Peruvian King of Bling

Article from the National Geographic News: "King of Bling" Tomb Sheds Light on Ancient Peru Kelly Hearn and Ted Chamberlainfor National Geographic News April 10, 2009 Image: Found in a treasure-filled tomb of the Moche culture in Peru in June 2008, this 1,500-year-old gilded-copper-and-seashell funerary mask was one of two that shielded the face of the so-called Lord of Ucupe. As in his tomb, the Lord of Ucupe in life would have been covered nearly head to toe in shining metal, so as to dazzle and distract his subjects—"This is the king of bling, literally," one archaeologist says.Photograph courtesy Dr. Steve Bourget Packed with treasure in the styles of two ancient orders, the 1,500-year-old tomb of the Moche Indian "king of bling" is like no other, according to archaeologist Steve Bourget. Discovered in Peru at the base of an eroded mud-brick pyramid, the tomb gradually yielded its contents last summer. Among the finds: 19 golden headdresses, various pieces of jewelry, and two funerary masks, as well as skeletons of two other men and a pregnant woman. (View photographs of the Moche find.) The tomb's mysterious contents and location—far from known Moche capitals—could shed new light on this little-known culture of Peru's arid northern coast, said Bourget, of the University of Texas at Austin. Thriving between A.D. 100 and 800, the highly agricultural Moche Indians are known in large part by their stepped pyramids, jewelry-filled tombs, and exquisite pottery and art. (See related pictures of Moche tombs from National Geographic magazine.) Lord of Ucupe Located some 475 miles (750 kilometers) north of Lima, the new-found tomb was found at the base of Huaca el Pueblo, a mud-brick, stepped pyramid that has eroded into a high, round mound. The Lord of Ucupe—as locals have come to call the entombed Moche leader—was in his early thirties when he died, Bourget said. For entombment, the lord was dressed in full regalia—and then some. His body was covered with a tunic and train of tiny gilded copper plates, and his face was covered with two funerary masks—a first, according to Bourget. A necklace of four-inch (ten-centimeter), disk-shaped silver rattles encircled his neck. On his head was a gilded crown. Six more crowns and ten V-shaped headdresses called diadems were arrayed on top of his body. Still another diadem was folded in half and placed atop six metal war clubs to serve as a mat for his lifeless body. The Lord of Ucupe was then wrapped in a large bundle made of reed and textile, along with artifacts suggestive of political status, said Bourget, who co-led the team that found the tomb with Bruno Alva of the Museum Tumbas Reales de Sipán. Rest of article.

The Tel That Keeps on Giving: Beth-Shemesh

Update from Science Daily: Was A 'Mistress Of The Lionesses' A King In Ancient Canaan? ScienceDaily (Apr. 11, 2009) — The legend is that the great rulers of Canaan, the ancient land of Israel, were all men. But a recent dig by Tel Aviv University archaeologists at Tel Beth-Shemesh uncovered possible evidence of a mysterious female ruler. Tel Aviv University archaeologists Prof. Shlomo Bunimovitz and Dr. Zvi Lederman of the Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations have uncovered an unusual ceramic plaque of a goddess in female dress, suggesting that a mighty female “king” may have ruled the city. If true, they say, the plaque would depict the only known female ruler of the region. The plaque itself depicts a figure dressed as royal male figures and deities once appeared in Egyptian and Canaanite art. The figure’s hairstyle, though, is womanly and its bent arms are holding lotus flowers -- attributes given to women. This plaque, art historians suggest, may be an artistic representation of the “Mistress of the Lionesses,” a female Canaanite ruler who was known to have sent distress letters to the Pharaoh in Egypt reporting unrest and destruction in her kingdom. “We took this finding to an art historian who confirmed our hypothesis that the figure was a female,” says Dr. Lederman. “Obviously something very different was happening in this city. We may have found the ‘Mistress of the Lionesses’ who’d been sending letters from Canaan to Egypt. The destruction we uncovered at the site last summer, along with the plaque, may just be the key to the puzzle.” A Lady Ruler in Pre-Exodus Canaan Around 1350 BCE, there was unrest in the region. Canaanite kings conveyed their fears via clay tablet letters to the Pharaoh in Egypt, requesting military help. But among all the correspondence by kings were two rare letters that stuck out among the 382 el‑Amarna tablets uncovered a few decades ago by Egyptian farmers. The two letters came from a “Mistress of the Lionesses” in Canaan. She wrote that bands of rough people and rebels had entered the region, and that her city might not be safe. Because the el-Amarna tablets were found in Egypt rather than Canaan, historians have tried to trace the origin of the tablets. “The big question became, ‘What city did she rule?’” Dr. Lederman and Prof. Bunimovitz say. The archaeologists believe that she ruled as king (rather than “queen,” which at the time described the wife of a male king) over a city of about 1,500 residents. A few years ago, Tel Aviv University’s Prof. Nadav Naaman suggested that she might have ruled the city of Beth Shemesh. But there has been no proof until now. “The city had been violently destroyed, in a way we rarely see in archaeology,” says Prof. Bunimovitz, who points to many exotic finds buried under the destruction, including an Egyptian royal seal, bronze arrowheads and complete large storage vessels. They suggest a large and important city-state, well enmeshed within East Mediterranean geo-political and economic networks. Time for a New Interpretation of Biblical History? Tel Aviv University archaeologists say that the new finds might turn the interpretation of pre-biblical history on its head. The people of the time were pagans who had a very elaborate religious system. “It was a very well-to-do city,” says Lederman. “Strangely, such extensive destruction, like what we found in our most recent dig, is a great joy for archaeologists because people would not have had time to take their belongings. They left everything in their houses. The site is loaded with finds,” he says, adding that the expensive items found in the recent level points to it as one the most important inland Canaanite cities. The discovery of the plaque, and the evidence of destruction recorded in the el-Amarna tablets, could confirm that the woman depicted in the figurine was the mysterious “Mistress of the Lionesses” and ruled Canaanite Beth Shemesh. “There is no evidence of other females ruling a major city in this capacity,” Lederman and Bunimovitz say. “She is the only one. We really hope to find out more about her this summer.” Adapted from materials provided by American Friends of Tel Aviv University. **************************************************************************** Added 4/12/09: Judith Weingarten has provided background and analysis at her website, Zenobia: Empress of the East.

Blast from the Past: Susan Polgar and Chess

The following is excerpted from Cathy Forbes' The Polgar Sisters - Training or Genius?, published in 1992, ISBN 0-8050-2426-3, by Henry Holt and Company, Inc., New York, NY. It is from Chapter 7 in the paperback edition I own entitled "Grounded!"

Because it was written so close to the time during which these events occurred, by a woman who participated in the international chess circuit as a tournament player and had some acquaintance with the characters involved, I believe it embodies more palpably than anything I could ever write what the atmosphere was at the time, and starkly lays out the incredible obstacles that GM Susan Polgar faced, and overcame, in order to earn her GM title.

I think we should never forget this.

