples in whose writings we first encounter them, thus the ancient Greeks or the Babylonians get credit for ideas, simply because that’s where the paper or clay tablet trail runs out. We can note that we have examples of early pantheons or families of god with seven members, corresponding the 7 heavenly bodies, which in turn related to the days of the week etc..
However, Archaeology is one of those subject where a single find or site can radically change ideas about ancient culture; So what interests me in the 2.8 m tall, [perhaps originally 5.3 m], Mesolithic wooden statue from bog near Shigir in Siberia, is that in addition to the main head it has six other smaller faces carved on the front and back. I would argue that we are at least entitled to note these seven faces, and discuss them with reference to cosmologies we understand from later periods, although beyond this, it would be unwise to speculate about what they believed about them. Generally, we can observe Gods have a fairly parochial view, so Neolithic deities address Neolithic issues. In these ancient stories we can see the issues of the transition to a Neolithic lifestyle, pastoralism, cereal farming, urbanisation, and even an underlying sense of change from a lost earlier age.

In a previous article I noted that the Babylonian myth of Atra-Hasis, known for its Flood parallels, describes a creation where man is created to be the slaves of the gods and work in their fields, doing the work previously done by junior Gods, one of whom sacrificed his life so humans might have existence. The creation in the bible comes from people recently enslaved by the Babylonians, and makes no reference to slavery, but places the blame for a life of agricultural servitude firmly and squarely on women.
The Holy Land
All the points I have made about belief and doubt take on greater significance when we discuss certain fairly specific classes of archaeological material, which has prompted its own specialist schools of archaeology, and the term Biblical Archaeology. As a result in the Bible Lands, especially the Holy Land, archaeologists have probably moved more dirt per square mile than anywhere else on earth.

The translation of the bible broke the Catholic Church's monopoly on devotional literature, opening it up to analysis, and by 1807 the Documentary hypothesis had identified the four principle sets of writings that had been used to form the Pentateuch or five Books of Moses, although it would be a long time before archaeology would start to explain the context.
This was Iron Age Devotional literature describing events in the Bronze Age; it was not produced in a vacuum, to be relevant it draw on the past and reflect a present where refugees were returning to the area following the collapse of the Babylonian Empire in 586. It integrated the writings from the now defunct northern state of Israel with those from Judah to ensure the authorities in Jerusalem complete control of religious and civic matters in the new state.
The objective was to establish a single God that could only be properly worshipped in Jerusalem, which in practical terms meant sacrificing animals, which was one of the primary ways religion was monetised.
To this end, a glorious and heroic past was created for Jerusalem; the real and imagined disasters of history were recast as a failure to follow this [new] tradition. Whatever the spiritual qualities of this God, in common with many Gods, he could only really be found at home in his temple at Jerusalem.
Gods like blood, and lots of it. In the good old days Gods wanted things killed in return for their favour, blood and more blood was the currency universally accepted, while this frowned on as old fashioned, killing it is still regarded as a legitimate form of worship for contemporary followers of Gods. It is important to understand that people being killed by priests would be human sacrifice, so traditionally the civil authorities had to do the killing on behalf of Gods
Despite initial imagined success, biblical archaeology has failed to support the Pentateuch’s version of the Bronze Age created by the priests in Jerusalem, because in reality this area was generally dominated by the empires to either side, and is by ancient standards, well documented. For archaeology, Moses, even, some might argue Solomon and David, are no more real than Brutus the first king of Britain, which is not to say these characters did not have historical cores, but their role in history could not have been as described, which amounts the same thing.
By this period of the Iron Age archaeology and history converge in this part of the world as over time the Persian Empire was taken over by the Greeks, and then by the Romans ruling through client kings like Herod the Great (73-4 BC), who were already part of the international elite from the Greek world.
Empires are complex places, where in the competitive world of Gods, there are manifest winners and losers, but client kingdoms needed their client religion to function. Polytheism was a more flexible approach, it had common routes allowing for mix and matching, it even would allow that for a view that all Gods were the reflection of one underlying reality, [Henotheism].
So having supernatural beings in charge of an Empire was an important part of the story, not just for the winners but also for the losers.
Render unto Caesar
On 15 March 44 BC Gaius Julius Caesar was assassinated at the age of 55, less than two years later he was formally deified as Divus Iulius by Roman Senate on 1 January 42 BC. Caesar Octavian, henceforth became Divi filius ("Son of a god"), later in 13BC, as the Emperor Augustus, he united religious and political power by becoming Pontifex Maximus or chief priest of Rome.
The Roman Pantheon was on the up, and the new Julio-Claudian brand was backed by serious earthly muscle, if you were de facto the most powerful individual on earth, who is going to quibble about calling yourself a God?

Sadly, for the Religion centred on the Temple in Jerusalem, one idea that defined itself was the prohibition of graven images, and one of the ways the Imperial Cult manifested itself was through statues dedicated to the emperor put up in their places of worship by citizens grateful for his protection. In reality, Empires don’t need complicated reasons for subjugating people who rebel, and the first of series of conflicts known as the Jewish Wars broke out in 66 AD, in which religious teachings undoubtedly played some part. Ideas about heroic leaders who arise at the time of crisis, so much a part of foundation myths, that it led to a series Messianic leaders claiming to able to set their people free. The Romans dealt with the problem in the finest tradition of scorched earth, and completely destroyed the country particularly Jerusalem were they removed all trace of the Temple, killing or selling off its population during the period 66-73AD.

There are going to be Gods that don’t deliver the goods, and particularly for those don’t see merger as a way forward, for the Jews the whole concept of sacrifice at the temple, and what that represented was gone. There is a limited range of available responses; the first is to revert to type and blame the followers for not being worthy, while promising revenge through some sort of apocalypse or the return of saviour figure in the future. The last of these messianic leaders Simon bar Kokhba was killed during a revolt of 132-135 AD, which was named after him, bringing to an end 60 years of rebellion, factional and ethnic fighting in the Eastern Mediterranean.

