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Ancient Egypt Magazine Volume 5 issue 3 December 2004 / January 2005 NETFISHING Excavating in Egypt. Many readers would like to actually excavate in Egypt, but for most this will nearly always remain an unfulfilled dream; however, many sites on the web do allow you to follow the progress of excavations – and provide a great deal of information as well. This month we will, therefore, look at ‘Excavating in Egypt via the Web’.The Theban Mapping Project. http://www.thebanmappingproject.com/ This site was set up in 1997 to reveal the work undertaken to excavate KV5, but since then the work has grown and the site now provides full coverage of the entire Valley of the Kings. A series of articles gives extensive information about the work undertaken in the Royal Valley but it is its use of computer graphics that makes this site so interesting to visit. The site is enormous, with plans and information on every tomb in the Valley. Indeed the site is so large and provides so much information that a guide really should be provided. As an example, just click on ‘SITE’ and then click on ‘Tomb 57’ on the plan of the Valley. This will take you to the description page on the tomb of King Horemheb. If you click on images you then have access to 203 images of this beautiful tomb, all of which can be enlarged and printed. You also have access to printable plans of the tomb, and by clicking on ‘Launch this Site in the KV Atlas’ you can enter the interactive ‘Atlas of the Valley of the Kings’.The ‘Atlas of the Valley of the Kings’ is one of the main features of this site, as it enables you to examine any tomb in great detail. First of all you can play an introductory video and then enter the Atlas itself. By clicking on ‘Description’, you can view a movable plan of the tomb and have a detailed description of the room you are looking at. The picture can be enlarged, room by room, corridor by corridor, with the description changing to give you the appropriate information for each change of view. In the case of the Tomb of Tausert & Setnakht (KV14) you can even do a 3D guided tour of the tomb, with audio accompaniment provided by Kent Weeks. To enable the system (3.1Mb) to download quickly the majority of the tour is done as a outline drawing, but the most important wall scenes are provided as black & white photos. In many cases details of these photos can be viewed as high quality colour images which can then be moved and enlarged, by the viewer, as you desire. This 3D Tour is quite fascinating (especially if you have already visited the Tomb) and it is also to be recommended to anyone planning to visit the Valley of the Kings as it shows just what can be seen inside one of the Valley’s largest tombs. The other feature of this web-site is termed the ‘Atlas of the Theban Necropolis’. This is an aerial view of the West bank which is fully manoeuvrable so that you can home in on your favourite site and zoom in to see it in close-up from the air. Karanis – An Egyptian Town in Roman Times. www.umich.edu/~kelseydb/Exhibits/Karanis83/KaranisExcavation/KaranisExcavation.html This site, in the Faiyum, is not one that many tourists get the chance to visit unless you go on one of the more specialized tours of Egypt. The Roman town and its temples were excavated between 1924 and 1935 by the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology of the University of Michigan, USA. The web-site presents the results of their findings in a series of extensive articles, illustrated with black & white pictures and plans. In comparison with the ‘state of the art’ Theban Mapping Project site above, this may sound rather dull and uninspired, but in actual fact the information is so well presented by the Kelsey Museum that it gives a complete and fascinating picture of both the site and the people who lived there.Complete coverage of the excavation of the site is given in the first of the four articles, entitled ‘Karanis in Perspective’. The second article ‘The Rural Economy’ describes the economy of the Faiyum Oasis area looking at agriculture, domestic crafts such as spinning and weaving, and the trade items that linked the site with Rome and Alexandria. The article on ‘Domestic Life’ looks at the homes of the town, their design and construction and the furnishings that were discovered there; while the final article covers ‘The Temples and the Gods’ and provides a detailed insight into the gods and religious practices of the Graeco-Roman period in general. The site gives a vivid picture of both the town and the people who lived in Egypt during the Third Century BC up until the Fifth Century A.D. As such, it is well worth visiting to gain an new insight into ancient Egypt and, more importantly, the lives of the people who lived there.
Victor Blunden Back to Ancient Egypt Magazine - Volume 5 Issue 3 contents
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