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The Journal of the North Texas Chapter of the American Research Center in Egypt
Volume Four Issue Number Six: August 2016
Menhedj
This MonthMolly Limmer
“Where the Heck is It?” Puzzle
Cyberscribe
Schedule of Events
Menhedj: The Journal of NT-ARCE, Inc. Copyright 2016
Officers and Directors
President/Director Rick Moran [email protected]
Vice President Clair Ossian [email protected]
Secretary/Director Myra Whitlock [email protected] Treasurer/Director Hiram Patterson [email protected]
Director Judy Ford [email protected] Director Susan Patterson [email protected]
Committee Chairs
Crook & Flail
Historian Norma Comer [email protected] Programs
Refreshments Jennifer Danford [email protected]
Web Master Garett Jaeckel [email protected] Publicity
North Texas Chapter of the American Research Center in Egypt Located in Dallas, Texas
In This Issue
Where the Heck Is This Place? Page 3 By Clair Ossian
President’s Message Page 4
CyberScribe Page 5 By Clair Ossian
Upcoming Events Page 19
Copyright Notice The contents of this publication are copyrighted by their authors and the North Texas Chapter of the American Research Center in Egypt, Inc. unless otherwise indicated. All rights reserved. Content may not be reproduced,downloaded, disseminated, published or transferred in any form or by any means except with prior written permission of NT-ARCE. Members of NT-ARCE may download pages or content for their own use, consistent with the mission and purpose of NT-ARCE.
August 20
Molly Limmer “Going, going, gone. Bidding on Egyptian Art at Auction and other tales from the market.”
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This Month
We are looking for a new Crook & Flail chairperson.
Please contact Rick Moran if you are interested.
Menhedj: The Journal of NT-ARCE, Inc. Copyright 2016
Where The Heck is it? August 2016
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Last Month’s Answer
Cornelius and Isabela von Wolfenstein, heirs to the world’s largest digital ‘Spork’ fortune, traveled the world extensively. Cash rich, but a little dim mentally, they seldom precisely remembered where they had been. This photo, for example caused endless bickering. They both recalled that it had been in the Middle East, but where? Greece, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Syria, Iran, Turkey? Perhaps you can assist them?
1. Which of the above six ancient cultures was the correct choice? Iran
2. What ancient city do these structures grace? Persopolis
3. What were the purpose of these odd arches and their cavetto cornices? Palace of Darius I, The Tachara.
Most people are not aware that Garland, Texas was once the cultural capital of this fair State. Adorned with so many galleries and museums, the city frequently had serious traffic problems. The CyberScribe loved to spend time in the Egyptian galleries of the Cultural History Museum, and many times he was admonished for leaving nose prints on the glass cases.
If your memories are different,
1. Where do you think this photo was taken?
1. What do you know about the long scene on the back wall?
Bring your answers to the AUGUST meeting and if you have the right information, you might win prizes!
Message from the President As you know we have elections coming up in November, The election process starts in August. The number of people working to run the chapter business has declined dramtically. It is critical that we have new people helping out.
The is a Board meeting scheduled on August 16 at 7:30pm at my home in Carrollton. I encourage all members to attend. We need to find new people to do the work or the chapter will fail. None of us want that. Please come to the meeting if you can.
We are all in this together. Together we can make the chapter work.
Menhedj: The Journal of NT-ARCE, Inc. Copyright 2016
By Dr. Clair Ossian
CyberScribe No. 228, August 2016
Before tearing into this month’s portions of Egyptian news, the CyberScribe thought he’d make notice for those of you who might be interested…this issue, number 228…marks nineteen years of the CyberScribe Columns! Not bad for a little piece we thought might last a year, if we were lucky. Hurrah for me, says the CyberScribe, he raises a glass of tawny fluid to his lips. Shall we try for twenty years? Sure. Why not?
“Blood & Gold: Children Dying As Egypt's Treasures Are Looted” Wow! What a headline! Filled with alarm, pathos, horror…and rubbish! It is to journalism what the terrible line “It was a dark and stormy night…” is to writers of novels. Owen Jarus, contributor to the periodical “Live Science” surely knows better. Not only that, he salts the article with a terribly misleading implication.
