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Ancient Egypt Magazine -- Volume Three  Issue Four  -- January/February 2003

Editor's Column

Welcome to the first issue of Ancient Egypt of 2003. Winter is the season during which many of our readers will be traveling to Egypt, not only in search of sunshine but to acquaint – or re-acquaint – themselves with Egypt’s ancient past.

This issue takes a look at some early travelers and excavators in Egypt There is also a report from Samira Mahmoud in Cairo, whom we welcome as a first-time contributor to the magazine, on the recent celebrations for the 100th birthday of the Egyptian Antiquities Museum. This is well-known landmark to regular visitors to Egypt was the focus of a range of activities in December 2002. The report includes heartening news on Egyptian plans and developments for new museum buildings throughout the country.

In addition, we begin a two-part series on Napoleon’s ‘Savants’, the young men who laid the foundations of Egyptology as a modern scientific subject. In the centuries before this, Egypt was viewed as a fabulous place, in the true sense of the word, a country celebrated by artists and writers.

Prior to this, even earlier travelers had made accurate records of various locations, but the ‘Expedition’ was the first truly modern inter-disciplinary work on Egypt and scholars still owe Napoleon’s team a debt of gratitude for the work they did, as Cathie Bryan describes in these pages.

Theodore Davis, the wealthy American excavator who made several outstanding discoveries in the Valley of the Kings in particular, is one of Egyptology’s more contentious characters. Patrick Houlihan re-appraises his contribution to the subject, with reference to comments from Davis’s peers and contemporaries and from modern commentators. Egyptology and archaeology are surely the subjects in which the test of time provides a true judgement?

Judgement, practically applied through experience, is also the focus of Professor John Hannavy’s piece on early photographer Francis Frith, in whose footsteps he followed to discover for himself just how conditions and sites in Egypt had changed in over a hundred years.

Some aspects of travel and photography had changed immeasurably – no more chemicals ‘fizzling and boiling’ in the desert – but other aspects, John Hannavy found, were surprisingly similar. Judge for yourselves in his beautifully illustrated piece in our travel section.

Practical experience, as regular readers will know, is one of the hallmarks of Geoffrey Killen’s work in recreating ancient woodworking techniques. In the final part of his three-part series, he demonstrates that even practical everyday items such as stools and chairs reflected status in ancient Egypt. Built to precise specifications founded on enduring measurements and principles, there is much to be learned about the Egyptian view of function and harmony as well as beauty in their creations.

We also bring you the promised report on Egyptology ‘down under’, with a special international ‘Societies Scene’ outlining the work not only of the Rundle Foundation but the hard-working Egyptologists at Macquarie University led by Professor Naguib Kanawati.

And finally: in our news pages you’ll find reports of recent and forthcoming events. Our editorial assistant, Claire Malleson, is not only committed to her M.A. studies this year; Claire also plans a bike ride in Egypt to raise funds for the Friends of the Petrie Museum, specifically for the Barbara Adams Memorial Fund. Details of obtaining sponsor forms can be found in the news pages and we hope that Claire has a very successful and safe journey with good support from our readers. And far from the current bush fires in Australia, the Czechoslovakian Institute for Archaeology is still assessing the damage caused by the catastrophic flooding of last summer, which has caused immeasurable damage to the library there. The Institute has put out an appeal for help and donations, details of which can also be found in the news section.

Miriam  A Bibby

Editor

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