“Door to the afterlife”

Posted on March 31, 2010 by Doug Neeper

DFN: And the tombs keep on coming! I went to the King Tut Exhibit at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco on Saturday. Today is the last day of the exhibit. Bought a book regarding Carter’s discovery of the King Tut’s tomb. Interesting read so far, and if gives great insights into the current struggles between Egypt and other countries regarding its struggles to repatriate antiquities taken out of the country to far away lands. Death / afterlife was a big part of ancient Egyptian life. Back on the King Tut exhibit, they put into tombs Shabites, which were small doll like figurines which were supposed to act a servants to the luminary in the afterlife. Interesting that during the mummification process, the internal organs with stored in containers separated from the actual body. FYI, I first saw the King Tut exhibit at the LA County Musuem of Art in 1979+/-. Just as impressive now, as it was then. The exhibit moves onto NYC, I imagine the Metropolitian, one of the sponsors of Carter’s dig.

Door to afterlife from ancient Egyptian tomb found
Mon Mar 29, 9:24 am ET

CAIRO – Archaeologists have unearthed a 3,500-year-old door to the afterlife from the tomb of a high-ranking Egyptian official near Karnak temple in Luxor, the Egyptian antiquities authority said Monday.

These recessed niches found in nearly all ancient Egyptian tombs were meant to take the spirits of the dead to and from the afterworld. The nearly six-foot- tall (1.75 meters) slab of pink granite was covered with religious texts.

The door came from the tomb of User, the chief minister of Queen Hatshepsut, a powerful, long ruling 15th century B.C. queen from the New Kingdom with a famous mortuary temple near Luxor in southern Egypt.

User held the position of vizier for 20 years, also acquiring the titles of prince and mayor of the city, according to the inscriptions. He may have inherited his position from his father.

Viziers in ancient Egypt were powerful officials tasked with the day-to-day running of the kingdom’s complex bureaucracy.

As a testament to his importance, User had his own tomb on the west bank of the Nile in Luxor, where royal kings and queens were also buried. A chapel dedicated to him has also been discovered further south in the hills near Aswan.

The stone itself was long way from its tomb and had apparently been removed from the grave and then incorporated into the wall of a Roman-era building, more than a thousand years later.

False doors were placed in the west walls of tombs and faced offering tables where food and drink were left for the spirit of the deceased.

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“Dinosaurs wiped out by BIG asteroid”

Posted on March 5, 2010 by Doug Neeper

DFN: There’s recently been some concern regarding the 8+ quake in Chile altering the ’tilt’ around which the earth axis rotates, thus changing weather patterns, so this big asteroid theory makes sense. FYI, the location of the ‘hit’, is Chicxulub, near Merida on Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula. Lastly, while research the Chile earthquake, I discovered the USGS has a ‘neat’ website re earthquakes: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/index.php.

It’s official: An asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs
By Kate Kelland, Health and Science Correspondent Kate Kelland, Health And Science Correspondent – Thu Mar 4, 2:07 pm ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100304/sc_nm/us_dinosaurs_asteroid

LONDON (Reuters) – A giant asteroid smashing into Earth is the only plausible explanation for the extinction of the dinosaurs, a global scientific team said on Thursday, hoping to settle a row that has divided experts for decades.

A panel of 41 scientists from across the world reviewed 20 years’ worth of research to try to confirm the cause of the so-called Cretaceous-Tertiary (KT) extinction, which created a "hellish environment" around 65 million years ago and wiped out more than half of all species on the planet.

Scientific opinion was split over whether the extinction was caused by an asteroid or by volcanic activity in the Deccan Traps in what is now India, where there were a series of super volcanic eruptions that lasted around 1.5 million years.

The new study, conducted by scientists from Europe, the United States, Mexico, Canada and Japan and published in the journal Science, found that a 15-kilometre (9 miles) wide asteroid slamming into Earth at Chicxulub in what is now Mexico was the culprit.