Before continuing, please understand that the CyberScribe agrees completely that the theme and import of the article are compelling and important. Read on in this abbreviated version, and the CyberScribe will point out what he feels is a nasty trick played on Jarus’ readers.
‘Since the 2011 Egyptian revolution, political instability, and a tourism decline have led to widespread looting of archaeological sites — with deadly consequences.
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Children forced to work in dangerous conditions to pillage historical sites have died. Antiquities guards were gunned down within an ancient tomb they were trying to protect. Mummies have been left out in the sun to rot after their tombs were robbed. And looting pits have pockmarked ancient sites in such vast numbers that words cannot adequately describe.
Two kids take a break at a heavily looted ancient cemetery at Abusir el-Malek, located south of Cairo.Credit: Photo courtesy of Egypt Heritage Taskforce
‘A Live Science investigation found that not only were these horrific events happening but that an enormous amount of potentially looted Egyptian artifacts had made their way into the United States. These artifacts include a vast number of gold coins.
‘Documents obtained from the US Census Bureau by Live Science reveal that since 2011, more than $143 million worth of artifacts have been exported from Egypt to the United States. The documents also show that the vast majority of the artifacts were shipped to New York City, where many auction houses, antiquities dealers, and art galleries are based. However, detecting a shipment of looted artifacts and proving that they were looted is very difficult, researchers and
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government officials told Live Science.
‘The influx of Egyptian artifacts into the United States shows no signs of abating. In the first five months of 2016, about $26 million worth of artifacts were exported from Egypt to the United States, the Census Bureau documents say.
‘Photos show children working at Abusir el-Malek, a village south of Cairo that holds an ancient cemetery with thousands of burials. In the photos, the children can be seen carrying artifacts and rummaging around in pits and shafts. The photographs show how narrow and deep the holes get, creating dangerous working conditions that have led to the deaths of children, researchers have found. The photos show that the landscape the children work in is scarred by these pits and is strewn with the bones of ancient mummies.
A close-up of a mummy's head at the Bahariya Oasis. Credit: Photo courtesy of Egypt Heritage Taskforce
‘"Children have been used primarily to reach small burial shafts and tunnels. Unfortunately, many children have lost their lives in the process," wrote Monica Hanna, an Egyptologist working with Egypt's Heritage Task Force, in a paper she published in the book "Countering Illicit Traffic in Cultural Goods" (ICOM, 2015).
‘In fact, more than 25 children, employed by professional antiquities gangs, died last year in shafts in Abusir el-Malek, Hanna told Live Science.
‘Little money from the sale of artifacts goes to the children's families, Hanna said. Instead, most of it ends up in the pockets of antiquities dealers and middlemen, who smuggle it out of Egypt and into other countries, such as the United States. "Many of them [the middlemen] are part of the international mafia that smuggles drugs and arms in the region," Hanna said.
‘Hanna said buyers of Egyptian antiquities should know that "the object you buy does not only have a child's blood on it but also [that] looting activities have completely destroyed the site similarly to what ISIS does to other archaeological sites in the region."
‘Children working in the shafts are not the only ones being killed in the looting. Two guards were gunned down by a group of robbers on Feb. 20, 2016, while inside a 4,000-year-old tomb at the site of Dayr al-Barsha, according to a team of archaeologists working at the site. Both guards left behind families, including a wife pregnant with twins.
‘"Over 20 bullet holes impacted in the relief decoration on the walls of the exterior room and two large blackened blood stains on the floor indicate the spots [in the tomb] where Asrawy and Mustafa were murdered," the archaeological team wrote in a statement on the web page.
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The landscape at Abusir el-Malek, south of Cairo, is littered with ancient human bones from looted burials. Credit: Photo courtesy of Egypt Heritage Taskforce
‘"It is extremely difficult to prove that any single artifact that arrives in the U.S. has been looted," said Erin Thompson, a professor of art crime at the City University of New York. "Middlemen are experts in making looted and smuggled antiquities look like they are part of the legitimate market by cleaning and restoring them and creating forged paperwork that makes it seem like Egypt gave permission for its export."
‘"Suddenly, an artifact that was ripped out of the ground last month is indistinguishable from one that's been in a private collection for decades, and which is entirely legal to export and sell," Thompson added.
