The Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities - Calgary Chapter

Past Lectures

Last Update: 2008 June 29

2008 Lectures

Presentation: Hatshepsut
Speaker: Hend Badawy
Date: June 6, 2008
Hend will discuss the character of Hatshepsut, the composition of the Royal family and the the Royal family at the the time of Hatshepsut. Hend Badawy has worked as an architect in Egypt, Algeria and Canada. She recently moved to Calgary from Montreal. She recieved a Post Graduate Diploma in Egyptian Civiliztion at Helwan Univeristy in Cairo and a guide permit for ancient sites in Egypt.

Presentation: "From human origins to the origins of the Egyptian Civilization: fieldwork in Kharga Oasis, Western Desert of Egypt, in the 2006 7 2008 field seasons."

Date: May 2, 2008
Speaker: Dr. Mary McDonald
Mary is Associate Prof in the Archaeology Dept, U. of Calgary. Her interests lie in the origins of agriculture and developments towards civilization in Egypt and the Near East. She has done fieldwork in Turkey, Iran and Lebanon. Since1979, she has worked in Egypt as a member of the Dakhleh Oasis Project (DOP), and since 2000, with the Kharga Oasis Prehistoric Project (KOPP). In both projects, she has studied the Late Prehistory of the area: from 10,000 to 4000 years ago, or about 9000 to 2200 BC.

Presentation: An Overview of the Egyptian Temples
Date: April 28, 2008
Speaker: John Gee - William (Bill) Gay Associate Research Professor of Egyptology Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship Brigham Young University

Presentation: The Entourages of Ancient Egypt
Speaker: Steven James Larkman
Date: April 4, 2008

Presentation: PseudoEgyptology: Pyramidiots and the ancient Egyptian Air Force

Speaker: Rebecca Bradley

Date: March 7, 2008

Location: Room EA 1031 - Mount Royal College

In her talk, Rebecca will discuss how writers of best selling new age books misrepresent ancient Egypt and it artefacts.

Rebecca Bradley is a Calgary based archaeologist and writer of speculative fiction. She did field work at ancient Meroe. More recently she worked on the Merowe dam salvage campaign at the fourth cataract.

Presentation: Scribes and the Scribal Arts

Speaker: Steven James Larkman

Date: February 1, 2008

Location: Room EA 1031 - Mount Royal College

2007 Lectures

Presentation: A TOUR OF SAQQARA

Lecturer: Julius Szekrenyes

Date: December 7, 2007 - 7:00 p.m.

Location: Room EA 1031 - Mount Royal College

Saqqara is the most attractive and interesting site in Egypt. It began as the cemetery of the capital city, Mennefer (Memphis) in the Old Kingdom, and continued to be used as a cemetery for almost every dynasty for pharaohs, nobility, tradesmen and peasants, a history of almost 3000 years. The presentation will be a slide-show tour of Saqqara, showing many tombs and pyramids.

Julius Szekrenyes is well-known to most members of SSEA Calgary. He has been a member since it first started here and was president for many years. He is a retired pathologist and has given courses on Ancient Egypt for University of Calgary Continuing Education for many years.

Shaw, Ian. 2003. Saqqara (c. 2650 B.C.). Exploring Ancient Egypt. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 49-62.

Baines, John and Jaromir Malek. (1980) Cultural Atlas of Ancient Egypt. Oxford: Andromeda Oxford Limited.

Presentation: "A Very Special Tour in Egypt"

Lecturer: David George

Date: November 2, 2007 - 7:00 p.m.

Time: 7:00 p.m.

Location: Room EA 1031 - Mount Royal College

In 1995 intrepid photographer David George and his wife Lea undertook a very special tour in Egypt. Almost accidentally, we found we had our own guide, and a VIP suite on the newest Nile cruise boat. We mostly ignored the standard tourist itinerary, and saw lesser visited places such as El Kab, the Nobles tombs in Aswan, Meidum, Medinet Habu, and Nefertari's tomb on the 7th day of its reopening to the public. This was our third trip to Egypt together, and this presentation will include many images digitized from slides and negatives to recapture some of our excitement on this very special tour.

Presentation: "To Die in Style; The Cemetery Site of Beni Hasan"

Lecturer: Steven James Larkman

Date: Friday October 5, 2007

Time: 7:00 p.m.

The site of Beni Hasan was a cemetery that contained a large collection of burials.This site has been used to create a picture of life that occurred during the early Middle Kingdom. Providing some of the most important information on the lives of the elite and non-elite members of society lived and died. This presentation will look at the history of the site, the internal chronology of the site and the information that the site gives for the time period that it was in use.

Shaw, Ian. 2003. Beni Hasan (c. 2125-1795 B.C.). Exploring Ancient Egypt. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 117-126.

Baines, John and Jaromir Malek. (1980) Cultural Atlas of Ancient Egypt. Oxford: Andromeda Oxford Limited.

Presentation: “Medinet Habu: its religious and historical significance”

Lecturers: Mssrs. David George, long-time lecturer and member of the SSEA, and Steven Larkman,Vice-President of the Calgary Chapter SSEA

Date: Friday 04 May 2007

Time: 7:00 p.m.

Come join us for a fascinating multi-media, first-hand exploration (by aerial balloon, video and slides)of one of Egypt’s most important and well reconstructed mortuary complexes, that of User-ma‘at-ra Mery-amun (Ramesses III), who reigned between 1184-1153 BC during Dynasty XX of the New Kingdom. Find out how else we believe it was used, who is represented on the regimen of sculptural panel reliefs and why, scenes of provocative imagery, and some of the more controversial historical claims (“did he really do that?”).

