Book Review: “Discovering Tutankhamun – From Howard Carter to DNA” by Zahi Hawass
It is now some while since Zahi Hawass was finally ousted from office as Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, following the fall of the Mubarak government in 2011; but his absolute ubiquity on TV programmes concerning ancient Egypt prior to that date (and the fact that these are repeated endlessly on various satellite/cable and terrestrial channels) means that there is little chance of any reader being unaware of his ebullient and bombastic presence. That presence is now reduced to occasional lectures about his former exploits, and adding to the series of published books that bear his name – of which this is the latest. [more…]
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A visit to the British Museum’s exhibition “Ancient Lives. New Discoveries”
By Andrea Byrnes. Published in Egyptological, Magazine Reviews. 16th June 2014 Ancient Lives. New Discoveries British Museum Exhibition dates: 22nd May – 30th November 2014 Sponsored by Julius Baer; Technology Partner – Samsung When I arrived home after visiting and enjoying Ancient Lives, I found that a friend who has also visited the […] [more…]
Book review – “Mysteries of the Libyan Desert” by W.J. Harding King
William Joseph Harding-King was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. His first journey into the Sahara took place in 1900, after which he published his book In Search of the Masked Tawareks. He returned to the Sahara again in 1908 and then again between 1909 to 1912. His contributions to a number of journals represented a significant contribution of knowledge to desert studies and he was awarded the Gill Memorial Memorial Medal by the Royal Geographical Society in 1919. Mysteries of the Libyan Desert was considered to be his most important book. [more…]
Book Review: Wadi Sura – The Cave of Beasts
The name “Cave of Beasts” comes from the strange headless creatures, an example of which can be seen on the cover of the book to the left. It comprises an estimated 8000 images over an area of some 120 square metres on the northeastern edges of the vast Gilf Kebir plateau. The book is edited by the much-published and respected archaeologist Rudolph Kuper, one of the major contributors to the archaeology of the area. [more…]
Book Review: Traveling Through the Deserts of Egypt
Traveling Through the Deserts of Egypt is a book of excerpts from the works of writers from Herodotus to modern times. The authors are the founding members of the Association for the Study of Travel in Egypt and the Near East (ASTENE) and between them have written a number of books and essays on travel writing. As one would expect with a publication from the American University in Cairo Press (AUC), the production values are excellent. [more…]
Book Review: Dawn of Egyptian Art
The United States was blessed with two exhibitions about the Predynastic in the last two years: Before The Pharaohs at the Oriental Institute in Chicago (March 29th to December 31st 2011) and Dawn of Egyptian Art at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art (April 10th – August 5th 2012). Both museums produced books to both accompany the exhibition and serve as standalone works, edited by their curators, with contributions by a number of well-known scholars in Predynastic and Early Dynastic research. In this edition I will look at will look at Dawn of Egyptian Art. In Edition 9 I will review Before the Pharaohs. [more…]
Overview: The Gurob Harem Palace Project Conference
The Gurob Harem Palace Project (http://www.gurob.org.uk), directed by Dr Ian Shaw from the University of Liverpool is collaborative, led by the University of Liverpool, University of Copenhagen and University College London. The conference took place on July 29th 2012 in Liverpool. Originally named Mer-Wer, today’s name derives from the nearby Medinet el-Gurab. It was investigated by a number of previous excavators including Flinders Petrie, William Loat and Guy Brunton before coming, for many years, under military control. The Gurob Harem Palace Project started work at the site in 2005, and their work is ongoing. [more…]
Book Review: Life Everlasting
Life Everlasting: National Museums Scotland Collection of Ancient Egyptian Coffins Bill Manley and Aidan Dodson 2010 National Museums Scotland ISBN 978-1-905267-17-0 176 pages Introduction Having recently read an excellent paper by Julie Ann Morgan about the way in which Third Intermediate Period mummies can be analysed and understood, I was in just the […] [more…]
Book Review: Grand Hotels of Egypt in the Golden Age of Travel
Grand Hotels of Egypt is essentially a book about the influx of western visitors into Egypt after Napoleon had departed and Anglo-American style infrastructure had arrived in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Using contemporary accounts and photographs, cartoons and some remarkable marketing material in full colour, Andrew Humphreys explores the role of the grand hotels of the day in the constant swirl of people as they experienced Egypt’s towns and cities. [more…]
Review. Bill Manley, Egyptian Hieroglyphs for Complete Beginners. 2012
Bill Manley, well known for the surprising best seller How To Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs that he co-authored with Mark Collier, (generally known simply as “Collier and Manley”) has produced a new book for those who are planning to learn hieroglyphs for the first time. The Preface, as well as the book’s title, makes it clear that Dr Manley is aiming at the complete beginner with this book [more…]