The grim reality of a competitive, if somewhat rigged market in Gods, first under the Greeks and then the Romans, ideas about nature of God, saviours, and temples get overtaken by events. When the end of the world failed to materialise, just more Romans, which for many cultures amounted to the same thing, there was an explosion in new devotional literature and gods.
This continued until the early forth century when Roman emperors opted for standardisation, backing a new imperial monopoly based around a Christian cannon of Latin devotional literature.
That would be an ecumenical matter

Thus, even as early 4th century Romans went looking for, and found most of the sacred sites mentioned in their texts; it could be argued that this was the beginnings of archaeology, in that, we are still awaiting the final report 1600 years later. The Holy Land was up and running as a commercial enterprise.
These excavations produced finds including bits of the cross, nails, and other ironmongery, evidence that has been long since discredited, although the remains of a shroud has fought a remarkable rear-guard action.
What later archaeologists went looking for and found were texts, although the two most important discoveries, the Dead Sea scrolls, and the Nag Hammadii documents were found by accident. In some ways Biblical archaeology went in search for an historical Christ, but the further back it dug the deeper the mystery became, to the point where some are even prepared to question the underlying assumption about what it is they were looking for. Interestingly, what has been uncovered is what the early church fathers had effectively buried, a wide diversity of devotional literature like texts from Nag Hammadii in Egypt which appear to represent a Gnostic view of God, one of the dozens of groups whose ideas and books did not make it, except as a footnote in later books about heresy.
Way beyond the Tradition that you might be taught at school or discuss in church, at the cutting edge of archaeological scholarship there is actually a debate about the Historicity of Jesus, because unlike the Divine Julius, it is possible to argue we don’t really have any independent sources for his life in the first third of the C1st. The consensus view among specialists is that he was a real person around whom a body of later literature grew up probably from an aural tradition. But there is a logical governor on the consensus, this person has to have been special enough to start a movement, but not so special as to attract attention of the contemporary historians and commentators of the Period.

There are three key points to grasp in this debate; our earliest “Christian” writings are 7 epistles of Paul dated to the 50’s; the first “Gospel” Mark is written in the 70’s, and that of the evidence from sources outside this body of devotional literature is to a greater or lesser extent forged. It should also be pointed out, that while arguments hinge on the translation single words in a few individual verses, these are not physical artefacts but theoretical literary constructs, we have only fragments texts from the early Second century.

In addition to the problem of minor errors and editing in hand-copied literature, we have the issue of wholesale forgery; while archaeology cannot verify subjective accounts of conversations with Gods, as with any other artefact, it can work out roughly when and how they were created using changes in style or form. In polite society we use the term pseudepigraphic, to describe artefacts like the 6 epistles now “attributed” Paul, but written later, probably to help integrate Paul’s supernatural Christ with Mark's story of a preacher in Galilee. Before Paul, the Papyrus trail goes cold; in the Dead Sea Scrolls, which include first Century writing from Judea where the roots of Christianity have been sought, there is no trace, at least nothing the Christians would wish to claim as their own, but instead it is from the Greek speaking Jewish diaspora that our ideas of Jesus emerge.
A minimalist view would be that all the Gospel narratives are copied from and develop the narrative in the Gospel of Mark, without the need for lost sources such as Q, noting that Paul makes no reference to this later biography.
A Devil's Advocate

It can be argued that the only primary source is a short literary account of the ministry and death of a Jesus of Nazareth written in Greek by unknown author with poor knowledge of the geography and religious culture of the area. It is an account of a peaceful messiah, tolerant of the Romans, but who is opposed to the practices of the Jerusalem temple, and, warning of a coming catastrophe, is cruelly put to death at the behest of the Jewish religious authorities, only for the body to disappear from its tomb. It is well written, full of Allegory, illusions and typology, but it originated not from Hebrew tradition, but from the Greek speaking diaspora, with the author of Mark’s Gospel probably based in Rome.
Currently, at the most brutally rational side of the argument is Richard Carrier, who argues that by the normal standards of History, no case for the Historical Jesus of can be made, concluding he was he was mythical, a God that was given an earthly biography, a process known as euhemerism.

