Ten Years Ago Yesterday

This was me, taking my ending levels for the day at the dig at Abydos. You can see the Dec 01 04 date stamp in the upper right (I've posted this photo here before, thus the watermark at the bottom).

Things that are different:

• I don't smoke anymore
• About 40 extra pounds
• I'm soon to be divorced instead of recently married
• Hopefully I'm a lot nicer now than I was then.

Ten Years Ago

I was working at Abydos over the Thanksgiving holiday. We had to share the house with dinner. I'm not sure if I'll ever get back to Egypt again, but I had fun a decade ago. 

King Bunny-rabbit!

Pharaoh Unas's name on a stela at his pyramid complex in Saqqara. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When Pyramids Go Wrong (Photo credit: shoveling_ferret)

At some point I'm maystop getting all excited when I talk about King Unas, but for the time being:

ZOMG HIS NAME IS MADE OF BUNNIES!

Using My Degrees

Yesterday I used the hell out of my education.

Item 1:
Demonstrating that SpongeBob was one of the enemies the sun god had to face in the Underworld. Proof:

This is every bit as legitimate as the Abydos Helicopter bullshit.

Wollmeise--Skarabaus (Photo credit: lobstah1977)

Item 2:
Offering to build someone a pyramid in exchange for Wollmeise. I've never even touched Wollmeise. And damn do I need some of the Skarabaus colorway that I discovered when Zemanta spat out media related to this post.
Mmmmm, pretty, pretty yarns.
As soon as the person in question collects some gold, some limestone blocks, and some labor that will work for beer, bread, and onions that fancy pants yarn will be mine!

How Did Egyptian Folding Chairs End Up in Northern Germany? - SPIEGEL ONLINE

How Did Egyptian Folding Chairs End Up in Northern Germany? - SPIEGEL ONLINE

Depending on where you stand on the theft vs. fair division of finds in regard to the bust of Nefertiti, this isn't the first time the Germans stole stuff from Egypt.

Even the Romans Went Antiquing

Antinous as Osiris, wearing the nemes and the uraeus; the nose, mouth, left part of the face and major part of the bust are modern restorations. From the villa of Hadrian in Tivoli. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The villa's recreation of Canopus, a resort near Alexandria, as seen from the temple of Serapis (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Exhibit one - Hadrian's Villa.
(Actually, exhibit the only, because I'm exhausted and the stupid Topamax is making me stupider

Does anyone else find this Egyptian-style statue oddly posed? It's of Antinous, Hadrian's companion and probable lover.

Anyway, in addition to having Egyptian style stuff commissioned, Hadrian, one of the few Roman emperors to bother actually visiting Egypt, brought some stuff home with him.

This beautiful head of a female sphinx is said to have come from Hadrian's villa.

Head from a Female Sphinx. Found in Italy, said to have been in the ruins of Emperor Hadrian's villa at Tivoli, outside Rome; originally from Egypt, probably Heliopolis. Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 12, reign of Amunemhat II, circa 1876–1842 B.C.E. Chlorite, 15 5/16 x 13 1/8 x 13 15/16 in. (38.9 x 33.3 x 35.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 56.85 http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/egypt_reborn/female_sphinx.php 

In addition to the lovely head of the sphinx, there is this impressive naophorous statue of the Late Period. Naophorous just means a statue holding a shrine - typically a shrine that has another statue in it. Very meta. These become fairly common in the Late Period.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Naophorous Block Statue of a Governor of Sais, Psamtik(seneb) 

Batman in Ancient Egypt or Menkaure Was the God-Damned Batman

It is seriously nipply in here, people!

Who wants to co-author the paper with me?
Provisional Titles:

Nipples and Fecundity in the Old Kingdom
Joel Schumacher, Batman, Egyptian Art, and Nipples
Yes, I Totally Convinced Someone to Publish This Drivel Because Someone Backed out at the Last Minute
Dude, Seriously, Menkaure is the God-damn Batman
This Topic Is No Less Weird Than What David O'Connor Has Been Publishing and Lecturing Lately

Obviously the nemes headdress is an early version of the bat-cowl. And, um, stuff.