Suggested readings:

Betsy Bryan, “Medinet Habu, the Temple of Rameses III” in Kent Weeks, editor, Valley of the Kings (2001, Friedman/Fairfax), pp. 96-109;

Ian Shaw (ed.), The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000, Oxford University Press), chapter 10.

Presentation: "Ancient Egyptian Jewelry"

Speaker: Julius Szekrenyes

Date: Friday, March 2, 2007

Jewelry in Ancient Egypt was worn by all, farmer to pharaoh, for decoration, badge of rank, award, and amuletic protection, and was often buried with the owner for use in the Afterlife. Most of the valuable pieces were recycled back into the economy by tomb-robbers, so it is fortunate that many spectacular finds have been made in modern times, such as the jewels of King Tut.

Jewelry was made from a large variety of materials including gold, lapis lazuli, turquoise, silver, calcite, glazed composite (faience), soapstone, quartz such as carnelian, jasper and sard, and even bone and glass.

This talk will show examples of jewelry from Predynastic times down to near the end of Pharaonic Egypt.

References:

1. Ancient Egyptian Jewelry - Carol Andrews

2. Jewels of the Pharaohs - Cyril Aldred.

Presentation: “The end of Meroë: A review of the literary and archaeological evidence”

Co-Lecturers: Dr. Peter Shinnie, Professor Emeritus, University of Calgary; and Dr. John Robertson, Instructor Emeritus, Mount Royal College

Date: Friday 02 February 2007

Prof. Shinnie recently received the distinguished award of The Order of the Two Niles by the Ambassador of Sudan to Canada, two years after the original award was made to him in the Sudan, in honour of his major contributions to the archaeology of the Sudan, and for establishing the first Department of Antiquities in the country. He is well known to all members of the Calgary Chapter of the SSEA and as a distinguished scholar on northern Africa from ancient times to the Medieval period, having directed excavations and conducted research on cultures from the Sudan to Ghana.

Dr. Robertson is also well known to the Calgary Chapter for his work in the Sudan, and at Meroë as an excavation supervisor and the ceramic specialist.

Join Calgary’s two most distinguished scholars of the Sudan as they co-present the results of their research into the last days of the Meroitic kingdom that Prof. Shinnie brought to life with his major excavation project at Meroë, its capitol, during 1973-1984.

2006 Lectures

Presentation: “Hot Topics on ancient Egypt: New and exciting discoveries at KV 63, and ancient seafaring along Egypt’s Red Sea Coast”

Lecturer: Mr. Steven Larkman, Vice President of the Calgary Chapter SSEA, & Sessional Instructor at Mount Royal College (“Archaeology of the Nile Valley”)

Date: Friday 01 December 2006

Explore two original discoveries, and get the latest word on implications and controversies! The newly discovered western Theban tomb, now known as KV 63, is the first tomb top be discovered in over 80 years, and is just metres away from the Tomb of King Tutankhamun, which previously was the last to receive a number (KV 62). It was explored by Prof. Otto Schaden from Memphis University, USA in February 2006, and yielded some fantastic remains. Dr. Zahi Hawass now proclaims those remains may belong to family members Tut’s family, others think they may belong to members of the royal family of the Amarna period.

The Wadi Gawasis is a branch of the Wadi Hammamat, ending at Mersa Gawasis. This port enabled an overland connection running east of the Coptos bend in the Nile to the Red Sea. Here, archaeologists found two caves this past December in which were found the possible remains of the ship that Queen Hatshepsut (1473-1458 BC), as a pharaoh during Dynasty XVIII of the New Kingdom, sent to Punt.

Suggestions for further reading: Ian Shaw and Paul Nicholson (1995, British Museum Press) British Museum Dictionary of Ancient Egypt, pp.299-300; Professor Otto Schaden’s website http://www.kv-63.com/home.html , and the Theban Mapping Project website http://www.thebanmappingproject.com/

Special Event

Video Presentation: “Queen of Sheba: Behind the Myth” (Atlantic Productions, 2002)

Lecturer: Dr. William D. Glanzman, President, SSEA Calgary Chapter & Instructor in Archaeology, Department of Behavioural Sciences, Mount Royal College

Date: Friday 03 November 2006

By popular demand from our members—What do Gina Lolabrigitta and the desert have in common? Come find out and join Dr. Glanzman as he introduces this video and explores additional historical background on this enigmatic queen who allegedly visited King Solomon! He will also provide clarification on a few points that are “made-for-Hollywood” exaggerations of archaeological and historical data that have crept into popular culture. Suggestions for further reading: Old Testament, I Kings 10 & II Chronicles 9

For background on Southern Arabia, see StJohn Simpson (2002; British Museum Press) Queen of Sheba: Treasures from ancient Yemen.

Presentation: “Geography of the Afterlife”

Lecturer: Mr. Peter Robinson, Master’s in Historical Geography (1988) from Manchester University; Certificate of Egyptology (1997), University of Manchester; Treasurer of the Poynton Egyptology Group, Manchester, UK

Date: Wednesday 01 November 2006

Time: 7:30 p.m.

Venue: The Glenbow Museum, Theatre

Mr. Robinson, a geographer, cartographer and Egyptologist specializing on the Middle Kingdom’s Coffin Texts, will examine ancient Egypt’s coffins, burial customs and rituals from Predynastic times on through Ptolemaic Egypt. Middle Kingdom traditions will form a major focus of the presentation. Mr. Robinson is well known in Egyptology circles, and has published extensively, including a paper on the “Ritual Landscapes of the Afterlife”, and an in press contribution, “Journey through Egyptian Afterlife”. He is currently the Editorial Assistant for the magazine Ancient Egypt.

Please note that Wiliam Glanzman is negotiating the Glenbow entrance fee for SSEA memebers.