Thus, unlike the Divine Julius, who had a life and became a god, he argues that Christ was a supernatural being who was later given an earthly biography by the author of Mark. This idea is not new and was developed in the C19th by a variety of scholars unhappy with supernatural explanations, and looking for a rational account of history. This mythicist argument would also note that in the wider context, many gods in this period were based around mystery cults, with personal saviour gods or children of Gods, that undergo a passion to achieve victory over death which they share with their followers. In an empire, where by definition most people and their Gods start out as losers, many could relate to a message of a suffering of an righteousness man and the futility of resistance. Unlike some its predecessors, it was portable, simple for anyone to join and did not involve genital mutilation or dietary restrictions.
The idea Jesus of Nazareth is a non-historical figure might seem shocking,but can be sustained because outside a later literary tradition created by the anonymous author of Mark, there is no incontrovertible evidence. We can plot the synoptic literary trajectory that propelled the Human with supernatural powers into a supernatural being; Archaeology has to bail out fairly early on. While nautical archaeologists might disagree, walking on water is not something that need concern us, but the idea that “.. the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose . . ”, would have serious implications for the archaeological record, and we can’t take that lying down.
Outside of a “traditional” gospel framework there are no real dots to join, so that you can add as much mystery, conspiracy, divinity or mythicism to support a wide variety of identities of a Christ, including real historical candidates from the many better documented Gods and Messiahs in this period. As an archaeologist, I was quite interested in the Talpiot Tomb; here at least was a real historical family tomb with named individuals. However, for biblical scholars, and for a whole raft of reasons, this was the wrong type of evidence, not least is that the last thing people were actually looking for was a body. Outside of independent textural evidence, a box of bones with a name on it is about as good it gets in archaeology.
I believe that History is a cocked-up attempt at conspiracy, and those that can, will tend to drive events in the direction of their pecuniary interest. It is written by the winners who can write, and with state backing, by the end of the fourth century imperial power set about destroying the houses of rival Gods, killing their priests, and burning their devotional literature. While the scribes in Jerusalem had created a Glorious past, Christian Historians created the reverse, a history of martyrdom and suffering, making the conversion of the empire even more miraculous.
If we look at the Catholic Church, we see that for over a millennium after the collapse of the Western Empire Rome remained a centre of power with its own independent Latin speaking transnational culture; it was generally more stable than the secular establishments which it legitimated. The powers assumed by Augustus centralising the regulation of Gods were still based in Rome, and even today official are writing biography of pontiffs detailing the supernatural events associated with them. However, the idea of devotional literature being created in an imperial court setting, runs contrary to the notion that it was written by bearded men in caves or monastic cells.
Caveat Emptor
Whatever the inherent powers or qualities of Gods, they have remarkably poor record as sources of information about the past, although some are well read, their prescience has to be questioned, since they did to see archaeology coming. Even as late as September 1823, the Angel Maroni had ideas about the history of Native Americans, which subsequent archaeology has shown to be erroneous. Since, I graduated, 35 years ago, there have only been 6 years when Gods had not claimed the world was going to end, which is a success rate of 17 %, which is a pretty low score on a Yes/No question.
However, archaeology would not be where it is today without the Gods, and should appreciate the funding and interest they generate. Perhaps it does us no harm when archaeological discoveries contradicting opinions expressed by Gods are described as controversial. Despite a poor track record, the wisdom imparted by Angels is by its nature construed as authoritative, which has resulted series of spirited and often ingenious attempts to resolve problems by fitting the archaeology around a devotional narrative.
No amount of digging can prove that a supernatural being promised territory to a particular group of people in the Bronze Age, but archaeology can help explain why a group of priests in the Iron Age might want to write such a story down. A variety of competing political and religious interests backed early archaeology, but as with many things, the Nazi party's racially motivated archaeology represents a nadir; sadly, it would be easy to draw some uncomfortable parallels with contemporary misuse of archaeology for political purposes.
Much poor archaeology results from looking for something specific, or having too narrowly defined objectives and not understanding the concept of doubt. Apart from creating a huge geographical bias in our understanding, Biblical Archaeology, despite the inherent partiality in the initial premise, has acquitted itself reasonably well. Despite their best efforts Franciscan archaeologists have failed to find a first century Nazareth, which has in no way affected the commercial interests of the area, there are never any shortage of people prepared to give their life savings to visit sacred rocks, rivers, temples and tombs; many regional economies are dependent on the supernatural. The Gods of Egypt, with significant foresight had stone houses built, which thanks in part to archaeology, still function remarkably well, drawing considerable income into the region.

The idea of a God suffering a passion, explicit in the Atra Hasis tradition, where Geshtu-E died so that we might live; guilt over a suffering or dead god is a familiar part of the toolkit. Gods have always known how to make people, particularly children feel bad about themselves. Guilt gives them a stick with which they can beat themselves for a lifetime; children frighten easily and putting the fear of Gods into them usually ensures a lifetime of obedient brand loyalty. We should not be surprised that information imparted by an angel that life is better after you are dead can be drilled into children and even adults to the point where they are willing to kill not just other people, but even themselves. Tragically, History, even today, is still being driven by these paranormal communications; enlightenment is not a one way process, and if you invite them, the Gods will happily take you back to the dark ages; they have traditionally appreciated Blood, although preferably all over the walls of someone else's temple.
On a more mundane level, as an archaeologist there is lot I could say about passion and suffering; I know absolutely that mechanical structures can be described by maths, this is not a belief, I think of it as an understanding; but I found myself at an institution where revelatory Prehistoric cosmologies trump 300 years of post-enlightenment thinking. While they can relieve people of their money and a career, at least they can’t burn you. While at a bottom feeding Russel Group University like Newcastle you can’t necessarily expect intelligence, some rudimentary standard of education, and perhaps some understanding of academic method would have been nice, at least at Professorial level. Both the early Church fathers and modern academics are members of institutions with the power to make the past in their own image, both are apparently infallible and you can’t sue either for false prospectus or conspiracy to defraud; Caveat Emptor.

Sources and further reading.

For those like me who can no longer afford books, and don't have an institution to buy them on demand, here is some sources of free information.
Alternative less partial takes on Gods, including their own words, are available in all good book shops and Some Free on line. A list of Devotional Literature considered sacred:

Meta-parables

Newcastle University Caveat Emptor

Stiffs

[Illustration ] "Or de Varna - Nécropole" by I, Yelkrokoyade. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Or_de_Varna_-_N%C3%A9cropole.jpg#/media/File:Or_de_Varna_-_N%C3%A9cropole.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic_religion

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burial

http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/Stonehenge-s-bones-contention/story-20109790-detail/story.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_paganism

It’s alright, I’m an archaeologist

[Illustration ] http://www.mwctoys.com/REVIEW_080108a.htm

The Tutor was Dr Jane Webster - Newcastle University's expert on Iron Age Building Cosmology

Cogito ergo sum

[Illustration ] "Frans Hals - Portret van René Descartes" by After Frans Hals (1582/1583–1666) - André Hatala [e.a.] (1997) De eeuw van Rembrandt, Bruxelles: Crédit communal de Belgique, ISBN 2-908388-32-4.. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Frans_Hals_-_Portret_van_Ren%C3%A9_Descartes.jpg#/media/File:Frans_Hals_-_Portret_van_Ren%C3%A9_Descartes.jpg

