The persistent presence of the pigeons on the plateau has been a concern for a number of years now. They have made a habit of nesting in crevices on the Sphinx, such as the eye sockets and have had a disaterous impact on the ancient monument. Rising humidity levels in the stone that the Sphinx is carved from causes calcium deposits that attract the pigeons who then peck at the Sphinx as they eat the deposits. Their own deposits are also a problem as their droppings are acidic. Their presence is endangering the fragile feline statue that is carved from bedrock of the Giza plateau.
They look as though they are on their way over to the sphinx in this photo, the head of the great collosis can just be made out on the right side of the photo.
Click on the image to see a larger view.
Pigeons over Giza by Eric Elofson
This photograph was taken by Eric Elofson and was used with permission.
This morning saw a continuation of the rewrapping of the mummy known as the “Anonymous Man”. There will be one final day on Tuesday when they’ll wrap things up…literally. Sorry, couldn’t resist that one.
There was a very brief but interesting video on the website of Dr Hawass today about producing a very accurate 3D model of the Sphinx with the help of a new high tech laser. Mark Lehner watched on with excitement as this was his own pet project once upon a time.
Here is the rest of today’s news:
Artifact of the Day: Stela of Sobekhotep, British Museum, EA 831, Limestone, 12th dynasty: http://bit.ly/bo0BzL#
Just like on Tuesday, you can send your questions and comments to Shelly live using your Twitter account, just send a message to @brooklynmuseum and be sure to include with your message the hashtag #mummywrap and it will end up in the conversation. The live reporting, questions and answers will all be accessible below.
*UPDATE: The live re-wrapping has come to an end for the day. The process will be ‘wrapped up’ next week on Tuesday at 9:30 EST.
All images, video and tweets are reproduced here with permission from the Brooklyn Museum.
On the 4th floor of the University of Chicago, home of the Oriental Institute, was found this peice of graffiti – in ancient Egyptian hieroglpyhs.
Quinn Dombrowski, who discovered the graffiti asked an Egyptologist at the university to translate it. It reads:
ỉw ỉr.n.n st m dw3t sp sn
“We did it twice in the morning”.
Today’s artefact is the King Den’s sandal label from the British Museum, which is currently running the History of the World in 100 Objects podcast. You can subscribe to it for free on iTunes or visit the website A History of the World in 100 Objects, where you can also read about the object and listen to the podcast. Each podcast is about 14 minutes in duration.
In Den’s time the role of ‘keeper of the sandals’ was a high rank with privileges
Meanwhile, Hawass teases us with some exciting news to come in the weeks ahead, once again mentioning the long awaited and much postponed exploration of the narrow ‘air shafts’ inside the pyramid of Khufu:
Hawass said that “the next three months will see a series of discoveries and important events at the level of Egyptian antiquities, including, along with what the golden pharaoh Tutankhamun, other important archaeological discoveries in the area of Saqqara and the Pyramids,” south of Cairo.
He added that during the next few days, Egypt will announce important discoveries in Saqqara at a conference on the same area of archaeological discovery, while the month of March will witness the “introduction of robots to the corridors of the Great Pyramid of King Khufu to reveal the secrets of these corridors.”
Artifact of the Day: King Den's sandal label. View the photo, read the summary, & listen to the podcast at the BBC: http://bit.ly/atBd2H#
Leena posts a close up of the latest addition to the Cleopatra & Caesarion painting: http://bit.ly/cTPJaq#
PHOTO: Stairway to Light – inside the Red pyramid of Sneferu at Dahshur: http://bit.ly/b3QufM#
Quite a few readers ‘tuned in’ this morning (or yesterday, depending on your location) to watch the live re-wrapping of the Mummy with the Brooklyn Museum. As with last year’s unwrapping of the same anonymous man those of us who were able to follow the live stream of photos, videos and commentary felt like we were actually there, like a fly on the wall.
Stay tuned for part II, as the re-wrapping continues live on Thursday at 9:30am EST.
Artifact of the Day: Limestone Boundary Stela of Sety I, 19th Dynasty at the Brooklyn Museum: http://bit.ly/aItkvv#
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