Still taking the Topamax. As if you didn't know that.

I've Uncovered the Secret of Ancient Egyptian Medicine

Consider the following scenario:
Ancient Egyptian Peasant: Dude, my eye hurts like Set's asshole!
Other Ancient Egyptian Peasant: Don't you mean like Horus's eye? That Set poked out. That we draw on everything. And that will rank in the top 10 unoriginal tattoos.
Peasant 1: Shut up, asshole sounds funnier.
Peasant 2: whatevs
Priest/Healer: hey, your eye hurts? I can fix that! Let me smear some of this on it.
Peasant 1: Um, is that poop?
Priest: No! Don't be ridiculous! It's poop and mucous and some straw.
Peasant 1: Hey, what do you know? My eye is totally better! I need to, um, go do some stonecarving. Bye!

Yep.

Archaeology that makes me squee!!!

Today my class took a test the first half of class, so I did some reading to prep questions about the other textbook I assigned: Daily Life in Ancient Egypt
This resulted in the following gems:

The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Feeding Cup
Why, yes, that is an ancient baby sippy-cup. And it is awesome.

The other thing was this:

...white dogs with large black spots make a regular appearance in Middle Kingdom tombs as pets, and even as guardian deities...

Yup, totally a guardian deity.

If Only I Had Tenure

I would actually use this slide.

It's Min, by the way, from Coptos.
And he is totally all about the penis.

Still Alive. Mostly.

Image via Wikipedia

My class is tiny. Tiny enough to be sort of weird. But at least it didn't get cancelled.

I've been freaking out the last 2 weeks pulling lectures together for topics I didn't cover that much with the old textbooks. This week is a little easier aside from the complication that is a UTI. It feels like someone is stabbing me in the left  kidney. Super fun. Trying to get a doctor to give me better antibiotics.

This week I'm just refining existing lecture and presentation. I had to firmly resist putting "OM NOM NOM" on this photo.

But that is totally what the lion is saying. It's in the missing piece of the palette. I swear it is. Just like the reconstructed stuff on this thing.

The Sentimentality of Teaching

Image by shoveling_ferret via Flickr

The past few days and coming week are a time of introspection and memory for me. Tom has gone on a 10-day trip to Sudan leaving me with decidedly mixed feelings. I of course hope he has fun and is safe, but there are emotions connected with some less than pleasant memories of that last season and, I must admit, a tiny bit of jealousy that he can go and I no longer can. Adulthood is a bitch.

I'm also preparing to teach again and have been updating my syllabus and reviewing my old lecturing notes and presentations. I hadn't realized how many memories would be triggered doing this. I have found myself remembering the days in class I learned about certain topics. How difficult translating particular texts was. And in reviewing introductions to formal translations, very amused reading between the lines in discussions of why particular approaches were taken in translation.
I am happy that most of those memories are pleasant and leave me a bit wistful, but not depressed or even particularly regretful.
I am looking forward to teaching again and hoping desperately that my brain fog and fatigue and occasional aphasia won't be too much to deal with. I am optimistic in that regard.

Oreo, on the other hand, is a bit grumpy that I have several books and papers out, which means that I am not available to pay full attention to him at any moment. Poor doggy.

Saying Goodbye to the Galleries

I took some time today to go through the galleries to say goodbye.  Snapped quite a few photos too.


I threw together a slide show of some of the sillier things.

Hero of the Day

Whoever added their commentary to this poster in my old department.  (I swear it wasn't me, because I would TOTALLY take credit for it)

Mummies: CT scans of Egyptian mummies show atherosclerosis - Los Angeles Times

Image via WikipediaMummies: CT scans of Egyptian mummies show atherosclerosis - Los Angeles Times

I have the pestilence (cold) from hell at the moment, but this article was really interesting and I wanted to share it.