In the July 1984 FIDE rating list, fifteen-year-old Susan Polgar appeared as the world's top rated female player with 2405, ahead of Women's World Champion Maya Chiburdanidze on 2375. Two more tournaments in Bulgaria in 1984 were sufficient to furnish Susan Polgar with the two further norms she needed for the title of International Master: she came third at Varna, and equal first at the Alen-Mak International Open. She was awarded the title at the age of fifteen, at the 55th FIDE congress at the Thessaloniki Olympiad in November 1984. "Susan Polgar makes history!" exclaimed the caption to her photograph in Magyar Sakkelet. In this picture, her Star of David pendant is clearly visible outside her striped sweater; and her hair has been cut short. What was not mentioned was Susan Polgar's non-participation in the 1984 Women's Olympiad, and the reason for it: neither her father nor her mother were permitted by the Hungarian Chess Federation to travel with her. Thus the Hungarian women's team, minus its highest rated player, finished sixth. (Emphasis added). To shed a little light on the divisions Susan Polgar's career progress caused in the Hungarian chess establishment it's worth taking time out to consider a few personalities involved. Until 1989, the President of the Hungarian Chess Federation was Sandor Szerenyi, an orthodox communist of the old school. He also was no feminist: "Mr. Polgar only wants his girls to play with the boys!" complained Szerenyi in comically broken English at the FIDE Congress in Manila in 1983. Whether as a result of the ensuing mirth or from common sense the FIDE delegates fortunately defeated Szerenyi's proposal that FIDE ban or othewise punish the Polgars for refusing to conform. From 1929 until 1931 Szerenyi was, in fact, general Secretary of the Hungarian Communist Party. Thus it will be appreciated that in Hungary, as in other eastern Bloc countries and the Soviet Union, sport and politics were (and, despite recent political upheavals, still are) closely intertwined. Chess in these countries is unquestionably classified as a professional sport, unlike the prevailing attitude of leisured, amiable amateurishness that has traditionally characterised the competitive chess activity of the West. For Hungary's chess masters, male and female, chess was a very serious business. They played league chess as salaried sports officials, employed by clubs as players and coaches. Their livelihoods depended, not just on their chess reputations, but on keeping on the right side of the authorities. Thus it is not surprising that certain players found it advantageous to cultivate personal links with powerful people like Szerenyi, who was a personal friend of the Premier, Janos Kadar. Hungarian GM Gyula Sax wrote a letter to New in Chess in 1990, after the retirement of Szerenyi. In it he alleged close links between GM Portisch, Szerenyi and Kadar. Implicit, also, was the suggestion that Portisch's assumed position as Hungarian No. 1 owed much to these links and the denial of playing opportunities to his rivals. Another player of the 'old guard' reputedly close to Szerenyi was the veteran woman player, Zsusza Veroci. The jealously, fear for livelihood etc., felt by her and other Hungarian woman players in the wake of Susan Polgar's meteoric ascent may safely be deduced. Imagine the wrath, then, when Susan Polgar declined to compete in the 'Super-Hungarian Women's Championship' that had been designed to give Veroci the chance to challenge the supremacy of the upstart Polgar! Professional jealousy apart, there was strong resentment from players accustomed to toeing the line that the rule-breaking Polgars should receive any 'special treatment'. If any other player, it was reasoned, broke the rules, declined the 'correct' tournament invitations etc., that player would expect to be penalized. Why should Susan Polgar be a special case? On the other hand, it is reasonable to assume that the attitude of the Hungarian establishment, as distinct from Hungary's established players, was more ambivalent. An outstanding sportsperson, however 'troublesome,' has public relations and propaganda uses - as indeed the Polgar sisters, in the fullness of time, proved. Such international successes as the Polgars, for instance, might be used by a repressive regime to provide nationalistic headlines in times of domestic crisis. It is against this background that we can understand, not only Susan Polgar's 'punishment', i.e her three-year 'grounding' inside the Eastern Block between 1982 and 1985, but the fact, seeming inexplicable at the time, that she was let out again.