‘Furthermore, U.S. Customs doesn't check all shipments; a spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection told Live Science that the agency conducts audits of antique shipments but declined to say how often this is done. The spokesperson also said that it is the responsibility of the person importing the shipment to declare the shipment's value. This means that the $143 million is simply the value of the imported Egyptian artifacts being declared by importers; the actual resale value could be higher.’
The CyberScribe joins everyone in deploring the trade in stolen antiquities, but he also deplores poor journalism. Let’s go back and look at the picture on the next page:
According to the text in the article, the photo is documenting that “…the photos show that the landscape the children work in is scarred by these pits and is strewn with the bones of ancient mummies…” The only problem with this inflammatory statement and the photo that accompanies it, is that the picture above shows a strew of DOG bones, not human bones. Are there places where human bones might be found like this? Perhaps, but the way this article was written is just plain poor journalism!
Let’s ignore the poor craftsmanship of the writer, and leave disgusted with the facts of his theme. If even one child died in the looting, it was far too many!
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Let’s shift to something a great deal more cheerful, a new exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art…a look at the Ptolemaic and later Egypt! Marsha Hill, a Curator in the Department of Egyptian Art, produced a detailed description of the new displays (http://tinyurl.com/z757nno) which the CyberScribe presents here (in an abbreviated format). Read on:
Head Attributed to Arsinoe II. Ptolemaic Period, the reign of Ptolemy II and Arsinoe II (278–270 B.C.). Memphite Region, Abu Rawash, IFAO excavations 1922–1923. Limestone (Indurated); H. 12 cm (4 3/4 in.); W. 9 cm (3 9/16 in.); D. 9 cm (3 9/16 in.). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, 1938 (38.10)
‘The Ptolemaic Period began in 332 B.C. when the Macedonian Greek Alexander the Great conquered Egypt, which at that point was ruled by the Achaemenid Persians. With the deaths of Alexander and his immediate heirs, the rule of Egypt passed to his general Ptolemy and Ptolemy's descendants. The death of Cleopatra VII and the Roman takeover in 30 B.C. marked the end of the Ptolemaic Period.
Plaque, female face. Ptolemaic Period–Roman Period (100 B.C.–100 A.D.). Glass; H. 3.1 x W. 2.6 cm (1 1/4 x 1 in.). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Edward S. Harkness Gift, 1926 (26.7.1203)
‘The Ptolemies acted as Egyptian pharaohs, attending to temple building and the traditional Egyptian cults, including animal cults and priesthoods. Age-old Egyptian temples continued to form the centers of towns, and the view of the grand temples and public practices connected to them continued to dominate most lives. But the Ptolemies were also very much Hellenistic kings inhabiting the new, heavily Greek city of Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast and celebrating Hellenistic ruler cults alongside divine ones in Egyptian temples. The two different cultural styles interacted to relay values that varied by region, circumstance, purpose, and individual.
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‘In the new galleries, we wanted to display the objects in a way that would convey the texture of the period, so two vantage points anchor the display. One focuses on temples, grand constructions that stood physically at the centers of Egyptian towns. The temples act as markers of the larger population, who filled towns or toiled on the river and farms and thus acquired little wealth and left little trace of existence.
A display in the galleries that features Osiris with faience polychrome tiles from a chapel‘The object display devoted to temples is dominated by a set of faience polychrome tiles arranged as they originally would have been around the doorway of a chapel: with a large Osiris statue at the center and silver and gold vessels and jewelry offerings beneath. Small statuary of gods from Thoth and the rarer Nehemetaui to Isis and the child Horus are nearby, as are elaborately wrapped animal mummies.
Left: Statue of a goddess, probably Nehemetaui or Nebethetepet. Late Period–Ptolemaic Period, Dynasty 27–30 (550–300 B.C.). Cupreous metal; H. 17.8 x W. 4.3 x D. 10 cm (7 x 1 11/16 x 3 15/16 in.); H. (with tang): 20 cm (7 7/8 in.). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Edward S. Harkness Gift, 1926 (26.7.845). Right: Sacred animal mummy containing dog bones. Late Period–Roman Period (ca. 400 B.C.–100 A.D.). Western Desert; Kharga Oasis, el-Deir, Roman Cemetery. Dyed and undyed linen, animal remains, mummification materials; H. 28 cm (11 in.); W. 6.5 cm (2 9/16 in.); D. 10 cm (3 15/16 in.). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 1913 (13.182.50)
‘Featured among the other temple accouterments is a set of glass and bronze elements belonging to a small ancient shrine, perhaps a processional shrine. Cult equipment such as statues and shrines were buried together in temple courts after long use, and objects that had wood as a major component, like small shrines, would decay into a bewildering mass of small fragments.
