Nefertiti busted

The saga over possession of the famed Nefertiti bust from Amarna continues. The latest round was made by Zahi Hawass, Director of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, who again is demanding the return of the bust to Egypt. The story reported by AFP yesterday (Sunday 14 June) states that Egypt will soon provide evidence that the bust was illegally removed from Egyptian soil:

“We are still gathering information, but I expect we will shortly have enough to place a formal request to the Berlin Museum for the return of the bust,” Hawass told the Tagesspiegel in an interview.

Nothing in this latest development about the opinion that the bust is a modern fake. I suppose we will here much about this as we build up to the opening of the Neues Musem in Berlin set for October this year.

Isis in Florence!

Ansa reported on 28 May that a digging crew working beneath a Florence, Italy courthouse have stumbled across the probable remains of an Isis temple. Other remains associated with the Egyptian goddess Isis have been discovered in the area. This news won’t surprise many, given the immense popularity of the goddess in Italy, but if archaeologists can recover  architectural elements this would be a major find indeed. Exciting stuff.

Nefertiti’s bust ….the saga

Well, it had to happen. We’ve heard now from Mr. Zahi Hawass and his view of Stierlin’s opinion that the Nefertiti bust is a fake. It’s reported  in Saturday May 9th’s  al-Arabiya. It’s now connoisseurship vs emotions and long-held views. Who will win? One thing is for sure; the Germans will not put our heroine on display in the rebuilt NeuesMuseum if it is accepted that the bust is a 19th century production. Or will they? This is certainly great publicity. The story, in part at least one suspects, is about ownership over one of the most famous objects of art from antiquity. This will be burning up the newsprint (there are still newspapers, aren’t there?) the entire Summer, I guess.

Dr. Zahi Hawass

Berlin Nefertiti a fake !?

You don’t hear that everyday of the week. Agence France-Presse, in a wire dated 5 May, is reporting that the art historian Henri Stierlin is making the claim in a newly released study. I append here an extract of the Agence France-Presse article:
Swiss art historian Henri Stierlin, author of a dozen works on Egypt, the Middle East and ancient Islam, says in a just-released book that the bust currently in Berlin’s Altes Museum was made on the orders of Germany archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt on site at the digs by an artist named Gerardt Marks.

“It seems increasingly improbable that the bust is an original,” Mr Stierlin said.

He said he believed it was made to test pigments used by the ancient Egyptians.

The historian said the archaeologist had hoped to produce a new portrait of the queen wearing a necklace he knew she had owned and also carry out a colour test with ancient pigments found at the digs.

The Nefertiti bust (my own recent photo of it below), one of the most famous images of ancient Egypt and an icon of Egyptology, is scheduled to have its own room in the renovated Neues Museum in Berlin when it opens in October.

Could be that the Egyptian authorities may not be quick in demanding her back now. I am also guessing there will be a flurry of opinions about this…….stay tuned

Russian Academy of Sciences plans Fall conference on the state of Egyptology

Plans for a conference “Achievements and problems of modern Egyptology” has just crossed my desk this morning. It will take place from 29 September- 4 October 2009, at the Academy of Sciences in Moscow and will coincide with an exhibition “The royal cache. Secrets of the Pharoahs”  that will highlight Russian work on Theban Tomb 320. The following subjects will be covered:

• origins and development of Ancient Egyptian state
• policy and trade relations between Ancient Egypt and Middle Eastern Mediterranean countries
• landscape archaeology, natural and anthropogenic factors in the development of the Nile valley
• urban archaeology and peculiarities of Egyptian settlement sites
• dynamics of development and transformation of Egyptian culture
• cross-cultural relations in Egypt during Graeco-Roman period
• new methods and technologies in archaeological research
• history and culture of Coptic Egypt

More infomation can be viewed here