Further Explorations of the Word MA

Prior post on the topic: "Ma." Hola darlings! On this Good Friday, I'm going to write what Barbara Walker had to say about Maat in "The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Legends": Maat Egyptian Goddess as personification of "Truth" or "Justice"; the original name based on the universal Indo-European mother-syllable meant simply "Mother." Maat's symbol was the feather against which she weighed each man's heart-soul (ab) in her underground Hall of Judgment. Thus the Plume of Maat itself became a hieroglyph for "truth."(1) The same feathers of Truth were worn by other aspects of the Goddess, such as Isis, who was the same lawgiving Mother. The gods themselves were constrained to "live by Maat." Her law governed all three worlds ruled by her trinity as "Lady of heaven, queen of the earth, and mistress of the underworld."(2) As the lawgiver of archaic Egypt, Maat was comparable to Babylonian Tiamat who gave the sacred tablets to the first king of gods. Maat's laws were notably benevolent, compared to the harsh commands of later patriarchal gods, backed up by savage threats like those of Deuteronomy 28:15-68. An Egyptian was expected to recite the famous Negative Confession in the presence of Maat and Thoth (or Anubis) to show he had obeyed Maat's rules of behavior: I have not been a man of anger. I have done no evil to mankind. I have not inflicted pain. I have made none to weep. I have done violence to no man. I have not done harm unto animals. I have not robbed the poor. I have not fouled water. I have not trampled fields. I have not behaved with insolence. I have not judged hastily. I have not stirred up strife. I have not made any man to commit murder for me. I have not insisted that excessive work be done for me daily. I have not borne false witness. I have not stolen land. I have not cheated in measuring the bushel. I have allowed no man to suffer hunger. I have not increased my wealth except with such things as are my own possessions. I have not seized wrongfully the property of others. I have not taken milk from the mouths of babes.(3) Those who lived by the laws of Maat took a sacramental drink, comparable to the Hindus' Soma or its Persian counterpart Haoma, which conferred ritual purity in the same sense as the Christian "washing in the blood of the Lamb." Egyptian scribes of the 3rd millenium B.C. wrote: "My inward parts have been washed in the liquor of Maat." Like baptismal water of life, Maat's potion brought life after-death to the peaceful, but death overtook violent persons.(4) Egyptian moral precepts were of a high order, many of them turning up centuries later in the Bible: Take heed not to rob the poor, and be not cruel to the destitute.... If thou canst answer the man who attacks thee, do him no injury. Let the evildoer alone; he will destroy himself. We must help the sinner, for may we not become like him?...Crusts of bread and a loving heart are better than rich food and contention.... Learn to be content with what thou hast. Treasure obtained by fraud will not stay with thee; thou hast it today, tomorrow it has departed.... The approval of man is better than riches.(5) Under the feudal disorders of the 12th dynasty [c. 1991 - 1783 BCE], old rules began to break down along with the matrilineal clan system that supported them, and educated Egyptians deplored the disruptions of society. A Heliopolitan priest wrote: "Maat is cast out, iniquity is in the midst of the council hall.... [T]he poor man has no strength to save hmself from him that is stronger than he."(6) Sometimes kinsman murdered kinsman, in violation of the clan's most sacred rule. One writer unfavorably compared his countrymen to the Maat-worshipping tribes of Nubia: "The Matoi, who are friendly towards Egypt, say: 'How could there be a man that would slay his brother?'"(7) Maat was more than a judge of the dead. She was a stand-in for all Egyptian Goddesses, including Hathor, Mut, Isis, Neith, Nekhbet, etc. The sun god was told: "The goddess Maat embraceth thee both at morn and at eve." As a birth-giver, she was sometimes Metet, the Morning Boat of the Sun, translated "becoming strong" and corresponding to the Greco-Roman mother of the dawn, Mater Matuta.(8) She was worshipped in lands other than Egypt. Northern Syria was called by the Hittites, Mat Hatti: that is, Mother of Hatti.(9) Egyptian priests drew the Feather of Maat on their tongues in green dye, to give their words a Logos-like power of Truth so their verbal magic could create reality.(1) Similarly in northern Europe the divine bard Bragi had this power because of the runes engraved on his tongue by the Goddess Idun. African Pygmies still know Maat by the name she bore in Sumeria as "womb" and "underworld": Matu. She was the first woman, and the mother of God. Like her Egyptian counterpart she was sometimes cat-headed.(11) Notes: (1) Budge, E.L., 68. (2) Budge, G.E 1, 418. (3) Budge, D.N., 254; Hallet, 411. (4) H. Smith, 49-51. (5) Budge, D.N., 258-60. (6) H. Smith, 50. (7) Erman, 43, 107. (8) Budge, G.E. 1, 323, 417. (9) Mendenhall, 157. (10) Seligmann, 39. (11) Hallet, 95. **************************************************************************** Wow! Where do I even start to comment? How about this: THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, the movie which I remember from earliest times watching every Easter Sunday, will be on commercial television TOMORROW NIGHT, instead of Sunday Night! Darlings, this is absolutely, positively the END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT. Watching THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, with Charleton Heston as Moses, Anne Baxter as the best Neferteri I ever saw, and that incredibly sexy, magnetic Yul Brynner as Rameses, is a must see for everyone. Indeed, there's something in this movie for everyone, which is why so many people continue to watch it year after year. Anyway, tomorrow night at 6:00 p.m. will find me comfortably ensconced in my recliner (yes, I have one - go suck Easter Eggs if you're laughing) with a large supply of Wine and Fritos close to hand, to once again watch the Grand Epic and laugh at Charleton Heston's really bad acting. But I have to give it to the man, he was a hunk back in his day. Whoa! From THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, we now turn to THE TEN COMMANDMENTS - the real ones (allegedly), which were passed to Moses by Yahweh himself. While I certainly believe that anyone and everyone can experience supernatural events/happenings/revelations, or whatever one wishes to call such an event, I do not believe how THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (I think they were originally referred to as THE TEN WORDS) mysteriously multipled whilst residing in the Ark of the Covenant and turned into several thousand burdensome and petty rules, governing the minutest part of life. As a consequence, the followers of Yahweh became a people of rules rather than what Yahweh intended them to be, a people guided by a short list of principles to live by. Rules come and go, but principles are forever. Perhaps this is a lesson we need to revisit these days in the USA. I am pretty sure that if we had been a people of principles rather than legalistic rules, the CRASH OF 2008 would not have happened. Well, be that as it may, anyone who reads Abovethelaw.com these days and who absolutely HATES lawyers or wannabe lawyers is laughing their butts off! If you thought Wall Street types were totally self-absorbed, you haven't yet been introduced to the world of the 3L. Goddess, to think that I was once in that world - but thank Goddess, I wasn't like that - Maat, I've got a positive negative confession to make! That's why I got the hell out of the profession after five years. Overall, I haven't regretted it, but I sure wish I could figure out a way to make a lot of money without selling my soul to SATAN. Ha! That's not gonna happen, darlings. And just as well. I think I have a Napoleonic Complex... So glad the Goddess thumped me on the head one day and said - ENOUGH! And, cutting things short here because I've been at work all day and it's nearly 8 PM and I'm hungry and I want to make a casserole and TOP MODEL is coming on, I am SO glad I finally know where that famous saying came from - about taking the milk out of the mouth of babes. We STILL use it today. WOW! Ancient Egypt - the Negative Confessions - the Goddess Maat! ROCK ON MAAT!

Dog Sacrifice in Medieval Hungary

After the rise of christianity, the church fathers were gradually successful in "demonizing" dogs for the most part, that faithful canine companion of the Goddess from earliest times. It is surprising to the discovering archaeologists, then, to find that what appears to be a sort of hybrid propitiatory sacrifice both to the Goddess and to the God Jesus Christ, was rather commonplace in a town called Kana, a 10th-13th century CE town on the outskirts of modern-day Budapest. Could there possibly be a connection of KANA to CANINE? An interesting "coincidence," heh? Was something else going on - something which we don't understand at all? Story from the National Geographic News Dog Sacrifices Found in Medieval Hungarian Village Charles Q. Choifor National Geographic News April 6, 2009 A medieval Hungarian town full of ritually sacrificed dogs could shed light on mysterious pagan customs not found in written records from the era, a new study suggests. Roughly 1,300 bones from about 25 dogs were recently discovered in the 10th- to 13th-century town of Kana, which had been accidentally unearthed in 2003 during the construction of residential buildings on the outskirts of Budapest. Researchers found ten dogs buried in pits and four puppy skeletons in pots buried upside down. These sacrifices probably served much like amulets to ward against evil—for instance, to protect against witchcraft or the evil eye, said study leader Márta Daróczi-Szabó, an archaeozoologist at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. [No explanation given for why she believes this to be so]. About a dozen other canines were found buried under house foundations. These animals likely served as "construction sacrifices," Daróczi-Szabó said. During the Middle Ages it was customary in Hungary to lock sacrificial animals inside new houses or to slaughter the beasts as people moved in. Sometimes dogs were beaten to death on the doorsteps or a chicken's throat was slit. [And which Goddess or God was being honored by such particularly gruesomely rendered sacrifices? Sacrificing an animal by slitting it's throat for a quick and relatively painless death is one thing; sacrificing an animal by beating it to death is ridiculously cruel - how could this be pleasing to any deity?] Dogs were popular sacrificial animals in medieval Hungary, Daróczi-Szabó said. They were seen two different ways: They symbolized loyalty, but they also stood for the deadly sin of envy. "There was a very big difference between the hunting dogs of the nobility and the scavenging pariah dogs of everyday life," she said. [Which dogs were used as sacrifices? Was one type of dog preferred over another? Were the "noble" dogs spared and the "pariah" dogs beaten to death?] Surprisingly Widespread Previous evidence of animal sacrifices—seen even under churches, in Budapest and elsewhere in Hungary—had been mostly isolated cases, Daróczi-Szabó noted. But the new findings, described this month in the Journal of Veterinary Behavior, show that "sacrifices were not a rare phenomenon, as one may have thought from isolated finds," she said. "It was practiced regularly in a Christian village." ["Christian" in the same sense that the Spanish "Conversos" were "Christian?" Could there by any possible linkage between this evidence of wide-spread dog and puppy sacrifice in Kana and the puppy sacrifice that took place in ancient Mesopotamia thousands of years earlier?] The fact that pagan customs such as animal sacrifice persisted for centuries side-by-side with the church is surprising, noted University of Edinburgh archaeozoologist László Bartosiewicz. Christianity came to dominate the region after the first king of Hungary, Stephen I, began his rule in A.D. 1000. Under his reign, pagan rituals such as animal sacrifices were explicitly banned. "One wouldn't expect these practices in Christian times," said Bartosiewicz, who did not participate in the new study. "It's exciting to see what was sacred and profane back then. "The great number of sacrifices we see [in Kana] will significantly improve our chances of interpreting what their meaning was," he added. "It's probably the find of a lifetime. I can't imagine lucking upon anything else of this scope."