[Illustration ] "Meditationes de prima philosophia 1641" by Bibliothèque Nationale de France - Bibliothèque nationale de France. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Meditationes_de_prima_philosophia_1641.jpg#/media/File:Meditationes_de_prima_philosophia_1641.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_burned_as_heretics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Descartes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meditations_on_First_Philosophy

http://structuralarchaeology.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/de-turfing-hadrians-wall_28.html

Hadrian’s Wall Archaeological Research by English Heritage 1976–2000

edited by Tony Wilmott

http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-1416-1/dissemination/pdf/9781848021587_all.pdf [Accessed 25/12/2014]

Typology

[Illustration ] "BrutusStoneTotnes" by myself - my photopgraph. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BrutusStoneTotnes.JPG#/media/File:BrutusStoneTotnes.JPG

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brutus_of_Troy

http://structuralarchaeology.blogspot.com/2011/10/vitruvius-on-trees.html

Ego-Video Liber Deorum

[Illustration ] "Il tempio di Hatshepsut" by Andrea Piroddi - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Il_tempio_di_Hatshepsut.JPG#/media/File:Il_tempio_di_Hatshepsut.JPG

{Illustration after} http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/602020/Shigir-Idol-wooden-statue-oldest-in-world-earliest-form-writing

[Illustration ] "Bm-epic-g". Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bm-epic-g.jpg#/media/File:Bm-epic-g.jpg

http://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/Ego-Video_Liber_Deorum

http://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/Book:Small_Gods

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shigir_Idol

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantheon_(religion)

http://structuralarchaeology.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/why-did-gods-create-slavery.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atra-Hasis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geshtu-E

The Holy Land

[Illustration ] "William Blake - Moses Receiving the Law - Google Art Project" by William Blake - 3wHJdwPKniIvjQ at Google Cultural Institute, zoom level maximum. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Blake_-_Moses_Receiving_the_Law_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg#/media/File:William_Blake_-_Moses_Receiving_the_Law_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentary_hypothesis

The sources are known as J, the Jahwist source (from the German transliteration of the Hebrew YHWH), E, the Elohist source, P, the priestly source, and D, the Deuteronomist source] .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torah#Pentateuch

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_sacrifice

Render unto Caesar

[Illustration] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Augustus-in-Kalabsha.jpg

By hu:User:Lassi (hu:Kép:Augustus-in-Kalabsha.jpg) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC BY-SA 2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons

[Illustration ] "CaesarAugustusPontiusMaximusCloseup" by Original uploader was RyanFreisling at en.wikipedia - Transferred from en.wikipedia. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CaesarAugustusPontiusMaximusCloseup.jpg#/media/File:CaesarAugustusPontiusMaximusCloseup.jpg

[Illustration ] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Arch_of_Titus_Menorah.png

By derivative work: Steerpike (talk) Arc_de_Triumph_copy.jpg: user: בית השלום (Arc_de_Triumph_copy.jpg) [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_cult_(ancient_Rome)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decline_of_Greco-Roman_polytheism

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish%E2%80%93Roman_wars

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_bar_Giora

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_who_have_been_considered_deities

That would be an ecumenical matter

[Illustration ] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AP52_recto.jpg

By Papyrologist Bernard Grenfell (1920), as preserved at the John Rylands Library. Photo: courtesy of JRUL. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Holy_Sepulchre

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Sea_Scrolls

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nag_Hammadi_library

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauline_epistles

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Mark

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_source

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnosticism

N.B. The Lost Gospel of Thomas, sayings of Jesus without biography;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Thomas

Eg. Panarion (Greek: Πανάριον, "Medicine Chest"), (Latin: "Against Heresies"), by Epiphanius of Salamis (d. 403).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panarion

A Devil's Advocate

[Illustration ] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ARipple_effect_on_water.jpg By Sergiu Bacioiu from Romania (Water Drop – Explored) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

[Illustration ] Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. http://www.cngcoins.com [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC BY-SA 2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons

[Illustration ] "The Talpiot Tomb". Licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Talpiot_Tomb.jpg#/media/File:The_Talpiot_Tomb.jpg

[Illustration ] "Tiffany Window of St Augustine - Lightner Museum". Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tiffany_Window_of_St_Augustine_-_Lightner_Museum.jpg#/media/File:Tiffany_Window_of_St_Augustine_-_Lightner_Museum.jpg

382 Christians requested Emperor Theodosius I issued a decree of death for Manichaean monks like Augustine of Hippo who converted in 387 [aka St Augustin;354–430]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manichaeism

[Illustration] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/RSC_0022_-_transparent_background.png

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Carrier

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euhemerism

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synoptic_Gospels#The_synoptic_problem

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_myth_theory

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephus

The Josephus entry is an obvious forgery; it is bit like finding a passage praising Hitler for making the trains run on time in The Diary of Anne Frank. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diary_of_a_Young_Girl

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephus_on_Jesus

~ Matthew 27:52-53

“And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Alexandria

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talpiot_Tomb

Caveat Emptor

[Illustration ] "Moses LOC" by Carol Highsmith, photographer - Library of Congress Exhibits; (full size image). Licensed under Public Domain via Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Moses_LOC.jpg#/media/File:Moses_LOC.jpg

According to Wikipedia, since 1980 Christians and others have not predicted the end of the world in 1983, 1984, 1986, 2004, 2005, 2008. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dates_predicted_for_apocalyptic_events

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_Moroni

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazareth

Professor Neill Marshall

Russell Group

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infallibility

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_Moroni

More on the hidden rooms in Tutankhamen

Jane Akshar — Tue, 29 Sep 2015 17:45:00 +0000

via EEF (what a great resource that is)

* Ministry of Antiquities

Press Office

-------------------------------

Eldamaty and Reeves visit three tombs in Luxor

-------------------------------

Within the framework of the initial examination works performed at King Tut Ankh Amun's Tomb in Luxor to prove the recent hypothesis of the burial place of Qween Nefertity, Both Dr. Mamdouh Eldamaty and the British Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves visited three tombs in Luxor; King Amenhotep (KV 35), King Horemhab (KV 57) and (KV 55) Tombs.

