89 years ago today

Remember the Golden Age of Egyptian archaeology?  Before everything came stamped with the face of Zahi Hawass?  If you do, you might be aware that today is the anniversary of the opening of Tutankhamen's tomb.

On Feb. 16, 1923, the burial chamber of King Tutankhamen’s recently unearthed tomb was unsealed in Egypt. The New York Times called it “perhaps, the most extraordinary day in the whole history of Egyptian excavation.”

King Tutankhamen’s tomb is situated in the Valley of the Kings, east of the Nile River in Egypt. In 1907, the English archaeologist Edward Russell Ayrton uncovered a pit in the area containing pots, dishes and other objects belonging to Tutankhamun, then a relatively unknown 14th-century B.C. pharaoh. Mr. Ayrton’s sponsor, the American Theodore M. Davis, proclaimed that he had discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb and donated some of the objects to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. After years of study, Herbert Winlock, a curator at the Met, determined that the objects were left over from the embalming process and funeral, and that the pit was not actually Tutankhamun’s tomb.

Mr. Winlock theorized that Tutankhamun was likely buried nearby. The English archaeologist Howard Carter corresponded with Mr. Winlock and decided to search for the tomb. Funded by Lord Carnarvon, he began excavating the area in 1914 and found nothing for seven years. Lord Carnarvon considered giving up.

On Nov. 4, 1922, Mr. Carter finally uncovered the door of Tutankhamun’s tomb. After three weeks of removing stone and rubble from a corridor behind the door, Mr. Carter reached a second sealed door. With Lord Carnarvon watching, Mr. Carter opened the door slightly and held up a candle that revealed gold statues, beds and hundreds of other objects in the room behind the door.

Mr. Carter and his team spent nearly three months cataloging and removing objects from the tomb before he was able to reach the burial tomb. On Feb. 16, he began taking down the door to the burial tomb. “It finally ended in a wonderful revelation,” The Times wrote, “for before the spectators was the resplendent mausoleum of the king, a spacious and beautifully decorated chamber completely occupied by an immense shrine covered with gold inlaid with brilliant blue faience. This beautiful wooden construction towers nearly to the ceiling and fills the great sepulchral hall within a short span of its four walls. Its sides are adorned with magnificent religious texts and fearful symbols of the dead.”

Tutankhamun’s tomb was and remains the best preserved royal tomb ever discovered. Mr. Carter spent the next eight years removing objects from the tomb, most of which are now held at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo or displayed on tours. He opened Tutankhamun’s sarcophagus in February 1924, revealing the pharaoh’s mummy for the first time. His mummy remained in the tomb until 2007, when it was removed from the sarcophagus, placed in a climate-controlled box and displayed at a museum in Luxor, Egypt. The mummy has since been returned to the tomb, where it is displayed on tours.

UK taxi driver becomes first mummy for 3,000 years

A former British taxi driver has become the first person in the world for 3,000 years to be mummified in the same way as the pharaohs.

Channel Four viewers will see Alan Billis turned into a mummy over the space of a few months as his body is preserved using the techniques which the ancient Egyptians used on Tutankhamun.

Billis had been terminally ill with cancer when he volunteered to undergo the procedure which a scientist has been working to recreate for many years.

The 61-year-old from Torquay in Devon had the backing of his wife Jan, who said: "I'm the only woman in the country who's got a mummy for a husband."

The process is revealed in a new documentary Mummifying Alan: Egypt's Last Secret to be screened next Monday, October 24.

Dr Stephen Buckley, a chemist and research fellow at York University, has spent 19 years trying to uncover the preservation techniques which the Egyptians used during the 18th dynasty.

Alongside archaeologist Dr Jo Fletcher, Dr Buckley has studied mummified bodies, analysing tissue samples and finally putting his findings into practice by putting them to the test on Mr Billis's body at Sheffield's Medico-Legal Centre.

"It's turned current understanding, including my own, completely on its head," said Dr Buckley.

Billis had been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer when he heard about the search for a body donor.

"I was reading the paper and there was a piece that said 'volunteer wanted with a terminal illness to donate their body to be mummified'," he told the documentary team.

"People have been leaving their bodies to science for years and if people don't volunteer for anything nothing gets found out."