**************************************************************************** If archaeologists are surprised by "pagan" customs persisting hundreds of years after the advent of "christianity," what do they think about the fact that around the world people still serve hot-cross buns served at Easter? Hot-cross buns, for those who are not aware, are descended from an ancient devotional offering to the Goddess during the Spring Equinox and pre-date christianity by thousands of years! What about the Easter Bunny - another ancient pagan symbol of fertility, and Easter eggs, another pagan fertility symbol?

Southwest Chess Club: Upcoming Events

Hola darlings! My adopted chess club is hosting a number of upcoming events. I was too late to post about the tournament taking place tonight - sorry! But - there are others to choose from, hooray! Southwest Chess Club Calendar

Tulips on the Chess Board Swiss: April 16, 23 & 30 3-Round Swiss in Two Sections (Open and Under-1600). Game/100 minutes. USCF Rated. EF: $5 members, $7 others. (One ½ Point Bye Available for any round (except round three) if requested at least 2-days prior to round). TD is Fogec; ATD is Grochowski.

Warm-Up Blend-O-Matic: May 7 10-Round (Round-Robin) in One or more Sections (depending on number of players). Game/5 minutes. USCF Quick-Rated. EF: $5 members, $7 others. TD is Becker; ATD is Grochowski.

Hales Corners Challenge IX USCF Grand Prix Points: 10. April 25, 2009 4SS, G/60. 2 Sections: Open & Reserve (under 1600). Wyndham Milwaukee Airport Hotel—4747 S. Howell Avenue—Milwaukee—414-481-8000 (formerly known as Four Points Sheraton, across street from airport). EF: $35-Open, $25-Reserve, both $5 more after 4/22. Comp EF for USCF 2200+, contact TD for details. $$ Open (b/25)=1st-$325 (guaranteed), 2nd- $175 (guaranteed), A-$100, B & Below-$75; $$ Reserve b/25) =1st- $100, 2nd-$75, D-$50, E & Below-$40. Reg: 8:30-9:30, Rds: 10-1- 3:30-6. Ent: Payable to SWCC, c/o Allen Becker, 6105 Thorncrest Drive, Greendale, WI 53129 ( allenbecker@wi.rr.com ). QUESTIONS TO: TD Robin Grochowski—414-744-4872 (home) or 414-861-2745 (cell) This is the event Goddesschess in which is funding additional prizes for the chess femmes :)

Alexandra Kosteniuk Interview at WCL

Macauley Peterson has a video interview with 2008 Women's World Chess Champion GM Kosteniuk presently running at World Chess Live which he was kind enough to share, but being techy incompetent I can't figure out how to get it to paste in here correctly so that it works. The interview was after a 57-game simul she gave at the recently-concluded Super-Nationals in Nashville, Tennessee. She gave two simuls in Nashville and also recently in New York. Try here and scrolling to the video. (Photo: Kosteniuk at the 2007 European Team Championships).

Queen Ketevan of Georgia

(Image: From Flickr, showing Queen Ketevan's torture. I don't know what the source of this image is).

From The Times of India
Mystery over Georgian queen's relics at Old Goa continues
8 Apr 2009, 0635 hrs IST,
Paul Fernandes, TNN OLD GOA:

Scientists have conducted a DNA analysis on bones believed to have been relics of Georgian queen Ketevan preserved in St Augustine's complex at Old Goa, but the mystery continues as a matching analysis of her other relics in Georgia needs to be done to confirm the findings.

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Goa, received the DNA report recently from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad.

"We were able to isolate the ancient DNA but the amplification and sequencing needs to be done following a different protocol, which is still not commercially available in the laboratory, and we require an advanced kit to carry out a phase 2 analysis," N Taher, deputy superintending archaeologist, Goa said.

A matching DNA report of the queen's remains in Georgia will also help carry the research to its logical conclusion. "We are not very sure if the bone relics belong to the queen and we will request a Georgian delegation coming to Goa later this month to do a sequencing of their specimen for verification," Taher added.

Augustinian Friars, who also had their mission in Iran, came in contact with the Georgian Queen (1565-1624) in Shiraz, Iran, and held her in high esteem. She was put to death by Shah Abbas I of Iran in 1624 after several years of imprisonment for her refusal to give up Christianity. The Augustinian Friars exhumed her body after four months and took the relics to Georgia and interred them at the Alaverdi Cathedral, and also brought a hand and palm to Goa.

After the ASI started excavations to conserve the site at St Augustine's complex two decades back, in 2004-05, archaeologists found three bones in the chapter chapel in the convent of St Augustine. Bone relics of other dignitaries were also being preseved in six chamber boxes in the chapel.

"The remains of five chamber boxes can be seen at the site, except for the one with Queen Ketevan's remains," Abhijit Ambekar, an archaeologist said. A long bone was found below the second window within the chapel and two more fragments behind the second window close to the coping stone of the chamber box. Research will continue to find out whether the remains were also taken anywhere out of the complex, sources said.

St Augustine's complex crumbled after materials were sourced for construction elsewhere. It was also neglected after the Portuguese asked the Augustinian Friars to leave in 1835. The search for the queen's remains may take longer as relics in other tombstones may have to be examined, Taher said. "As scientific analysis is available, we may have to take up other specimens of bone relics for analysis."

The Georgian team comprises Fr R Georgi, dean of St Kethevan church in Tibilisi, capital of Georgia, and a team of archaeologists and media persons. Concluded Taher, "The Georgians are coming to Goa as they have an emotional tie with the events related to their patron saint and St Augustine's complex is significant to them."

****************************************

So the question remains - are these relics of Queen Ketevan? There are conflicting accounts of what happened to Ketevan's body after she was killed, in addition to the account given in the article above.