Eldamaty clarified that the aim behind those visits was for the scientific committee that accompanied them to examine and study their artistic and architectural elements and compare them to those of King Tut Ankh Amun's Tomb.

Eldamaty said that after terminating the initial examination works, there is a great possibility (70%) that there are additional chambers lying behind one of Tut Ankh Amun Tomb's walls and perhaps one of them embraces the burial of Queen Nefertity.

Eldamaty pointed out that the next step is to present the file to the permanent committee of the Ancient Egyptian Antiquities to study and determine the future work plan as well as verifying the general specifications of the radar sets that will be used in the examination process, therefore deciding the appropriate methods to safely reach the new chambers.

It was also agreed that Reeves is to return once again to Egypt in mid November to start the actual examination of the tomb after getting all the necessary required approvals.

* Ministry of Antiquities

Press Office

-------------------------------

Invitation

-------------------------------

An international press conference is to be held by Antiquities Minister Dr. Mamdouh Eldamaty and the British Scientist Nicholas Reeves at the State Information Service (Salah Salem Area) at

9:00 a.m, Thursday October 1st 2015. The conference aims at declaring the results of the initial examination works performed inside the tomb of King Tut Ankh Amun in the past two days as an attempt to prove the validity of Reeves' late hypothesis, presuming that Qween Nefertity is buried inside one of the side chambers of King Tut's Tomb at the Valley of the Kings – Luxor.

Please attend for press coverage at 9:00 a.m, Thursday October 1st – The State Information Service (Salah Salem).

Anticipation grows at possibility of Tutankhamun tomb's hidden chambers - Heritage - Ahram Online

Jane Akshar — Mon, 28 Sep 2015 19:59:00 +0000

OMG it might be true!!!!!

Examinations completed on Monday indicate the theory of British archeologist Nicholas Reeves may well be right

Anticipation grows at possibility of Tutankhamun tomb's hidden chambers - Heritage - Ahram Online: Antiquities minister Mamdouh Eldamaty announced on Monday that the first examinations carried out by himself and British archeologist Nicholas Reeves in Luxor on Tutankhamun's tomb have revealed that the tomb's northern and western walls both hide chambers.

Opet Fesitival reenactment tomorrow

Jane Akshar — Mon, 28 Sep 2015 19:54:00 +0000

Via Barbara Clarke on Facebook His excellence Dr Mohamed Badr Governor of Luxor would like to invite all Luxor residents and tourists to the reenactment of the Opet festival at 4pm tomorrow at Luxor temple.

The Tomb of Nefertiti

Timothy Reid — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 14:25:00 +0000

Well all is set for Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves to investigate Tutankhamun's tomb hoping to find a doorway behind one of two walls or both. Mr. Reeves believes that Nefertiti's burial chamber may be behind one of them. This theory coming from such a respected man has caused great excitement not only in archaeological circles but in the mass-media as well.

In fact there are a number of candidates who could be behind the walls of Valley of the Kings tomb number sixty two. First a couple of people we are unlikely to find including Tutankhamun's mother who has through DNA been found in the famous Valley of the Kings royal cache in the tomb of Amenhotep II in 1898.

Giovanni Belzoni discovered in the valley tomb KV 21 in 1816 two well preserved female mummies, these mummies have since been destroyed. The headless remains of one of them known as KV21 A, is also through DNA likely to be Tutankhamun's Queen Ankhesenamun, as at least one of the fetuses found in his tomb is the child of KV21 A.

In the Valley of the Kings most controversial tomb were found the remains believed by some, including myself, to be that of the heretic King Akhenaton. Again the DNA suggests that the mummy is Tutankhamun's father. So with mom, dad and wife already discovered, who are the missing.

King Smenkhkare's burial equipment occupies some of the most prestigious of objects from Tutankhamun's burial, artifacts found not only in the tomb but intermingled fragments of objects found in the fill of KV62's steps. If King Smenkhkare is behind one of those walls it might be suggested that his/her burial might be modest, that or completely ruined.

Who can say if Nefertiti in homage to the great ancestor Hatschepsut, had herself declared pharaoh ruling as Smenkhkare along-side Ankhenaton in his last years. This might have been rectified by King Aye who is painted administering the "Opening of the mouth" ceremony onTutankhamun's mummy. Aye may well have returned Nefertiti's burial to the status of queen.

Having said that it must be remembered that the KV55 mummy did not appear to have been unwrapped when found, only its mask was removed, and perhaps restyled for king Tut. I suspect that if Nefertiti is behind one of the two walls that her burial will be modest in valuables, but providing that her mummy was not robbed in the transfer of royal burials from Tell el Amarna, I suspect that she will be intact though there will be little gold outside the mummy, and major missing pieces from her burial.

In the royal tomb at Akhenaton's capital are to be found carved reliefs showing the funeral of Akhenaton and Nefertiti's daughter Meketaton. Should Nefertiti be found I would suspect so will be found the mummy of this royal child reburied with her mother. The same rules apply to the transfer to Thebes of the royal dead except the little princess's burial is more likely to be a complete ensemble.

The lost Amarna mummies include the oldest daughter of Nefertiti, Meritaton who was a powerful queen in her own right and among those presumed addressed in the Amarna letters. Princesses Neferneferure, Setepenre, Neferneferuaten Tasherit, and Ankhesepaaten-Ta-Sherit, the daughters of Nefertiti remain to be identified, though there is a chance that one of them may be represented by the remains known as KV21 B, found with the presumed remains of Ankhesenamun.

