Exhibition in Minnesota Brings to Life the Discovery of King Tutankhamun’s Tomb

ST. PAUL, MINN.- Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs, an exhibition featuring more than 100 authentic treasures from the tomb of the celebrated pharaoh and other notable ancient sites, made its debut at the Science Museum of Minnesota on Friday, February 18, 2011. The exhibition marks the very first time that King Tut’s treasures have visited the region, providing visitors with the rare chance to see the boy king’s famed artifacts. It will run through September 5, 2011. The [...]

150 Archaeology Graduates Protest Against Egypt’s Antiquities Chief Zahi Hawass

CAIRO (AP).- The man in charge of Egyptian antiquities starred in a TV show about his exploits, sports an “Indiana Jones”-style fedora and triumphantly declared that the nation’s heritage was mostly unscathed after the revolt that toppled the president. On Monday, however, he was under siege, the target of angry protesters who want him to quit. “Get out,” a crowd of 150 archaeology graduates chanted outside the office of Antiquities Minister Zahi Hawass, who threw in his lot with the [...]

Egypt’s Museums and Ancient Monuments Declared Safe by Authorities

CAIRO (AP).- Egypt’s museums and ancient monuments, including the Pyramids of Giza, are secure despite upheaval in the streets, and officials recovered nearly 300 archaeological items that were plundered by armed Bedouins in the Sinai Peninsula, the government said Tuesday. The week-old uprising, marked by huge street protests, deadly clashes with police, economic paralysis and a mass exodus of foreigners, raised fears of major theft or destruction of Egypt’s treasures. Some museums and antiquities were threatened in a series of [...]

Anti-Government Protesters in Cairo Smash Treasures and Mummies in Egyptian Museum

CAIRO (REUTERS).- Looters broke into the Cairo museum housing the world’s greatest collection of Pharaonic treasures, smashing several statues and damaging two mummies, while police battled anti-government protesters on the streets. Arabiya television showed soldiers, armed and in battle fatigues, patrolling the museum that houses tens of thousands of objects in its galleries and storerooms, including most of the King Tutankhamen collection. Display cases were shattered and several broken statues and porcelain figures lay on the floor. An Egyptian army [...]

Archaeologists in Egypt Unearth Twelve More Sphinx Statues Along the Ancient Avenue

CAIRO (AP).- Egypt’s antiquities department says archaeologists have unearthed 12 more sphinx statues along the ancient avenue connecting Luxor and Karnak temples.  The discovery was made in a newly excavated section of the Avenue of the Sphinxes, most of which is buried beneath the modern city of Luxor in southern Egypt.  An unearthed sphinx statue of Pharaoh Nectanebo I, on the Avenue of the Sphinxes on a sandstone section of a road that dates back from 380-362 B.C., at the city [...]

MFA Houston to Present Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs in October 2011

HOUSTON, TX.- The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) will host Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs, an acclaimed exhibition featuring more than 100 artifacts, most of which had never been shown in the U.S. prior to this tour. The exhibition opens October 13, 2011, and will be on view through April 15, 2012. Visitors will have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to view the spectacular treasures, more than half of which come from the tomb of King Tutankhamun. These [...]

Egyptian Archaeologists Unveil Discovery of 4,300-Year-Old Tombs with Vivid Wall Paintings

SAQQARA (AP).- Egyptian archaeologists on Thursday unveiled a newly-unearthed double tomb with vivid wall paintings in the ancient necropolis of Saqqara near Cairo, saying it could be the start for uncovering a vast cemetery in the area. The tomb includes two false doors with colorful paintings depicting the two people buried there, a father and a son who served as heads of the royal scribes, said Abdel-Hakim Karar, a top archaeologist at Saqqara. “The colors of the false door are [...]