• According to this account: Some French Roman Catholic missionaries were present at the place of St. Ketevans's execution. They placed her body in linen cloth saturated with incense and spices, took it with them to Rome, where the holy relics rest to this day in St. Peter's Cathedral. Later they sent her head and an arm of the martyr to her son, King Teimuraz, who buried the holy relics in the Alaverdi Temple of St. George.
• This account from Wikipedia provides the interesting information that Ketevan exercised power as Queen Regent, evidently for a number of years, on behalf of her young son, before surrendering herself as a hostage to the Shah to ensure her son's good behavior. Upon her death: Portions of her relics were clandestinely taken by the St. Augustine Portuguese Catholic missioners, eyewitnesses of her martyrdom, to Georgia where they were interred at the Alaverdi Cathedral.[1] The rest of her remains are reported to have been buried at the St. Augustine Church in Goa, India. Several expeditions from Georgia have arrived in Goa, and searched in vain for the exact location of her grave.[2][3]

You can read similar accounts that vary details of the events leading up to her death by doing a google search "Queen Ketevan of Georgia."

Mother Complex

There is no such thing as coincidence... While I was getting ready to do more posting tonight on the topic of MA, I thought I'd check the archaeological news first. What appeared first in my screen was this article from Haaretz entitled "Mother Complex": Tue., April 07, 2009 Nisan 13, 5769 By Ran Shapira The Egyptian researchers who, in early January, entered the burial room in the latest pyramid to be discovered in Saqqara, south of Cairo, labored for five hours before they could lift the lid of the sarcophagus within. Inside was a mummy wrapped in a flax shroud. In addition to pottery shards, gold wrappings were also found in the sarcophagus, which apparently were used to cover the fingers of the mummified body. Although no inscriptions were found in the tomb, the researchers assume, with a high level of probability, that it contains the body of the mother of the founder of the Egyptian Sixth Dynasty: Pharaoh Teti. The pyramid in which the queen, Sesheshet, was buried, was discovered in November 2008 - it is the 118th found in Egypt. Its discovery in Teti's burial compound surprised the researchers to some extent, since the site had been thoroughly combed through over the past 150 years. In addition to the pyramid where the king himself was buried, two "satellite pyramids" were found, the tombs of his two principal wives: The one belonging to Iput I was discovered about 100 years ago; the second, of Khuit, was discovered in 1994. Information about the queen herself is very meager. In a papyrus document that includes medical prescriptions, her name is mentioned alongside a request for a preparation that was supposed to strengthen thin hair. Nevertheless, it is possible that the "pharmacists" used her name to lend a bit of prestige to the prescription, and did not necessarily prepare it for her. Another inscription mentions her as being the mother of the king, and in several reliefs of the same area the name "Sesheshet" appears. However, these do not contribute substantial information about the king's mother. Scholars believe she played a very important role in her son's ascent to the throne, thanks, among other things, to her success in mediating between two rival factions within the royal family. Dr. Deborah Sweeney, an expert on ancient Egypt from the archaeology department of Tel Aviv University, says researchers assume that Sesheshet belonged to the close circle of the last king of the Fifth Dynasty, Unas. He had no sons to inherit the throne and Teti may have been his grandson. Since it is not known when she died, researchers can only guess that the pharaoh's mother was alive during almost 20 years of his reign, which extended from 2323 to 2291 B.C.E. "Queens were identified with the goddesses that accompany the sun god, protect him and give him strength," Sweeney explains. "The king needed a queen at his side. There were periods when the queens played a political role, but that was an exception. There was a need for that, for example, when a king ascended to the throne as a child. Usually in those cases there was a queen mother, who took charge of governing until her son grew up." Dr. Rachel Shlomi-Chen, of Hebrew University's department of Ancient Near Eastern history, says Manetho, a Greek historian from the 3rd century B.C.E., wrote about a conspiracy in Teti's court. Furthermore, archaeologists excavating the cemetery near Teti's pyramid in Saqqara have found evidence that may point to a plot: The inscriptions on the tombs of high-ranking officials in the court were damaged, in what does not seem to be a random way, scholars claim: It may have been deliberately done to the tombs of officials belonging to the conspiracy. The queen mother may have helped Teti in his struggle against the conspirators, but in any case, according to Manetho, he was murdered by his bodyguards not long after she died. His dynasty, the Sixth, ruled Egypt until 2184 B.C.E., almost 1,000 years before the period of Rameses II, the king during whose reign the Exodus from Egypt took place. Egyptian scholars, headed by Dr. Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the country's Supreme Council of Antiquities, stress that Sesheshet's pyramid is more impressive in terms of its dimensions than the structures usually built by ancient Egyptian rulers for their wives and mothers. Discovered beneath seven meters of sand, this pyramid in its prime was 14 meters high and the width of its square base was 22 meters. There is no question that Teti wanted to express respect for his mother by building the structure, but this in itself was not so unusual, Shlomi-Chen emphasizes: In ancient Egypt, the royal family also played an important religious role, and its members were considered to be the earthly incarnations of gods. The pharaoh was identified with Horus, god of the sky and the sun. The queen was both the spouse of the most important god and the mother of the god-king who was to succeed him. She was also identified with the goddess Hathor, the mother of Horus and the wife of the sun god, Ra. One of Hathor's symbols was a noisemaker, which is called sistrum in Greek and sesheshet in Egyptian. A step up The transition between the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties was accompanied by significant changes in religion and ritual. Dr. Sweeney explains that the kings of the Fifth Dynasty built their pyramids at Abu Sir rather than Saqqara. Alongside their pyramids, in addition to pyramids for their wives and mothers, they also built a sun temple, symbolizing their belief in Ra. During the Fifth Dynasty, the cult of Ra constituted the state religion, but there were changes during the reign of the last two kings in the dynasty: Alongside the pyramids of Unas and his predecessor, there were no sun temples, nor were there any in the burial compound of Teti and his family. "It is possible that Teti and Unas built huge temples in the capital city of Memphis, but nothing remains of them," Sweeney suggests. Unas also built his pyramid in Saqqara, which shows that after living elsewhere, he returned to the ancient burial site where the most famous type of step pyramid, that of Djoser, was constructed. Another innovation relating to Unas' pyramid, according to Shlomi-Chen, is the fact that the walls bear inscriptions - spells designed to accompany the king in the Land of the Dead. In the inscriptions, Unas is identified for the first time with Osiris, king of the Land of the Dead, and not only with the sun god. The Osiris cult, which came to symbolize the resurrection of the dead and was identified with the cycles of nature, had been started two generations earlier by the nobility. Teti ascended the throne on the backdrop of profound changes in Egyptian religion and culture, and became part of them. Further research into his mother's tomb will likely shed more light on him and on the events of that period of antiquity.

