Egyptian princess tomb discovered

Egypt’s antiquities minister announced on Friday the discovery of a princess’s tomb dating from the fifth dynasty (around 2500 BC) in the Abu Sir region south of Cairo.

“We have discovered the antechamber to Princess Shert Nebti’s tomb which contains four limestone pillars,” Mohamed Ibrahim said.

The pillars “have hieroglyphic inscriptions giving the princess’s name and her titles, which include ‘the daughter of the king Men Salbo and his lover venerated before God the all-powerful,’” he added.

Ibrahim said that the Czech Institute of Egyptology’s mission, funded by the Charles University of Prague and directed by Miroslav Bartas, had made the discovery.

“The discovery of this tomb marks the beginning of a new era in the history of the sepulchers at Abu Sir and Saqqara,” Ibrahim said.

The Czech team also excavated a corridor in the southeast of the antechamber, which leads off to four other tombs, two of which have already been discovered separately.

The two tombs belonged to high-ranking officials including a “grand upholder of the law” and an “inspector of the servants of the palace,” according to their inscriptions. They date from the fifth pharaonic dynasty.

The discoveries have all been made during the excavation season, which began in October, said Usama al-Shini, director of the Supreme Council of Antiquities for Giza.

The corridor contains four limestone sarcophagi that contain statuettes of a man, a man accompanied by his son, and two men with a woman.

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Memphis Tours Egypt since 1955

New Egyptian Pyramids Found by Google Earth

Two possible pyramid complexes might have been found in Egypt, according to a Google Earth satellite imagery survey.

Located about 90 miles apart, the sites contain unusual grouping of mounds with intriguing features and orientations, said satellite archaeology researcher Angela Micol of Maiden, N.C.

One site in Upper Egypt, just 12 miles from the city of Abu Sidhum along the Nile, features four mounds each with a larger, triangular-shaped plateau.

The two larger mounds at this site are approximately 250 feet in width, with two smaller mounds approximately 100 feet in width.

NEWS: Egyptian Pyramids Found With NASA Satellite

The site complex is arranged in a very clear formation with the large mound extending a width of approximately 620 feet — almost three times the size of the Great Pyramid.

“Upon closer examination of the formation, this

Two possible pyramid complexes might have been found in Egypt, according to a Google Earth satellite imagery survey.

Located about 90 miles apart, the sites contain unusual grouping of mounds with intriguing features and orientations, said satellite archaeology researcher Angela Micol of Maiden, N.C.

One site in Upper Egypt, just 12 miles from the city of Abu Sidhum along the Nile, features four mounds each with a larger, triangular-shaped plateau.

The two larger mounds at this site are approximately 250 feet in width, with two smaller mounds approximately 100 feet in width.

appears to have a very flat top and a curiously symmetrical triangular shape that has been heavily eroded with time,” Micol wrote in her website Google Earth Anomalies.

Intriguingly, when zooming in on the top of the triangular formation, two circular, 20-foot-wide features appear almost in the very center of the triangle.

Some 90 miles north near the Fayoum oasis, the second possible pyramid complex contains a four-sided, truncated mound that is approximately 150 feet wide.

Reference : 
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Memphis Tours Egypt since 1955

Philae Temple Before and After the High Dam

Isis Temple in Philae Island

Have you ever heard about Isis Temple in Philae Island ?! and why it was relocated ?
Well, Isis Temple, usually known as “Philae Temple, is believed to be consecrated to the goddess Isis, but after the first Aswan dam was built the temple became submerged ! At that time, tourists used to visit the temple by riding boats !

Isis Temple in Philae Island

Later on, the relocation project began during the Aswan dam construction when UNESCO formulated a plan to move each structure, piece by piece. It was saved and relocated in other Island 550 kilometer from its original emplacement after the completion of the High Dam in 1971, so that the level of the water is stabilized around the chosen island.

Posted by : Memphis Tours Egypt
Memphis Tours Egypt since 1955

Did You Know How Old the Sphinx is?