‘Conservator Ann Heywood carefully examined the column drums in the set and was able to determine that they had laid still on a rod in the ground and could establish their stacking order, which we replicate in the display. The bronze fittings clearly had been caps on the ends of wooden beams, traces of which remained in their interiors. In examining them closely, Ann also
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found fiber pseudomorphs, or corrosion taking the form of fibers that have decayed away, on
Period (380–30 B.C.). Glass, cupreous metal; various measurements for group; H. (each drum) 4.1 cm (1 5/8 in.). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 1921 (21.2.2-related)
their exteriors in a crisscross pattern indicating rope lashings. We know that bronze gods and temple equipment may have been in use for hundreds of years, so it is likely that these elements were originally part of a shrine constructed of bronze and wood, gilded and inlaid with glass figural elements, that became loose at the joints over years of use and had to be lashed tight again.
‘The second vantage point focuses on the art produced for and representing individuals of the period, from royalty to the official and priest classes. Kings were depicted in Egyptian style, Greek style, and mixed style,
The fiber pseudomorphs Conservator Ann Heywood found on the bronze fittings
according to politico-religious goals. And the immensely important Ptolemaic queens, who represented the dynasty's continuity of rightful inheritance from Alexander, appear in statuary and in portraits on fragments of the sky-blue faience wine jugs that were connected to their cults.
Left: King's head with Egyptian headdress but Greek hair and features. Ptolemaic Period (2nd century B.C. or early 1st century B.C.). Gabbro; H. 6.6 cm (2 5/8 in.); W. 7 cm (2 3/4 in.); D. 5.3 cm (2 1/6 in.). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Gift of Henry Walters, by exchange, 2008 (2008.454). Right: Head, Ptolemy III (?). Ptolemaic Period, reign of Ptolemy III Euergetes I (246–222 B.C.). Faience; H. 4.4 cm (1 3/4 in.); W. 3 cm (1 3/16 in.); D. 2 cm (13/16 in.). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Peter Sharrer, 1981 (1981.450)
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‘The Museum's wonderful collection of relief plaques and busts are also highlighted. Their use and users are unclear, but the objects themselves appear to be intended to underscore the "pillars" of Egyptian tradition, depicting deified forms of kingship and select popular gods and seemingly fetishizing temple elements and hieroglyphs. Statuary and reliefs belong to functionaries from Karnak Temple at Thebes and from Hermopolis, two flourishing sites in Upper Egypt.
Left: Royal bust with atypical snake. Late Period–Ptolemaic Period, Dynasty 30 (400–200 B.C.). Alabaster (gypsum); H. 12 cm (4 3/4 in.); W. 10 cm (3 15/16 in.); D. 4.3 cm (1 11/16 in.). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Mrs. William H. Moore, 1947 (47.13.2). Right: Model of a temple door bolt with recumbent lion. Late Period–Ptolemaic Period (400–30 B.C.). Limestone; L. 16.4 cm (6 7/16 in.); W. 5.3 cm (2 1/16 in.); H. 7 cm (2 3/4 in.). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Bequest of W. Gedney Beatty, 1941 (41.160.103)
‘Many small artworks that range from adornments for domestic interiors to funerary accouterments are arranged together, revealing the stylistic spectrum of the period. It is clear that small arts and domestic items more frequently exhibit Hellenistic styles than do items intended for temple or funerary use, at least outside Alexandria.
