Three false doors inscribed with religious texts, two offering tables and a collection of clay vessels are the latest finds at the Ehnasya Al-Medina cemetery, lying on the west bank of the Nile almost 15km west of the Upper Egyptian city of Beni Sweif. Archaeologists now believe that parts of the necropolis were deliberately set on fire at some point in its history.

Online review of Monika R. M. Hasitzka, Koptisches Sammelbuch III. (KSB III). MPER XXIII, 3. Mitteilungen aus der Papyrussammlung der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek (Papyrus Erzherzog Rainer). Munich and Leipzig: K.G. Saur, 2006

Experts carried out a series of examinations - including CT scans at the Royal Bolton Hospital - on two mummies from Bolton Museum. They revealed that the Eygptian mummy, originallly thought to be an Egyptian temple dancer, was in fact a member of the Egyptian royal family from the 19th dynasty, related to Ramesses the Second.

Version 11 of the WoerterListen are now available, incuded are i. a. the indices of P.Brux. Bawit, P.Iand. Zen., P.Köln XI, P.Oxy. LXXI and P.Petra III.

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.

The American University of Beirut is expected to name the University of Chicago’s Peter Dorman as its new president next week. Mr. Dorman, an Egyptologist and chairman of Chicago’s department of Near Eastern languages and civilizations, said he planned to accept when the American University of Beirut, known as AUB, makes the offer official.

Wrapped in layers of linen and decorated with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, the mummies were found in the southern province of Minya, 220 kilometers (135 miles) south of Cairo, the official said speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press. The three smugglers confessed that they carried the mummies in a truck to Fayyoum earlier on the day to sell them to other antiquities brokers, the official said.

The 3,000-year-old relic was thought to have been a female temple dancer, but a hospital CT scan showed features so reminiscent of the Egyptian royal family that experts are 90 per cent sure it is one of the 110 children Ramesses is thought to have fathered. Tests showed that the mummy had a pronounced over-bite and misaligned eyes, akin to members of the 19th Dynasty, and his facial measurements were found to be almost identical to those of Ramesses himself.

The University of Maryland School of Medicine approached the Walters several months ago about scanning the mummy so doctors can discuss the results at the schools annual pathology conference this spring. With a mummy available at the Walters, medical school officials thought scanning it might help unravel some ancient Egyptian medical mysteries.

The first volume of Trismegistos Online Publications is now available for download:
M. Depauw, C. Arlt, M. Elebaut, A. Georgila, S.A. Gülden, H. Knuf, J. Moje, F. Naether, H. Verreth, S. Bronischewski, B. Derichs, S. Eslah, M. Kromer, A Chronological Survey of Precisely Dated Demotic and Abnormal Hieratic Sources, Version 1.0 (February 2007), Köln / Leuven 2008, xiii, 232 pp.