 

 

For years, Egyptologists and archaeologists have thought the Great Sphinx of Giza to be about 4,500 years old, dating to around 2500 B.C. However, some recent studies have suggested that the Sphinx was built as long ago as 7000 B.C.

The relatively new theory is based on what is thought to be “precipitation-induced weathering” on the upper areas of the Sphinx. Archaeologists supporting this view contend that the last time there was sufficient precipitation in the region to cause this pattern of rainfall erosion on limestone was around 9,000 years ago, 7000 B.C.

More traditional Egyptologists reject this view for several reasons. First, a Sphinx built earlier than 7000 B.C. would upset our understanding of ancient civilization, as there is no evidence of an Egyptian civilization this old.

Also, the new theory focuses only on a specific type of erosion and ignores other evidence that would support an age of 4,500 years. Among these: The Sphinx is a rapidly weathering structure, appearing older than it is; subsurface water drainage or Nile flooding could have produced the pattern of erosion; and the Sphinx is believed to resemble Khafre, the pharaoh who built one of the nearby pyramids of Giza. He lived circa 2603-2578 B.C.

It’s exciting to contemplate the existence of an unknown civilization that predates the ancient Egyptians, but most archaeologists and geologists still favor the traditional view that the Sphinx is about 4,500 years old.

 

Reference : msnbc.com
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Memphis Tours Egypt since 1955

Crocodile museum to open in Aswan, Egypt

The first “Museum of Crocodiles” will open this month in front of the Temple of Kom Ombo in Aswan, a busy tourist area on the East bank of the Nile, southern Egypt.

 

Forty mummified crocodiles of ranging in size from 1.5m long to almost of five metres long will be exhibited, according to Egypt’s tourism authority.

The museum, which is opening in time for Aswan’s National Day in January, will also feature statues of Sobek, known by Ancient Egyptians as ‘the crocodile god’.

 

Reference :HotelierMiddleEast.com
Posted by : Memphis Tours Egypt
Memphis Tours Egypt since 1955

Egypt’s Sinai peninsula Has the Potential to be a Show Case in Human and Resource Development for the New Egypt.

Sinai’s 1,000km shore line offers a window to two great seas, the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. Its mountainous

Monastery which was built by Emperor Justinian and considered the oldest populated monastery in the world and is currently the home for fifteen monks. Its library is the most ancient in Christianity. Catherine (or Katrin) is an Egyptian Coptic martyr from Alexandria who died in the late 4th century defending her church against the invading Romans. central-southern area has two peaks of 2,300 and 2,600m. One mountain has a great religious significant to Muslims, Christians and Jews; Mount Sinai where God talked to Moses and gave him the Ten Commandments near the Burning Bush.
Sinai includes another site of great religious significance. Stand at the foot of Mount Sinai is the famous St. Catherine

Human settlements in Sinai date back to 5,000 – 7,000 BC. Ancient Egyptians used widely Sinai’s turquoise and copper deposits in an advanced technology for their daily life and for their tombs and temples.

Sinai was, and still is used as an east-west land route between Asia and North Africa. Sinai provided routes to millions of travelers to the Muslim Holy sites in Jerusalem, Mecca and Medina, especially at the time of Hajj.
Sinai was invaded by ancient Asian tribes and most recently by Britain, France and Israel in 1956 and by Israel again in 1967. It was threatened by the Crusaders and by the Moguls. In all cases, Egyptians manage to liberate Sinai from foreign invaders, to end any threats and even to liberate other countries in Asia in the process as was the case of liberating Palestine, Syria and Iraq from the Crusaders and the Moguls.
Sinai is an area of great zoological importance, its fauna is an intriguing assemblage of African, Asian and European and its wildlife is both fascinating and rare. It is the home for many rare animals including the Sinai Leopard.
Sinai has the potential to be the world’s leading example for using alternative energy sources to satisfy its needs. Both solar and wind power generation can be the highest per capita. It has an average of over 10 hours of daily sunlight over the whole year, one of the highest in the world. Its average wind speed per year is over 25km per hour. Also dams can be built to make use of seasons of heavy rain in hydraulic power generation.
Agriculture and integrated farming, and a fishing industry can provide jobs for millions of workers from the Nile Valley. Sinai can provide the country with its needs in vegetables, fruits, fish, honey and meat and become a world leading exporter of these products. It is ideal for growing wheat, corn, tomatoes, lettuce, apples, oranges, mangoes, figs, olive and date. It has an average rainfall in the mountainous central-southern region of 300 millimeters, enough to form plenty of underground springs.  It has several unique plants and shrubs which are used to cure many diseases, a well-known fact to the local Bedouin community. Its mangrove ecosystem can be studied and duplicated throughout the peninsula and related industries can be established.
The Mediterranean north coast can accommodate a California-style IT silicon oasis dotted with software and hardware design houses and research centers. The northern city of El-Arish, Sinai’s largest city with some 100,000 inhabitants can be the first to turn into the Great El-Arish Area (GEA) with modern schools, hospitals and universities competing with

