Cover Story
A Cylindrical Conundrum Scholars have long puzzled over the function of the enigmatic golden objects discovered in the tombs of the Napatan kings and queens. Peter Lacovara believes he has solved the mystery. Features
Current Research in Egyptology: Unveiling Ancient Egyptian Black Coffins Marwa Abdel Razek and Mounira Raslan explore the role of Pauserhat, ‘scribe of the textile workshops’, and the significance of his black coffin. 
Current Research in Egyptology: Kamal and Erman Azza Ezzat and Ahmed Mansour highlight the achievements of two prestigious names in the history of Egyptology. 
Current Research in Egyptology: Burial Practices in Alexandria Samar Ahmed Abu-Dahab explores recent excavations at the Graeco-Roman Tanis Street cemetery site. 
Dating the dead: Chronology and context at Saqqara’s sacred animal necropolis. The Sacred Animal Necropolis at Saqqara consists of a series of catacombs and temples dating from different periods. Professor Paul Nicholson and Dr Henry Bishop-Wright of Cardiff University describe their… 
Rediscovering Egypt – Part 2: The Harrogate Collection in Swansea Following his introduction to the Harrogate Collection in the last issue, Ken Griffin takes a closer look at some of the objects that are on loan to the Egypt Centre… 
Cooking Recipes and Drink Preparation in Ancient Egypt Barbara Gai investigates the diet of ancient Egyptians and the ways in which their meals were prepared. 
Hilary Wilson on… Lapis Lazuli One of the most beautiful of all the semi-precious stones used by the ancient Egyptians was imported from quarries far away in Afghanistan. News
New dating for Karanis Radiocarbon dating of crop remains excavated at the Graeco-Roman site of Karanis (in the Fayum) shows that the town was inhabited at least into the middle of the 7th century… 
Nut and the Milky Way There has been much debate about the exact nature of the perceived link between the Milky Way and the goddess Nut. A new study, published in the Journal of Astronomical… 
Lost Nile branch and Giza anomaly Researchers from the University of North Carolina (USA), using remote sensing and other geophysical methods, have identified sections of an extinct branch of the Nile which flowed close to the… 
Military rest stop in northern Sinai The remains of a royal fortified military rest area have been discovered at Tell Habwa (northern Sinai) by a mission from the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. The team… Views
The Temple of Hibis at Kharga Oasis Travel Geoffrey Lenox-Smith goes off the beaten track to explore an unusual Late Period temple. 
Ancient Egypt June listings Museum, What's on CREATURES OF THE NILE Creatures of the Nile explores the world of ancient Egyptian and Sudanese animals through more than 250 artefacts from the University of Liverpool’s Garstang Museum, National… 
Statuette of Khufu Objects Dr Campbell Price describes the unique statuette of one of Egypt’s most famous pharaohs. 
An intrepid lady traveller: Amelia Edwards ventures A Thousand Miles up the Nile in 1873. The Picture Desk Towards the end of the 19th century, when wives were regarded as the property of their husbands and not expected to have a university education or an independent career, several… 
Win a copy of After 1177 BC: The Survival of Civilizations by Eric H Cline Competitions Where was this photograph taken? If you know, email the Editor (peter@ancientegyptmagazine.com) before 31 August with your answer, giving your full name, address, and contact number. One lucky reader will… Reviews
The Temple of Hibis at Kharga Oasis Geoffrey Lenox-Smith goes off the beaten track to explore an unusual Late Period temple. Ancient Egypt June listings CREATURES OF THE NILE Creatures of the Nile explores the world of ancient Egyptian and Sudanese animals through more than 250 artefacts from the University of Liverpool’s Garstang Museum, National… 
Wonderful Things: Essays in Honor of Nicholas Reeves REVIEW BY CAMPBELL PRICE This is perhaps the most closely related set of papers to be included in a single Festschrift that I’ve ever encountered. Given Nicholas Reeves’ well-known work… 
Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs Illustrated REVIEW BY HILARY FORREST This is a most unusual book – bound in an antique Chinese fashion originating from the Ming period, with pages tied together between boards with string.… 
The Cleopatras: The Forgotten Queens of Egypt REVIEW BY SARAH GRIFFITHS Finally! An in-depth biography of not just one, but seven Ptolemaic queens named Cleopatra – and a few more besides. There is a plethora of books… 
A Mystery from the Mummy-Pits REVIEW BY ROGER FORSHAW Frank Holt’s very readable account of Ankh-Hap, a Ptolemaic-era mummy appropriated in the 19th century from a tomb in Egypt, is a unique, informative, and fascinating… 
The Excavations at Ismant Al-Kharab: Vol. II, The Christian Monuments of Kellis: The Churches and Cemeteries REVIEW BY MICHAEL TUNNICLIFFE Ancient Kellis was a site in the Dakhla Oasis that was occupied from Late Ptolemaic times to the end of the 4th century AD. Excavations have… 
After 1177 BC: The Survival of Civilizations REVIEW BY SARAH GRIFFITHS In his 2014 book 1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed (reviewed in AE 85) Eric Cline charted the ‘perfect storm of calamities’ that led to the… 
From the editor
From time to time, excavators of ancient sites come across artefacts that they cannot identify. The beautifully decorated gold cylinders pictured on our cover are a case in point. They were found in the tomb of a Napatan king at Nuri in Sudan. Over the years since their discovery in 1916, there have been many suggestions as to their purpose, but all have been discounted… until now. Peter Lacovara has solved the mystery!
There was no doubt as to the purpose of Tutankhamun’s gold mask when it was discovered. It was inset with blue glass and faience in imitation of lapis lazuli, a semi-precious stone that had been greatly treasured from the earliest times but was in short supply, as it had to be traded over hundreds of miles from its source in the quarries of Afghanistan. Hilary Wilson traces its use over the millennia.
In September, the annual Current Research in Egyptology (CRE) conference will be held at the University of Liverpool. CRE events allow British and overseas postgraduate students and independent researchers to showcase their work in a series of short presentations. Three of the papers to be presented are previewed in this issue, and three more will be included in AE 144.
For our regular ‘Out and About’ article in this issue, Geoffrey Lenox-Smith describes the unusual Temple of Hibis in Kharga Oasis – a rare example of a monument built during the Persian occupation of Egypt. It happens to be one of my own favourite sites, because of its importance in the evolution of column design: a transition from campaniform papyrus columns to the composite form that became the norm in the Ptolemaic and Roman Periods.
In AE 123, Professor Paul Nicholson introduced us to his work at the Sacred Animal Necropolis at Saqqara, where the dogs buried in the Catacombs of Anubis were bred for sacrifice. In this issue, he takes a wider view of the necropolis site, describing a project to establish the relative chronology of its various parts.
On 16 May, as I completed preparation of this issue, I heard the very sad news of the death of Professor Barry Kemp, who was one of the greatest Egyptologists of our time. For decades, he has worked tirelessly to preserve and restore the site of Akhenaten’s city at Amarna, and his legacy will live on forever.
J Peter Phillips, Editor
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