NOTABLE ARCHAEOLOGISTS Bernardino Michele Maria Drovetti (1776–1852)

NOTABLE ARCHAEOLOGISTS Bernardino Michele Maria Drovetti (1776–1852)

An Italian diplomat who fought in Napoleon Bonaparte’s army in Italy, Drovetti rose to become French consul general in Egypt (1811–1814). An interest in Egyptology led him to build up an impressive collection of antiquities, employing local agents to excavate sites or purchase objects from other excavators.

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NOTABLE ARCHAEOLOGISTS Howard Carter (1874–1939)

NOTABLE ARCHAEOLOGISTS Howard Carter (1874–1939)

An English artist who received his archaeological training from William M. Flinders Petrie, Carter first worked in Egypt in 1891.

He was engaged at various sites by the Egypt Exploration Fund, and from 1904, he supervised Theodore Davis’s excavations in the Valley of the Kings. In 1909, he began to work in the Theban necropolis for Lord Carnarvon, and from 1917, he explored the Valley of the Kings on behalf of his patron, searching for an intact royal tomb. He was unsuccessful until November 1922 when he discovered the virtually complete tomb belonging to King Tutankhamun.

Carter and his team took ten years to prepare, pack, and transport the spectacular tomb contents to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

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NOTABLE ARCHAEOLOGISTS Giovanni Battista Belzoni (1778–1823)

NOTABLE ARCHAEOLOGISTS Giovanni Battista Belzoni (1778–1823)

An Italian sailor who traveled to England where he became a weight lifter at Sadler’s

Wells Theatre in London, Belzoni also designed hydraulic displays for public entertainment in England.

Later, on his travels in Europe, he was encouraged to take his expertise to Egypt to construct irrigation equipment.

Although this venture was unsuccessful, he came to the notice of the diplomat and collector of antiquities, Henry Salt, who employed him to augment his collection.

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How to use ancient Egypt magic Amulets part 7/7

How to use ancient Egypt magic Amulets part 7/7

Gold cylindrical pendant with granular decoration, c. 1900—1800

BC. These containers were used to hold written amulets or small objects used in protective rituals.

Amulets continued to be extremely popular with the living and the dead while Egypt was under Greek rule. These amulets are purely Egyptian in type but are found in a greater range of materials. Some of the finest specimens are in glass

In Roman Egypt, precious and semi-precious stones were frequently used to make amulets and many foreign motifs were introduced

Written amulets, in a variety of languages, were very popular. Some were long and complex; others consisted of a few divine names.

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How to use ancient Egypt magic Amulets part 6/7

How to use ancient Egypt magic Amulets part 6/7

Necklace from a burial at Hu, c. 2000—1800 BC. Among the amethyst and carnelian beads are several amulets, including two small hippopotamus heads in

felspar and a carnelian snake's head pendant.

The amulet may be linked to menstrual blood and its place in the creation of human life. Spell mentions the power of the blood of Isis, but promises general protection for the deceased. The spell is to be said over a red jasper tyet amulet anointed with the sap of a particular herb, strung on a pith cord, and placed at the throat of the deceased. The magic of Isis will then protect his limbs and the ways through the underworld will be open to him. The text ends with a warning that the spell should be kept secret and a promise that it really works. Such endorsements are common in the magico-medical papyri.

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How to use ancient Egypt magic Amulets part 5/7

How to use ancient Egypt magic Amulets part 5/7

Amuletic bangle in gold and silver, c. 2000-1800 BC. The protective symbols include wedjat eyes, djed pillars and ankh signs. Also shown are a turtle, snakes, baboons, falcons, hares and the horned mask of the goddess Bat.

The first half of the second millennium BC saw a great expansion of amulet types. Much amuletic jewellery of fine quality survives from this period. Cylindrical cases just large enough to hold a folded scrap of papyrus were made in precious materials These may have contained written amulets to be hung at the throat to perpetuate a spell.

Solid 'dummy' cases are also known. The shape alone was presumably enough to evoke the power of written magic.

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How to use ancient Egypt magic Amulets part 4/7

How to use ancient Egypt magic Amulets part 4/7

Multiple wedjat eye amulet in green and black faience, mid 1^st millennium BC. The two pairs of divine eyes are separated by papyrus columns which symbolize growth and vitality.

Amulets were important to the Egyptians at all periods, but fashions in amulets changed. The use of amulets in Egypt goes back to the time before literacy. Around 4000 BC;, objects which archaeologists have classed as amulets start to occur in graves. It is impossible to be sure what such objects meant to the grave-owner. Among the earliest man-made amulets are small hippopotamus pendants in shell, ivory or stone

In later times, the female hippopotamus was a common amulet associated with the protection of pregnant women and young children.

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How to use ancient Egypt magic Amulets part 3/7

How to use ancient Egypt magic Amulets part 3/7

Steatite figure of a young girl holding a kohl pot, 19th-18th centuries BC. She wears a cowrie-shell girdle and has a fish amulet suspended from her plait.

Many amulets are closely related to the hieroglyphic script. This script is made up of signs which represent sounds (logograms), and signs which represent ideas (ideograms).