"We now have great confidence that an asteroid was the cause of the KT extinction. This triggered large-scale fires, earthquakes measuring more than 10 on the Richter scale, and continental landslides, which created tsunamis," said Joanna Morgan of Imperial College London, a co-author of the review.

The asteroid is thought to have hit Earth with a force a billion times more powerful than the atomic bomb at Hiroshima.

Morgan said the "final nail in the coffin for the dinosaurs" came when blasted material flew into the atmosphere, shrouding the planet in darkness, causing a global winter and "killing off many species that couldn’t adapt to this hellish environment."

Scientists working on the study analyzed the work of paleontologists, geochemists, climate modelers, geophysicists and sedimentologists who have been collecting evidence about the KT extinction over the last 20 years.

Geological records show the event that triggered the dinosaurs’ demise rapidly destroyed marine and land ecosystems, they said, and the asteroid hit "is the only plausible explanation for this."

Peter Schulte of the University of Erlangen in Germany, a lead author on the study, said fossil records clearly show a mass extinction about 65.5 million years ago — a time now known as the K-Pg boundary.

Despite evidence of active volcanism in India, marine and land ecosystems only showed minor changes in the 500,000 years before the K-Pg boundary, suggesting the extinction did not come earlier and was not prompted by eruptions.

The Deccan volcano theory is also thrown into doubt by models of atmospheric chemistry, the team said, which show the asteroid impact would have released much larger amounts of sulphur, dust and soot in a much shorter time than the volcanic eruptions could have, causing extreme darkening and cooling.

Gareth Collins, another co-author from Imperial College, said the asteroid impact created a "hellish day" that signaled the end of the 160-million-year reign of the dinosaurs, but also turned out to be a great day for mammals.

"The KT extinction was a pivotal moment in Earth’s history, which ultimately paved the way for humans to become the dominant species on Earth," he wrote in a commentary on the study.

(Collins has created a website at http://impact.ese.ic.ac.uk/ImpactEffects/Chicxulub.html which allows readers to see the effects of the asteroid impact.)

(Editing by Myra MacDonald)

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“Controversy Over King Tut (DNA) Findings

Posted on February 21, 2010 by Doug Neeper

DFN: Just when you thought the controversy surronding King Tut’s death were put to rest, counter points have risen; still looks malarial / bone infection is the general cause. Does it really matter, which came first?

Controversy Arises Over King Tut Findings
By Rossella Lorenzi | Thu Feb 18, 2010 03:05 PM ET

Dr. Zahi Hawass, the head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, unveiled new evidence for King Tut’s lineage and cause of death at a packed press conference on Wednesday.

Hawass confirmed the principal conclusions made in a paper published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. He said that Tutankhamun’s father was most likely the "heretic" king, Akhenaten, whose body is now almost certainly identified with the mummy from KV 55 in the Valley of the Kings.

King Tut’s mother, who still cannot be identified by name, is the "Younger Lady" buried in the tomb of Amenhotep II (KV 35).

The mummy of the "Elder Lady" from the same tomb can now be conclusively identified as Tutankhamun’s grandmother, Queen Tiye.

Hawass added that new light was shed on the cause of death for Tutankhamun with the discovery of DNA from the parasite that causes malaria; it is likely that the boy king died from complications resulting from a severe form of this disease.

"We found evidence from DNA that proves he had very severe malaria. He was ill, weak, walked on a cane," Hawass was reported to say.

"When he was 19 and got malaria, he fell….When he fell, and was weak from malaria, he died," he added.

Study author Ashraf Selim, professor of radiology at Cairo University, told Discovery News that malaria could have been indeed the cause of death for King Tut.

"The type of malaria found is what is sometimes refered to as malignant malaria as being the most viscious of all types and certainly might have lead to his death," Selim said.

However, Selim does not rule out some other interacting causes.

"The fracture of his thigh bone might have had complications like septiceamia (blood stream infection ) and fat embolism (fat in the blood reaching the lungs). Both can lead to the death of an individual," the researcher said.

However, some outside mummy experts contacted by Discovery News are sceptical, and question the claim that malaria and bone necrosis might have caused King Tut’s demise.