If you hadn't already guessed, I tend not to have a lot of patience for people who overly romanticize "non-Western" cultures (and often the concept of non-Western extends into the past to mean anything prior to the Industrial Revolution).
Therefore, this article about artherosclerosis, which is typically characterized as a disease of modern life, being found in Egyptian mummies is particularly interesting. One does have to wonder how much the results were determined by the relatively higher social status of the people being mummified and their greater access to diets that may have been less healthy.

It's interesting, though, the number of people who seem to think that if we could just transport some of the basics of modern hygiene and medicine into the pre-Industrial past that it would be a veritable utopia.

Not sure if this is making much sense as I'm loopy from the cold and stuff to kill the symptoms.

Anyway, ancient heart disease. Interesting.

Before the Pyramids Sneak Peek (3)

Before the Pyramids Sneak Peek (3)

Some wonderful photos and peeks behind the scenes of the OI's latest temporary exhibit "Egypt Before the Pyramids." Beautiful, beautiful Predynastic pots. Very nifty.

These are on the Oriental Institute's Facebook page, but you should be able to view them even if you are not a member of Facebook.

My Official Response Is As Follows: "Daaaaaaaaaaaamn"

Image via WikipediaUnreported Heritage News: Ancient Egyptians made the arduous trek to Chad ne...: "View From Egypt to Chad in a larger map The Bodele Depression. New research suggests that the Egyptians travelled to this area. Today it..."

Go read the article and look at the pictures.

I wonder what this will do to the ongoing debate over which ancient Egyptian place-names apply to what areas in greater Nubia and Africa

Also: ZOMG A country in Africa had contact with other parts of Africa!

The Unknown Dangers of Assitantships

Image by JnL via Flickr

Slide carousel.  They worked via a combo of light projection and cursing

 

 

 

Part of my "treatment" for my depression the past week has been watching Beavis and Butthead, which I haven't seen since it was on air in the mid-90s.  I still find it hilarious - make of that what you will.

One of the episodes ("Figure Drawing" when they wind up in a nude drawing class) reminded me vividly of a sort-of archaeological story, in the same vein as this one.

So, long ago when I was a poor, naive undergraduate (as opposed to a poor, cynical, crippled post-graduate) I wanted to go to an academic conference.  These things cost money.  They're usually in large, expensive hotels, often in large expensive cities.  You have to pay conference fees, membership fees, pay for a room somewhere and get your ass there. 

This particular conference made allowances for us pitiful, undereducated weaklings and had assitantships that would pay most of the expenses.  Yay.  I still wound up driving 300 miles there and back (and on the last day I had food poisoning) but whatever.  This was my very first-ever grown-up conference.

The assitantship meant I had to help run the A/V equipment.  This was long enough ago that nearly everyone was still using 35 mm slides.  I had never so much as touched a slide projector before.  Plus, I was shy and knew exactly 4 people of the hundreds there.  This was when I learned that some ABDs and newly minted PhDs can be ENORMOUS douchecanoes to anyone they remotely perceive as beneath them.  I was still young enough to give a damn and not be all "whateva' have you seen the job market lately?  Hope you have fun with that attitude at McDonald's."
It was totally not my fault that the hotel had craptastic A/V equipment and that they'd apparently had developmentally delayed wombats erect the projector screens.   Or that some dillholes had loaded their slides wrong.   At least I didn't spill any slide carousels. 

Anyway.

This particular conference had a day set aside for presentations geared toward the general public as well as the specialists typically attending the conference.  In one of the huge hotel ballrooms because I guess they thought a whole lot of archaeological enthusiasts have plenty of time mid-week to travel to a downtown urban area with no parking to listen to lectures on topics they may or may not have ever heard of or care about.

