Category: CULTURE

News about culture and cultural heritage

3,800-Year-Old ‘Tableau’ of Egyptian Boats Discovered

More than 120 images of ancient Egyptian boats have been discovered adorning the inside of a building in Abydos, Egypt. The building dates back more than 3,800 years and was built near the tomb of pharaoh Senwosret III, archaeologists reported.

The tableau, as the series of images is called, would have looked upon a real wooden boat said Josef Wegner, a curator at the Penn Museum at the University of Pennsylvania, who led the excavation. Only a few planks remain of the wooden boat, which would have been constructed at Abydos or dragged across the desert, Wegner said. In ancient Egypt, boats were sometimes buried near a pharaoh’s tomb. [In Photos: Tomb Painting Discovered Near Great Pyramid of Giza]

Etchings and a boat

Archaeologists found that the tableau was incised on the white plaster walls of the building.

The largest images are nearly 5 feet (1.5 meters) in length and show “large, well-rendered boats depicted with masts, sails, rigging, deckhouses/cabins, rudders, oars and in some cases rowers,” wrote Wegner in an article published in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology. Some images are small and simple, the smallest reaching only about 4 inches (10 centimeters) in length, wrote Wegner.

Though 120 boat images survive today, there would have been more incised on the building walls in ancient times, Wegner wrote. In addition to the boats, the tableau contains incised images of gazelle, cattle and flowers, he noted.

Near the entranceway of the building — whose interior is about 68 feet by 13 feet (21 by 4 m) — archaeologists discovered more than 145 pottery vessels, many of which are buried with their necks facing toward the building’s entrance. “The vessels are necked, liquid-storage jars, usually termed ‘beer jars’ although probably used for storage and transport of a variety of liquids,” wrote Wegner in the journal article.The existence of the building was first noted in a 1904 report by an Egypt Exploration Fund (EEF) team that worked at Abydos between 1901 and 1903. However, that team didn’t have time to excavate the building and didn’t know what was in it; “they came down on the very top of the boat building. They saw the vault of it but abandoned work,” Wegner said.

Many mysteries

The discoveries leave archaeologists with a series of mysteries that future excavations may help solve. [7 Amazing Archaeological Discoveries from Egypt]

The archaeologists don’t know who drew the tableau or why they created it. “We can’t conclusively answer that on the basis of what’s preserved,” Wegner told Live Science. However, the researchers think multiple people created the tableau within a short period of time, he added.

One possibility is that the people who built the boat also created the tableau, he said. Or, perhaps, a group of people taking part in a funerary ceremony after the death of pharaoh Senwosret III etched the images onto the building walls. Yet another possibility is that a group of people gained access to the building after the pharaoh died and created the tableau. Archaeologists found that a group of individuals entered the building at some point after the pharaoh’s death and took the boat apart, reusing the planks.

Archaeologists are also puzzled over the purpose of all the pottery found near the entrance of the building. It’s possible that those attending a funerary ceremony could have spilled liquid from the pots on the ground on purpose. “Potentially a massive decanting of liquid, likely predominantly water, at the entrance of the building was a way of magically floating the boat,” Wegner wrote in the paper. The boat would not have been literally floated if this ceremony took place.

Another possibility is that the wooden boat was transported on a wooden sledge across the desert. In that case, “water and other liquids may have been used to lubricate and solidify the ground along the path of the boat as it was pulled from the floodplain to its desert resting place,” wrote Wegner, adding that “the ceramic vessels used in this journey may themselves have taken on a ritual significance, and both boat and jars were then buried together as ceremonial interment of objects associated with royal mortuary rites.”

The team plans to carry out excavations in the future that may help solve the various mysteries, he said.

Wegner’s team, in cooperation with Egypt’s Ministry of State for Antiquities, carried out the excavations of the building between 2014 and 2016.

(www.livescience.com)

November 5, 2016
The Alexandria International Conference on Maritime and Underwater Archaeology
Egypt has provided humanity with a majestic concrete civilization that continued for thousands of years since the break of dawn. Historians and archaeologists have been interested in studying this civilization and its endlessly creative, accomplished legacy. Marine archaeology is considered one of the new sciences that studies the Ancient Egyptian Civilization throughout its different ages through archaeological findings, either underground or underwater. Egypt witnessed an attention paid to underwater and marine archaeology for many years, since several institutes and individuals were keen on finding underwater antiquities and affiliating marine cities and active and obliterated harbors, and getting to know the old navigation methods, and the related trade and marine activity. Consequently, researchers delved in this infinite science full of mystery and joy of discovering.

