Middle East

“3,300-Year-Old Tomb with Pyramid Entrance Discovered in Egypt”

3,300-Year-Old Tomb with Pyramid Entrance Discovered in Egypt

by Owen Jarus via “Live Science

3,300-Year-Old Tomb with Pyramid Entrance Discovered in Egypt

A tomb newly excavated at an ancient cemetery in Egypt would have boasted a pyramid 7 meters (23 feet) high at its entrance, archaeologists say.

 The tomb, found at the site of Abydos, dates back around 3,300 years. Within one of its vaulted burial chambers, a team of archaeologists found a finely crafted sandstonesarcophagus, painted red, which was created for a scribe named Horemheb. The sarcophagus has images of several Egyptian gods on it and hieroglyphic inscriptions recording spells from the Book of the Dead that helped one enter the afterlife.

There is no mummy in the sarcophagus, and the tomb was ransacked at least twice in antiquity. Human remains survived the ransacking, however. Archaeologists found disarticulated skeletal remains from three to four men, 10 to 12 women and at least two children in the tomb. [Gallery: See Images of the Newly Found Tomb]

Newly discovered pyramid

The chambers that the archaeologists uncovered would have originally resided beneath the surface, leaving only the steep-sided pyramid visible.

“Originally, all you probably would have seen would have been the (more…)

“Syria artist sets Guinness record with Damascus mural”

“Syria artist sets Guinness record with Damascus Mural”

VIA AFP

Damascus (AFP) – A Syrian artist has set a Guinness record for the world’s largest mural made of recycled materials, aiming to inspire hope and creativity in his war-ravaged country.

 Guinness World Records announced on its Facebook page that Moaffak Makhoul and his team completed the mural in Damascus in January, two months shy of the third anniversary of the grim conflict in Syria.

“The largest mural from recycled material measures 720 square metres (7,749.98 square feet),” it said on its Facebook page.

Guinness said it was “created from manufactured waste by Moaffak Makhoul and a team of six Syrian artists in Al Mazzeh, Damascus.” (more…)

Statue of Maya and Merit

Egyptian Statue of Maya and Merit Currently on display at the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities

 

“Cooperating to Preserve Jordan’s Rich Cultural Heritage”

“Cooperating to Preserve Jordan’s Rich Cultural Heritage”

“Small-scale income-generating research projects in the field of antiquities should be established in Jordan, the final conference of the EU-funded JOCHERA project has heard. This will help achieve future research goals shared by European and Jordanian universities and research centres. 

Conference participants also stressed the need to establish working relationships between research centres, and to carry on working . . . “

 

Tug-of-War Erupts Over Planned Return of Jewish Archives to Iraq

“Tug-of-War Erupts Over Planned Return of Jewish Archives to Iraq”

by Sylvia Westall and Jonathan Saul via “Reuters

“Jewish books and documents found by U.S. soldiers in the flooded headquarters of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and sent to the United States for restoration have touched off a dispute between Baghdad and Iraqi Jews who fled the country.

After a $3 million restoration, the collection has been put on display at the Washington-based National Archives. But bowing to demands from Iraq’s  . . . “