‘This section also houses finds from The Met's excavations at Thebes in the 1910s in an area of Ptolemaic brick-vaulted tombs—including a huge, beautiful storage jar that stood in the little courtyard of one of the tombs and probably held grain for the deceased, and a bowl in which conservators and scientists discovered remains of the broth that once had filled it. Also found in the area of tombs was a cache of hundreds of coins in a jar, probably buried at a time of uprisings against the Ptolemies in faraway
Large storage jar with floral decoration. Ptolemaic Period (late 3rd–2nd century B.C.). Asasif, Birabi, grave 36, MMA excavations, 1912–13. Pottery, paint; H. 62 cm (24 7/16 in.); Diam. 48 cm (18 7/8 in.). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund and Edward S. Harkness Gift, 1913 (13.180.34a)
‘Refreshed displays and labeling of two important sets of funerary provisions bring two ancient Egyptians into focus. Curator Janice Kamrin studied the papyri of a priest of Horus named Imhotep, whose Book of the Dead extends over more than 70 feet, and Curator Isabel Stünkel focused on Nesmin, who was a priest for the god Min in Akhmim and whose mummy has been studied using computed tomography. The last case at the south end of the gallery is a visible study collection organized in broad categories, a tradition in our department that allows us to place many more objects on view. Though the labels are brief, visitors can use the accession numbers provided to search the online collection for more information.’
Alexandria but never retrieved.
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Just for a bit, let’s jump way forward in time. Waaaaaaaaay forward to the year 1798 when Admiral Lord Nelson’s fleet clashed with the great French fleet in Abukir Bay, off the coast of Egypt. We should all know the general story. Nelson trashed the French…destroyed nearly all of their fleet…by cheating and not playing fair. He didn’t sail out in front where the French ships could shoot at him, but instead, sailed behind them in water too shallow for the French fleet…and blasted them!
And it wasn’t all fun and games, of course…a bunch of the British…and a great many of the French died. The British took their dead ashore onto what became known as ‘Nelson’s Island,” and buried them in the dunes. Poor dead sailing men…or sort of. Some of the dead British were women! How so? Well, the article below tells why and how the British naval vessels happened to have quite a few women aboard…some legally and some…well…not so legal.
How in the world did all this come to pass? Well, the article below (http://tinyurl.com/zer86oz) tells what has been found as the old graves are being excavated and studied.
‘“Most people think that Nelson's ships were all male. They weren’t. They had women and children onboard,” Dr. Nick Slope, who excavated the graves and is also the vice-chairman of the Nelson Society, told Haaretz.
‘It was while excavating Hellenistic and Pharaonic structures on Aboukir Island, a.k.a. Nelson's Island, that the archaeologists stumbled upon relatively modern burials. Some corpses were found with musket balls, gun-flint, and military buttons. “It was immediately clear that these bodies had something to do with the Battle of the Nile,” Slope told Haaretz.
Excavation of graves found on "Nelson's Island" in Egypt has uncovered 40 bodies – not only of British Navy officers, soldiers and sailors, but of women too, who sailed and fought with the British navy during The Battle of the Nile against the French in 1798.
‘This episode was a naval battle, fought on the 1st and 2nd of August, 1798, in Aboukir Bay, an inlet of the Mediterranean off Egypt. The British fleet, led by Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson, crushed the French, led by Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers. And that was that. But casualties were suffered, and now some of them have been found.
‘Aboukir Island is all of 350 meters long. Just 20 kilometers east of Alexandria, the island may be tiny, but it boasts a rich history. The island itself was a major commercial and religious center in Pharaonic Egypt, being right on a primary commercial route leading to the Nile River. Also, Aboukir Bay (today) contains the submerged remains of the ancient city of Canopus.
Vice Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson, by Lemuel Francis AbbottWikimedia Commons
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‘In antiquity, Aboukir Island was considerably larger, but erosion and heavy quarrying of sandstone during earlier periods reduced its size. In antiquity, the island's outcrop was probably connected to the mainland, like the tip of a hook stretching from the modern-day naval base of Aboukir.
‘Aboukir also housed a necropolis for the rich during Pharaonic times, excavation has shown. Egypt was taken over by Ptolemy, whose forces occupied and fortified Aboukir Island.
‘Furious bombardments from both sides ensued, erupting in in a havoc of screaming sailors, gunpowder and flying wood splinters from the stricken ships.
In the fog of war, a musket ball struck Nelson on the forehead, tearing a flap of skin, which fell over his one good eye, rendering him temporarily blind. When the fog from the cannons had dispersed, Nelson and his men turned out to have destroyed most of the French fleet. After the battle, the Island was renamed “Nelson's Island”, a name modern Egypt has kept.
