Cover Story
The Libyan pharaohs of Egypt Aidan Dodson explores the history of the kings of Libyan ancestry who dominated Egypt during the 10th to 7th centuries BC. Features
W A Stewart’s reconstruction of Hetepheres’ furniture In the last issue, AE 153, Peter Lacovara celebrated the meticulous work of Dows Dunham in excavating the Fourth Dynasty (c.2613-2494 BC) Tomb of Queen Hetepheres I at Giza. In… 
The tentmakers of Old Cairo Sandra Hardy explores the work of skilled artisans who continue the long tradition of pharaonic textile production. 
The painted tomb of Insneferuishetef Wolfram Grajetzki explores rare painted scenes from an Old Kingdom mastaba at Dahshur. 
Reassembling Tutankhamun’s Tomb The discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 produced one of the most detailed archaeological archives ever created. Daniela Rosenow describes a new digital platform, the Tutankhamun Spatial Archive, developed by… 
August Mariette Our series highlighting often overlooked Egyptologists continues with the legacy of a founder of the discipline, reassessed by Amandine Marshall. 
Hilary Wilson on… Birds in fine feather Hilary Wilson describes the many depictions of birds in ancient Egyptian tomb scenes. News
Aswan tombs A group of rock-cut Old Kingdom tombs has been uncovered by an Egyptian mission working at Qubbet el-Hawa, near Aswan. The tombs contained burial chambers that were reused in the… 
Oldest bow drill A joint British-Austrian team has identified Egypt’s oldest known rotary tool. The small metal drill was found at Badari more than 100 years ago, and had attracted little attention until… 
Sinai rock art A new archaeological site has been declared in South Sinai, at the Umm Arak Plateau – about 5km (3 miles) north-east of the Serabit el-Khadim temple and the copper and… 
Early ‘smiting’ Another rock inscription at Sinai has recently been interpreted by researchers at the University of Bonn in Germany. The 5,000-year-old inscription at Wadi Khamila, in south-west Sinai, depicts a large… 
Coffin cache at Qurna A cache of 22 Third Intermediate Period painted coffins containing mummies has been discovered by an Egyptian mission at Qurna, on Luxor’s West Bank. During excavation work in the courtyard… Views
Ancient Egypt April listings What's on A BESTIARY OF ANCIENT NUBIA A Bestiary of Ancient Nubia reveals the animal world of ancient Nubia from the A-Group culture to the medieval period, including lions, crocodiles, birds, cattle,… 
Win a copy of Rewriting the History of the Great Sphinx by Colin D Reader Competitions Where is this? If you know, email the Editor peter@ancientegyptmagazine.com before 30 June with your answer, giving your full name, address, and a contact phone number. One lucky reader’s name… 
Amarna (Part I) Travel Continuing his ‘Travels in an Antique Land’, Karl Harris presents the first part of his visitor’s guide to Amarna. 
The Temple of Esna restored to splendour The Picture Desk Once hidden beneath layers of soot and bird faeces, the stunningly colourful painted scenes and elaborately carved columns adorning the Temple of Khnum at Esna (Latopolis) can now be seen… 
A Faience Dwarf Deity Objects Campbell Price describes a small figurine dating to the Middle Kingdom. Reviews
Ancient Egypt April listings A BESTIARY OF ANCIENT NUBIA A Bestiary of Ancient Nubia reveals the animal world of ancient Nubia from the A-Group culture to the medieval period, including lions, crocodiles, birds, cattle,… 
Love, War, and Diplomacy: The Discovery of the Amarna Letters and the Bronze Age World They Revealed After exploring the Bronze Age Collapse of 1177 BC in his previous two books (reviewed in AE 85 and AE 143), Eric Cline travels back some 200 years to investigate… 
The History of Ancient Egypt Explored Through its Gods, Myths and Rituals As Lucia Gahlin explains in the final chapter of this book, popular perceptions of ancient Egyptian culture are traditionally informed by the works of Graeco-Roman writers, and by modern interpretations… 
Rewriting the History of the Great Sphinx Colin Reader is a geologist by profession, but became fascinated by ancient Egypt, particularly the earliest phases of the civilisation. He has studied the Great Sphinx of Giza for nearly… 
Who’s Who at Deir el-Medina: A Prosopography of the Necropolis Workmen during the Ramesside Period A site as intensely studied as Deir el-Medina, with its wealth of written sources, has produced a huge literature – the navigation of which is immeasurably eased by the present… 
Excavating Ancient Egypt: Fifty Years of Archaeological Memories This is an unusual book that focuses not on excavation results and discoveries (although these are covered), but on life excavating in Egypt. Jeffrey Spencer, who directed many seasons of… Amarna (Part I) Continuing his ‘Travels in an Antique Land’, Karl Harris presents the first part of his visitor’s guide to Amarna. 
From the editor
Although they left very significant monuments (like the first courtyard of Karnak Temple, which dates to the reign of Shoshenq I) and treasures to rival those of Tutankhamun (such as the gold mask of Shoshenq IIa from his burial at Tanis), many details of the complex story of the Libyan pharaohs of Egypt are still to be discovered. Fortunately, Aidan Dodson has ‘grasped the nettle’ and traced the confusing family tree of these ‘foreign’ pharaohs for us in his article in this issue. Readers may notice that Aidan uses transcriptions for the names of the individuals concerned which differ from those in earlier publications – our knowledge of the period increases with new research.
One early Egyptologist whose discoveries transformed our view of the ancient civilisation was the founder of the first Egyptian Museum at Bulaq: Auguste Mariette. He was also responsible for clearing the sand and overlying mud brick structures from most of the famous temple sites that are so familiar today, using huge teams of workers, and destroying much of the evidence that modern excavators would have carefully recorded. The story of his life, starting from a middle-class provincial background in France, is told by Amandine Marshall.
One area not cleared by Mariette, however, was the site of Amarna. Karl Harris takes us on a tour of Akhenaten’s capital city in the first part of a double article.
The coloured decoration of most Old Kingdom tombs has not survived, but one exception, the Tomb of Insneferuishetef, is described by Wolfram Grajetzki. Hilary Wilson identifies some of the many species of bird depicted on tomb reliefs of all periods throughout Egypt.
Daniela Rosenow introduces a new website – the Tutankhamun Spatial Archive. This brings together in one place all the records of the excavation of Tutankhamun’s tomb held by the Griffith Institute at the University of Oxford.
Two articles describe extraordinary modern craftmanship: Geoffrey Killen tells us how W A Stewart reconstructed the furniture of Old Kingdom Queen Hetepheres I; and the painstaking work of the ‘Tentmakers of Cairo’ in producing intricate fabrics is investigated by Sandra Hardy.
J Peter Phillips, Editor
You must be logged in to post a comment.