Further Explorations of the Word MA

We've touched upon the meaning of the word in prior posts regarding Mary, Ma, Mari, etc. [compare Mera, Meri, Ta-Mera, etc.] Tonight we're going to explore further. Here is what Barbara Walker "The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets" has to say under the entry "Ma:" Basic mother-syllable of Indo-European languages, worshipped in itself as the fundamental name of the goddess. the universality of the mother-wird (not shared by words for "father") indicates either that the human race carried the same word from its earliest source [Merritt Ruhlen's theory that all language can be traced back to one "mother" tongue] to all parts of the earth at a period previous to the discovery of fatherhood; or else that all human beings instinctively say something like "ma" as the first verbal sound and associate it with the mother's breast, consequently with emotional dependence on a divinity perceived as a milk-giving mother - notwithstanding the absurd reference of Moses to a "nursing father" carrying the sucking child in his bosom (Numbers 11:12). "Ma-Ma" means "mother's breasts" in nearly all languages.(1) "All around the world, from Russia to Samoa, and in the ancient languages of Egypt, Babylon, India, and the Americas, the word for 'mother' is mama or some minor variation of this word."(2) In ancient Anatolia the Mother was Ma-Bellona; in Sumer and Akkad the Great Goddess was often called Mama, Mami, Mammitu, etc. In Central and South America the Goddess had such names as Mama Cocha, Mama Quilla, Mama Cuna.(3) In the Far East, the maternal blood bond that joined members of the matrilineal clan was mamata, "mine-ness."(4) Its sacred letter Ma, in pictographic form as the Spark of Life (bindu or vindu), was said to be "in the Great Yoni."(5) This scripture referred to a mystic essence uinting all the souls in a matrilineal kinship group. Ma or mamata expressed the idea that descendants of the same mother shared the same blood and couldn't injure one another without injuring themselves; therefore the concept of the maternal clan was a practical instrument of peace. In Indo-European root languages, Ma was often defined as "intelligence," the maternal force that bound elements together to create forms at the beignning of the world.(6) ancient Egypt gave this maternal force such names as Ma-Nu, Maa, or Maat, the Great Goddess of the All-Seeing Eye and the spirit of Truth.(7) The primitive Iranian Moon-Goddess Mah (or Al-Mah, the Moon) was another form of the same deity. Arabs called her Qis-Mah, "Fate," which the Turks corrupted into kismet. She gave birth to a series of Messiahs, each one called the Mahdi, one guided or given by Mother Mah. Persians made her name a sacred Word, formed of the letters Mourdad-Ameretat, "Death-Rebirth."(8) The ideogram MA was said to mean a state of immortality brought about by drinking the milk of the Goddess's breast, which brings one back to the original Ma-Ma. In Hebrew the same sacred letters MA made the Mem-Aleph, combining ideographs of "fluid" and "birth." This holy sign was credited with great productive power, and was written on Jewish amulets dating from the early 9th century B.C.(9) It could have been comped from either the Persians or the Egyptians, whose Mother Isis wore an "Amulet of Ma," a vase representing her own fountains of nourishing fluid.(1) Or again, as Ma-Nu, the Primal Deep, she was symbolized by three caldrons.(11) Even today the Tantric Goddess as a personification of "fertilizing water" is named Mamaki.(12) [Is there where the biblical references to "Waters of Life" spring from???] In Egyptian myth, a reversal of the Ma-Ma of nourishing breasts produced the female Devourer in the underworld: Am-Am, eater of souls. In the cyclic fashion of the elder religions, the giver was transformed into the taker.(13) Ma, the Great Goddess of Comana, was "worshipped by a whole people of hierodules in the ravines of the Taurus and along the banks of the Iris. Like Cybele she was an ancient Anatolian divinity and personified fertile nature."(14) She was taken to Rome where she merged with the war goddess Bellona, who personified fighting spirit as indomitable as that of a mother defending her young. Today the divine implications of the syllable Ma are recognized only in obscure semi-magical cults like voodooism, where a priestess embodies the Goddess's spirit and is known as mamaloi or mambo.(15). However, Ma is still a universal synonym for "mother". See Motherhood. Notes: (1) Potter & Sargent, 229. (2) Farb, W.P., 317. (3) Larousse, 443. (4) Bardo Thodol, 219; Campbell, Or.M., 216. (5) Mahanirvanatantra, css. (6) d'Alviella, 240. (7) Budge, E.L., 55. (8) Larousse, 311, 317. (9) Albright, 198. (10) Elworthy, 125. (11) Book of the Dead, 205. (12) Tatz & Kent, 164. (13) Budge, E.M., 171. (14) Cumont, O.R.R.P., 54. (15) Martello, 160. More tomorrow night.

Iranian Women's Chess Championship

Pictorial report up to Round 7 at Chessbase. Final report at Chessdom - 13 rounds: 1 WGM Pourkashiyan Atousa 2272 11 2 WFM Khademalsharieh Sarasadat 1811 9.5 (won a gold medal at the Asian Youth Championships) 3 WIM Ghader Pour Shayesteh 2137 9.5 4 WFM Hakimifard Ghazal 2071 8.5 5 WFM Bayat Shohreh 1976 8 6 WFM Mahini Salman Mona 2088 7 7 Tajik Sareh 2018 7 8 Rahimi Tara 1876 6 9 Vakilpour Azin 1817 6 10 Zavar Mousavi Mehenoush 1879 6 (started playing again after a 3-year lay-off) 11 Hammatizadeh N 1880 5 12 Alavi Homa 1904 4.5 13 Mahboobi Shiva 1744 3 14 WGM Paridar Shadi 2250 0 (forfeited after dropping out of tournament - she won her first five games, drew her 6th game and dropped out)

Key to Kaaba May Be Fake

Interesting - even the experts at Sotheby's can be fooled... From The New York Times Sotheby’s Revokes Sale of an Islamic Artifact Compiled by DAVE ITZKOFF Published: April 3, 2009 Sotheby’s has canceled the sale of an artifact believed to be a valuable Muslim relic after questions were raised about its authenticity, Reuters reported. In April 2008 Sotheby’s sold at auction in London a key believed to have been made in the 12th century and used to unlock the holy Kaaba, a sacred Islamic shrine in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. At that time the item sold for nearly $13.5 million, more than 18 times its presale estimate. The Art Newspaper said that the key was brought to the British Museum about two weeks after the sale, where experts raised “serious doubts” about its age. In a statement, Sotheby’s said, “In light of the divergence of academic views, Sotheby’s and the consignor decided to cancel the sale in May 2008, pending further research and scientific analysis,” according to Reuters. The key has been returned to its original owner.

