Interview with D. O'Connor about Abydos and the Pennsylvania-Yale-Institute of Fine Arts Expedition.

Modern pressures in the form of new farms and buildings have taken their toll on the 3.1-mile (5-kilometer) wide area of Abydos. Local farmers have begun to reclaim land in the Abydos desert up to the walls of ancient temples. This month, a government-run project to renovate Abydos will begin, according to archaeologists and architects involved in the effort.

Yet another report about the skeletons of ten donkeys that have been found in a funerary complex at the ancient town of Abydos in 2002. The bones of the Abydos donkeys, dating from around 3000 B.C., clearly showed wear from their burdens. At the major joints like shoulders and hips, the bone surfaces were roughened where the cartilage had worn down. Signs of arthritis were seen in areas where the heavy loads would have been carried.

The study examined 10 donkey skeletons purposefully buried at the predynastic site of Abydos. All of the Abydos skeletons exhibited a range of osteopathologies consistent with load carrying. Morphological similarities to wild ass show that, despite their use as beasts of burden, donkeys were still undergoing considerable phenotypic change during the early Dynastic period in Egypt.