Aboukir Bay in Egypt: Screenshot of a photo by NASA.NASA World Wind (v1.4)
‘In 1801, the British launched a full-scale invasion of the Egyptian mainland, aiming to drive out the French. On March 8, an invasion force of 12,000 British reserve troops was ferried to the beaches of Aboukir Bay.
The Destruction of "L'Orient" at the Battle of the Nile, 1 August 1798, George Arnald (1763 – 1841)Royal Museums Greenwich
‘Most of the dead from the battles were buried at sea. Those who survived until their wounds or disease could kill them were buried on the island. The Royal Navy recorded deaths in the ships' logs. Quite often the expression “visited by God” was used for the deceased, meaning they died from disease or accident, not war injury. Some of the dead were buried in wooden coffins. Others were just wrapped in hammocks.
‘“In that period the soldiers use to have long hair and they would tie it in a pony tail. But the French use to have side bits of hair hanging down and they would tie a musket ball in it to keep it straight,” said Slope and added, “English soldiers were normally not buried in uniform since everything was recycled. So these must have been French soldiers.”
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Excavating a burial of Nelson's soldiers on Aboukir Island, also known as Nelson's Island, in the Mediterranean off the Egyptian coast, near Alexandria. The Nelsons Island Excavation
‘The woman’s coffin lid was marked with the letter "G" made of metal. She could well have been a warrior, judging by the memoirs of John Nicoles, a sailor under Nelson during the Battle of the Nile. He tells how several women served the guns during the battle, passing gunpowder up from the magazine to the gunners. A woman from Leth, Scotland was injured during the battle and buried on the island.
‘“There is only one island in the bay, and guess on what ship she served? HMS Goliath,” Dr. Slope said, but noted that it is impossible to know which of the female bodies found there was hers. But that tell-tale G on the woman's coffin could stand for "Goliath". Or Guards. The Navy's logbooks note a Mrs. Lambe of the 3rd Guards regiment and Sarah Weber of the Coldstream Guards.
‘It has long been believed that women were rarely, if ever, allowed on board warships. Admiralty regulations strictly forbade women to be taken to sea so “that the ship may not be pestered with them”. Whatever the rulebook said, it is clear from the archeological and historical record that women did travel with the Royal Navy. Usually, they were the wives of the warrant officers who were allowed to take their wives and children to sea.
Aboukir Island, a.k.a. Nelson's Island, view from the south.
‘The presence of women onboard was largely hidden in official records, as they were not paid or fed by the British Navy, and therefore were not entered into the ships' logbooks.
‘Also, as there were no passenger ships at the time, the Royal Navy also routinely took civilians aboard, some of whom were women. Other sneaked onboard disguised as men.
‘All in all, for every 100 men, there were three women on board ships at the time, which meant that there were at least 360 women in the 18th century Navy. These women played important roles, including those of providing medical treatment and handling ammunition.
‘Life on board Royal Navy ships in the 18th century was no picnic. It has been painted in miserable terms of sailors living on a floating concentration camp, starved, coerced and subject to brutal arbitrary and discipline by sadistic captains. The 18th century writer Samuel Johnson observed, “Being on a ship is being in jail."
‘However, in the 18th century, the Royal Navy won all its great battles at sea. On the face of it, it seems unlikely that sailors living under dire straits, beaten and oppressed by bad officers, could deliver the crushing victories achieved at the Battle of the Nile and in 1805, at Trafalgar.’
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As a result of the world wide efforts to save the antiquities and sites above the newly built Aswan Dam, several of the smaller temples were given to nations whose help had been especially important. The US got the Temple of Dender, which stands in the Metropolitan Museum, and another, the temple of Debod went to Madrid, Spain. The temple with it’s two ancient gates have been placed in a beautiful setting, but now we see that not all is well there. The temples are showing that the more harsh climate of Spain is damaging the stonework.
UNESCO is the safekeeper of these monuments, and they have demanded action to protect them from vandals, weather, and general degradation. The article below (The Atlantic CityLab, http://tinyurl.com/glzuhfm) tells why this action is needed, and what is being done.
