Tag: Egypt

This Week’s Featured Object: A Framed Coptic Egyptian Textile 5th – 7th Century AD

This large and impressive textile, our Object of the Week, is a fragment from a Coptic Egyptian garment and features complex geometric and foliate designs. Thanks to exceptionally dry conditions, many types of artifacts made from perishable materials that would not survive elsewhere are common finds on Egyptian archaeological sites. Between the late 18th and… Read More This Week’s Featured Object: A Framed Coptic Egyptian Textile 5th – 7th Century AD

Christof Maupin / Past Present ArtsLeave a comment

Update on Repair and Conservation of Tutankamun’s Mask and Beard

This article in The Guardian provides an update (including a short video) on the joint German-Egyptian restoration and repair work on King Tut’s golden mask, following damage last year when the beard was accidentally knocked off and glued back on. Link opens in a new tab or window: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/21/fixing-tutankhamuns-beard-unfortunately-they-used-epoxy

Christof Maupin / Past Present ArtsLeave a comment

Making Matters Worse? The Debate Over “Repatriating” Antiquities to Failed States in the Middle East

With Islamic State on the rampage, and other groups swearing allegiance to them in Libya, Tunisia, Nigeria, Yemen and Afghanistan, the threat to ancient heritage is greater than ever, and the debate over whether or not to return antiquities, looted or legally exported, to the modern nation states where they were discovered is fiercer than ever.… Read More Making Matters Worse? The Debate Over “Repatriating” Antiquities to Failed States in the Middle East

Christof Maupin / Past Present Arts2 Comments

NEWS ITEM: Egyptian Antiquities Ministry Destroys Archaeological Site

This is astonishing. Now the Egyptian Antiquities Ministry is in the business of destroying archaeological sites. Most likely this is a case of corruption, in which contractors pressured local authorities to direct the Ministry to destroy the site. Here is a link to the story (opens in a new window) – http://www.egyptindependent.com//news/hellenistic-era-ruins-demolished-alexandria

Christof Maupin / Past Present ArtsLeave a comment

Selling Artifacts to Save the Past

Pompeii, archaeology, antiquities

To raise much needed revenue for archaeological excavations, reduce the strain of storage and maintenance of artifacts on museums and national heritage agencies and help undercut the trade in illicit antiquities, governments, universities, public museums and related institutions should consider making duplicate, common and unwanted artifacts available to the public for sale. Government agencies responsible… Read More Selling Artifacts to Save the Past

Christof Maupin / Past Present Arts4 Comments

NEWS ITEM: Danish Bronze Age glass beads traced to Egypt

This is a truly amazing piece of research with broad implications. The international team involved plans next to determine if these trade routes for valued materials continued into the later Bronze Age and beyond. Here is the article in the online journal ScienceNordic.com, including a link to the original research in Danish (opens in a… Read More NEWS ITEM: Danish Bronze Age glass beads traced to Egypt

Christof Maupin / Past Present ArtsLeave a comment

Blog for the new exhibition “Assyria to Iberia at the Dawn of the Classical Age”

This blog accompanies the exhibition Assyria to Iberia at the Dawn of the Classical Age, on view from September 22, 2014, through January 4, 2015 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Both the exhibition page on the Met’s website and the Blog that accompany it – http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2014/assyria-to-iberia/blog – are packed with information… Read More Blog for the new exhibition “Assyria to Iberia at the Dawn of the Classical Age”

Christof Maupin / Past Present ArtsLeave a comment