Suggestions for further reading:

Ian Shaw and Paul T. Nicholson (ed.), British Museum Dictionary of Ancient Egypt. (1995, Harry N. Abrams), especially “Funerary Beliefs” (pp. 104-106), and “Coffin Texts” (p. 69);
Stephen Quirke, Ancient Egyptian Religion (1992, British Museum Press); John H. Taylor Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt (2001, University of Chicago Press).

Date: Friday 06 October 2006

Lecturer: Dr. William D. Glanzman, President, SSEA Calgary Chapter & Instructor in Archaeology, Department of Behavioural Sciences, Mount Royal College

Presentation: “In Search of Ancient Caravans: the results of the 2006 field season of the Wadi Raghwan Archaeological Project”

Join our Chapter President as he recounts the trials, tribulations and results of the first field season of his new expedition to Yemen. Here are but a few highlights—“turret tombs” of the Bronze Age and later; a cemetery unique in structure and arrangement; ancient stone tools, some of which may be over 1 million years old; irrigation structures that may be older than the Old Marib Dam; connections with the early alphabetic scripts of the Phoenicians, the Sinai and Egypt’s Wadi el-Hol; and “the best discoveries are always made on the last day”!

Suggestions for further reading:

For background on Southern Arabia, see StJohn Simpson (2002; British Museum Press) Queen of Sheba: Treasures from ancient Yemen.

Wikipedia on-line encyclopaedia—“Arabia”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabia

& “Arabia Felix: Ancient History”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabia_Felix

Friday 05 May 2006

Lecturer: Dr. Mary McDonald, Department of Archaeology, University of Calgary

Presentation: " What was going an in Dakhleh Oasis during Egyptian Predynastic and Old Kingdom times? The Sheikh Muftah culture".

The Sheikh Muftah culture in Dakhleh Oasis, Western Desert of Egypt, spanned some 1,500 years until 2200 BC, overlapping with the Predynastic and much of the Old Kingdom in the Nile Valley, Despite its longevity, this culture was far from prosperous. After 5000 BC the Eastern Sahara was drying out, and the Sheikh Muftah people were confined to a shrinking oasis. There they lived as wandering herders, their lives often marked by malnutrition -and hard work. Still, they produced fine chipped stone tools, intriguing pottery and other artefacts. In this talk we will look at some of the major Sheikh Muftah sites explored so far, and what they reveal about these hard-pressed but resilient oasis dwellers.

For further reading, see:

McDonald, M. M. A.; Churcher; C. S., Tbanheiser, U.; Thompson, J.; Teubner, L; and Warfe, A. R., "The MidHolocene Shiekh Muftah Cultural Unit of Dakhleh Oasis, South Central Egypt: a Preliminary Report on Recent Fieldwork". Nyame Akuma 56 (2001) 4-10;
McDonald, M. M. A., "Neolithic Cultural Units and Adaptations in the Dakhleh Oasis", pages 117-132 in C. S. Churcher & A. J. Mills (eds.), Reports of the Survey of Dakhleh Oasis, Western Desert of Egypt, 1977-1987 (1999, Oxford University Press);
Shaw; Ian (ed.), The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000, Oxford University Press), chapters 24;
Spencer, A. J., Early Egypt, the Rise of Civilization in the Nile Valley (1993, University of Oklahoma Press).

Friday 07 April 2006

Lecturer: Nicholas Wernick, MA in Egyptology

Presentation: "Military Campaigns of Dynasty XIX: Conquering the Chaos of the Amarna Period”

From the historical and artistic points of view, the infamous "Amarna Period" begins with the change of the name of Amenhotep IV to Akhenaten (ca. 1348 BC) and extends into the reign of Tutankhaten until he changes his name to Tutankhamun (reign ca. 1336-1327 BC) during his reign. This short-lived period of the New Kingdom greatly eroded Egypt's previous hold on foreign lands in the Levant (Israel, Palestine, Jordan & Syria). This situation represented a massive reversal in the political control that Egypt previously exerted. For the new family line of kings from the eastern Delta established by Rameses I Menpehtyra (reign ca. 1306-1305 or 1295-1294 BC) the founder of Dynasty XIX, it raised the question of how they were to deal with their loss of international status. Nicholas will take us through the propagandistic scenes of military campaigns during Dynasty XIX, and will reveal how the reconquista by the early Ramesside period kings became manifest in the region. He will also compare the archaeological evidence derived from excavations in the Levant to examine whether or not the term "empire" used by various scholars for this dynasty can truly be attributed to Egypt's role abroad.

For Further reading, see:

Amélie Kuhrt, The Ancient Near East c. 3000-330 BC, Volume I (1995, Routledge), chapter 4;
Ian Shaw (ed.), The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000, Oxford University Press), chapter 10.

Friday 03 March 2006

Lecturer: Dr. Valérie Angenot

Presentation: TBA

Dr. Angenot comes to us from Toronto to speak on aspects of her research into Dynasty XVIII tomb paintings. Dr. Angenot's research has focused on the viewing scenes from the New Kingdom tombs.

For further background information on New Kingdom tombs, see: Carl Nicholas Reeves, The complete Valley of the Kings: Tombs and treasurers of Egypt's greatest pharaohs (1996, Thames & Hudson); Ian Shaw (ed.), The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000, Oxford University Press), chapters 9 & 10. John Romer, Valley of the Kings (198 1, Phoenix Press).

Friday 03 February 2006

Lecturer: Steven J. Larkman, M.A. Egyptology, University of Liverpool

Presentation: "I Rule this Egypt.- Great Overlords of the First Intermediate Period and Middle Kingdom "

Steven J. Larkman is the SSEA Calgary Chapter, Vice President, and Sessional lecturer at Mount Royal College. Great Overlords were officials that competed with the Kings for control of Egypt during the First Intermediate Period and early Middle Kingdom. An investigation into these officials provides large amount of information of how they controlled the provinces of Egypt and created the time period.