the best in the region. The city can be a great seaside summer resort with its sandy beaches and great expanse of palm trees. It can also house the world’s largest historical and culture center for Bedouin and nomadic life.
The South Red Sea shores are suitable for an all-year tourist industry which, with a massive promotion campaign, can become one of the top 10 tourist destinations in the world. It has what it takes; history, sunshine, mild temperature most of the year, sandy beaches, rich coral reefs, mountains and natural protectorates at both land and sea which are second to none. Sothern Sinai can attract millions of tourists while protecting Sinai’s natural environment, heritage and culture.
I invite readers interested in the development of Sinai to contribute and/or attend the first international conference on Sinai for New Egypt which will be held in Cairo at The American University of Cairo near Tahrir Square, just before the first anniversary of the January 25 revolution.

Reference :The Egyptian Gazette
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Memphis Tours Egypt since 1955

The Last Secret Door of Great Pyramid will be opened in 2012

The secret gates at the heart of the Great Pyramid may be opened for the first time in 2012, a British robot company believes – solving a mystery that has puzzled archaeologists since 1872.

‘We’re still waiting for permission to return to the pyramid,’ Whitehead told Mail Online today. ‘In the meantime, we have been working on enhancing the robot.’

‘The main plan is to carefully survey and document the shafts, to gather as much information as possible to allow archaeologists to determine their purpose.  We also still plan to look beyond the blocking stones at the ends of the shafts, if it is safe and practical to do so.’

Scoutek UK had already begun exploring behind the gates earlier this year – and produced the first-ever images from behind the gates using a ‘micro snake’ robot. But the exploration was halted by the recent unrest in Egypt.

Expedition leader Shaun Whitehead said, ‘I’m very confident we can resume work in 2012.’

Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities stopped granting permits for research such as the Djedi robotic exploration of the Great Pyramid.

But it has recently started granting permits again.

The expedition is named Djedi after the magician who Khufu consulted while building the pyramid. It is a joint project founded by Dr Ng from Hong Kong University, and Scoutek UK, in cooperation with the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Egypt, Dassault Systèmes in France and the University of Leeds.

The four narrow shafts deep inside the 4,500-year-old Great Pyramid have puzzled archaeologists ever since they were first found in 1872.

The shafts are just eight inches across – and thus can’t be explored by human explorers. Many experts believe that the shaft was designed to provide an ‘exit’ for the Pharaoh’s spirit into.

The pyramid is the last of the seven wonders of the ancient world still standing, and is thought to have been built as a tomb for Pharoah Khufu, who ruled in the Fourth Egyptian Dynasty and died in 2566 BC.

Khufu had the Great Pyramid of Giza built as a monumental tomb, inside of which are tomb chambers, ante-rooms, chambers, ventilation shafts and access tunnels.

There are three main chambers: The King’s Chamber, the Queen’s Chamber and the Grand Gallery.

The King’s Chamber has two shafts connected to outside, but two tunnels from the Queen’s Chamber deep inside the widest part of the pyramid have two stone doors.

Some experts now believe this may indicate a secret chamber, further still within the pyramid.

 It is not the first time robots have been used within the pyramid to gather evidence about the inner depths of the structure.