Frank Rühli, Head Applied Anatomy and head of the Swiss Mummy Project at the University of Zurich. He participated in the CT scan analysis of Tutankhamun in 2005.

This is a major work in Egyptian mummy studies. It proves the value of modern methods such as CT and molecular testing. Yet, one needs to be cautious in stating any definite medical diagnosis. There is still a range of possible interacting causes for King Tut’s cause of death: bone infection is possible, yet without the internal organs this assessement is always incomplete. The present condition of the mummy will never allow not to medically rule out all possibilities.

Stephen Buckley, University of York. His research projects include the Tomb KV35 in the Valley of the Kings.

It is surprising that DNA should survive in these mummies given the very harsh conditions the bodies have been subjected to over the last 3000 years. I’m referring, for example, to the methods of embalming, the relatively high temperatures and oxidising environments. Hopefully, closer independent scrutiny by ancient DNA experts might help explain these very surprising results.

Gino Fornaciari , director of palaeopathology at the University of Pisa in Italy.

It is a scientifically rigorous study. Indeed, that type of malaria might have caused his death. However, the diagnosis of bone necrosis is not clear from the published images. There is also the possibility that the necrosis was a consequence of malaria, caused by the malaria infection itself.

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Antiquity – King Tut DNA results

Posted on February 16, 2010 by Doug Neeper

DFN: Results of King Tut DNA testing; a sickly child with significant birth defects, with a broke leg / malaria causing a premature death. Hole in skull likely from the mummification process, not result of dastardly deed. Father determined to be Akhenaten, and mother determined to be a sister of Akenaten, but, still not specially identifyed.

Frail boy-king Tut died from malaria, broken leg
By PAUL SCHEMM, Associated Press Writer Paul Schemm, Associated Press Writer
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ml_egypt_king_tut
2/13/2010

CAIRO – Egypt’s famed King Tutankhamun suffered from a cleft palate and club foot, likely forcing him to walk with a cane, and died from complications from a broken leg exacerbated by malaria, according to the most extensive study ever of his more than 3,300-year-old mummy.

The findings were from two years of DNA testing and CT scans on 16 mummies, including those of Tutankhamun and his family, the team that carried out the study said in an article to be published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

It also established the clearest yet family tree for Tut, indicating for the first time that he was the child of a brother-sister union.

The study said his father was most likely Akhenaten, the pharaoh who tried to revolutionize ancient Egyptian religion and force his people to worship one god. The mummy shown by DNA to be that of Tut’s mother also turned out to be a sister of Akhenaten, though she has not yet been identified.

Tut, who became pharaoh at the age of 10 in 1333 B.C., ruled for just nine years at a pivotal time in Egypt’s history. While a comparatively minor king, the 1922 discovery of his tomb filled with stunning artifacts, including the famed golden funeral mask, made him known the world over.

Speculation had long swirled over why the boy king died at such a young age. A hole in his skull long fueled speculation he was murdered, until a 2005 CT scan ruled that out, finding the hole was likely from the mummification process. The scan also uncovered the broken leg.

In contrast to the golden splendor he was buried with, the newest CAT scans and DNA tests revealed a sickly teen pharaoh, weakened by congenital illnesses finally done in by complications from the broken leg aggravated by severe brain malaria.

The team said it isolated DNA of the malaria parasite in several of the family’s mummies, including Tut’s — the oldest such discovery.

"A sudden leg fracture possibly introduced by a fall might have resulted in a life threatening condition when a malaria infection occurred," concluded the article in the Journal of the American Medical Association. "Tutankhamun had multiple disorders… He might be envisioned as a young but frail king who needed canes to walk."

Like his father, Tutankhamun had a cleft palate. He also had a club foot and suffered from Kohler’s disease in which lack of blood flow was slowly destroying the bones of his left foot — an often painful condition, the study said. It noted that 130 walking sticks and canes were discovered in Tut’s tomb, some of them with trace of wear suggested they had been used.