Not only had the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities paid attention to afford the opportunity to excavations in Egypt by foreign missions specialized in underwater and marine archaeology and collaborated in their scientific and archaeological work, but also founded the Department of Underwater Antiquities in Alexandria in 1996 to be the specialized annex of the Ministry entrusted with enriching Egyptian archaeological and scientific research in the field, and the section responsible for revealing the secrets of this amazing, deep world of Egyptian legacy. This was until the Department became a central department of underwater antiquities, thus in charge of more practical and scientific responsibilities including the organization of archaeological work and specialized scientific collaboration in the field of underwater and marine archaeology, not only in Alexandria, but all over Egypt, whether in the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, or the River Nile. The Bibliotheca Alexandrina, since its foundation, also paid attention to reviving the rich Egyptian civilizational legacy represented in the Ancient Bibliotheca Alexandrina. It paid attention to archaeology in general, and marine and underwater antiquities specifically. Thus, galleries, meetings, workshops, and others were organized; books and prints tackling this important subject were published, either via Alexandria Project, which documents the Ancient Bibliotheca Alexandrina and its legacy, or other activities of the New Bibliotheca Alexandrina and its research centers.

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina, represented in the Alexandria Project, and the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities, represented in the central Department of Underwater Antiquities, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the foundation of the central Department of Underwater Antiquities, realized that together Underwater and Marine Archaeology should be celebrated through calling for holding the Alexandria International Conference for Underwater and Marine Antiquities, 31 October – 2 November 2016, in Alexandria, Egypt, to present the different aspects of this field, and to study the latest specialized archaeological findings. The three-day Conference tackles the following topics:
1. Archaeological harbors:
  - Marine ports and harbors
2. Ancient shipbuilding:
  - Boats and ships in Ancient Egypt
  - Boats and ships in Ancient Mediterranean
  - Ships in the Islamic Era
3. Underwater archaeological sites:
  - Archaeological findings in Egypt.
Those in charge of the Conference were honored to participate with the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology (IEASM) headed by Professor Franck Goddio, and the Centre for Alexandrian Studies (CEAlex) headed by Archaeologist Mary Dominick Nina, in terms of financial support and organization.

The Conference is honored to have an elite of Egyptian and international historians and archaeologists specialized in studying underwater and marine antiquities in several archaeological missions, inside and outside Egypt. Twenty-five scientists and archaeologists from Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, Poland, Russia, Tunisia, Turkey, United Kingdom, and United States of America, participated in the Conference.

The Conference also honors pioneer individuals and institutions in underwater and marine archaeology, who exerted distinguished and distinct efforts, enriched this archaeological work in Egypt, and contributed in establishing its bases. The Conference honors the following:
- Name of Prince Omar Tousson
- Name of Mr. Kamel Abou el-Saadat
- Name of Archaeologist Honor Frost
- The Archaeological Society of Alexandria
- Dr. Ibrahim Darwish
(www.bibalex.org)
November 2, 2016
Tuthmosis II shrine in Karnak temple ready to open after restoration

The Centre Franco-Egyptien d’Etude des Temples de Karnak (CFEETK) (French- Egyptian Centre for Karnak Temples Studies) has finally completed the restoration work on the barque shrine of King Tuthmosis III, which was reconstructed in 2010 at the Open Air Museum of Karnak Temple.

Mahmoud Afifi, the head of the ancient Egyptian Antiquities Section at the Ministry of Antiquities said that after its reconstruction in 2010, the most delicate operation was then conducted which aimed to replace the fragments of the ceiling slab and of a lintel, which were broken in many fragments.

French Egyptologist Christophe Thiers, director of the CFEETK, said that this operation, performed manually with the aid of hydraulic jacks and temporary walls has enabled the progressive lifting of the ceiling slab, which weighs 76 tons, on the top of the walls

The slab was then moved laterally on the walls and has regained its original location. The latest work of cleaning and conservation has been completed — the bark shrine of Thutmosis III is now ready to be opened for visitors at the Open Air Museum of Karnak.