In 1993 a robot discovered a small door set with metal pins, the first time any metal had been found inside the pyramid, igniting speculation that the pins were keys or door handles.

In 2002 a different robot filmed a small chamber blocked by a stone after managing to drill through the first stone block.

The latest robot, built by UK company Scoutek, is a ‘micro-snake’ armed with a camera, designed to explore small spaces.

Designer Whitehead also worked on sensors for the Beagle 2 Mars exploration craft.

The door which still puzzles experts can be seen to be polished, thanks to the bendy camera, marking it out as an important part of the structure rather than simply as something to stop debris entering the chamber, says camera designer Shaun Whitehead.

Egyptologist Kate Spence of Cambridge University says the tunnels may purely be symbolic and relate to the stars.

Although she is not involved directly in the study of the Giza pyramid, Spence does not believe there is a further, hidden chamber behind the door, suggesting instead that the shafts could have been built to allow the Pharoah’s spirit to cross to the afterlife.

Reference : Dailymail
Posted by : Memphis Tours Egypt
Memphis Tours Egypt since 1955

The exhibition of Tutankhamen will be held in Japan for $7 million

 

General Secretariat of the Supreme Council for Antiquities released a decision to newly appointed Minister of Interior take over the Ministry of Antiquities, concerning their consent to hold the Tutankhamen exhibition in Japan.

The council released an order for the transfer of the monument along with the head of the museum sector, media coordinator and four journalists by the end of December.

The exhibition will be held for a year in two cities in Japan for the benefit of U.S. $7 million.

This decision was made is contrary to the decision of the Head of Department of Foreign Exhibitions of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, who prepared a document a few months ago recommending to refuse the exhibition to be held in Japan.

the Supreme Council of Antiquities considered the bad weather in Japan, including the previous tsunami and the current nuclear leak from nuclear energy stations.

The opening of the exhibition was discussed again during the period when Mohamed Abdel Fatah was the head of the General Secretariat of the Council. Abdel Fatah agreed to the previous recommendation concerning refusing the opening of the exhibition in Japan. The current secretariat of the council Mostafa Amin decided to hold the exhibition in Japan after the environmental state in Japan stabilized.

The Japanese Company is organizing the exhibition and promised to choose the most secure cities in Japan. The exhibition will be held for a year, six months in Tokyo city and six months in Osaka city. The exhibition will be held in Japan with the benefit of U.S. $7 million.

The exhibition includes 131 rare ancient pieces from King Tutankhamen’s collection. It will be transferred from Australia to Japan in two trips, the first on December 14 and the second on December 15.

Youm7 was told there is a team of archeologists in Australia counting the pieces and covering it to be transferred. The council received a total sum estimated at U.S. $40 million from the exhibition.

Reference : youm7.com
Posted by : Memphis Tours Egypt
Memphis Tours Egypt since 1955

The Best Seven Ancient Tourist Attractions in Egypt.

“In Upper Egypt, so many people make their living from tourism, they won’t let anything happen to a tourist. It would be like attacking themselves,” Thomas said. “Most Egyptian people are kind and generous and consider you to be their guest in their country. They feel it’s their duty to make you happy.”

Okay, but this is Cairo — 20 million-plus people squished between the Nile and the Egyptian desert — even if everyone I met here, including those seven folks I’d asked directions of during a solo walk from the Cairo Marriott to the Ramses shopping centre, Tahrir Square and Egyptian Museum were helpful.

If you’re hesitant taking that once in a lifetime trip to Egypt, don’t be. Eight months after the overthrow of former president Hosni Mubarek, life in Egypt — jewel of the Nile and spell-binding North Africa — is pretty much back to normal. There have been two deadly confrontations between protesters and the army since, but both incidents were localized and none involved visitors to the country.

Egypt is quite likely the safest country in the Middle East and Africa. Tourism also is the country’s second-most important industry (next to the Suez canal).