The new study also answered long standing questions over Tutankhamun’s family. His grandfather was the Pharaoh Amenhotep III, and his father was mostly likely the famous Akhenaten, who attempted to change millenia of Egypt’s religious tradition by forcing the country to worship the sun god Aten, instead of usual multiplicity of deities.

Some archaeologists have speculated that Tut’s father was a little-known figure, Smenkhkare, thought to have ruled as a pharoah or co-regent.

Archaeologists have never been certain of the identity of Tut’s mother. DNA tests pinpointed which mummy is that of his mother — and that she was the sister of his father — but her name remains uncertain. Brother-sister marriages were common among ancient Egypt’s pharaohs.

The studies also disproved speculation that Tutankhamun and members of his family suffered from rare disorders that gave them feminine attributes and misshapen bones, including Marfan Syndrome, a connective tissue disorder that can result in elongated limbs.

The theories arose from the artistic style and statues of the period, which showed the royal men with prominent breasts, elongated heads and flared hips.

"It is unlikely that either Tutankhamun or Akhenaten actually displayed a significantly bizarre or feminine physique," said the article.

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Toltecs responsbile for Mayan collapse?

Posted on February 1, 2010 by Doug Neeper

DFN: Article suggests that the Toltecs moved into the neighborhood and helped bring about the collapse of the Mayan ‘empire’.

Maya tomb may explain culture’s collapse

Archaeologists say artifacts could reveal who took power in area
Miguel Tovar / AP
A ceramic head found in a Maya tomb sits on display at the Tonina archaeological site near Ocosingo village in Mexico’s Chiapas state.
Archaeologists unearth Maya tomb
Jan. 29: Archaeologists in Mexico say they have unearthed an ancient tomb thought to date back to the Maya empire. Msnbc.com’s Dara Brown reports.
By Manuel De La Cruz
updated 11:01 a.m. PT, Thurs., Jan. 28, 2010
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35127712/ns/technology_and_science-science/

TONINA, Mexico – Archaeologists in Mexico have found an 1,100-year-old tomb from the twilight of the Maya civilization that they hope may shed light on what happened to the once-glorious culture.

Archaeologist Juan Yadeun said the tomb, and ceramics from another culture found in it, may reveal who occupied the Maya site of Tonina in southern Chiapas state after the culture’s Classic period began fading.

Many experts have pointed to internal warfare between Mayan city states, or environmental degradation, as possible causes of the Maya’s downfall starting around A.D. 820.

But Yadeun, who oversees the Tonina site for Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History, said artifacts from the Toltec culture found in the tomb may point to another explanation. He said the tomb dates to between A.D. 840 and 900.

"It is clear that this is a new wave of occupation, the people who built this grave of the Toltec type," Yadeun said. "This is very interesting, because we are going to see from the bones who these people are, after the Maya empire."

The Toltecs were from Mexico’s central highlands and apparently expanded their influence to the Maya’s strongholds in southern Mexico. They are believed to have dominated central Mexico from the city of Tula — just north of present-day Mexico City — between the 10th and 12th centuries, before the Aztecs rose to prominence.

Miguel Tovar / AP
These ceramic heads from a Maya tomb sit on display at the Tonina archaeological site near Ocosingo village in Mexico’s Chiapas state.
Archaeologists not connected with the dig expressed caution about drawing conclusions from one site, noting the Maya empire covered a wide area, with a varied and complex history.

"One tomb, even if it is very fancy, isn’t going to answer big things about the trajectory of Maya history all over the place … maybe locally," said David Stuart, a specialist in Mayan epigraphy at the University of Texas at Austin.

Susan Gillespie, an archaeologist at the University of Florida, said that "the whole idea of a migration of people from Tula to the Maya area has been abandoned."

The jungle-clad site is dotted with temples and platforms left by the classic Maya. The newly uncovered tomb — first detected during maintenance work in December, and later excavated and shown to reporters Wednesday — is dug into the earth at the foot of one of the older temples.