For further background information on Great Overlords in general about the cultures and time periods, see:

Ian Shaw (ed.), The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000, Oxford University Press), chapters 6 & 7.
Ian Shaw and Paul T. Nicholson (ed.), British Museum Dictionary of Ancient Egypt. (1995, Harry N. Abrams)

Date: Friday 13 January 2006

Lecturer: Prof. David Johnson, Professor of Anthropology at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah

Location: Glenbow Museum

Presentation: "Harpocrates, Bes, and Bastet, Recent Evidence for Egyptian Deities at Petra"

Dr. Johnson, who is Director of Brigham Young University's Archaeological Expedition to Petra, is coming to Calgary a day earlier to present on recent archaeological fieldwork at Petra. For the SSEA he will present on his fabulous recent discovery at Petra. In recent excavations of Nabataean burials and open air shrines at Petra in the Wadi Mataha, a large number of votive offerings with images of the Egyptian protective deities Harpocrates, Bes, Thoth and Bastet have been found carved in stone, painted on pottery and bone, and molded in plaster. This is further significant evidence of the influence of the cult of Isis on Nabataean religion.

For further background information on the cult of Isis in Hellenistic and Roman times, and about some of the other discoveries of religious icons around the ancient city of Petra, see:

Ian Shaw and Paul T. Nicholson, British Museum Dictionary of Ancient Egypt (1995, Harry N. Abrams);
Ian Shaw (ed.), The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000, Oxford University Press), chapters 14 & 15.

For information on Dr. Johnson's presentation to the Glenbow Museum, see: http://www.glenbow.org

2005 Lectures

Date: Friday 04 November 2005
Lecturer: Dr. Julius Szekrenyes, ex-President of the Calgary Chapter of the SSEA
Presentation: “Medicine, Health and Disease in Ancient Egypt”

The ancient Egyptians, dwelling in a harsh semitropical river and desert environment, were subject to a wide range of common and esoteric diseases and injuries. They developed practical and magical means to cope with these problems. The “physician-surgeon” (SNW, pronounced “soonoo”) was skilled in basic medical and surgical techniques, useful and sometimes useless medicines, and a host of spells and incantations to drive out evil influences. Yet, even the spells and incantations were logical in terms of their beliefs in the pharaonic age. Julius will use artwork, ancient papyrus texts and mummies to illustrate the various pathologies depicted in tomb paintings and statues, and to describe maladies and their treatments in the ancient medical texts. Examination of mummies, from early unwrapping efforts to modern forensic studies, will be used to further demonstrate how well adept the SNW of Egypt was, and how accurately we are able to reconstruct this fascinating realm of ancient Egyptian society.

Suggestions for further reading: Andrew H. Gordon (2004; Leiden, Brill) The quick and the dead: biomedical theory in ancient Egypt; John F. Nunn (1996; London, British Museum) Ancient Egyptian Medicine; Cornelius Stetter (1993; Chicago, Edition Q) The secret medicine of the pharaohs: ancient Egyptian healing; Paul Ghaliounghui (1973, 2nd edition; Amsterdam, B. M. Israel) Magical and Medical Science in ancient Egypt; Bruno Halioua and Bernard Ziskind, Medicine in the Days of the Pharaohs; Mao Tse-Tung, Filthy Revisionist Ancient Egyptian Medicine.

Date: Friday 07 October 2005
Lecturer: Dr. William D. Glanzman, President, SSEA Calgary Chapter & Instructor in Archaeology, Department of Behavioural Sciences, Mount Royal College
Presentation: “Where was Alexander the Great buried, in Alexandria, or at the Siwa Oasis?”

One of the great, unsolved historical questions is where Alexander III of Macedon, the legendary “Alexander the Great” (Μέγας Ἀλέξανδρος) was buried following the equally mysterious causes of his death at Babylon in 323 BC. His exploits in Egypt are also well known, but the aftermath and impact they had upon ancient Egyptian society were also of great and lasting importance and directly related to how his body was treated once he died, and where it would reside for all time. He began and had named after him one of the greatest cities of antiquity, Alexandria, and his famous journey into the desert to visit the oracle at Siwa firmly established his prominence and role as legitimate king or “pharaoh” of Egypt. Over the years both sites have been argued as the location for the final resting place of Alexander, yet no trace of his body or his tomb has been found. In 1995 a flurry of media coverage pointed to Siwa, and then the fingers started pointing all around. Dr. Glanzman will explore this mystery, the sources and the debates, and the archaeological possibilities for both sites.

Suggestions for further reading: Wikipedia on-line encyclopaedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great ; Alan K. Bowman (1989; Berkeley, University of California Press) Egypt after the Pharaohs, 332 BC-AD 642; The Globe and Mail (Wednesday 01 February 1995: front page and A2) “Tablets clue to Alexander’s tomb”.