Juan Medina/Reuters Pictures
‘Coming across the Temple of Debod while walking Madrid’s busy streets feels as incongruous as discovering Old London Bridge in the middle of the Arizona desert. A more-than-2,200-year-old Egyptian temple originally constructed near Aswan, it was given to Spain by Egypt as thanks for help preserving monuments threatened by the Aswan Dam.
Since 1972, the temple has stood re-erected on the edge of a Madrid park, beautiful, ethereal and pleasantly discombobulating for passers-by.
‘But what’s been good for Madrileños has arguably been terrible for the temple itself. It is now beleaguered by pollution and vandalism and needs intervention fast. The thousands of years of storms, upheaval, and neglect the temple suffered were nothing, it seems, compared to a few decades hanging out in a western European park.
‘It is humans that pose the greatest threat to the place. The Temple of Debod’s stones have been ground down by visitors’ hands and feet. By carving their names into it, hundreds of people have left posterity a permanent memento of their own boorish self-absorption. Meanwhile, the pollution-derived acidity of Madrid’s air (possibly made worse by the temple’s location next to a busy road) is eroding the soft sandstone walls, damaging its mural hieroglyphs. Cracks in these walls have been patched for protection, but in a way that looks a little roughshod and obvious. It’s yet worse in the temple interior, whose oven-like summer temperature makes it too hot to carry out restoration work.
‘ F a c e d w i t h t h i s d e c a y , U N E S C O i s understandably getting a little antsy. They want the entire temple capped with a giant glass bubble, to slow down further decay. Encasing the temple in glass, they argue persuasively, could help to control access to the site, permit the filtering of air and allow temperature control. It could arguably also do so without radically altering the temple’s appearance, though as some past examples show, protecting historical constructions with a glass bubble can turn out to be very intrusive indeed.
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‘The good news for UNESCO is that Madrid Mayor Manuela Carmena has agreed their demand. The Temple will be encased in glass, though not next year, apparently, but instead in the “medium term.” Meanwhile, the interiors will get some measure of air conditioning and some clear plastic coverings to protect the most directly exposed stones. Starting November 1, there will also be guards at the temple around the clock.
‘The idea of leaving a structure like this so open and accessible seems to hark back to a more naïve, innocent era. It’s an era that nonetheless has to end if the temple is to survive in decent condition.
‘Come back in a few years and the Temple, now nestling beneath a giant cloche, will probably look like an outsized snow globe, left pristine and unshaken.’
Many of us will remember when Kathryn Bard found those strange caves on the Red Sea. Others have now worked that, finding more, even a harbor and an anchor factory! When clearing one of the caves, a mass of crushed papyrus was found between two door stones. The papyrus has proven to be a monumental discovery…the oldest papyrus with written text, and the log book of one of the supervisors on the construction teams building the great pyramid of Khufu!
The papyrus is still being translated, in part, but enough has emerged to tell a wonderful take. The article below is but one of a dozen that have appeared, but they all tell just a part of the story. This one seems to do the best (Live Science, http://tinyurl.com/h3lren2). There are new parts of the story appearing every few days.
‘A logbook that contains records detailing the construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza has been put on public display at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
‘The Great Pyramid of Giza was built in honor of the pharaoh Khufu (reign ca. 2551 B.C.-2528 B.C.) and is the largest of the three pyramids constructed on the Giza plateau in Egypt. Considered a "wonder of the world" by ancient writers, the Great Pyramid was 481 feet (146 meters) tall when it was first constructed. Today it stands 455 feet (138 meters) high.
Here, one of the papyri in the ancient logbook, which documented the construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza.Credit: Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities
‘The logbook was written in hieroglyphic letters on pieces of papyri. Its author was an inspector named Merer, who was "in charge of a team of about 200 men," archaeologists Pierre Tallet and Gregory Marouard wrote in an article published in 2014 in the journal Near Eastern Archaeology. [In Photos: Inside Egypt's Great Pyramids]
‘Tallet and Marouard are leaders of an archaeological team from France and Egypt that discovered the logbook at the Red Sea harbor of Wadi al-Jarfin 2013. It dates back about 4,500 years, making it the oldest papyrus document ever discovered in Egypt.
‘"Over a period of several months, [the logbook] reports — in [the] form of a timetable with two columns per day — many operations related to the construction of the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza and the work at the limestone quarries on the opposite bank of the Nile," Tallet and Marouard wrote.