Five million visitors arrived in Egypt in 2010, many lured by the irresistible Red Sea resort towns of Sharm El Sheikh and Hugearta. Others, like myself, came to see the great pyramids of Giza, the temples of Luxor, Valley of the Kings, the Nile, eclectic Aswan, the Sahara desert and so much else this diverse country has to offer. While tourism suffered during the first six months following the revolution, numbers are edging up again slowly.

Egypt is the cradle of civilization — so ancient that centuries before the Greeks invented Zeus, Apollo and Aphrodite, the Pharaohs already had erected gold temples to their gods: Amun (creator), Ra (Sun god) and Isis (goddess of motherhood, magic and fertility).

And, while there are Roman catacombs in Alexandria and Greek ruins in Cairo, the ancient world of the Pharaohs exists only in Egypt.

Here’s what impressed the most:

1. EGYPTIAN MUSEUM: If museum-strolling were a sport, a visit to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo would equate withscoring a seat to the World Cup soccer final. Nearly 200,000 visitors flocked to the Art Gallery of Ontario a few years ago to view 100 artifacts belonging to the Egyptian Pharaohs. Imagine, then, the drawing power of this overwhelming collection. Built in 1902, this two-storey, 42-room museum contains 120,000 ancient artifacts, including the mummies of 27 pharaohs, their gold thrones, coffins, jewels, art — you name it — plus the massive King Tut collection. While plans are afoot to relocate the museum near the great pyramids of Giza, the move is not imminent.

2. NILE RIVER CRUISE: About 85 million people live in Egypt, most of them in cities and towns hugging the Nile. It has been this way forever, so a river cruise is easily the best and most relaxing way to see historical Egypt. Just don’t expect five-star amenities. We sailed on the Ra 2, a typical flatboat with 75 cabins, a small deck-top swimming pool, one restaurant (buffet) and three bars, with not much in the way of entertainment. But when you’re sailing down the river of the Pharaohs, Cleopatra, Alexander the Great and Napoleon — nursing an Egyptian Stella (beer) — what’s not to like?

3. VALLEY OF THE KINGS — TOMBS: There were at least 63 Pharaohs buried here, in private, multi-roomed tombs, complete with elaborate story-telling murals and hieroglyphic script dating back to 1,700 BC. While grave-robbers emptied the first 62, Tut’s tomb — buried underneath King Ramses VI — wasn’t discovered until 1922 and remained untouched and over-flowing with priceless gold, jewelry and other antiquities, most of it now on display at the Egyptian Museum.

4. ASWAN, HIGH DAM, PHILAE TEMPLE: Located near the Tropic of Cancer, this city of 300,000 is home to the Aswan Dam, an incredible feat of engineering that re-routed the Nile, but flooded Nubian villages and several historic temples, including Philae. Philae was reconstructed block by block while new homes were purchased for the Nubians, many of whom make their living designing exotic, camel-bone jewelry.

5. KARNAK AND LUXOR TEMPLES: Karnak Temple is the largest in the world, as each successive Pharaoh felt obliged to add his own rooms. Karnak was featured in the James Bond classic, The Spy Who Loved Me, and is just down the road from the equally bewitching Temple of Luxor.

6. COPTIC CAIRO DISTRICT: Here, on the banks of the Nile, is where the baby Moses was discovered by the Pharaoh’s daughter; and where Joseph, Mary and Jesus hid out for three-and-a-half years. Cairo, itself, is an acquired taste, but enchanting when lit up at night.

7. THE GREAT PYRAMIDS/SPHINX OF GIZA: Amazing! The pyramids and sphinx are Egypt’s most recognizable symbols and can’t be missed.

Reference: Torontosun

Posted by: Memphis Tours Egypt

Memphis Tours Egypt since 1955

1,109 Israeli tourists arrived at Sinai resorts

During the swap deal of Ilan Grapel and the 25 Egyptian prisoners, the Taba crossing border received 1,109 Israeli tourists heading to South Sinai.

Despite the recent events at the crossing border witnessed on Thursday October 27, traffic movement there is normal on Friday October 28 and before the closing of the border crossing during the accomplishment of the swapping.

 

Reference: youm7

Posted by: Memphis Tours Egypt

Memphis Tours Egypt since 1955