I would go even further that KV21 B would perhaps be most appropriate if the mummy was not a princess but a queen making KV21 the tomb of two queens including Ankhesenamun's oldest sister, and only other queen of the daughters of Akhenaton and Nefertiti, Meritaton. This would be backed up by the position the arms of both mummies were in when found.

How many ladies may be found might be foreseen by the contents of Valley of the Kings tomb KV63, an Armana period cache of embalming refuse. Mr. Reeves may be onto the burial of Nefertiti but also the mummies of her lost daughters.

Notes:

Tutankhamen's tomb; Hajor, Dec.2002. Released under cc.by.sa and/or GFDL.
Statue of Tutankhamun and Ankhasenamun; Ad Merskens
Akhenaton, Nefertiti and daughters; Gerbil
National Geographic September 2010

Official says Egypt approves radar for Nefertiti tomb quest | Cairo Post

Jane Akshar — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 19:00:00 +0000

Official says Egypt approves radar for Nefertiti tomb quest | Cairo Post: : An Egyptian official says the Antiquities Ministry has given initial approval for the use of non-invasive radar to verify a theory that Queen Nefertiti’s crypt may be hidden behind King Tutankhamun’s 3,300-year-old tomb in the famous Valley of the Kings.

Egypt to close Tutankhamun’s tomb for restorations - Al Arabiya News

Jane Akshar — Mon, 21 Sep 2015 13:33:00 +0000

Egypt to close Tutankhamun’s tomb for restorations - Al Arabiya News: The tomb of legendary boy pharaoh Tutankhamun in Egypt's Valley of the Kings will close from October for restorations, the antiquities ministry said Sunday.

Field trip to search for Nefertiti's resting place to start within a week - Ancient Egypt - Heritage - Ahram Online

Jane Akshar — Mon, 21 Sep 2015 00:42:00 +0000

Field trip to search for Nefertiti's resting place to start within a week - Ancient Egypt - Heritage - Ahram Online: Archaeologist Nicholas Reeves is to arrive to Luxor, 28 September, in the hope of confirming his theory on the location of Nefertiti's final resting place in Tutankhamun's tomb

Valley Of The Kings

Timothy Reid — Sun, 13 Sep 2015 18:59:00 +0000

John Romer
Henry Holt and Company
New York
1981
ISBN: 0-8050-0993-0

'The first half of the 19th century was the heroic age of Egyptology, when a year more or less meant whole new worlds of knowledge and discovery for the scholars in Egypt and at their desks in Europe. Letters of dazzling erudition flew back and forth from Egypt to Europe among the charmed circles who were rediscovering the historical order of the ancient kingdoms and their rulers, their arts and the true ages of the massive ruined architecture.'

The book opens with an overview of Upper and Lower Egypt including a map of the Valley of the Kings showing the locations of the sixty two tombs known at the time of this publication. Mr. Romer puts forward the role of king as the keeper of harmony for his subjects and the development of the king's burial overtime. The conspicuous mastaba and pyramid burials of the Old and Middle Kingdoms afforded little protection from the depredations of robbers.

By the Eighteenth Dynasty the king's mortuary temples were separated from the tombs which now began being carved off in a closed wadi, the Valley of the Kings. The effect was however the same as the people who created the tombs were often the thieves, especially in times of disorder. The king's of the later New Kingdom left Thebes for the cities in the delta and by about 1000 BC the tombs of the ancestor kings were opened with one after another emptied of their extraordinary content.

Through the latter half of the antique world the Valley of Kings became a tourist attraction to both the Greeks followed by the Romans and by the early Byzantine era the tombs in the valley ceased to be tourist attractions. A thousand years would pass before the royal necropolis and the city of Thebes were again recognized by seventeenth century travelers.

A number of travelers published details of their visits to the valley though extremely insufficient including James Bruce who famously published a misinterpreted image of harpists he found in the tomb of Ramesses III. It was Napoleon whose invasion in 1798 brought with him the best French scholars to explore the ancient monuments and scientifically record them for one of the finest publications ever put into print.

Eighteen years later a circus strongman and hydrologist entered the silent valley on a mission to collect the pink granite sarcophagus from the now famous tomb of Ramesses III. His name was Giovanni Belzoni and he would become one of the Valley of the Kings most fortunate visitors, discovering a number of tombs including the burial vaults for three kings, the Pharaoh's Aye, Ramesses I, and the finest tomb known in the valley, the magnificent tomb of King Seti I. Belzoni describes his first entrance into King Ramesses abode with visitors he was showing around Thebes.

'Having proceeded through a passage thirty-two feet long and eight feet wide, I descended a staircase of twenty-eight feet, and reached a tolerably large and well painted room, I then made a signal from below to the travellers that they might descend, and they entered into the tomb which is seventeen feet long and twenty one wide. We found a sarcophagus of granite, with two mummies in it, and in a corner a statue standing erect, six feet high, and beautifully cut out of sycamore wood: it is nearly perfect except the nose. We found also a number of little images of wood, well carved, representing symbolic figures. Some had a lion's head, others a fox's, others a monkey's. One had a land-tortoise instead of a head.' *

Mr. Belzoni was followed by many other men of note including John Gardiner Wilkinson who painted numbers on the tombs in the valley and Francois Champollion who deciphered the hieroglyphs, and went on to damage Seti's tomb, removing a fresco from a doorway in the tomb. The book contains many drawings and photographs placed liberally throughout the text, often encompassing a couple of full page illustrations.

By the 1870's royal antiquities from a family of Theban high priests of Dynasty Twenty One began appearing on the Luxor antiquities market and in European museums. These finds included books of the dead, ushabti's and mummy braces for various kings, queens and princesses’. The robbers had found a tomb containing tens of thousands of dollars worth of antiquities.