Friday 01 April 2005

Lecturer: Steven J. Larkman, MA in Egyptology, University of Liverpool

Presentation: “Incense and incest: Yuya, Tjuyu and their family in the late Dynasty XVIII”

Steven is well known to many of the SSEA Calgary Chapter Members, and is also the Sessional Instructor for the course on the Archaeology of the Nile valley here at MRC. One of his passions concerns the controversial roles of royal family members during Dynasty XVIII (ca. 1550-1295 BC). In February of 1905 the archaeologist James Edward Quibell, working on behalf of the American entrepreneur Theodore M. Davis, discovered the well equipped tomb (KV 46 in the Valley of the Kings) of the “God’s Father” Yuya (or Yuia) and his wife Tjuyu (or Tuyu/Thuiu), who bore the prestigious title “King’s Mother of the Great Royal Wife”. Yuya also bore the title “Master of the Horse”. Yuya and Tjuyu appear in several documentary sources, especially the commemorative scarabs, of King Amenhotep III Nebmaatra (who reigned ca. 1417-1379, or 1390-1352 BC) as being the parents of his “Chief Queen”, the “Great Royal Wife” Tiye (or Tiy; ca. 1410-1340 BC). She bore Amenhotep III their son Amenhotep IV (reign ca. 1379-1362, or 1352-1336 BC), who in his 5th regnal year changed his name to Akhenaten. In all of their documentation Yuyu and Tjuyu are presented in various ways that suggest this couple carried a great deal of importance on the political landscape of Dynasty XVIII. Steven will explore several pressing questions that the documentation raises, such as their relationship to Amenhotep III, why they were elevated in importance enough to enable Tiye to acquire her titles, why they were permitted the otherwise restricted privilege of being buried among royalty, and what their social and political roles were in their family line that generated so much turmoil around the middle of the 14th century BC, only to become extinguished at the close of Dynasty XVIII.

For additional background on the convoluted social and political ramifications, see:

Ian Shaw and Paul T. Nicholson, British Museum Dictionary of Ancient Egypt (1995, Harry N. Abrams);

Ian Shaw (ed.), The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000, Oxford University Press), chapters 9 & 10;

Eric Cline and David O’Connor (eds.), Amenhotep III: Perspectives on his reign (1998, Ann Arbor, Michigan);

Donald Redford, Akhenaten: The Heretic King (1984, Princeton University Press).

http://www.thebanmappingproject.com/

Friday 04 March 2005

Lecturer: Susan Terendy, M.A. Graduate Student, Department of Archaeology, University of Calgary

Presentation: “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend: Jewelry in the Roman World”

Susan will explore the jewelry depictions in the funerary artwork of two contemporary yet diverse stylistic traditions, that of the Fayum mummy portraits of Roman Egypt, with Palmyrene funerary sculpture, as examples of stylistic influence during the heyday of the Roman Empire. Susan will show how shared jewelry forms and canons of artistic representation, as well as evidence for mummification, illustrate the network of connections between these two disparate regions. She will reveal the importance of examining the archaeological contexts, the chronological distribution and geographic spread of specific artistic styles, and the influence that Imperial Rome exerted upon its provincial holdings in funerary art, to demonstrate the dynamic nature of those connections, and to address issues of gender. These latter include social roles, status and familial descent as indicated by the inscriptions engraved and painted upon specific examples of funerary art.

Susan’s MA Thesis research is a cross-cultural comparison in funerary art between ancient South Arabia and the Palmyrenes (who inhabited the famous metropolis of Palmyra, Syria), as cases in point for the transfer and cultural significance of styles in ancient funerary art around the ancient Near East during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. She has recently returned from her travels and research in the prominent museums of the Middle East.

For further background information on funerary art and in general about the cultures and time periods, see:

Susan Walker (ed.) Ancient Faces: Mummy Portraits from Roman Egypt (2000, Trustees of the British Museum);

Ian Shaw and Paul T. Nicholson British Museum Dictionary of Ancient Egypt (1995, Harry N. Abrams);

Adnan Bounni and Khaled al-As‘ad Palmyra: History, Monuments & Museum (4th edition, 2000, Damascus)

Ian Browning Palmyra (1980 [or later edition], Thames & Hudson).

Friday 04 February 2005

Lecturer: David George, Professional Photographer and Videographer for the Mendes

Archaeological Project in Lower Egypt

Presentation: “Mendes Archaeological Project 2002-2004: A retrospective view”

David returns to show us the exciting discoveries made during the 2004 archaeological field season at Mendes, which is directed by Prof. Donald B. Redford (Pennsylvania State University), and showcase some of his most recent photographic documentation; he will also highlight the most significant discoveries of the 2002 and 2003 field seasons. The site of Mendes (ancient Per-banebdjedet, modern Tell er-Rub‘a) was the capitol of the 16^th nome of Lower Egypt and originally the sacred city of the fish-goddess of the Delta, Hat-Mehit, who is identified by her emblem as the goddess with the Nile carp (Lepidotus) upon her head. Her power here was eventually eclipsed by the worship of her consort the ram-god Banebdjedet, after whom the site was re-named. The span of the site’s occupation is vast, covering Predynastic times through the Late Period, including the famous naos dated to the reign of Ahmose II (570-526 BC) and some remains of Dynasty XXIX (399-380 BC).

For more information on the Prof. Redford’s Mendes Excavation project in Lower Egypt and its importance to the archaeology of Egypt, see his articles in:

Kathryn A. Bard, ed. Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt (1999, Routledge);

Ian Shaw and Paul T. Nicholson British Museum Dictionary of Ancient Egypt (1995, Harry N. Abrams);

Donald B. Redford, ed. The Oxford Encyclopaedia of Ancient Egypt, vols 1-3 (2000, Oxford University Press).

2004 Lectures

Date: Friday 12 November 2004

Lecturer: Dr. Lyn Green, Vice President of the SSEA, Toronto, University of Toronto

Presentation: "Nourishment for the Heart. Music and Dance in Ancient Egypt"

Music and dance were an integral part of ancient Egyptian life, from work-songs and harvest dances to temple hymns. The latter were especially important because they not only honoured but pacified gods and goddesses; both human and divine beings enjoyed music and dance for their healing and transformative powers as well. "Musical" deities such as Bes and Hathor encouraged conception, attended birth, and protected Egyptians throughout life. Musicians and dancers are well represented on tomb walls, reflecting the contribution that these arts could make to the dead and the living. In this lecture, we will look beyond the entertainment value of these arts and delve into their transcendent power.

