Talking Pyramids: Ancient Egyptian Pyramids

The IAE Computer Group (Informatique et Egyptologie, I&E) will be meeting in Vienna at the Kunsthistorisches Museum on the 8-11 of July this year. The conference itself will start on Wednesday the 9th and 10th.

IAE 2008 meeting at the Kunsthistorisches Museum

The conference fee is €30 and includes a visit to the Heurigen restaurant for a […]

Last Tuesday morning the American-Japanese scientific team arrived in Saqqara to commence the laser scanning of Djoser’s pyramid to create a 3D model.

Creating a 3D model of Djoser

It is expected to take four weeks to complete, after which a survey of the internal structure will commence as part of phase two of the project.

Sato pointed […]

More news on the search for Menkaure’s missing sarcophagus.

Franck Goddio discovered artefacts submerged in Alexandria and is also favoured in the search for the Beatrice

Spain and Egypt have made some advancements on the arrangement of a joint mission to search for the sarcophagus of Menkaure, lost on the sea floor somewhere between Malta and Gibralta. […]

More on the laser scanning of Djoser’s pyramid.

Creating a 3D model of Djoser

“Egypt plans to make a documentary film of Pyrmaid of Djoser, Egypt’s first step pyramid, using a three-dimensional technique to be a reference to all archaeologists,” Egyptian Culture Minister Farouk Hosni said Monday 9/6/2008.
The film will display a perspective image of the […]

Announced today on the website of Zahi Hawass was the news that the step pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara will be scanned with precision lasers. The goal is to produce a three-dimensional model that will help to preserve the oldest pyramid of Egypt, thought to be designed by the great architect Imhotep. […]

More on the discovery of the pyramid of Menkauhor at Saqqara, a video from the National Geographic website:

Video of the excavation of what is thought to be Menkauhor’s pyramid at Saqqara

From today’s story in the Guardian:
“In 1842, German archaeologist Karl Richard Lepsius mentioned it among his finds at Saqqara, referring to it as number 29 […]

18th Dynasty stele depicting Menkauhor
The Egyptian Supreme Council for Antiquities (SCA) reported today that the bottom part of an unknown pyramid in the Saqqara area has been discovered.
Secretary General of the SCA, Zahi Hawass stated that it was thought to belong to fifth Dynasty King Menkauhor who ruled from 2444 B.C. to 2436 B.C. (not […]

Here is a video on the pyramid of Djedefre at Abu Roash that uses computer generated imagery to show what the pyramid might have once looked like.

The accompanying story is in Italian: Il mistero della quarta piramide “La più bella, alta e preziosa” and Archaeologist, Andie, who runs the best Egyptology […]

The Isle of Man Mint has released another batch of Tutankhamun coins.
Last December the mint produced the world’s first triangular, or ‘pyramid’ shaped coin to mark the new Tutankamun exhibition in London’s O2 arena. Intended as a gift and sold for for 15 pounds, it is also legal tender in the Isle […]

Calcium deposits attract pigeons to Sphinx - photo from Daily Star Egypt
An increasing number of pigeons and other birds are gathering at the Sphinx. It is thought that the rising humidity level in the stone that the Sphinx is carved from is causing calcium deposits that attract the birds. Their droppings as well […]