It would turn out to be the greatest find of royal mummies ever and included a who's who of the greatest emperors of Egypt's New Kingdom. Present were the sainted mummies of Amenhotep I and his mother Ahmes Nofretari, the first three Thutmoside king's including the great warrior Thutmosis III, also the first three king's of the Nineteenth Dynasty that included not only the great king Seti I, but also his son Ramesses II, the penultimate king.

John Romer imbues his telling with such spirit that it would be difficult to find another author do better justice to the often over-told story of the discovery. The prominent king's are lined up in a salon of the then Bulaq museum, with the rest put into storage until the day they would be divested of their shrouds and bandages, mostly beginning in 1886.

As the nineteenth century comes to a close we find the head of the Egyptian Antiquities service Victor Loret searching the Valley of the Kings for more tombs, except Mr. Loret is not always present, and his workers in the valley do not always inform him when a tomb is found, or at least remove small artifacts from tombs before Mr. Loret enters. This may be true of the discovery of the first intact Eighteenth Dynasty burial of a man named Mahirpra.

Mr. Loret is aware that objects were showing up in European museums bearing the cartouches of Amenhotep II. It has the appearance that his excavators in the valley took their share first, yet just as bad Loret made insufficient notes of his excavations. These losses in the archaeological record hurt even more by the importance of the tombs found being those of king's Thutmosis III, and eventually his son Amenhotep II.

The author follows the order of the tombs discovered creating a thorough rundown of excavations, though these diggings are more of a half hazard hopping around the valley without any systematic order, or governance. In an era where wealthy European's and American's snatched up illegal antiquities, and were broadly given permits to dig and keep objects unwanted by the antiquities service, Egypt was swarming with profiteers.

Theodore Davis was such a man, receiving the permit to dig in the Valley of Kings and unearthing major finds just about every year. Among these finds was the tomb of Queen Tiye's parents, Yuya and his wife Tuya. This was the finest tomb found in the valley to date, filled with well preserved furnishings from the court of Amenhotep III.

The Amarna cache tomb 55 excavated by a number of the top men in the antiquities service, each competent on his own, yet as a group completed the excavation with few records, being an embarrassment to each of them, seriously damaging the historical record of the tomb. Davis having had such huge success in the valley now retired believing it held no more tombs.

The end of Davis's permit gave Lord Carnarvon the chance to take over and begin excavating the site with Howard Carter. This promising site unfortunately delivered little to justify Carnarvon's expenditure and soon Carter was asking for one more season. The famous discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb would bring a global hurricane of tourists interfering with the excavation of the tomb, challenging the nerves of Carter and of the archaeologist working for him.

The book ends with a short chapter on the designated names for parts of the royal tombs. More than thirty years have passed since publication and John Romer's must read book remains a valuable, untarnished history in great detail of the romance of the Valley of the Kings.

Notes:

* Belzoni, Giovanni. Narrative of the Operations and Recent Discoveries within the Pyramids, Temples, Tombs and Excavations in Egypt and Nubia. London, 1822

The Gold of Tutankhamen

Timothy Reid — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 21:23:00 +0000

Kamal El Mallakh / Arnold C. Brackman
Optimum Publishing Company Limited
Canada
1978 First English Language Edition
ISBN: 0-88890-106-2

"When you've seen one sarcophagus, you've seen 'em all."

William E. Simon*

This menacing size volume is not something I want to have to carry too far being both large and heavy. To Mr. Kamal El Mallakh we owe the discovery of the boat pits he found at Giza next to the great pyramid that contained the two ships belonging to King Khufu. Mr. Arnold C. Brackman was a prestigious journalist who wrote a number of books on a variety of subjects.

The preface of the book is written by eminent Yale University Egyptologist William Kelly Simpson former curator of Egyptian and Ancient Near Eastern Art for the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Professor Simpson writes of the remaining archaeological environment containing evidence denuded by centuries of robberies, as well as the expectations the modern observer places on the contents of Tutankhamen's tomb. It is within the artifacts found with the king that must tell the story as regrettably there were not the expected documents of the king’s reign within his burial.

The book opens with a background to both Lord Carnarvon and his excavator Howard Carter including the eventual contract agreed by the two men. Too Carter as a teenage artist of talent there came an opportunity to use his craft in Egypt working for the Egypt Exploration fund. Carter developed his skills in archaeology living rough in with Flinders Petrie at Tell El Amarna, while the rich aristocratic Lord Carnarvon whiled away his days in societal adventure without cause.

While driving his motor car in Germany Lord Carnarvon was confronted by two carts blocking the road resulting in an accident which left him with serious burns and broken bones though fortunately to his admirable relief and concern he had not killed anybody. To recover Lord Carnarvon left England to winter at Luxor where he was introduced to now professional archaeologist Howard Carter.

The text contains a fine telling with many knowledgeable anecdotes of interest, though disheartening as a number of familiar stories are co-mingled with other events and locations. The author is certainly in possession of important events in Egyptology but clearly lacks a background on the subject, being unfamiliar with the landscape. The reader is told that after Howard Carter's men dug out the sixteen steps leading to Tutankhamen's tomb the excavators found a sealed wooden door, when in reality it was a plastered wall.

A respite is taken from the text for a number of pages containing a standard content of black and white photographs. With the discovery of the tomb the world descended upon Luxor creating a circus like atmosphere with Howard Carter having to take time from his work to host a who's who of the international elite and press. The latter, including the Egyptian press, being denied from reporting due to an exclusive given by Lord Carnarvon to the London Times.

'Fear spread in the Valley that a rarity of rarities-a rainstorm-might erupt and send tons of cascading water crashing through the chasm and into the open tomb. European and American newspapers, not privy to the London Times' reports, played up the angle. A New York headline read: "PANIC SPREADING/ GRAVE POSSIBILITY/ PRICELESS ANTIQUITIES/ MAY BE HOPELESSLY DESTROYED BY TOMORROW."