At least all the presenters there were older scholars and most of them were remarkably nice.  One of them was presenting on the Turin Papyrus.
At the time, that phrase meant almost nothing to me.  I figured "hey, a papyrus, with writing, cool."  The woman presenting handed me a stack of transparencies (yes, this was a long time ago, shut up) and said she'd just let me know when to switch them out during her lecture.
And I was still like "cool, this will be easy.  Also, no one is yelling at me for things beyond my control.  Awesome!"
So, she gets to lecturing.  And I'm vaguely paying attention to what she's saying, but more listening for the "next slide, please" cue. 
And she asks for the first transparency.  So I slap that bad-boy on the projector like I know I'm its boss.

Go here for better detail.  WARNING:  Adult content NSFW

And look up.

I'm guessing my face looked more like Beavis.

Turns out, the speaker had decided to talk about the Turin Erotic Papyrus (guess why it's called that) for her public lecture.  Heh.

I swear there were at least 40 transparencies.  In excellent detail.  And while I did spend my formative years in Nevada where it's fairly common to see gigantic billboards emblazoned with women in feather bikinis, I was still somewhat unprepared for 40 damn transparencies of ancient pr0n.  Some of it involving bestiality.  That I was responsible for showing to the public. 

I have since sat through not one but several awkward, repetitive ("that's what she said") lectures on the same or a related topic.  While sexuality and eroticism in the ancient world are interesting topics, I will not weep if I never, ever see the Turin Erotic Papyrus or hear some elderly professor mumble his way through a discussion of it ever again.

Egypt Antiquities Resources

Compiled by the wonderful Megaera Lorenz
Document is now available on Google Docs for editing or editions.  Check there for the most up to date resources.

Egypt Crisis: Resources by Category

1. FACEBOOK

I have not figured out a good way to link directly to Facebook groups (as opposed to pages), so I’ll just list the names of groups here. They are easy to find with the search function.

Sarah Parcak has created the Facebook group "Restore + Save the Egyptian Museum!" as a place to gather information, keep track of new developments, and attempt to analyze the damage as it happens. This group has been extremely active, and is drawing media attention.

A similar group has been formed by Jaques Kinnaer called "Protect Egyptian Cultural Heritage."

The Facebook community Egyptologists for Egypt (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Egyptologists-for-Egypt-Supporting-the-peoples-demands/ ) is also a good source of news, particularly for keeping track of the status of various missions and individuals who are in the field now.

2. SITES TRACKING THE STATUS OF ANTIQUITIES

Egyptological Looting Database(http://egyptopaedia.com/2011/): A place for users to submit new information about looting as it comes in.

ARCE (http://arce.org): ARCE is posting updates on the situation in Egypt, and is also collecting contact information for Egyptologists currently in Egypt. Director Gerry Scott is coordinating efforts to help Egyptologists in Egypt leave the country if necessary.

Egyptian Crisis News (http://aiamilitarypanel.org/news/egyptian-crisis-news-and-discussion/): A compilation of information about the danger to Egypt's antiquities.

Egyptologists' Electronic Forum (http://www.egyptologyforum.org/): There is a very active ongoing thread with information about the situation in Egypt ("Unrest in Egypt").

Map of antiquities thefts (http://ancientegyptonline.org/egyptnews/p/mapofantiquitiestheft)

Zahi Hawass' blog (http://www.drhawass.com/blog/state-egyptian-antiquities-today-update): Statements from Zahi Hawass, now Minister of Antiquities.

Egyptology News (http://egyptology.blogspot.com/)

3. ORGANIZATIONS AND POLITICAL ENTITIES CONCERNED WITH CULTURAL HERITAGE

I'm quoting a document posted by Jaques Kinnaer on the Facebook group “Protect Egyptian Cultural Heritage”:

The following is (to become) a list of official government instances around the world that can be made aware of the threat to Egypt's Cultural Heritage. You can use it to see if it already contains URLs, e-mail address and/or addresses of your Ministry of Foreign Affairs/Science/Tourism or any other official instance that may be able to help in one way or another.

This document can be edited by any member of the group, so if you notice that the information for your country is missing or incomplete, please add it to the document.

The contact information is (to be) grouped by country, and if possible, try to keep them in alphabetical order. I will go through the list regularly to sort it, if necessary, but if the information is entered in structured and sorted way, that will be less work for all of us :-)

Thanks :-)

Jacques.