Dr. Green is well known for her work in the SSEA in Toronto as the current Vice President, and her presentations and publications on women of the Amarna Period, which formed the topic of her PhD Dissertation from the University of Toronto. In addition, she has worked for Education and Public Programs Departments of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), organized various lecture series & Symposia for both the SSEA and the ROM organizations since 1991.

Friday 05 November 2004

Lecturer: Dan Bruce

Presentation: "The role of Cattle in ancient Egypt"

Many different animals were pictured in tomb paintings and described in agricultural treatises, legal documents and religious texts by the ancient Egyptians; some were used in agricultural pursuits, while others were venerated as zoomorphic representations of deities. Cattle served both purposes: as a primary animal for food (meat, milk, butter & cheese) and for raw materials (e.g., leather), as well as serving as a beast of burden; the cow was envisioned as the zoomorphic version of the goddess Hathor, whose worship was popular throughout Egypt especially from New Kingdom through Ptolemaic times, and the bull as the god Apis, whose cult was especially popular in Lower Egypt during the Ptolemaic period. Domesticated cattle first appear in Egypt during the Neolithic period (ca. 8800-4700 BC) in the area of Dakhleh Oasis. Given their importance to the livelihood of everyday life in Egypt, cattle were also used in the hesbet, or "cattle census", a form of tax assessment held biennially that involved a regular parade of the beasts from throughout a given nome, and which seems to be recorded on one of the principal historical documents for early dynastic times, the Palermo Stone (dated to Dynasty V). Several Middle Kingdom tomb model representations of the "cattle census" are well known, the best being one from the Theban Tomb of Meket-Re, an official during the reign of the Middle Kingdom king Amenemhat I (r. 1985-1956 BC), the first ruler of Dynasty XII. Dan will discuss these and other roles of cattle for Egyptians throughout pharaonic times.

Friday 01 October 2004

Lecturer: Dr. John "Jack" Robertson, Instructor Emeritus in Archaeology, Department of Behavioural Sciences, Mount Royal College

Presentation: "Recent Archaeological Research in the Sudan"

The government of the Republic of Sudan recently decided to build a dam at the 4 th Cataract of the Nile, which will create a lake almost 300 kilometers long that will flood and possibly destroy many of the antiquities along the Nile's course. The Sudanese government thus invited the international community of archaeologists to undertake rescue fieldwork to recover as many of the antiquities as possible. As many of us heard in the media coverage in Calgary, Dr. Robertson and many other colleagues responded to the call. The main supporter of this research is the Sudan Archaeological Research Society (SARS), consisting of a team of specialists from Sudan, Germany, England, Switzerland, Austria, Russia, USA, and Canada. The overall Director of the research is Dr. Derek Welsby and the Field Director is Dr. Pawel Wolf. Dr. Robertson's role in this research focused on the excavation and analysis of human skeletons dating from about 5,000 to about 1,000 years ago, thus covering the recent Neolithic, the Kenna, Napata and Meroitic Periods, the X-Group and the Christian Period in the Sudan. Dr. Robertson will provide a brief review of Meroitic civilization, and proceed to focus on his 4 th cataract research and the skeletons he and his colleagues recovered. He will include a discussion of how the antiquities the SARS group has recovered along the central portion of the Nile relate to ancient Egypt's past. For further information on the archaeology of Sudan, see Peter L. Shinnie, Ancient Nubia (1996, Kegan Paul International).

Friday 02 April 2004

Lecturer: David George, Professional Photographer and Videographer for the Mendes Archaeological Project in Lower Egypt

Presentation: The Mendes/al-Hiba excavations of 2003

David returns to provide an update on the exciting discoveries made during the 2003 field season at Mendes, which is directed by Prof. Donald B. Redford (Pennsylvania State University) and showcase some of David’s most recent photographic documentation. The site of Mendes (ancient Per-banebdjedet, modern Tell er-Rub‘a) was the capitol of the 16th nome of Lower Egypt and originally the sacred city of the fish-goddess of the Delta, Hat-Mehit, who is identified by her emblem as the goddess with the Nile carp (Lepidotus) upon her head. Her power here was eventually eclipsed by the worship of her consort the ram-god Banebdjedet, after whom the site was re-named. The span of the site’s occupation is vast, covering Predynastic times through the Late Period, including the famous naos dated to the reign of Ahmose II (570-526 BC) and some remains of Dynasty XXIX (399-380 BC).

For more information on the Prof. Redford’s Mendes Excavation project in Lower Egypt and its importance to the archaeology of Egypt, see articles in:

Kathryn A. Bard, ed. Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt (1999, Routledge);

Ian Shaw and Paul T. Nicholson British Museum Dictionary of Ancient Egypt (1995, Harry N. Abrams).

Donald B. Redford, ed. The Oxford Encyclopaedia of Ancient Egypt, vols 1-3 (2000, Oxford University Press);

Friday 05 March 2004

Lecturer: Professor Emeritus David Kelley, Department of Archaeology, University of Calgary

Presentation: Medieval Egypt and Maritime Voyaging: a View from the Cairo Genizah

