Saturday, October 31, 2009

Halloween--Egyptian style

From colleague Andrea Byrnes' Egyptology News blog ...

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Courier Press

The Evansville Museum will throw a Halloween welcome party Saturday for its newest guest, a 2,000-year-old baby mummy.

A family public opening for the new show, "The Child Mummy," will run from noon to 2 p.m. in the museum, where the exhibition will remain through Nov. 29.

The display features the mummified remains of an Egyptian child who scientists believe was 7 to 8 months old when he died. They estimate he lived sometime between 40 B.C. and 130 A.D., and likely was the son of a wealthy or at least upper-middle-class family that could afford the expense of mummification. Courtesy of St. Louis Science Center Scientists used computerized tomography to determine the age of the mummified Egyptian child on loan to the Evansville Museum.

Courtesy of St. Louis Science Center Scientists used computerized tomography to determine the age of the mummified Egyptian child on loan to the Evansville Museum.

The exhibition, on loan from the St. Louis Science Center, includes a video presentation and hands-on, touch-interactive components with more information.

Archaeology Magazine

A right old mix of stories about the more lurid archeaological discoveries from around the planet, including the story "Zombie Attack at Hierakonpolis". All great fun.

Cincinnati.com

In October, days shorten and cold wind begins to howl through the trees of Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park and Museum near Hamilton. As leaves fall, the park remains a beacon of natural beauty and man-made artistic splendor. Nonetheless, staff and visitors have noticed an increase in mysterious occurrences on the property. There can be only one explanation: the Mummy’s curse. . . .

Some staff members have spotted an unidentified creature near the ruins of an old stone house on the property. “Never be the last one to leave at night,” says Dave Smith, Manager of Facilities, “it gets so dark you can’t tell what’s moving in the distance.” When asked about this creature, one intrepid 8-year-old paranormal activities expert provided a theory: “It’s the mummy. He lives in the woods during the day and at the old stone house at night. He wants to get back into to his coffin, but the doors are locked.” As Halloween approaches, we cannot say whether the afterlife has been kind to Ankh Takelot.


A pro-curse article which argues that the Tutankhamun curse is alive and kicking and giving him strange feelings at the Tutankhamun exhibtiion.


The curse a result of ancient bacteria?

Firefox News

This article considers the idea that ancient bacteria were responsible for the deaths.


The curse of the pharaohs on Wikipedia

Wikipedia

An overview of the concept of pharaonic curses, with the nice little statistic that of the 58 people who were present when the tomb and sarcophagus were opened, only eight died within a dozen year
s.


For anyone unfamiliar with Hallowe'en there's a good overview on Wikipedia and a look at its Celtic roots on the Archeaology Magazine website.

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