What I have to be thankful for...

...on this Thanksgiving Day (and every day)!

A beautiful place to live...


...and work...


...with an 84-year history of important contributions...


...outstanding colleagues and friends...




...including some very young ones...


...surrounded by amazing monuments...





...and astonishing vistas...



...and nature that just won't quit...



...and that's just in Egypt!!

I hope you all feel as blessed as I do--today and every day...

Tony Hillerman, Novelist, Dies at 83

Please excuse this detour from things Egyptian, but I was shocked and saddened to learn of the death of one of my all-time-favorite mystery writers. Whenever I would visit New Mexico I would re-read Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather and at least one of Tony's mysteries (my favorites are Dance Hall of the Dead, The Thief of Time and Skinwalker). It's hard to believe that we will no longer meet up with Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee...

My last trip to New Mexico coincided with the opportunity to hear Tony speak and to chat briefly with him at Left Coast Crime, which was held in Alburquerque in 1999. He will be sorely missed!

Halloween Tradition Continues at Chicago House

We celebrated Halloween on October 30 this year--so "been there, done that" well before you've put your costumes on. CH hosts a major party for all the missions and any of our friends who are in town. Dr. Ray considerately scheduled the party for last night so that our guests would have all day Friday to recuperate (Fridays are the weekly holiday for everyone except us--we take Sundays)! Most of the preparations, decorating and the "pumpkin" carving (no pumpkins here, only squash) took place yesterday afternoon:























































I'm not even going to try to identify all the pictures taken at the party:
















































































































































































And here's our youngest guest, Gioia:

On Your Mark...Get Set...GO!

I hit the ground running for my fifth season at Chicago House. Sam from American Express delivered me safely at about 3:40 a.m. on Sunday, October 19 (this middle-of-the-night arrival is the only downside of the direct flight from Paris to Luxor). Luckily, Sunday is our day off (unlike all the other missions that follow the Arabic custom of Friday holidays--we work Fridays so that the library can be open for our fellow egyptologists and Egyptian grad students)! But I was still up for traditional Sunday-morning pancakes! Sunday was also the day when I learned that the Mudhir wanted the library open for business on Wednesday!! But I'm nothing if not flexible and up for a challenge...

Here's a picture of the library before the grand opening:






This is the original library built in 1931 as part of the transfer of Chicago House from the West Bank (behind the Colossi of Memnon) to the East Bank (fronting on the Nile).





And the view from one of the windows in my new office:

















Familiar sounds make me feel at home quickly. The first was early on Sunday morning when the call to prayer wafts from the nearby mosque. The second was the whoosh of the burner on one of the hot air balloons which frequently make their way across the Nile from their launch area on the West Bank:









This one seemed to be sinking quickly towards an unplanned landing!









I've already had visitors from Woodland! These are new friends (thanks to Gerry Flory) Kusum and Narayan Rau. They consulted with me about their trip to Egypt back in September and were excited to see Chicago House and the library firsthand. They are bringing lots of literature with them to share with mutual friends back home.


















Wow! I'm exhausted just reading about all that's happened in just over a week....And there's more to come--reports on the betrothal ceremony I attended last night and the upcoming CH Halloween party. But enough for this post...

"Ahlan wa sahlan" from Luxor, Egypt!

King Tut Tomb Fetuses May Reveal Pharaoh's Mother

Two mummified fetuses found in the tomb of King Tutankhamun will undergo DNA testing to determine their relation to the famous pharaoh, Egyptian officials announced today.

Rest in peace, Seti

A programme is in place to protect the sacred site of Abydos, as Nevine El-Aref finds out.

Sailing into eternity...

Visitors to the Giza Plateau will be able to view Khufu's second solar boat through a tiny camera 4,500 years after it was buried to ferry the king to eternity. Nevine El-Aref takes a look.

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.

Look Closely...

Check out this really cool birthday card I received from a fellow member of La Vie en France (a Yahoo Group):

For those who don't recognize the site: it's in the Temple of Horus at Edfu, and the wonderful statue is Horus himself.

Here are two of the pictures I took on my most recent visit to Edfu in October 2007:

Here's to a Fabulous 2008!

Looking backward...

...Looking forward!

May your 2008 be full of health, happiness, peace and every good thing you could wish for!

Season's Greetings from Luxor!

Merry Christmas! Joyeux Noël! Buon Natale! Feliz Navidad! Kullu sana wintu taibeen!

Whatever your language have a joyous, peaceful and wonderful holiday!