The Tel That Keeps on Giving: Beth-Shemesh

From Phyorg.com Was a 'mistress of the lionesses' a king in ancient Canaan? April 6th, 2009 Image: This is an illustration of the plaque found by Tel Aviv University researchers at Tel Beit Shemesh in 2008. Credit: AFTAU The legend is that the great rulers of Canaan, the ancient land of Israel, were all men. But a recent dig by Tel Aviv University archaeologists at Tel Beth-Shemesh uncovered possible evidence of a mysterious female ruler. Tel Aviv University archaeologists Prof. Shlomo Bunimovitz and Dr. Zvi Lederman of the Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations have uncovered an unusual ceramic plaque of a goddess in female dress, suggesting that a mighty female "king" may have ruled the city. If true, they say, the plaque would depict the only known female ruler of the region. The plaque itself depicts a figure dressed as royal male figures and deities once appeared in Egyptian and Canaanite art. The figure's hairstyle, though, is womanly and its bent arms are holding lotus flowers - attributes given to women. This plaque, art historians suggest, may be an artistic representation of the "Mistress of the Lionesses," a female Canaanite ruler who was known to have sent distress letters to the Pharaoh in Egypt reporting unrest and destruction in her kingdom. "We took this finding to an art historian who confirmed our hypothesis that the figure was a female," says Dr. Lederman. "Obviously something very different was happening in this city. We may have found the 'Mistress of the Lionesses' who'd been sending letters from Canaan to Egypt. The destruction we uncovered at the site last summer, along with the plaque, may just be the key to the puzzle." A Lady Ruler in Pre-Exodus Canaan Around 1350 BCE, there was unrest in the region. Canaanite kings conveyed their fears via clay tablet letters to the Pharaoh in Egypt, requesting military help. But among all the correspondence by kings were two rare letters that stuck out among the 382 el Amarna tablets uncovered a few decades ago by Egyptian farmers. The two letters came from a "Mistress of the Lionesses" in Canaan. She wrote that bands of rough people and rebels had entered the region, and that her city might not be safe. Because the el-Amarna tablets were found in Egypt rather than Canaan, historians have tried to trace the origin of the tablets. "The big question became, 'What city did she rule?'" Dr. Lederman and Prof. Bunimovitz say. The archaeologists believe that she ruled as king (rather than "queen," which at the time described the wife of a male king) over a city of about 1,500 residents. A few years ago, Tel Aviv University's Prof. Nadav Naaman suggested that she might have ruled the city of Beth Shemesh. But there has been no proof until now. "The city had been violently destroyed, in a way we rarely see in archaeology," says Prof. Bunimovitz, who points to many exotic finds buried under the destruction, including an Egyptian royal seal, bronze arrowheads and complete large storage vessels. They suggest a large and important city-state, well enmeshed within East Mediterranean geo-political and economic networks. Time for a New Interpretation of Biblical History? Tel Aviv University archaeologists say that the new finds might turn the interpretation of pre-biblical history on its head. The people of the time were pagans who had a very elaborate religious system. "It was a very well-to-do city," says Lederman. "Strangely, such extensive destruction, like what we found in our most recent dig, is a great joy for archaeologists because people would not have had time to take their belongings. They left everything in their houses. The site is loaded with finds," he says, adding that the expensive items found in the recent level points to it as one the most important inland Canaanite cities. The discovery of the plaque, and the evidence of destruction recorded in the el-Amarna tablets, could confirm that the woman depicted in the figurine was the mysterious "Mistress of the Lionesses" and ruled Canaanite Beth Shemesh. "There is no evidence of other females ruling a major city in this capacity," Lederman and Bunimovitz say. "She is the only one. We really hope to find out more about her this summer." Source: Tel Aviv University (news : web) Compare this seal depicting the goddess Astarte.

Theft of Boys in China

From The New York Times Chinese Hunger for Sons Fuels Boys’ Abductions By ANDREW JACOBS Published: April 4, 2009 SHENZHEN, China — The thieves often strike at dusk, when children are playing outside and their parents are distracted by exhaustion. Deng Huidong lost her 9-month-old son in the blink of an eye as a man yanked him from the grip of his 7-year-old sister near the doorway of their home. The car did not even stop as a pair of arms reached out the window and grabbed the boy. Sun Zuo, a gregarious 3 1/2-year-old, was lured off by someone with a slice of mango and a toy car, an abduction that was captured by police surveillance cameras. Peng Gaofeng was busy with customers when a man snatched his 4-year-old son from the plaza in front of his shop as throngs of factory workers enjoyed a spring evening. “I turned away for a minute, and when I called out for him he was gone,” Mr. Peng said. These and thousands of other children stolen from the teeming industrial hubs of China’s Pearl River Delta have never been recovered by their parents or by the police. But anecdotal evidence suggests the children do not travel far. Although some are sold to buyers in Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam, most of the boys are purchased domestically by families desperate for a male heir, parents of abducted children and some law enforcement officials who have investigated the matter say. The demand is especially strong in rural areas of south China, where a tradition of favoring boys over girls and the country’s strict family planning policies have turned the sale of stolen children into a thriving business. Su Qingcai, a tea farmer from the mountainous coast of Fujian Province, explained why he spent $3,500 last year on a 5-year-old boy. “A girl is just not as good as a son,” said Mr. Su, 38, who has a 14-year-old daughter but whose biological son died at 3 months. “It doesn’t matter how much money you have. If you don’t have a son, you are not as good as other people who have one.” The centuries-old tradition of cherishing boys — and a custom that dictates that a married woman moves in with her husband’s family — is reinforced by a modern reality: Without a real social safety net in China, many parents fear they will be left to fend for themselves in old age. The extent of the problem is a matter of dispute. The Chinese government insists there are fewer than 2,500 cases of human trafficking each year, a figure that includes both women and children. But advocates for abducted children say there may be hundreds of thousands. Sun Haiyang, whose son disappeared in 2007, has collected a list of 2,000 children in and around Shenzhen who have disappeared in the past two years. He said none of the children in his database had been recovered. “It’s like fishing a needle out of the sea,” he said. Mr. Peng, who started an ad hoc group for parents of stolen children, said some of the girls were sold to orphanages. They are the lucky ones who often end up in the United States or Europe after adoptive parents pay fees to orphanages that average $5,000. The unlucky ones, especially older children, who are not in demand by families, can end up as prostitutes or indentured laborers. Some of the children begging or hawking flowers in major Chinese cities are in the employ of criminal gangs that abducted them. “I don’t even want to talk about what happens to these children,” Mr. Peng said, choking up. Police Indifference Here in Shenzhen and the constellation of manufacturing towns packed with migrant workers, desperate families say they get almost no help from the local police. In case after case, they said, the police insisted on waiting 24 hours before taking action, and then claimed that too much time had passed to mount an effective investigation. Several parents, through their own guile and persistence, have tracked down surveillance video images that clearly show the kidnappings in progress. Yet even that can fail to move the police, they say. “They told me a face isn’t enough, that they need a name,” said Cai Xinqian, who obtained tape from a store camera that showed a woman leading his 4-year-old away. “If I had a name, I could find him myself.” Rest of story.

Lost in Translation...

From the Guardian.co.uk: Charlotte Higgins "On Culture" blog The oddest classical etymologies ever? Saturday 4 April 2009 In Glasgow, at the joint conference of the Classical Association/Classical Association of Scotland, the Guardian's rather timely leader in praise of Cicero (in this morning's paper) has not gone unnoticed. I ran into Professor Mary Beard during the conference coffee break – who last night was bigging up Cicero as antiquity's greatest wit. She noted archly that Cicero was, in her view, rather an unpleasant man. A great man, but a thoroughly nasty one. I suspect we can expect Beard to air her views more fully on her brilliant blog. Anyway, over at Comment is Free (the bit of our network where leaders live), there's a bit of Ciceronian discussion underway already. And, if it's not too much of a personal plug (OK, it probably is) – I'm on the BBC2 programme we mention (Yes We Can: The Lost Art of Oratory). The show is worth watching – and not because of me! There are some great contributors, including Bill Clinton and Gore Vidal. Finally, if you are suddenly feeling desperate to learn or brush up your Latin, here is a useful page of links and resources, hosted by the brilliant Iris Project, a charity that aims to get Latin teaching into state schools. It's nice and short, so I reproduce the full text of the leader here (rest of article).

