This is my passion...

"I think the next time someone asks me why I do what I do I should print out my previous post and hand it to them. 

History is my passion, my life, and the reason I get out of bed in the morning. 

I am an Egyptologist.

This is who I am. I’m not changing." - thatlittleegyptologist

Absolutely love this tumblr post from a fellow postgraduate Egyptologist. It's like she's reading my mind.

-chelle-

A Penny for Your Thoughts

Should a country have ownership of all excavated and looted archaeological finds, if it does not have the resources to protect and preserve the finds? 

For instance, Egypt that is currently undergoing its second revolution where people's main concern is the country's future rather than its past (I'm not saying that focusing on their future isn't the right thing to do, in fact, in my personal opinion, the Egyptians are very brave souls for standing up for what they want).  However, because of their current focus, their past is left unguarded and the government does not exactly have the funds to support the protection and preservation of the archaeological finds. So should artefacts such as the Rosetta Stone and the Bust of Nefertiti be return to Egypt?

What do you think about this? If you have an opinion about this, do tweet me at @ArcEgyptologist .


-chelle-

Petrie's view on Archaeology

"Archaeology - the knowledge of how man has acquired his present position and powers- is one of the widest studies, best fitted to open the mind, and to produce that type of wide interests and toleration which is the highest result of education." - Flinders Petrie.

-chelle-

The 4000 year old Spinning Statuette at Manchester Museum

So I think one of the hottest news this week has been about this particular statuette currently housed at the Egyptian Worlds Collection at Manchester Museum. 

Can you spot which is the statuette everyone's buzzing about?

The statuette is said to date back to approximately 1800 years ago and was originally found in a mummy's tomb, and has been on exhibition at the Manchester Museum for the past 80 years. 

According to Manchester Evening News, Dr. Campbell Price - the museum's curator- said that "I noticed one day that it had turned around. I thought it was strange because it is in a case and I am the only one who has a key...I put it back but then the next day it had moved again. We set up a time-lapse video and, although the naked eye can't see it, you can clearly see it rotate on the film." 

So what has caused the 10-inch tall statuette to spin? Some have speculated that the statuette has been caught spinning because of the foot traffic vibration in the museum - sounds rational to me but if the artefact has been on display for the past 80 years and only now has it started moving due to vibrations, I think that's rather odd. Rational but odd.

Another more interesting mysterious suggestion for why the statuette has been caught spinning is because the statuette was found in a mummy's tomb and is a depiction of the deceased. Now the Ancient Egyptians believed that the body of the dead had to be preserved because the ka of the deceased would roam around the earth during the day but had to return to its physical body during the night (or cease to exist). In case of some unfortunate circumstances i.e. the deceased's physical body was destroyed, there were statuettes resembling the deceased available for the  ka  to rest in during the night. What with all the looting going on of late, could it be possible that the mummy of the deceased has been destroyed and the ka  has found a new home in this statuette in Manchester Museum?

OR is it the Curse of the Mummy/Pharaoh haunting the museum, and the spinning statuette is the first of many spooky events to occur?

What do you think?

Check out the YouTube video of the statuette spinning (recorded by the Manchester Museum):

http://youtu.be/S0fbWm9tdHE

-chelle-

Ancient Heliopolis slowly disappearing

Heliopolis, the only visible ancient site in Cairo, continues to suffer at the hands of looters.

For more information:

http://amun-ra-egyptology.blogspot.com/2013/06/ancient-heliopolis-under-threat.html?spref=tw


-chelle-

Where Technology Meets The Past

The Museum of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities - Medelhavsmuseet in Stockholm are currently preparing for a permanent Egyptology exhibition at the museum in which modern technology, specifically "3D digitization and interactive visualization" will be utilise to make six of their mummies come to (virtual) life for the museum visitors. 

The exhibition is set to be ready for the public by the spring of 2014. 

For more information about this, click the link below:

http://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/pressroom/tii/pressrelease/view/unwrap-a-real-mummy-museum-visitors-explore-historic-artifacts-using-state-of-the-art-3d-reality-capture-and-visualization-technology-878212


-chelle-

Healing Eye Make Up

Did you know that the eye make up used by the Ancient Egyptians was not just for them to enhance their beauty, but it also functioned as a healing product?

To know more, click the link below:

Healing Eye Make Up

-chelle-