It does no favor to judge this book by its incompatible irregularities alone, but also it must be viewed with the nature of the book in its minutia of detail and conveyance of mood created by the international excitement of the discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb. The text presented that flavor of the times complete with superstitions and the rising nationalism of Egypt's populace.

Arriving in the middle of the book we come to the second half concerned with the color plates and the notes of each sections plates further on. This may require the reader to use two bookmarks to view properly. The objects of Tutankhamen chosen by Mr. El Mallakh were positioned especially for the photographs in the book, except of course those of the tomb itself.

The objects chosen begin with the king’s famous gold mask pictured on three stunning full pages from different angles. Two of the kings coffins are next complete with multiple views of both that include an image of the underside of the foot of his innermost coffin. At this point I have finally come to the part I have been craving to get to, Tutankhamen's shrines.

My first look through of the book I could see all the amazing material presented on the shrines which surrounded Tutankhamen's sarcophagus, the vignettes possessing some of the great works of Egyptian art. The large wondrous image of Tutankhamen's mummy in the Netherworld on the exterior left panel of shrine II presents him as "He who hides the hours".

'In this image, the figure seems to be immobilized by circles around both the head and the feet by the serpent Mehen, the Enveloper. In the center of the mummy, the disk containing a ram-headed bird with human arms raised in adoration symbolizes the night sun. It is being pulled from the body with a rope held by the figures of deities at left with arms raised, an action which is believed to mark the passing of the night hours.'

On the outermost shrine the rear interior panel contains the Divine Cow, an image I have never seen before, as is true of many of the vignettes beautifully presented in full page color photographs. The book moves onto a section of photo's titled "The Young King", beginning with the wooden head of Tutankhamen rising from a blue lotus. This section presents the many statuettes and images of mainly Tutankhamen but also his queen Ankhesenamen found in his tomb.

One of the most amazing discoveries among the contents of the tomb includes the discovery of a complete, or near complete funerary assemblage of a pharaoh of ancient Egypt. The enigmatic funerary couches, the kings life size ka sentinels, the Anubis shrine and the canopic emplacement all in excellent state of preservation being either completely unique or the finest of surviving examples.

Though the king was hardly old enough at death to have been a great warrior he is represented as such on many objects in the burial. The king treads on his Asiatic and Nubian foes which are represented on his footstools and the soles of his sandals, including on a ceremonial shield. Among the kings jewelry is a rarely seen necklace composed of faience and gold beads with a ball of black resin at the back and a reversible large faience udjat eye hanging from the front of the piece.

The left Eye of Re represented the bark in which the sun traveled during the day and when worn as a right eye represented the sacred vessel of Re-Harakhti that traveled through the Underworld at night. The items of the king’s jewelry are mostly created using hieroglyphs to give the pieces symbolic messages, but in the case of a pair of the pharaoh’s earrings they possess no symbolism but are spectacular in that they are made with purple gold, created by mixing iron with the gold, this in the early days of Egypt's entrance into the Iron Age.

The early mistakes in the unusual text are unfortunate, though I would be inclined to not judge those mistakes too harshly as the reader is bound to have them corrected in the next book they read on the subject. It is for me the second part of this volume which is particularly special in its photos and which separates 'The Gold of Tutankhamen' from the huge amount of books on the king and his tomb.

Note:

* United States Secretary of the Treasury

The tomb of the 26th dynasty ruler of Upper Egypt uncovered in Assassif, Luxor - Ancient Egypt - Heritage - Ahram Online

Jane Akshar — Sun, 30 Aug 2015 22:15:00 +0000

The tomb of the 26th dynasty ruler of Upper Egypt uncovered in Assassif, Luxor - Ancient Egypt - Heritage - Ahram Online: The tomb of the 26th dynasty vizier of Upper Egypt discovered in South Assassif on Luxor's west bank

"Badi-Bastet could be buried in a shaft inside the court or in a main
burial chamber of Karabasken tomb," the head of the mission Elena
Pischikova suggested. She asserted that further cleaning of the tomb's
different sections and the continuation of the archaeological survey
would definitely reveal more secrets of the tomb.

"It is a very important discovery," the Minister of Antiquities Mamdouh
Eldamaty told Ahram Online. He explained that the discovery has shed
more light on the architecture and design of tombs of top governmental
officials during the Saite period, especially the 26^th dynasty.

Studies carried out on Badi-Bastet's different titles reveal that he
was one of the grandsons of Babasa, a nobleman whose tomb is located
east of Assassif (TT279).

The South Assassif Conservation Project started in 2006 when the two
Kushite tombs of Karabasken (TT 391) and Karakahamun (TT 223) and the
early Saite tomb of Irtieru (TT 390), were re-discovered there. These
tombs have never been properly cleaned, studied and restored but now
within the framework of the project they will be preserved.

Nothing on the mission website yet but this is a link to the blog https://southasasif.wordpress.com/

Ägyptologisches Seminar: Report 2014 Update on KV64 Valley of Kings

Jane Akshar — Fri, 28 Aug 2015 11:00:00 +0000

Those lucky people in Florence got a lecture on the newest tomb in the Valley of Kings, KV64. Margaret Maitland tweeted the link to the website report from the latest season

Ägyptologisches Seminar: Report 2014

Tutankhamen tomb closes for renovation Oct1 | Cairo Post

Jane Akshar — Wed, 26 Aug 2015 18:02:00 +0000

Tutankhamen tomb closes for renovation Oct1 | Cairo Post: “The Pharaoh’s mummy will be carefully preserved in a temporary glass display case to be placed in the tomb’s antechamber in order not to be damaged during the restoration work set to be carried out in the burial chamber,” Eid said.

The announcement comes amid controversy regarding the state of preservation of the young Pharaoh’s mummy during the renovation of his tomb; Eid said that the display case includes humidifiers,dust seals, UV protected glass, air circulation and environment control to ensure the safety of the mummy.