Billis - who dubbed himself "Tuten-Alan" - continued: "Experimenting is all about trying different processes to make things work. If it doesn't work it's not the end of the world, is it? Don't make any difference to me, I'm not going to feel it. It's still bloody interesting."

His wife took his decision in her stride and said: "He just said, 'I've just phoned someone up about being mummified'. I said 'you've what?' 'Yes, I've phoned up someone about being mummified'.

"And I thought here we go again. What's going to go on now? It's just the sort of thing you would expect him to do."

Dr Buckley has used specialist scientific equipment such as a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer to identify materials which were used by priests, including beeswax, oils and resins.

He went on to conduct a series of experiments using pigs' legs as a substitute for human flesh, rigging up makeshift desert conditions in his shed.

Billis's internal organs - including his lungs and intestines - were removed through an incision in his side, and the sterilised cavity was padded with linen, although the brain was left in place. Then the body's moisture content was removed using a caustic salt from the region, called natron which was described by Greek historian Herodotus in 450BC - 800 years after the 18th dynasty.

The scientists then immersed the corpse in a salt bath for more than a month to draw out the water. And to protect the skin from the harsh salt it was covered in a special protective layer of oils.

The body was then wrapped in linen - like the classic image of a mummy - protecting it from light and insects, and his wife made a visit, leaving favourite photographs and drawings by his grandchildren.

After three months of drying, the process was judged to be complete.

Leading forensic pathologist Professor Peter Vanezis, who was also part of the team of scientists, said: "The skin itself has this leathery appearance which indicates that he has become mummified all over. It makes me very confident that his tissues have been mummified correctly and in a very successful manner."

Dr Buckley was pleased with the results of the natron bath, particularly the preservation of the brain.

"I think he's on the road to looking very much like the best of the best of the 18th Dynasty in 3,000 years' time."

The scientists believe the results may help in developing an alternative to formaldehyde in the preservation of tissue.

Channel 4 said the experiment had a scientific purpose and had not been done for sensationalism.

A spokesman said: "This is a serious scientific project, the result of a two-decade academic investigation to rediscover and replicate how the ancient Egyptians preserved their greatest pharaohs for thousands of years.

"The research may also offer an alternative to the preservation of tissue using formaldehyde, which has been found to be carcinogenic.

"The donor gave full consent to take part and his family are very happy with the mummification process and the programme."

Billis' family said they had given their full support. A statement issued on their behalf said: "Alan found out about this project when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and the project gave him something to focus on during his final months.

"As a family we were all supportive of his decision and have been overwhelmed by the care and attention he has received since his death. We would like to thank all involved for making his wish possible, and for making this such a positive experience."

The body will be kept at the Sheffield Medico-Legal Centre until the end of the year and it is hoped it will be used for further study into mummification and decomposition.

Feds bust group trying to smuggle Ancient Egyptian mummy coffins

The curse of the mummy strikes again!

A group of Egyptian antiquities dealers have been charged with illegally smuggling ancient funerary objects into the U.S., authorities said Thursday.

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn say Mousa "Morris" Khouli, the owner of Windsor Antiques in Manhattan, conspired with dealers in Michigan and Dubai to smuggle sarcophagi and other artifacts for a collector in Virginia.

Khouli, 37, is charged with trying to dupe Customs officials by labeling shipments of coffins and other items as "antiques" and "wood panels," prosecutors said.

He allegedly bought the items from Salem Alshdaifat, who runs Holyland Numismatics in West Bloomfield, Mich., and Ayman Ramadan, an antiquity dealers in the United Arab Emirates who helped him ship the items to the U.S.

Between October 2008 and November 2009, Khouli allegedly sold a Greco-Roman sarcophagus, Egyptian funerary boats and limestone figures to collector Joseph Lewis, 54, of Chesterfield, Va.

Agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement seized the items during a search of Lewis' house on July 13.

Other ancient coffins were recovered in 2009 at Port of Newark. Agents also recovered a sarcophagus in Khouli's Brooklyn home, which he falsely claimed was part of his father's collection and "that he had owned it for a long time," court papers stated.