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Inside, a stone bowl-type sarcophagus lies inside a narrow burrow, topped by a heavy stone lid. While such lids often bore inscriptions, this one does not; the Maya apparently began to abandon their elaborate writing system in the twilight of their culture.

Archaeologists also found a pottery urn and the bones of what they believe is a woman. Her skull appears to have been intentionally deformed, a practice common among the Maya. Physical anthropologists are now studying the bones, hoping to identify which group she came from.

The tomb does bear evidence that at least one other pre-Hispanic group took over the site after the collapse of the Maya.

The institute said the woman’s bones were displaced by boiled bones in another pottery urn, apparently put there by Tzeltal chieftains sometime in the late 1400s, just before the Spanish conquest.

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More info about Queen’s Berenike’s Temple

Posted on February 1, 2010 by Doug Neeper

Egyptians Unearth Ancient Queen’s Temple, Cat Goddess Statues
By Mahmoud Kassem
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/7067184/Two-thousand-year-old-Roman-aqueduct-discovered.html

Jan. 19 (Bloomberg) — Egyptian archaeologists have uncovered the temple of Queen Berenike as well as 600 Ptolemaic statues in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria in what may be the first traces of the ancient city’s royal quarters, the Supreme Council of Antiquities said.

The remains of the temple, 60 meters in height and 15 meters in width, were discovered during routine excavation in the Kom el Dikka area of Alexandria by an archaeological mission led by Mohamed Abdel Maqsoud, head of antiquities of lower Egypt, the council said in an e-mailed statement today. Queen Berenike, who reigned in the third century B.C., was the wife of Ptolemy III.

The team found a large collection of statues depicting the cat goddess Bastet, indicating that the temple was dedicated to the deity. Clay pots and bronze statues of other Egyptian gods including Harpocrates and Ptah were also discovered, the Supreme Council said. The find suggests that the worship of Bastet continued even after the decline of the Pharaohs, it said.

The base of a granite statue of a top official during the reign of Ptolemy IV was also unearthed and is believed to celebrate Egypt’s victory over the Greeks during the Battle of Raphia in 217 B.C., the statement from Egypt’s archaeological authority said. A large number of clay pots dating back to the fourth century B.C. as well as a Roman water cistern were also discovered, it said.

To contact the reporter responsible for this story: Mahmoud Kassem at mkassem1

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Roman Aqueduct discovered near Rome

Posted on February 1, 2010 by Doug Neeper

DFN: I’ve seen the aqueduct in Segovia, Spain, fantastic, but, its non-functioning.

Two thousand year old Roman aqueduct discovered

A pair of British amateur archaeologists believe they have found the hidden source of a Roman aqueduct 1,900 years after it was inaugurated by the Emperor Trajan.
By Nick Squires in Rome
Published: 7:00AM GMT 25 Jan 2010
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/7067184/Two-thousand-year-old-Roman-aqueduct-discovered.html

The underground spring lies behind a concealed door beneath an abandoned 13th century church on the shores of Lake Bracciano, 35 miles north of Rome.

Exploration of the site has shown that water percolating through volcanic bedrock was collected in underground grottoes and chambers and fed into a subterranean aqueduct, the Aqua Traiana, which took it all the way to the imperial capital.

Centuries later, it provided water for the very first Vatican, after Rome began to convert to Christianity under the Emperor Constantine.

The underground complex, which is entangled with the roots of huge fig trees, was discovered by father and son documentary makers Edward and Michael O’Neill, who stumbled on it while researching the history of Rome’s ancient aqueducts.

They recruited a leading authority on Roman hydro-engineering, Prof Lorenzo Quilici from Bologna University, who confirmed that the structure was Roman, rather than medieval as had long been believed.

Using long iron ladders to descend into the bowels of the sophisticated system, they found that the bricks comprising the aqueduct’s walls are laid in a diamond shape known as "opus reticulatum" – a distinctive Roman style of engineering.

"A lot of the stone work bears the original Roman tool marks," Edward O’Neill said.