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‘Merer recorded the logs in the 27th year of Khufu's reign. His records say that the Great Pyramid was near completion, with much of the remaining work focusing on the construction of the limestone casing that covered the outside of the pyramid, Tallet and Marouard wrote.
‘The limestone used in this casing, according to the logbook, was quarried at Tura near modern-day Cairo and was brought to the pyramid site by boat along the Nile River and a system of canals. One boat trip between Tura and the pyramid site took four days to complete, the logbook notes.
‘The logbook also says that in Khufu's 27th year, the construction of the Great Pyramid was being overseen by the vizier Ankhaf (also spelled Ankhhaf), the half- brother of Khufu. (A vizier was a high official in ancient Egypt who served the king.) The papyri also reveal that one of the titles Ankhaf held was "chief for all the works of the king," Tallet and Marouard wrote in the journal article.‘Though the logbook said Ankhaf was in charge during the pharaoh's 27th year, many scholars believe it's possible that another person, possibly the vizier Hemiunu, was in charge of pyramid building during the earlier part of Khufu's reign.’
And as we get close to wrapping up this month’s CyberScribe, we have yet one more pyramid story. It seems that a resident of one of the villages near the Great Pyramid was illegally digging in his yard when he stumbled onto a tunnel. Word got out and… Well, read for yourself in this very brief note that appeared in ‘Epoch Times’ (http://tinyurl.com/hf6w2y2):
‘The Pyramids of Giza are among the world's most famous ancient buildings, but there are still many mysteries surrounding them. Until recently, one
thing that has confounded experts is where a covered passageway leading to the Great Pyramid referenced by the Greek historian Herodotus could possibly be. They need not wonder any longer, as a guy found it under his house. The man was illegally digging on his property in a village near Giza when he came upon a tunnel made of large stone pieces. Archaeologists soon arrived on the scene and confirmed that he'd dug down to the corridor that leads to the Pyramid of Khufu as it is sometimes known.
‘The causeway currently lies about 30 feet under the ground's surface. Prior to this, excavations and searches performed over a number of decades had only turned up fragments of the underpass. Not only does the discovery confirm the passageway referenced by Herodotus in the 5th century B.C. exists, it suggests the location of the undiscovered Valley Temple is at its terminus. Archaeologists now believe that the adjoining structure is located somewhere beneath the village Nazlet el-Samman.’
Here is the photo accompanying the report:
The report makes the claim that this is the funerary causeway that leads from the Valley Temple to the Pyramid of Khufu. The CyberScribe has a slight bit of dubiousness when he looks at a REAL causeway, one built for Unas. You can decide for yourself if you believe that the ‘causeway’ above is likely to be as reported.
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Funerary causeway of Unas
That’s probably enough for this month. See you right here next time!
Remember, if you read it on the Internet…it has to be true!
BY THE WAY, if you ever want to read more of an article where it notes that the CyberScribe has abbreviated it, send the CyberScribe a note and he will try to send along the missing information.
Menhedj: The Journal of NT-ARCE, Inc. Copyright 2016
Upcoming Schedule
Lectures are at 7:00SMU Campus, Fondren Hall
(building 29 on the campus map)Room 123
Evening lectures are free and open to the public.Seminars require tickets.
For more information, visitwww.arce-ntexas.org
September 24, 2016 Dr, Kasia Szpakowsa (Swansea University) “ Armed and Dangerous: An Iconography of Protective Middle and New Kingdom Demons.”
October 21, 2016 Colleen Manassa Darnell “Warping the Time-Space Continuum: An Exploration of the Egyptian Netherworld Books.”
October 22, 2016 (F-Sa) - Fall Seminar: Colleen Manassa Darnell: Part 1 : “Giraffes, Donkeys and Boats: the Origins of Religion in the Predynastic Period.” Part 2: “ From the Pyramid Texts to the Books of Breathing: An Overview of Egyptian Religious Texts” Part 3: “Alchemy and Hermeticism: An Egyptian Perspective
November 25, 2016 Dr. Donald Redford (Penn Sta Topic: TBA
December 4, 2016 Joint AIA ARCE Members holiday Party at the Dowlings
Lectures from our friends at DFW AIA
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