The ankh sign writes the word for life. The ankh as an amulet bestows or lengthens life.

The origins of this famous symbol are much debated. One suggestion is that it represents a penis sheath.1 If this is correct, the meaning of this symbol would be derived from the image itself.

Others maintain that the ankh represents a sandal strap, an object whose name happened to resemble the word for life. If this is the true explanation, the power of this symbol as an amulet would derive entirely from its written meaning.

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How to use ancient Egypt magic Amulets part 2/7

How to use ancient Egypt magic Amulets part 2/7

Part of The Book of the Dead of Ankhwahibre, c.6th century BC. It shows the main amulets used on a mummy and the spells that went with them. Next to the mummy (far right) are the djed pillar and the tyet knot. Thoth (left) is opening the gates of the underworld to let in the four winds.

Most amulets were intended to transfer to the wearer a particular quality of the being or object portrayed.

Some pendants in the form of deities may have been worn by pious people who wished to express their devotion to a particular god or goddess, but amulets use the power of a divine image in a more specialized way.

The gods and goddesses who were popular as amulets were not necessarily those who dominated the cult temples.

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How to use ancient Egypt magic Amulets part 1/7

How to use ancient Egypt magic Amulets part 1/7

Part of The Book of the Dead of Ankhwahibre, c. 6th century BC. It shows the main amulets used on a mummy and the spells that went with them.Next to the mummy (far right) are the djed pillar and the tyet knot. Thoth (left) is opening the gates of the underworld to let in the four winds.

The use of amulets is probably the most famous aspect of Egyptian magic. Egyptian amulets were exported or copied all over the ancient world. Huge numbers survive. One catalogue divides them into 275 main types, but that is probably an underestimate. Burials of the Egyptian elite include specially made amulets in precious materials

The function of some of these amulets is described in funerary literature such as The Coffin Texts and The Book of the Dead

The amulets found in humbler graves are more likely to be those worn by the deceased in life

They could go on helping and protecting the deceased in the afterlife. As with other intimate possessions, such as cosmetic kits and hairpieces, these amulets were probably considered too personal to be passed on to anyone else.

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Animal Mummies OF ANCIENT EGYPT

Animal Mummies OF ANCIENT EGYPT

Most scientific research has concentrated on human mummified remains, but there have also been some studies on animal mummies.

The Egyptians worshiped many of their gods in the form of animals, and some gods could appear in the guise of different animals. Originally, most gods were depicted with complete animal forms, but by the early historical period (c.2900 BC), many of them had acquired some human characteristics so that they now possessed human bodies attached to bird or animal heads.

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CLEOPATRA THE DANCE QUEENS OF THE NILE watch online

CLEOPATRA THE DANCE QUEENS OF THE NILE watch online

The distinctive sound of the leading world music artist's passionate percussion with the exciting rhythms of the Hossam Ramzy band of traditional musicians will support Serena's exploration of the traditional dances of the Nile from ancient Egyptian queens to modern fusion, accompanied by guest dancers.

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The great temples at Luxor watch online

The great temples at Luxor watch online

The modern town of Luxor is the site of the famous city of Thebes, (Waset in ancient Egyptian) the city of a hundred gates. It was the capital of Egypt from the 12th dynasty (1991 BC) and reached its zenith during the New Kingdom. It was from here that Thutmose III planned his campaigns,Akenaten first contemplated the nature of god and Rameses II set out his ambitious building program. Only Memphis could compare in size and wealth, but Memphis was pillaged of its masonry to build new cities and little remains. Although the mud brick palaces of Thebes have disappeared the stone

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The International Egyptian Mummy Tissue Bank

The International Egyptian Mummy Tissue Bank

In order to obtain sufficient quantities of samples from different mummies to enable the schistosomiasis study to be undertaken, the Egyptian Mummy Tissue Bank was established at the Manchester Museum, University of Manchester. The aim was to collect and store samples from Egyptian mummies held in collections outside Egypt in order to provide the world’s first international resource for preserving and researching ancient tissue.

The Manchester Museum approached more than 8,000 institutions worldwide (museums, medical institutions, and so forth) to ascertain if they held mummies in their collections and would be willing to provide milligram samples for the bank.

This international search and call for participation have resulted in the collection of many samples from mummies of different periods and social groups. These are being used in studies on schistosomiasis, and they also provide material for researchers and specialists in many disciplines to study the occurrence and patterns of various other diseases.

Thus, the tissue bank is able to make a unique contribution to investigations relating to the history of disease.

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THE POTENTIAL OF DNA TECHNIQUES WITH ANCIENT EGYPTIANS MUMMIES

THE POTENTIAL OF DNA TECHNIQUES WITH ANCIENT EGYPTIANS MUMMIES

Until the 1970s, when the Swedish scientist Svante Pääbo pioneered techniques that have been subsequently refined to identify DNA in mummies, the only method with the potential to trace familial relationships or population movements, or to identify the present-day descendants of ancient peoples was paleoserol ogy, the study of blood groups in ancient human remains. Since the 1930s, several studies had been carried out to identify blood groups in ancient human remains, and some success was demonstrated with the serological micromethod (SMM) and the inhibition agglutination test (IAT).

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