The underground labyrinth of galleries has remained almost unknown to archaeologists because for hundreds of years it was full of water.

It was only when modern bore pumps started directing the supply to the nearby town of Bracciano that the water level dropped dramatically and the subterranean complex became accessible.

The vaulted ceiling was decorated with a rare type of paint known as Egyptian Blue, which led the O’Neills to speculate that the grotto was a Roman nymphaeum – a sacred place believed to be inhabited by water gods.

"The paint was very expensive to make, but it was painted all over the walls, which suggests an imperial link," said Mr O’Neill.

It may even have been inaugurated by Trajan himself in AD 109. Historical records show that the emperor may have been in the area on June 24 of that year.

By coincidence, the O’Neills first explored the aqueduct on June 24 2009 – exactly 1,900 years later.

A coin minted during Trajan’s reign commemorates the opening of the aqueduct, the documentary makers believe.

It depicts a river god holding an urn and a reed – traditionally symbols of a spring – and reclining in what looks like a cave, over what may be the representation of a tunnel.

The documentary makers hope to raise funds to pay for the site to be excavated by professional archaeologists.

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King Tut DNA test

Posted on February 1, 2010 by Doug Neeper

DFN: It will be very interesting to see the results of these test.

Egypt to soon announce King Tut DNA test results
By PAUL SCHEMM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/31/AR2010013100756.html
The Associated Press
Sunday, January 31, 2010; 11:42 AM

CAIRO — Egypt will soon reveal the results of DNA tests made on the world’s most famous ancient king, the young Pharaoh Tutankhamun, to answer lingering mysteries over his lineage, the antiquities department said Sunday.

Speaking at a conference, archaeology chief Zahi Hawass said he would announce the results of the DNA tests and the CAT scans on Feb. 17. The results will be compared to those made of King Amenhotep III, who may have been Tutankamun’s grandfather.

The effort is part of a wider program to check the DNA of hundreds of mummies to determine their identities and family relations. The program could help determine Tutankhamun’s family lineage, which has long been a source of mystery.

The identity of Tut’s parents is not firmly known. Many experts believe he is the son of Akhenaten, the 18th Dynasty pharaoh who tried to introduce monotheism to ancient Egypt almost 3,500 years ago, and one of Akhenaten’s queens, Kiya. But others have suggested he was the son of a lesser known pharaoh who followed Akhenaten.

Tutankhamun was one of the last kings of Egypt’s 18th Dynasty and ruled during a crucial, turmoil-filled period when Akhenaten’s monotheism was ended and powers were returned to the priests of ancient Egypt’s multiple deities.

Hawass has announced ambitious plans for DNA tests on Egyptian mummies, including tests on all royal mummies and the nearly two dozen unidentified ones stored in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. He has said the tests may show that some royal mummies on display are not who archaeologists thought them to be.

One of his top goals is to find the mummy of Nefertiti, Akhenaten’s wife, the queen legendary for her beauty.

Hawass has long rejected DNA testing on Egyptian mummies by foreign experts, and only recently allowed such projects on condition they be done exclusively by Egyptians. A $5 million DNA lab was created at the Egyptian Museum, with funding from the Discovery Channel.

Sunday’s statement also said a robot would be sent into the Great Pyramid of Khufu to discover the secrets of its hidden passageways.

In a widely publicized television show in September 2002, a robot designed by National Geographic explored some air shafts in the pyramid of Khufu, discovering secret doors with copper handles.

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Trenches found under Edinburgh Castle

Posted on January 24, 2010 by Doug Neeper

DFN: Castle often were build on top of previous settlements.

Trenches found under Edinburgh Castle
By Andrea McCallum
http://deadlinescotland.wordpress.com/2010/01/15/trenches-unearthed-beaneth-edinburgh-castle2494/

MEDIEVAL trenches dating back to the 16th century have been found underneath Edinburgh Castle.

The foundations – which formed part of the castle’s outer defences – were discovered by archaeologists.

Workers unearthed the walls and foundations during work to install new seating for Edinburgh Military Tattoo audiences.

