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Egyptologists uncover rare tombs from before the Pharaohs

reuters.com

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Re: Egyptologists uncover rare tombs from before the Pharaohs

#11

Post by ncmncm »

What is most amazing about that period is the thousands of carved stone bowls and jars, made from materials up to and including corundum–hard as ruby–machined with a precision that is wholly unaccountable, and all made before the pyramids.

The interiors of these vessels show machining marks incompatible with the tools they are imagined to have been made with. It will be very interesting when Zawi Hawass retires and, eventually, somebody figures out how they really were fabricated, and (moreso) why the method was lost.

Re: Egyptologists uncover rare tombs from before the Pharaohs

#12

Post by sintaxi »

ncmncm wrote: post #11

What is most amazing about that period is the thousands of carved stone bowls and jars, made from materials up to and including corundum–hard as ruby–machined with a precision that is wholly unaccountable, and all made before the pyramids. The interiors of these vessels show machining marks incompatible with the tools they are imagined to have been made with. It will be very interesting when Zawi Hawass retires and,…

When Zawi Hawass retires virtually every existing Egyptology book will worth less than the paper it is printed on.

Re: Egyptologists uncover rare tombs from before the Pharaohs

#13

Post by throwaway17_17 »

sintaxi wrote: post #12
ncmncm wrote: post #11

What is most amazing about that period is the thousands of carved stone bowls and jars, made from materials up to and including corundum–hard as ruby–machined with a precision that is wholly unaccountable, and all made before the pyramids. The interiors of these vessels show machining marks incompatible with the tools they are imagined to have been made with. It will be very interesting when Zawi Hawass retires and,…

When Zawi Hawass retires virtually every existing Egyptology book will worth less than the paper it is printed on.

For someone who is unaware of Zawi Hawass and pretty uninformed about any serious Egyptology, can you explain what you mean. It seems a very interest topic for some medium reading while I wait in court tomorrow.

Re: Egyptologists uncover rare tombs from before the Pharaohs

#14

Post by cheriot »

intergalplan wrote: post #3
ClosedPistachio wrote: post #2

>The tombs include 68 from the Buto period that began around 3300 B.C. and five from the Naqada III period, which was just before the emergence of Egypt's first dynasty around 3100 B.C., according to a statement from the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. This is incredible. When you zoom out of your daily life, zoom out before smartphones, before electricity, before most modern countries exist... there were other…

Also, a bunch of stuff that seems super-old actually isn't. There were still lions in the Caucusus until the 10th century... CE, not BCE. A thousand years earlier they lived in Thrace, too. There were still some wooly mammoths alive when the Great Pyramids were being built. Similarly, living history can sometimes reach closer to the modern day than one might appreciate. There were (probably—some of the stories lack d…

I really good one I heard: Harriet Tubman was born into slavery when Thomas Jefferson was alive and died when Ronald Reagan was alive. The American experiment is still young.

Re: Egyptologists uncover rare tombs from before the Pharaohs

#15

Post by thaumasiotes »

ncmncm wrote: post #11

What is most amazing about that period is the thousands of carved stone bowls and jars, made from materials up to and including corundum–hard as ruby–machined with a precision that is wholly unaccountable, and all made before the pyramids. The interiors of these vessels show machining marks incompatible with the tools they are imagined to have been made with. It will be very interesting when Zawi Hawass retires and,…

> materials up to and including corundum–hard as ruby

Corundum isn't just "hard as ruby", they are the same material.

Re: Egyptologists uncover rare tombs from before the Pharaohs

#16

Post by thaumasiotes »

Oh, the title is underselling this. Pre-first-dynasty is a big deal.

(As I understand it, the title of Pharaoh originates in the 18th dynasty almost two thousand years later, when Hatshepsut became ruler and it was difficult to call her "king".)

Re: Egyptologists uncover rare tombs from before the Pharaohs

#17

Post by alpha_squared »

gentleman11 wrote: post #9

Article just auto closes for me and takes me to a list of articles. Is there an alternative link?

Same, I resorted to disabling Javascript for misbehaving websites and it seems to render the content fine after that in this case.

Re: Egyptologists uncover rare tombs from before the Pharaohs

#18

Post by wl »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #16

Oh, the title is underselling this. Pre-first-dynasty is a big deal. (As I understand it, the title of Pharaoh originates in the 18th dynasty almost two thousand years later, when Hatshepsut became ruler and it was difficult to call her "king".)

Predynastic pit burials aren't some new discovery. They have a long history of being looted to supply the grave goods to the antiquities market. You can even see pit burials in museums, often reconstructed a century ago from purchased items.

Also the traditional title for rulers of Egypt, 𓆥 (ny-sw.t bity—ruler of upper and lower Egypt, literally: (s)he of the sedge, (s)he of the bee), applies to females just as well as it does males.

Re: Egyptologists uncover rare tombs from before the Pharaohs

#19

Post by davewashere »

intergalplan wrote: post #3
ClosedPistachio wrote: post #2

>The tombs include 68 from the Buto period that began around 3300 B.C. and five from the Naqada III period, which was just before the emergence of Egypt's first dynasty around 3100 B.C., according to a statement from the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. This is incredible. When you zoom out of your daily life, zoom out before smartphones, before electricity, before most modern countries exist... there were other…

Also, a bunch of stuff that seems super-old actually isn't. There were still lions in the Caucusus until the 10th century... CE, not BCE. A thousand years earlier they lived in Thrace, too. There were still some wooly mammoths alive when the Great Pyramids were being built. Similarly, living history can sometimes reach closer to the modern day than one might appreciate. There were (probably—some of the stories lack d…

Wyatt Earp was alive to see himself portrayed in the film Wild Bill Hickok, and he was best friends with the actor who played Hickok.

Re: Egyptologists uncover rare tombs from before the Pharaohs

#20

Post by ncmncm »

throwaway17_17 wrote: post #13
sintaxi wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When Zawi Hawass retires virtually every existing Egyptology book will worth less than the paper it is printed on.

For someone who is unaware of Zawi Hawass and pretty uninformed about any serious Egyptology, can you explain what you mean. It seems a very interest topic for some medium reading while I wait in court tomorrow.

Zawi Hawass is like your over-zealous Wikipedia editor. He controls access to Egyptian antiquities. He has one story, and won't tolerate confusion. Everyone working has to be careful not to publish anything that might motivate him to exclude them.

Not so different, really, from a lot of professors and Wikipedia editors, but with the power of the State behind his opinions.

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