Let's all have tickets to the universal museum

"It's pointless trying to work out who owns ancient art objects. We need to share them around the world."

An article by Ben Macintyre on TimesOnline.

Multinational Team Creates the First 3-D Model of Egypt's Oldest Pyramid

The first "Virtual Step Pyramid" is to be used by architects, restorers, and archaeologists as part of efforts to save and restore the Step Pyramid in the face of threats from centuries of erosion and the fragility of the stone and clay body of the pyramid, exposed after the protective outer casing was removed by stone robbers in ancient times.

Archaeologists Find Silos And Administration Center From Early Egyptian City

ScienceDaily (2008-07-02) -- An expedition at Tell Edfu in southern Egypt has unearthed a large administration building and silos that provide fresh clues about the emergence of urban life. The discovery provides new information about a little understood aspect of ancient Egypt -- the development of cities in a culture that is largely famous for its monumental architecture.

The staff of Chicago House had the opportunity to visit Tell Edfu last season. Nadine Moeller provided an interesting and hospitable tour of the site. Unfortunately, all my photos were on the laptop that crashed at the end of the season. I'm still trying to recover them!

Those Crazy Ancient Near East Guys!

However you say it–Poisson d'Avril or April Fools Day–the folks at Eisenbrauns did themselves proud this year! Check it out at:

New and Notworthy from Eisenbrauns

A Tale of Two Stations

In preparation for the story of my weekend visit to Abydos earlier this month, I thought it might be fun to show readers the two train stations I experienced: Luxor and El-Balyana.

Here's Luxor:
































And here's El-Balyana:

Scenes from a Winter Garden...

It's hard to believe it's still technically winter here in Luxor. We've already reached highs in the 90s, although it's cooled back down to the 80s with comfortably cool nights (good sleeping weather). Here are some views of our thriving "winter" garden at Chicago House.

(left: A charming mix of cosmos and nasturtiums)












(right: Bombax ceiba - Silk Cotton Tree)











(left: Hollyhock)













(right: Lantana camara)













(below: Thunbergia grandiflora - Sky Vine)

Sunset on the Nile...

What a lovely ending to a midwinter day in Luxor: drinks and birthday cake on a dahabeyah anchored on the Nile's east bank. The chocolate cake and chocolate ice cream came from the Oasis Café just up the street. The wine was from Bordeaux and Egypt. The company was congenial. And the sunset was gorgeous!

Grim secrets of Pharaoh's city

"Evidence of the brutal lives endured by some ancient Egyptians to build the monuments of the Pharaohs has been uncovered by archaeologists."

So starts an article on BBC News (click the title to go to the article) which was promoting a program on BBC Two on Saturday evening: "The Pharaoh's Lost City". I've not yet been to Amarna--it's not that easy to get to these days--but it's high on my list.