Opening ceremony of another part of the Temple of Hatshepsut

Opening ceremony of the Solar Cult Complex in the temple of Hatshepsut, reconstructed by the Poles, was held on Sunday, February 22 - reported the University of Warsaw on its website.

Temple of Hatshepsut is considered one of the most original and picturesque structures of its kind in Egypt. It is one of the main tourist attractions within the Theban necropolis near Luxor. It was built in the fifteenth century BC beneath the cliffs at Deir el Bahari, in honor of one of the few women who ruled Egypt. The building, partly carved in rock, consists of three terraces connected by ramps and topped with porticos.

Polish work on the reconstruction of the Upper Terrace of Hatshepsut’s temple started in the 1960s, under the supervision of Prof. Kazimierz Michałowski. Currently, the mission is headed by Dr. Zbigniew Szafrański.

Joint, interdisciplinary work of several generations of archaeologists, conservators and architects allowed to reconstruct the Upper Terrace, which includes now opened for tourism rooms of the Solar Cult Complex. Polish achievements include restoration of the original appearance of this part of the temple, determining the function of its premises, as well as an explanation of the chronology of their creation. "There was also an attempt to reconstruct the original appearance of the courtyard of the Solar Altar. It is believed there could be a sacrificial table and two obelisks" - reads the release sent to PAP.

Solar Cult Complex is a group of rooms located in the northern part of the Upper Terrace, which consists of the Night Sun Chapel, Solar Altar Court and the Anubis Shrine. As the researchers explain, this it the place of worship of Amun-Ra, as well as Ra- Horachty and Atum-Amun - representing two other aspects of the solar god. Night Sun Chapel is located in the eastern part of the complex, reflecting the idea of the resurrection of the sun on the eastern horizon after an overnight journey by barge through the Underworld. Sculptural decoration of the chapel illustrated the overnight journey. The altar, according to Egyptian custom, is located in the courtyard under the open sky, so that the life-giving rays can reach it without hindrance. The priests would walk up the stairs to the top of the altar to offer sacrifice to the Sun - the researchers believe.

The official organizer of the opening ceremony was the Egyptian Ministry of State for Antiquities in cooperation with the PCMA Research Centre in Cairo and the Embassy of the Republic of Poland. Due to the significance of the monument for World Heritage and the status of the event, Egyptian Minister of State for Antiquities and Heritage Dr. Mamdouh Eldamaty announced his participation in the event, as did Prime Minister of the Government of Egypt, the Minister of Tourism and the governor of Luxor. The Polish side was represented by Michał Murkociński - Polish Ambassador, Dr. Tomasz Waliszewski - Director of the Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology of the University of Warsaw and Dr. Zbigniew Szafrański, Director of the Station in Cairo.

The website of the Polish-Egyptian Archaeological and Conservation Mission in the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari was launched in October 2014. It presents projects carried out within the complex, a database of finds and history of activities.

PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland

Source: http://scienceinpoland.pap.pl/en/news/news,403996,opening-ceremony-of-another-part-of-the-temple-of-hatshepsut.html

Poles reconstructed houses of the first Egyptians

Virtual 3D model of more than 5 thousand years old Egyptian homes, discovered during the excavations at Tell el-Farcha in the Nile Delta, prepared by Jacek Karmowski, PhD student of the Institute of Archaeology of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków.

Source: J. Karmowski

"We associate the architecture of ancient Egypt primarily with stone construction - due to the most recognizable structures left by this civilization: the pyramids and monumental stone temples" - Jacek Karmowski told PAP. "In fact, the contemporary villages and towns were dominated by houses made of mud bricks" - he added.

Structures built with such bricks are not particularly durable, unlike to those made with stones. Durability of the building material ensured their present, in some cases very good state of preservation. "It must be remembered that the stone architecture is a special, cult type of Egyptian construction, associated with religion and belief in the afterlife" - explained Karmowski.

Work on the reconstruction of non-existent mudbrick structures really began during the excavations - the way of conducting excavations and documenting discovered layers is important. The scientist traced the visible relics of bricks and outlines of houses from the functioning of the settlement with a total station laser and imported to a computer with CAD software - although archaeologists still usually draw on excavations in the classical way, using pencil and paper. With specialized software, he combined these data with photographs taken during field work.

Saving Khufu’s second boat

A Japanese-Egyptian team is reconstructing Khufu’s second solar boat, 4,500 years after it was buried to ferry the pharaoh to eternity, writes Nevine El-Aref

The southern side of Khufu’s Great Pyramid on the Giza Plateau is a hive of activity these days. Dozens of workers, Egyptologists and restorers are removing piece by piece the wooden beams of the pharaoh’s second solar boat, which has remained in situ for 4,500 years after it was buried to ferry him to eternity.

Restorers are cleaning the timber, oars and beams, while Egyptologists are busy documenting them in the laboratory recently established at the site to rescue the different parts of the boat.

The boat was discovered along with the first one inside two pits neighbouring each other in 1954, when Egyptian archaeologists Kamal Al-Mallakh and Zaki Nour were carrying out routine cleaning on the southern side of the Great Pyramid.

The first pit was found under a roof of 41 limestone slabs, each weighing almost 20 tons, with the three westernmost slabs being much smaller than the others leading them to be interpreted as keystones. On removing one of the slabs, Al-Mallakh and Nour saw a cedar boat, completely dismantled but arranged in the semblance of its finished form, inside the pit. Also inside were layers of mats, ropes, instruments made of flint, and some small pieces of white plaster, along with 12 oars, 58 poles, three cylindrical columns and five doors.

The boat was removed piece by piece under the supervision of restorer Ahmed Youssef, who spent more than 20 years restoring and reassembling the boat. The task resembled the fitting together of a giant jigsaw puzzle, and the completed boat is now on display at Khufu’s Solar Boat Museum on the Giza Plateau.