Love, Marie

Beautiful Darkness! Blessed Light!

May your celebration of this season of holidays draw deep from the abundant joy, fierce hopes, and enduring traditions of all of our ancestors...

New Discoveries at Karnak Temple

I wondered why Steven Stanek from National Geographic was seen last week in the CH library in the company of my boss, Dr. Raymond Johnson. This article (click on the title) explains everything.

Here's a portion of the interview with Dr. Johnson:

W. Raymond Johnson, an Egyptologist at the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago who has visited the site, said the discovery shows the expertise of ancient Egyptian builders.

"Being good engineers and practical, [ancient Egyptians knew] that to build something so big so close to the Nile, you have to have reinforcement in front of it. … It stopped any erosion of the Nile River bank."

The find sheds new light on the ancient city of Thebes, of which Karnak was the religious center, he added.

"We've assumed the ancient landscape in Thebes is relatively unchanged, and we have to completely reevaluate that now," Johnson said.

"It really gives us pause when we make certain assumptions and then find out they are completely wrong."

That's my boss!

Zombies in Upper Egypt!!

Our friend Renée Friedman at Hierakonpolis has struck again! She has a wickedly developed sense of the absurd, and this article is a case in point (click on the title of this post).


Here is Renée talking to the group from Chicago House about the restoration of the mudbricks of the Fort at Hierakonpolis.


A view of the Fort...

In Memoriam - Washoe (1965-2007)

I was saddened to read of the death of Washoe, the chimpanzee who learned to use American Sign Language under the tutelage of cognitive researchers R. Allen and Beatrix T. Gardner. This occured while I was in college and I was fascinated by the whole experiment due to its linguistic and philosophical implications. I even wrote a paper for my "Philosophy of Man" course. I felt a real psychic link with her and with Koko the kitten-loving gorilla who learned more than 1,000 sign language words during research at Stanford University. Rest in peace, sweet Washoe...and may you find Heaven to be a place where you can tickle and be tickled to your heart's content...

ICanHasCheezburger Factory Strikes Again!

For those among us who are guardians of the people's right to look at anything they damn well please on the Internet! (Click on the title to see what I'm talking about...)


In LOL-Kitteh Speak...Miz Otizz her sez "K, weyz 2 go!!"

Face to Face with the Boy King

Click on the title to read about a first-time likeness of the face of Tutankhamun created by archaeologists. The likeness will go on display with his mummy later this year.

A "Fruit"ful Discovery in Tut's Tomb

This colossal statue of King Tutankhamun (at 17 ft. 4 in., the tallest ancient Egyptian statue in the Western Hemisphere, and weighing in at approximately 12,000 pounds) can be found at the Oriental Institute Museum at the University of Chicago. I took this photo during my Egyptology tour of Chicago in early August. The statue was discovered near Medinet Habu (west bank at Luxor--ancient Thebes) in the Temple of Aye and Horemheb in 1930.

Below are two photos showing, somewhat poorly I'm afraid, the placard attached to the statue. (If you click on either of them you will open an enlarged view which, of course, is much easier to read.) It's a fascinating story!

The story of the recent discovery of eight baskets of doum fruits (from the doum palm) in Tut's tomb is available by clicking the title of this post.

Nefertiti Staying Put?

Further "Tales of Zahi Against the World"! Germany has decided not to allow the famous bust of Nefertiti to return to Egypt for a three-month exhibition--and now Zahi wants the bust back for good. (Click on the title of this post to read the full article.) Below is a shot of a copy of the original bust costumed for Christmas. This replica sits on top of the piano in the tea room at Chicago House.

Tut-Tut-Tut-ing Along...

This is moi in front of Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings. I was lucky enough to be invited to view the tomb on a special pass issued to the young daughter of my friend Lisa Giddy in the Spring of 2005. Chloe was allowed to bring 5 people along with her. The truly wonderful part of the experience was that we were the only people in the tomb! Amazing!!

Click the title of this post to read an article about the latest Tut discovery.

X(ray) Marks the Spot...

An interesting NYTimes article about using a CAT scan to find out more about a 2000-year-old mummy. Not that such a procedure is uncommon, but that it's a collaboration between a museum and a hospital is a bit unusual.

This photo (l.), which I took at the Field Museum in Chicago (Aug. 5, 2007), shows how some amulets would be placed on a mummy. Below is a mummy which is displayed in the mastaba-tomb of Unis-ankh, also in the Field Museum.

More to come from my Egyptology tour of Chicago with Glyphdoctors' Nicole Hansen...