Prof. Kelley is well known to all residents of Calgary, and as a distinguished scholar on numerous fields and disciplines related to archaeology. Besides being an expert on ancient Mesoamerica, he has engaged in extensive research ranging from linguistics to geneaology and recently the information from the “Cairo Genizah”. The “Cairo Genizah” is an archive, most famous for its huge cache of Medieval manuscripts, totaling over 140,000. The term genizah in Hebrew technically refers to a receptacle for retaining discarded holy books, usually placed within a synagogue. These texts were found within the attic of the Synagogue of Abraham Ben Ezra, Rabbi of Jerusalem, located in Fustat (Old Cairo); the synagogue previously had been a Coptic church for several centuries. The manuscripts were discovered during repair work on the synagogue; between the mid-18th century and the 1890s access was extremely difficult, and only after 1896-97 was the importance of some of the fragments discovered when Shlomo Shechter, founder of the Conservative (Historical) Judaism Movement, took ca. 100,000 fragments to Cambridge University for further study. Later, numerous other fragments of the manuscripts were dispersed around western libraries including Bodleian Library at Oxford University and the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. Many of the fragments date around the 9th-10th century AD; the earliest datable manuscript seems to be around AD 750. They are quite diverse in character, and describe all facets of life in Medieval times in Egypt and around the Mediterranean. Besides important sacred and some heretical texts, of particular importance are those of a mundane character, including letters, eye-witness accounts of the Crusades in the Holy Land, and commercial transactions. It is his extensive research on these latter that Prof. Kelley will discuss.

For further background on the Cairo Genizah and its manuscripts, see the following websites and their linkages:

http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/Taylor-Schechter/

For the University of Cambridge holdings:

http://www.ucalgary.ca/~elsegal/Shokel/000302_EuropeanGeniza.html

For Prof. Eliezer Segal, Department of Religious Studies, University of Calgary

http://www.dayan.org/mel/cohen.htm or

http://www.dayan.org/mel/cohen.pdf

For Shelomo Dov Goitein and the University of Pennsylvania & Princeton University connections:

http://www.jewishgates.com/file.asp?File_ID=70 Gates of Jewish Heritage

Date: Friday 06 February 2004

Lecturer: Professor Emeritus Peter L. Shinnie, Department of Archaeology, the University of Calgary

Presentation: “Insight into the Civilisation of Meroe”.

Prof. Shinnie is well known to all members as the Founder of the Calgary Chapter of the SSEA, and as a distinguished scholar on northern Africa from ancient times to the Medieval period, having directed excavations and conducted research on cultures from the Sudan to Ghana. He is perhaps best known in Egyptological circles as one of the world’s foremost scholars on ancient Nubia and its unique Meroitic civilization, an expert on the various ancient languages of Nubia, as the founder of the Sudanese Department of Antiquities, and as former Director of the archaeological excavations at Meroe. Meroitic civilization is renown as a unique adaptation of certain components of Egyptian culture by the African community, and Prof. Shinnie’s research has certainly borne this out. His illustrated presentation will be a treat to all, granting us his in-depth insight acquired over many years of research. It is timely, especially as archaeological fieldwork is currently underway to salvage archaeological sites and monuments from flooding by the construction of a new dam, and by those of us who recently enjoyed the Discovery Channel’s coverage on ancient Nubia.

For further information consult Prof. Shinnie’s recent magnum opus on the subject, especially chapter 6: Peter L. Shinnie, Ancient Nubia (1996, Kegan Paul International).

2003 Lectures

Date: Friday 03 October 2003

Lecturer: Dr. Mary McDonald, Department of Archaeology, University of Calgary

Location: Earth Sciences, Room 162, University of Calgary

Time: 7:00pm

Presentation: A New Oasis and a New Project: the Kharga Oasis Prehistoric Project in Egypt

The Dakhleh Oasis Project’s Pleistocene (Ice Age) archaeologists have been working for several years in Kharga Oasis, located within Egypt’s Western Desert between the Dakhleh Oasis and the Nile Valley. In Kharga they have now found deposits that extend nearly half a million years back in time. They called upon Dr. McDonald when, unexpectedly, they began to find much younger artefacts and sites (ca. 9,000-5,000 years old), belonging to the Holocene epoch and assigned to the "Neolithic" ("New Stone Age"). The most intriguing finds show just how rich and varied the Kharga Neolithic sites are. Dr. McDonald will outiline some of the most exciting discoveries for what has now been christened the Kharga Oasis Prehistoric Project.

Date: Friday 04 April 2003

Lecturer: Dr. John ("Jack") Robertson, Department of Anthropology, Mount Royal College

Presentation: Meröe, the Ignored Civilisation.

The University of Calgary, under Professor Emeritus Peter Shinnie, excavated over 10 years at Meröe, located on the east bank of the Nile in the Butana region of modern Sudan (ancient Nubia). This city was once the center of a great yet little known civilisation, known as the kingdom of Kush, during the 5th century BC. Meröe also gives its name to a later chronological development within Nubia, known as the Meroitic period, spanning roughly 300 BC through AD 350. The inhabitants of this region south of Egypt, the Kushites, at a certain time played on the world stage and were active in world politics. Dr. Robertson, who was Prof. Shinnie's Assistant Director on the site, will delve into some of the mysteries of this city and civilisation, and their major accomplishments.

Date: Friday 07 February 2003

Lecturer: David George, Project Photographer and Videographer, for the Mendes archaeological project

Presentation: Video Presentation on the latest discoveries of the Mendes Archaeological Project

The site of Mendes (ancient Per-banebdjedet, modern Tell er-Rub‘a) was the capitol of the 16th nome of Lower Egypt, and originally the sacred city of the fish-goddess Hat-Mehit common in the Delta. Identified by her emblem as the goddess with the Nile carp (Lepidotus) upon her head, her power here was eventually eclipsed by the worship of her consort the ram-god Banebdjedet, after whom the site was re-named. Herodotus, who visited the site around 450 BC and changed its name to the Greek Mendes, says he witnessed here the sacrifice of goats—probably a mistake for the ram. The span of its occupation is tremendous: Predynastic through Late Period, including the famous naos dated to the reign of Ahmose II (570-526 BC) and some remains of Dynasty XXIX (399-380 BC). The Mendes Archaeological Project has been exploring these ruins and recently has made some fascinating discoveries that David will reveal to all.