Two separate structures were found buried about two metres beneath the castle’s esplanade.

The remains of a two-foot-wide wall was uncovered in the first trench – which is thought to be part of the north boundary between the city and the castle.

And a second trench revealed the foundations of a Spur – a 16th century defensive stronghold that protected the entrance to the castle.

Both appear in a 17th century drawing by Gordon of Rothiemay but until now their precise location was unknown.

Fiona Hyslop, Minister for Culture and External Affairs, said: “Edinburgh Castle has a long and important role at the centre of the country’s history.

“Finds of this kind are extremely valuable in terms of improving our understanding of the development of the castle, and its defensive needs during key periods in time, as well as showcasing effective modern day partnership working between the heritage and construction sectors.”

CFA Archaeology is working for Edinburgh Military Tattoo Ltd at the castle as part of Scheduled Monument Consent granted by Scottish Ministers for the new Tattoo stands.

Peter Yeoman is the head of CRT for Historic Scotland who looks after both Edinburgh Castle and the castle esplanade on behalf of Scottish Ministers.

He said: “As the remains have effectively lain covered for over 250 years, this is a unique opportunity to learn more about the esplanade during this period in the castle’s history.

“Until recently we have only had early drawings to go by, but we are now able to examine the archaeology and record and preserve as much of it as is possible for future generations.

“The remains are too deep down to be displayed, but to have this knowledge is a great step forward. In carry out these works Edinburgh Military Tattoo Ltd are to be commended for applying best conservation practice in ensuring that any discoveries are properly preserved and recorded. ”

The esplanade was formed in 1753 to create a parade ground for the military.

Archaeologists will continue to work with the Tattoo Company and their contractor Sir Robert MacAlpine to record the remains before they are re-buried.

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Pyramids build by ‘freemen’

Posted on January 24, 2010 by Doug Neeper

DFN: So, "The 10 Commandments" presented an inaccurate picture of ancient Egypt? Surprise, surprise, surprise.

Pyramids may have been built by free men, not slaves
By Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondent and Reuters
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1141728.html

Tombs discovered in recent years near the Great Pyramids in Egypt may reveal that the builders of the famed monuments were free workers, rather than slaves, as is commonly thought. The discovery of the tombs also showed that the workers received pay, food and lodging near the construction site, the Egyptian Antiquities Ministry said yesterday.

Egyptian archaeologists said they found evidence of settlements near the pyramids of Khufu and Khare, at Giza near Cairo.
Advertisement
Popular culture has long depicted slaves toiling away in the desert to build the mammoth pyramids only to meet a miserable death at the end of their efforts. The new tombs, which are approximately 4,100 years old, may dispel these myths.

"These tombs were built beside the king’s pyramid, which indicates that these people were not by any means slaves," Zahi Hawass, the chief archaeologist heading the Egyptian excavation team, said in a statement.

Hawass said evidence had been found showing that farmers in the Delta and Upper Egypt had sent 21 buffalo and 23 sheep to the plateau every day to feed about 10,000 builders.

The builders were rotated every three months and those who died on the job were buried in these tombs.

The first of the laborers’ tombs were uncovered in the early 1990s and were studied for many years by scholars from around the world. The cone-shaped tombs were built mainly of mud-brick and covered with white plaster. Scholars have said the plaster may have been added to imitate the royal pyramids.

Such discoveries reveal aspects of ancient Egyptian society, and can show the social origins of the lower classes, Salima Ikram, a professor of Egyptology and the American University of Cairo told The Associated Press.

Tel Aviv University Egyptologist Dr. Raphael Ventura said yesterday he was not surprised at the reports on ancient labor conditions.

"Those who study the subject properly know that slaves did not build the pyramids and certainly not the Israelites, as many mistakenly think," he said. However, Ventura and other Egyptologists said the reason people worked hands was the good deed of building a tomb for the king.

"They felt it was their duty to come when they were called," leaving their farms and fields during the Nile’s flood season, he said.

–
Doug

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