In antiquity, this limestone barque shrine was built by Thutmosis III in front of the fourth pylon. Subsequently, another barque shrine of Thutmosis IV was built against the one of Thutmosis III. Between 1914 and 1954, several fragments were found in the filling of the third pylon and in front of the ninth pylon.

(english.ahram.org.eg)

October 12, 2016
Ancient Greeks may have built China’s famous Terracotta Army – 1,500 years before Marco Polo

Ancient Greeks artists could have travelled to China 1,500 years before Marco Polo’s historic trip to the east and helped design the famous Terracotta Army, according to new research.

The startling claim is based on two key pieces of evidence: European DNA discovered at sites in China’s Xinjiang province from the time of the First Emperor in the Third Century BC and the sudden appearance of life-sized statues.

Before this time, depictions of humans in China are thought to have been figurines of up to about 20cm.

But 8,000 extraordinarily life-like terracotta figures were found buried close to the massive tomb of China’s First Emperor, Qin Shi Huang, who unified the country in 221BC.

The theory – outlined in a documentary, The Greatest Tomb on Earth: Secrets of Ancient China, to be shown on BBC Two on Sunday – is that Shi Huang and Chinese artists may have been influenced by the arrival of Greek statues in central Asia in the century following Alexander the Great, who led an army into India.

But the researchers also speculated that Greek artists could have been present when the soldiers of the Terracotta Army were made.

One of the team, Professor Lukas Nickel, chair of Asian art history at Vienna University, said: “I imagine that a Greek sculptor may have been at the site to train the locals.”

Other evidence of connections to Greece came from a number of exquisite bronze figurines of birds excavated from the tomb site. These were made with a lost wax technique known in Ancient Greece and Egypt.

There was a breakthrough in sculpture particularly in ancient Athens at about the time when the city became a democracy in the 5th century BC.

Previously, human figures have been stiff and stylised representations, but the figures carved on the Parthenon temple were so life-like it appeared the artists had turned stone into flesh.

Their work has rarely been bettered – the techniques used were largely forgotten until they were revived in the Renaissance when artists carved statues in the Ancient Greek style, most notably Michelangelo’s David.

Dr Li Xiuzhen, senior archaeologist at the tomb’s museum, agreed that it appeared Ancient Greece had influenced events in China more than 7,000km.

“We now have evidence that close contact existed between the First Emperor’s China and the West before the formal opening of the Silk Road,” the expert said.

“This is far earlier than we formerly thought.

“We now think the Terracotta Army, the acrobats and the bronze sculptures found on site have been inspired by ancient Greek sculptures and art.”

And Professor Zhang Weixing, lead archaeologist at the tomb site, said: “The archaeological work undertaken here recently is more important than anything in the last 40 years.

“By systematically examining the First Emperor’s main tomb and subsidiary burials we have discovered something more important even than the Terracotta Army.”

The mitochondrial DNA samples revealed Europeans had settled down in China and died there during the time of the First Emperor and even before then.

Hamish Mykura, of the National Geographic Channel, which made the documentary with the BBC, said: “The scope of these archaeological finds and what they mean for world history are astonishing.

“The new revelation that two of the world’s ancient super powers may have been in contact is a vital reminder today of the need for intercultural communication on a global scale.”

And BBC presenter Dan Snow said: “I hope audiences will find the new evidence as astonishing and thought-provoking as I did.

“It is extraordinary to think that history as we know it is changeable.”

The Terracotta Army – more than 8,000 figures buried less than a mile from the tomb – was found in 1974, but new geophysical survey evidence suggests the complex is much bigger than previously thought at 200 times the size of Egypt’s Valley of the Kings.

And the bones of 10 young women buried with precious jewellery made of gold and pearls have been found at the site.

Disturbingly, it is thought these women were the First Emperor’s concubines, who were murdered and mutilated as part of his funeral. There are 99 similar graves.

And the skull of a very high-ranking male was found with a crossbow bolt embedded in the back of the skull.

It is thought the bolt was fired at close range, suggesting the man was executed.

Chinese archaeologists believe it could be the remains of Prince Fu Su, the First Emperor’s eldest son, who was murdered along with his siblings by their younger brother Prince Hu Hai following their father’s death. The grave contains a total of seven different bodies, all of whom had been killed.

(www.independent.co.uk)

October 12, 2016