Federal prosecutors say Khouli purchased that coffin from Ramadan in 2009 and are seeking the forfeiture of all the items so they can be returned to Egypt.

"Antiquities dealers and collectors are on notice that the smuggling of cultural patrimony will not be tolerated," said Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch.

ICE Special-Agent-in Charge James Hayes, Jr., called the investigation "ground-breaking."

"It is the first time an alleged cultural property network has been dismantled within the United States," Hayes said.

Khouli and Lewis pleaded not guilty in Brooklyn Federal Court Thursday and were each released on $250,000 bail.

"We are studying the charges and...will begin preparing the defense to the allegations -- both factual and legal," Khouli's lawyer Gerald Shargel said.

Alshdaifat was arraigned on Wednesday in Detroit Federal Court.

From NYDailyNews.com

Pyramid-Exploring Robot Reveals Hidden Hieroglyphs

A robot explorer sent through the Great Pyramid of Giza has begun to unveil some of the secrets behind the 4,500-year-old pharaonic mausoleum as it transmitted the first images behind one of its mysterious doors.

The images revealed hieroglyphs written in red paint that have not been seen by human eyes since the construction of the pyramid. The pictures also unveiled new details about two puzzling copper pins embedded in one of the so called "secret doors."

Published in the Annales du Service Des Antiquities de l'Egypte (ASAE), the images of markings and graffiti could unlock the secrets of the monument's puzzling architecture.

"We believe that if these hieroglyphs could be deciphered they could help Egyptologists work out why these mysterious shafts were built," Rob Richardson, the engineer who designed the robot at the University of Leeds, said. The study was sponsored by Mehdi Tayoubi and Richard Breitner of project partners Dassault Systèmes in France.

Built for the pharaoh Cheops, also known as Khufu, the Great Pyramid is the last remaining wonder of the ancient world.

The monument is the largest of a family of three pyramids on the Giza plateau, on the outskirts of Cairo, and has long been rumored to have hidden passageways leading to secret chambers.

Archaeologists have long puzzled over the purpose of four narrow shafts deep inside the pyramid since they were first discovered in 1872.



Two shafts, extend from the upper, or "Kings Chamber" exit into open air. But the lower two, one on the south side and one on the north side in the so-called "Queen's Chamber" disappear within the structures, deepening the pyramid mystery.

Widely believed to be ritual passageways for the dead pharaoh's soul to reach the afterlife, these 8-inch-square shafts remained unexplored until 1993, when German engineer Rudolf Gantenbrink sent a robot through the southern shaft.

After a steady climb of 213 feet from the heart of the pyramid, the robot came to a stop in front of a mysterious limestone slab adorned with two copper pins.

Nine years later, Hawass explored the southern shaft on live television. As the world held its breath, a tomb-raiding robot pushed a camera through a hole drilled in the copper pinned door -- only to reveal what appeared to be another door.

The following day, Hawass sent the robot through the northern shaft.

After crawling for 213 feet and navigating several sharp bends, the robot came to an abrupt halt in front of another limestone slab.

As with the Gantenbrink door, the stone was adorned with two copper pins.

"I dedicated my whole life to study the secrets of the Great Pyramid. My goal is to finally find out what’s behind these secret doors," Zahi Hawass, Egypt's Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs, told Discovery News in a recent interview.

In the attempt to solve the mystery, Hawass established the Djedi project, a joint international-Egyptian mission, which he named after the magician who Khufu consulted when planning the layout of this pyramid.

"I selected the Djedi team during a competition that I coordinated to pick the best possible robot to explore the shafts in the Great Pyramid," Hawass said.

The winning robot, designed by Leeds University, has indeed gone further than anyone has ever been before in the pyramid.

The project began with the exploration of the southern shaft, which ends at the so called "Gantenbrink’s door."

The robot was able to climb inside the walls of the shaft while carrying a "micro snake" camera that can see around corners.

Unlike previous expeditions, in which camera images were only taken looking straight ahead, the bendy camera was small enough to fit through a small hole in a stone "door," giving researchers a clear view into the chamber beyond. It was at that time that the camera sent back images of 4,500-year-old markings.