The Scent of a Woman

Public release date: 15-Mar-2009 Contact: Michael Höveler-Müller aegyptisches-museum@uni-bonn.de 49-228-739-710 University of Bonn What scents did the ancient Egyptians use? Researchers in Bonn aim to recreate a 3,500-year-old scent This release is available in German. Pharaoh Hatshepsut was a power-conscious woman who assumed the reins of government in Egypt around the year 1479 B.C. In actual fact, she was only supposed to represent her step-son Thutmose III, who was three years old at the time, until he was old enough to take over. But the interregnum lasted 20 years. "She systematically kept Thutmose out of power", says Michael Höveler-Müller, the curator of Bonn University´s Egyptian Museum. Hatshepsut´s perfume is also presumably a demonstration of her power. "We think it probable that one constituent was incense – the scent of the gods", Michael Höveler-Müller declares. This idea is not so wide of the mark, as it is a known fact that in the course of her regency Haptshepsut undertook an expedition to Punt – the modern Eritrea, and the Egyptians had been importing precious goods such as ebony, ivory, gold, and just this incense, from there since the third millennium B.C. Apparently the expedition brought back whole incense plants, which Hatshepsut then had planted in the vicinity of her funerary temple. World Premier with an interesting Result The filigree flacon now under examination by the researchers in Bonn bears an inscription with the name of the Pharaoh. Hence it was probably once in her possession. The vessel is exceptionally well preserved. "So we considered it might be rewarding to have it screened in the University Clinic´s Radiology Department", Höveler-Müller explains. "As far as I know this has never been done before". This world premier will now in all probability be followed by another one: "The desiccated residues of a fluid can be clearly discerned in the x-ray photographs", the museum´s curator explains. "Our pharmacologists are now going to analyse this sediment". The results could be available in a good year´s time. If they are successful, the scientists in Bonn are even hoping to "reconstruct" the perfume so that, 3,500 years after the death of the woman amongst whose possessions it was found, the scent could then be revitalised. Hatshepsut died in 1457 B.C. Analysis of the mummy ascribed to her showed that the ruler was apparently between 45 and 60 years of age at the end of her life; that she was also overweight, and suffering from diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis and arthritis. Obviously for reasons of security, she was laid to rest in the tomb of her wet nurse. In 1903, over 3,300 years later, the famous Egyptologist Howard Carter stumbled upon the two mummies. However, more than 100 years were to pass before the Pharaoh´s corpse could be identified using DNA and dental analysis in the year 2007. Thutmose III, incidentally, appears not to have shed a single tear for his step-mother, as during his reign he had every image destroyed which showed her as ruler, and which could have belonged to her. ******************************************************************** Ancient Egypt seems to have had a god or goddess for just about everything, and sure enough, there was a god of scent - Nefertem (image, right, from Tour Egypt). To our modern sensibilities this seems a bit unusual, as we usually associate perfumes and colognes with the ladies. However, in many ancient and not so ancient cultures, both sexes wore scent to enhance their attractiveness, and perhaps to also mask much more unpleasant aromas (emanating both from the person and from the environment). In western societies today, men wear "after-shave" - which is just another word for cologne. Who among us has NOT heard of "Old Spice," etc. LOL! In ancient Egypt scent was used not only to enhance one's personal attractiveness, it was also used in a holistic manner to encourage health and emotional well-being. In that sense (pun!), the ancient Egyptians were way ahead of the aromatherapy of today! Nefertem was both an aspect of and, in some mythologies, a grandson of the Great Sun God, Re. He is very ancient, part of the Memphis triad, father: Ptah and mother: Sekhmet (opinions vary), although not well known, perhaps due to the prejudices of 19th century archaeologists who though that "scent" was an unimportant subject (and, as they were mostly men, were perhaps embarrassed that a male god was associated with so "feminine" a subject!) Nefertem is closely associated with the beautiful lotus. Interestingly, the lotus is also important in ancient Indian and Chinese symbolism. Whether this is a case of ancient cross-cultural contact or "simultaneous" (independent) development, I leave our readers to ponder. For further information on Nefertem, please see:

• From the always excellent Tour Egypt, "Beauty Secrets of Ancient Egypt" by Judith Illes
• From Encyclopedia Brittanica Online: In ancient Egyptian religion, youthful god associated with the lotus flower. Nefertem was an ancient god, mentioned in the Pyramid Texts (c. 2350 bce), but he became more prominent during the New Kingdom (1539–c. 1075 bce) and later. As a blue lotus he was believed to have emerged from the primeval waters. He also had a warlike aspect and could be depicted as a lion. He was most commonly represented holding a scimitar with a falcon’s head and wearing a headdress of a lotus with a menat (ritual necklace counterpoise) on each side and a pair of plumes above. As the son of Ptah and Sekhmet, he formed part of the Memphite triad.
• Nefertem, God of Perfume, Water Lily of the Sun...by Caroline Seawright (Seawright does excellent research and has written many articles for Tour Egypt and other ancient-Egypt related websites)
• From Ntlrworld, an intriguing word and image essay on the "evolution", if you will, of Nefertem. Who among us doesn't love a mystery? Certainly provides material for further research...

Tut Statue Found in Kurdistan Is Fake

Here is my prior post on the subject. Article at kurdishaspect.com March 14, 2009 Kurdistan’s Tut Ank Amun faked Kurdsat Kurdistan archeologists union on Thursday announced that the statute of Tut Ank Amun recently found in the city of Duhok was faked. Last month, sources from Kurdistan’s Duhok city declared that a statute of Tut Ank Amun, the well known pharaoh of Egypt, was found and raised speculations about possible historical relations between the ancient Egyptians and the authorities in Kurdistan thousands of years ago. Historians said that finding the statute could be only interpreted as a sign of two possibilities, either the possibility of having diplomatic relations between the Egyptians and Kurds or that of Kurdistan’s invasion by the Pharaohs. However, time and investigations proved the interpretations incorrect. Speaking in a press conference, Dilshad Aziz, expert in the science of archeology and head of the union said the statute was faked, as the investigations came to the conclusions that the substance from which the statute made does not match with those found in Egypt. He said that kind of statute was currently made in Egypt and Kurdistan either, adding that the owner of the neo -Tut Ank Amun could have hidden it for purposes of misleading people of doing something else. ********************************************************************** I wonder if this is the last we'll hear of this story... What if the statue is genuine but was carved out of local materials elsewhere and imported into Kurdistan?