Welcome to Egyptological

18th April 2013

Scene from the replica of the tomb of Tutankhamun

Welcome to the new edition of Egyptological’s Magazine. Edition 8 was originally scheduled for the 10th December 2012, two days after the site was hacked, so apologies that this was so late coming but we are very glad to be back.

Although the site is very nearly restored to its former self, there are still areas that require more work.  Kate’s excellent hieroglyph plug-in did not survive the transfer to our new hosting company and needs rebuilding.  In practical terms it means  that all the existing articles making use of the plug-in, which gave us the ability to include hieroglyphs within normal text, now no longer work. Where hieroglyphs were formerly displayed within the line of the text you will now see the code instead of the hieroglyphs.  We had a choice of deleting the code from every article in which the hieroglyphs appear or leaving it in and waiting until Kate has the chance to rebuild the plug-in.  We have chosen the latter course.

The Photo Albums also no longer function, so those have been removed pending decisions about how to handle image sharing in the future.

We found that, in some articles, some of the images had vanished.  We have added them where we have found gaps and have  been checking and rechecking.  But if you find any missing images in articles please let us know on the email address below, and we will reload them.

Edition 8 itself fell victim to the hack, and not all of the articles that were originally planned for publication survived.  This is because although articles that were held on the site were backed up elsewhere, the backup was also hacked.   We aim to have the missing articles in a future edition.

In this edition you will find a great mix of new articles. We welcome Dylan Bickerstaffe, whose first article in a new series on the crossed-arm pose in the New Kingdom discusses the royal pose in death. Garry Beuk continues his series on important Egyptologists with a fascinating article about Egyptian Egyptologist Labib Habachi.  Barbara O’Neill brings her research into the letters of Heqanakht to a wider audience with her article about his miraculously preserved correspondence. A second article by Barbara looks at the meaning of the word Inw and its relationship to gift exchange.  Kate Phizackerley has tackled the thorny subject of whether, during the First Dynasty, Merneith was a Queen in her own right or a regent for her young son. Andrea Byrnes has contributed two articles, one about the replica of the tomb of Tutankhamun and another on the Nineteenth Century Egyptian travels and collections of Marianne Brocklehurst, a diarist and friend of Amelia Edwards.   There are also two book reviews: Dawn of Egyptian Art and Traveling Through the Deserts of Egypt.  To accompany Kate’s article on Merneith there is also a short piece on the goddess Neith in the Early Dynastic period in the In Brief section.

Following Edition 8 we will be rethinking how we handle the Journal and Magazine sections.   Editorial approaches need tightening up in both sections to ensure that they conform to stricter standards and do a better job of  meeting the requirements of their intended audiences.  We have talked for a long time about putting together an editorial committee, and we will be thinking about how this can be best handled.  It sounds good in theory, but the practicalities need to be worked out.  In Brief will continue to offer a mixture of short articles on a variety of topics.

We are also looking to expand our technical resource, which at the moment consists of Kate with very little support (anyone interested in working with Egyptological on the technical side, please contact us).

Thanks again for all the support that you, our readers and authors, have offered us. We are lucky to have you.

Edition 8 Table of Contents:

The Significance of the Crossed Arms Pose in the New Kingdom – Part 1.  By Dylan Bickerstaffe
Labib Habachi A Life to Know…. Part 1. By Garry Beuk
Replicating the tomb of Tutankhamun. Conservation and sustainable tourism in the Valley of the Kings. By Andrea Byrnes
An Exploration of the term ‘inw’ from the Early Dynastic Period to the New Kingdom. By Barbara O’Neill
Marianne Brocklehurst and the West Park Museum, Macclesfield – Part 1. By Andrea Byrnes
Revisiting Heqanakht. By Barbara O’Neill
Merneith – The First Queen of Egypt? By Kate Phizackerley

In Brief:
The goddess Neith in the Early Dynastic period

Book Reviews:
Traveling Through the Deserts of Egypt
Dawn of Egyptian Art

Kindest regards
Andie Byrnes and Kate Phizackerley
contact@egyptologicalonline.net