Archaeological Team’s Radar Reveals Extent of Buried Ancient Egypt City

CAIRO (AP).- An Austrian archaeological team has used radar imaging to determine the extent of the ruins of the one time 3,500-year-old capital of Egypt’s foreign occupiers, said the antiquities department Sunday. Egypt was ruled for a century from 1664-1569 B.C. by the Hyksos, a warrior people from Asia, possibly Semitic in origin, whose summer capital was in the northern Delta area. Irene Mueller, the head of the Austrian team, said the main purpose of the project is to determine [...]

Archaeologists in Egypt Find Ptolemaic-Era King Statue

CAIRO (AP).- Archaeologists in Egypt said Tuesday they have discovered a headless granite statue of an unidentified Ptolemaic-era king that is more than 2,000 years old. An Egyptian-Dominican team made the discovery at the temple of Taposiris Magna, west of the coastal city of Alexandria, said a statement from the Supreme Council of Antiquities. Alexandria was the seat of the Greek-speaking Ptolemaic Dynasty, which ruled Egypt for 300 years, until the suicide of Queen Cleopatra. The statue’s height is 53 [...]

King Tutankhamun Returns to New York After More than 30 Years for Last Leg of U.S. Exhibit

NEW YORK, NY.- More than 30 years after King Tut’s last visit to New York, the golden boy is back. “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs,” which opened yesterday and runs to January 2, contains more than 130 rare artifacts, twice the number of treasures shown in the 1970s exhibit. It includes items used for royal burial practices and daily life in ancient Egypt, King Tut’s viscera coffin, containers for the boy king’s mummified liver, his chariot and [...]

Egypt’s Zahi Hawass Chides Museums over Antiquities

NEW YORK, NY (AP).- Egypt’s antiquities chief, speaking at a preview of a King Tut exhibition, renewed his attacks on museums he claims have refused to return artifacts that rightfully belong in Egypt. Zahi Hawass, secretary general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, said Wednesday he had a wish list of objects he wants returned. He singled out several museums, including the St. Louis Art Museum, which he said has a 3,200-year-old mummy mask that was stolen before the museum [...]

Egypt’s Zahi Hawass Urges States to Cooperate on Artifact Return

CAIRO.- Egypt and other states which say artifacts have been illegally taken abroad should work together and list items they want returned from Western museums, Egypt’s top archaeologist said on Wednesday. Zahi Hawass, head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, was speaking to representatives from 21 countries, some like Greece and Syria, seeking the return of artifacts and others like the United States which have returned stolen antiquities. “Museums are the main source for stolen artifacts. If they stop (buying [...]

Mummy of Egypt’s Monotheist Pharaoh to Return Home

CAIRO.- The DNA tests that revealed how the famed boy-king Tutankhamun most likely died solved another of ancient Egypt’s enduring mysteries — the fate of controversial Pharaoh Akhenaten’s mummy. The discovery could help fill out the picture of a fascinating era more than 3,300 years ago when Akhenaten embarked on history’s first attempt at monotheism. During his 17-year rule, Akhenaten sought to overturn more than a millennium of Egyptian religion and art to establish the worship of a single sun [...]

Massive Head of Famous Pharaoh Amenhotep III Unearthed in Egypt

CAIRO.- Archaeologists have unearthed a massive red granite head of one Egypt’s most famous pharaohs who ruled nearly 3,400 years ago, the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities announced Sunday. The head of Amenhotep III, which alone is about the height of a person, was dug out of the ruins of the pharaoh’s mortuary temple in the southern city of Luxor. The leader of the expedition that discovered the head described it as the best preserved sculpture of Amenhotep III’s face [...]

New Cleopatra Exhibition to Make World Premiere at Franklin Institute

PHILADELPHIA, PA.- The world of Cleopatra, which has been lost to the sea and sand for nearly 2,000 years, will surface in a new exhibition, “Cleopatra: The Search for the Last Queen of Egypt,” making its world premiere in June 2010 at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. Organized by National Geographic and Arts and Exhibitions International, with cooperation from the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities and the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology (IEASM), the exhibition will feature more than 250 [...]

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