Talking Pyramids

As planned, the site of South Saqqara opened to the public today. Here is an excerpt of the article in Al-Ahram: Hundred of journalists, photographers and TV anchors gathered today at the Saqqara Necropolis, 30km south of the Giza Plateau, to catch a glimpse of the tombs that the minister of state for antiquities is [...]

Seven tombs at South Saqqara will be opened to tourists this morning for the first time. Two of these new tombs are the unfinished tomb of Maya, Treasurer to Tutankhamun and also the original tomb of military chief, Horemheb. Both tombs date to the Amarna period. Panoramic view of the desert south of the necropolis [...]

Djedkare-Isesi’s causeway The recent UNESCO inspection of the pyramid fields south of Giza has found that not only have many of the sites been ransacked and damaged, but there are also illegal construction projects on some of the sites. These include a huge cemetery with 500 empty tombs ready to be sold and even the [...]

Five Museum items recovered Last week 12 stolen artefacts were recovered after having been looted from the Egyptian museum in Cairo in January. Now another five items have resurfaced. All five objects featured on the list of missing items that was released by the SCA earlier a week ago and are four bronze statues of [...]

The Giza plateau reopened on Wednesday after being closed for the past two weeks. Soon after the recent unrest in Egypt began tourists started leaving the country in large numbers. The lack of tourists on the Giza plateau and at other popular sites has been hurting the locals who depend heavily on tourism to make [...]

Structural repair and reinforcement systems company Cintec has been appointed to grand task of preserving the Step Pyramid of Djoser after an earthquake in 1992 caused damage to the burial chamber. Here is how they’ll do it: In some cases it uses stainless steel structural reinforcement anchors which are surrounded with a special fabric sock [...]

The Sphinx before being cleared. Ancient mud brick walls surrounding the Sphinx have been discovered during a routine excavation on the Giza plateau. The walls date to the reign of King Thuthmose IV, about 1400 BC. From the website of Dr Zahi Hawass: Dr. Hawass stated that the newly discovered wall consists of two parts: [...]