"There are many unanswered questions that these images raise," Richardson told Discovery News. "Why is there writing in this space? What does the writing say? There appears to be a masonry cutting mark next to the figures: why was it not cut along this line?" Roberston wondered.

The researchers were also able to scrutinize the two famous copper pins embedded in the door to the chamber that had only ever been glimpsed from the front before.

"The back of the pins curve back on themselves. Why? What was the purpose of these pins? The loops seem too small to serve a mechanical purpose," Richardson said.

The new information dismisses the hypothesis that the copper pins were handles, and might point to an ornamental purpose.

"Also, the back of the door is polished so it must have been important. It doesn't look like it was a rough piece of stone used to stop debris getting into the shaft," project mission manager Shaun Whitehead, of the exploration company Scoutek UK, said.

The Djedi robot is expected to reveal much more in the next months.

The device is equipped with a unique range of tools which include a miniature "beetle" robot that can fit through a 19 mm diameter hole, a coring drill, and a miniaturized ultrasonic device that can tap on walls and listen to the response to help determine the thickness of the stone.

The next step will be an investigation of the chamber's far wall to check whether it is another door, as suggested in the 2002 live exploration, or a solid block of stone.

"Then we are going to explore the northern shaft," Richardson said.

The team has committed to completing the work by the end of 2011. A detailed report on the findings is expected to be published in early 2012.

From Discovery News

Egyptian pyramids found by infra-red satellite images

Seventeen lost pyramids are among the buildings identified in a new satellite survey of Egypt.

More than 1,000 tombs and 3,000 ancient settlements were also revealed by looking at infra-red images which show up underground buildings.

Initial excavations have already confirmed some of the findings, including two suspected pyramids.

The work has been pioneered at the University of Alabama at Birmingham by US Egyptologist Dr Sarah Parcak.

She says she was amazed at how much she and her team has found.

"We were very intensely doing this research for over a year. I could see the data as it was emerging, but for me the "Aha!" moment was when I could step back and look at everything that we'd found and I couldn't believe we could locate so many sites all over Egypt.

"To excavate a pyramid is the dream of every archaeologist," she said.

The team analysed images from satellites orbiting 700km above the earth, equipped with cameras so powerful they can pin-point objects less than 1m in diameter on the earth's surface.

Infra-red imaging was used to highlight different materials under the surface.

Ancient Egyptians built their houses and structures out of mud brick, which is much denser than the soil that surrounds it, so the shapes of houses, temples and tombs can be seen.

"It just shows us how easy it is to underestimate both the size and scale of past human settlements," says Dr Parcak.

And she believes there are more antiquities to be discovered:

"These are just the sites [close to] the surface. There are many thousands of additional sites that the Nile has covered over with silt. This is just the beginning of this kind of work."

BBC cameras followed Dr Parcak on her "nervous" journey when she travelled to Egypt to see if excavations could back up what her technology could see under the surface.

In the BBC documentary Egypt's Lost Cities, they visit an area of Saqqara (Sakkara) where the authorities were not initially interested in her findings.

But after being told by Dr Parcak that she had seen two potential pyramids, they made test excavations, and they now believe it is one of the most important archaeological sites in Egypt.

But Dr Parcak said the most exciting moment was visiting the excavations at Tanis.

"They'd excavated a 3,000-year-old house that the satellite imagery had shown and the outline of the structure matched the satellite imagery almost perfectly. That was real validation of the technology."

The Egyptian authorities plan to use the technology to help - among other things - protect the country's antiquities in the future.

During the recent revolution, looters accessed some well-known archaeological sites.

"We can tell from the imagery a tomb was looted from a particular period of time and we can alert Interpol to watch out for antiquities from that time that may be offered for sale."

She also hopes the new technology will help engage young people in science and will be a major help for archaeologists around the world.

"It allows us to be more focused and selective in the work we do. Faced with a massive site, you don't know where to start.

"It's an important tool to focus where we're excavating. It gives us a much bigger perspective on archaeological sites. We have to think bigger and that's what the satellites allow us to do."

"Indiana Jones is old school, we've moved on from Indy. Sorry, Harrison Ford."

Egypt's Lost Cities is on BBC One on Monday 30 May at 2030 BST, I suspect it will find its way to the states sometime soon after.

From BBC