Talking Pyramids

Today’s artefact is once again, inspired by the BBC’s ‘A History of the World in 100 Objects’. It is the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus.

From the BBC website:

An ancient Egyptian papyrus from around 1550 BC, used to train scribes. It contains 84 different calculations to help with various aspects of Egyptian life, from pyramid building to working out how much grain it takes to fatten a goose. Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, looks at man’s early experiments with numbers and discovers how the Egyptians’ understanding of mathematics enabled them to build a state machine, which could manage food supplies and even compute the flood levels of the Nile.

• Artefact of the Day: The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus. Another item from the BBC's 'A History of the World' series: http://bit.ly/bIYcZC #
• King Tut exhibit being set up for March 9 opening Kentucky Center for African American Heritage in western Louisville: http://bit.ly/dyIgOZ #
• PalArch’s Journal of Archaeology of Egypt/Egyptology, 6(7) (2009) – Spectral Imaging of Ostraca: http://bit.ly/cFmk7l #
• Modern Pyramids: The Muttart Conservatory is a botanical garden with four glass pyramids located in Edmonton, Canada: http://bit.ly/cGml6Y #
• Christie creates Aida's Ancient Egypt at the Moscow International House of Music: http://bit.ly/9Aqvei #
• PHOTO: Camels and the Giza wall: http://bit.ly/cNF5uf #
• PHOTO: Postcard from Egypt – seated camel with the Giza pyramids in the background: http://bit.ly/dDAXpH #
• PHOTO: Giza pyramids from the air, taken from the north-east: http://bit.ly/dt2NWN #
• 67 families evicted for Giza development project. Each evicted family will receive a maximum of LE200 in compensation: http://bit.ly/bSp0B7 #
• Paul Barford in Egypt writes about the photography ban at Egypt's popular sites & asks where does the money go? http://bit.ly/9ZlLkS #

Photo The Muttart Conservatory, Edmonton Alberta by Edmonton Enthusiast. Some rights reserved.

You can purchase a copy of today’s artefact from the Talking Pyramids Book Store. A good book on this papyrus is Rhind Mathematical Papyrus – an ancient Egyptian Text, by Gay Robins & Charles Shute

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