***

Belgium

Ministry of Foreign Affairs (webform): 

• in Dutch: http://diplomatie.belgium.be/nl/Contact/
• in French: http://diplomatie.belgium.be/fr/Contact/

Egyptian Embassy in Brussels:

• address: Uruguaylaan 19,  1000 Brussel
• phones: +0032 02 6635800  ; +0032 02 6635820  ; +0032 02 6755888  ; 
• e-mail: egyptembassy@embassyofegypt.be
• e-mail: eg.sec.be@hotmail.com
• website: http://www.embassyofegypt.be/
• website: http://www.egyptembassy.org/ 

European Union

• Commission of Culture e-mail: eac-culture@ec.europa.eu
• External relations web-form: http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/feedback/question2.htm

UK

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

• Email: enquiries@culture.gov.uk
• Web form: http://www.culture.gov.uk/contact_us/default.aspx
• Website: http://www.culture.gov.uk/
• Address: 2-4 Cockspur Street, London, SW1Y 5DH, UK

UNESCO

• address: 7, place de Fontenoy 75352 Paris 07 SP France
• address: 1, rue Miollis 75732 Paris Cedex 15 France
• webiste: www.unesco.org
• web-form: http://www.unesco-ci.org/knowledgebase/contact.php

Egyptian Cultural Heritage Legislation (http://www.cprinst.org/cultural-heritage-legislation-in-egypt): Information from the Cultural Policy Research Institute.

SAFE (Saving Antiquities for Everyone): main site (http://www.savingantiquities.org/) and blog (http://safecorner.savingantiquities.org/)

Blue Shield statement on Egypt from the IFLA (http://www.ifla.org/en/news/blue-shield-statement-on-egypt)

4. INFORMATION ON BYPASSING COMMUNICATION BLACKOUTS

The communications blackout seems to be ending for now, with internet service being restored in Egypt as of today. However, in case the situation changes again, here are several sites with information on how to communicate to and from Egypt via internet or phone.

Telecom Instructions (http://wl-tsunami.posterous.com/egypt-telecomix-instructions-for-net-connecti): Instructions and a list of telecom services offering free long-distance dial-up service for people in Egypt.

Google/Twitter's Speak 2Tweet service (http://twitter.com/speak2tweet): People in Egypt can call +16504194196 or +390662207294 or +97316199855 to leave or listen to voice messages.

Alive in Egypt (http://egypt.alive.in/): Transcriptions and translations of Speak2Tweet posts.

5. GENERAL NEWS AND INFORMATION

Al Jazeera English (http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/): Live stream of the latest developments in Egypt.

BBC Live Feed (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12307698)

CNN coverage (http://topics.cnn.com/topics/egypt)

Four Years Ago Today

I was in Khartoum for the very first time.  Specifically at the museum, drooling over cool things.

Mmm, pottery

Was-sceptres and ankhs with arms so they can hold up flags

C-Group pottery

Probably a beer strainer.  Ancient beer was some funky, chunky junk.

Beautiful Kerma beaker.  We still aren't sure how they managed to achieve that silvery "ash band"

Weights for quantities of gold.  The semi-circle with the tails at either end is the hieroglyph nbw for "gold"

Bronze mirrors, probably imported from Egypt during the New Kingdom

Two colossal statues of Kushite kings

Antique graffiti

Tom's ass in a temple

Enemies of Egypt personified as bound prisoners (heads missing)

And the lesson of the day:  I should really have gone through these back in the day and captioned them more fully because I honestly can't remember for sure what some of them are or why I thought it important to take those particular shots.  Or even if I had the camera for some of them or if Tom had it. 

Anyway, the museum is awesome.  They've reconstructed several Egyptian temples that would have been flooded by the formation of Lake Nasser had they not been chopped up into manageable blocks and then moved.  Mmmm, temples.  Temples without other tourists.  Mmmmmm.