2002 Lectures

Friday 01 November 2002 Mark Zender, PhD Candidate, Department of Archaeology, University of Calgary

Title: "Texts from Tut’s Tomb"

Mark will examine the life and reign of the most famous and perhaps the least understood of all of Egypt's pharaohs, from the point of view of the inscriptions found in Tutankhamun's tomb. Mark will examine several vexing questions: What do we really know of Tutankhamun from contemporaneous sources? How do texts from outside his tomb compare to those commissioned by him? And how secure are the recent suggestions of foul play behind Tut’s death?

Tuesday 15 October 2002 - Speaker: Prof. Steffen Wenig, Seminar für Sudanarchäologie und Ägyptologie, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Director of Excavations, Musawwarat as-Sufra, Sudan

Title: What we now know from the Excavations at Musawwarat as-Sufra, Sudan

Location: Science Theatre 129

Prof. Wenig will review the fabulous discoveries of the German expedition to Musawwarat as-Sufra, one of Sudan’s major archaeological sites located in the east central region in what was once part of Nubia, covering the later period of Egyptian influence through the Byzantine period.

Friday 04 October 2002 - Speaker: Dr. W. D. Glanzman, Nexen Inc Professor of Middle Eastern Archaeology, Department of Archaeology, University of Calgary

Title: Some recent and unexpected connections between South Arabia and Egypt.

Dr. Glanzman will discuss the latest of discoveries from Yemen that unveil a long and rich tradition of cultural connections between Egypt and South Arabia, including a few surprizes.

Friday, February 8*, 2002 - Dr. Bill Glanzman (Department Of Archaeology, University Of Calgary)

"Where and What was Punt?" Dr. Glanzman has worked and travelled throughout the Middle East and Egypt. In this lecture, Bill will explore "Where and What was Punt?". A small and mysterious ancient kingdom, Punt is known to us only through Ancient Egyptian writings, which describe seagoing trade and travel expeditions to this land. punt was known as early as the Old Kingdom and was the source of several exotic commodities. Queen Hatshepsut depicted her expedition to Punt on her funerary temple walls at Deir el Bahari.

2001 Lectures

Friday, October 12, 2001- Mary McDonald

"Results of the Last several Field Seasons at Dakhleh Oasis." Mary McDonald (Department of Archaeology University of Calgary) has spoken to us several times regarding Her work on the prehistoric period of Egyptian history.

FRIDAY March 2 - David George

"The Dig at Mendes, Egypt" - David, many of you may remember, shared his gorgeous slides of Egypt with us at the SSEA Christmas part a year ago. This time he will show slides(and perhaps a video) of "The Dig at Mendes, Egypt". David participated in the wwork at this Canadian dig last year, working with members of the Toronto SSEA. This talk is sure to be a visiual delight!

FRIDAY February 5 - Lynne Nash

"Romance in the shadow of the Sphinx" For those of you not able to attend "After hours with singles and friends" at the Glenbow (Thursday, February 22, 7:30 pm), I will present the same lecture to our group. Ancient Egyptians were really not that different from us. They enjoyed having a good time, partying the night away and dressing to the nines. Getting ready to go out for the evening was a complicated affair involving bathing, oiling, perfuming and adorning the body with make-up, wigs and beautiful clothing. This lecture will look at "what was hot and what was not" - how would stylish, male or female, upwardly mobile Egyptians have entertained themselves and how would they prepare for a night out on the town.

2000 Lectures

FRIDAY November 3 - Judith Klassen

"Cloth and Clay: An Archaeological Look at Meroitic Weaving" Meroe was the capital city of the ancient kingdom of Kush is Nubia, modern Sudan, from the 8th Century B.C. to 300 A.D. Some of the pottery from that era has fabric impressions on it. Analysis of spindle whorls and these cloth impressions has opened a window as to what ancient Meroitic textiles looked like, as well as how they were made.

Judith is a graduate student at the University of Calgary, Department of Archaeology.

FRIDAY October 13 - Rebecca Bradley

Rebecca has a background in Egyptology and aarchaeology and has a PhD from Cambridge University. She teaches Egyptology at Mount Royal College. Rebecca will present "A Critical Overview of Alternative Interpretations of Egyptian History", having a closer look at some of those wild theories about the Great Pyramid being built by aliens, etc. This should be a fun Lecture.

FRIDAY MAY 5 - GERALDINE CHIMIRR-RUSSELL

Geraldine comes to us from the Nickle Arts Museum at the University of Calgary. A numismatic specialist, she will speak to us on "The Change in the Depiction of Gods on Egyptian Coins". The Ancient Egyptians never actually had a money system of their own, goods being bartered rather than paid for. It wasn't until later times when the Greeks, and later the Romans, ruled Egypt that the use of money to pay for goods became widespread in Egypt. Both the Greeks and the Romans incorporated many elements of Egyptian religion and culture into their own beliefs. This will be a fascinating look at the way in which Egyptian, Greek and Roman ideas were melded together, as depicted for us in their coinage. **NOTE: due to renovations being undertaken in Room 162 at this time, this lecture will take place in Room 859, Earth Sciences Building, 7:30 p.m.

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 4 - JULIUS SZKRENYES

"A Survey of the Valley of the Kings"

FRIDAY MARCH 3 - ABDUL RAHMAN AL-AYEDI

Hailing from Egypt, Abdul Rahman is Chief Inspector for the Sinai, and has excavated for several years in that area. He is currently in the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations at the University of Toronto. He will be talking about "The Way of Horus", an ancient military road which connected Egypt and Palestine. If this name sounds familiar, it may be because this was the road the Egyptian soldiers took when heading off to the Battle of Megiddo, circa 1450 B.C.

FRIDAY APRIL 7 - PETER SHINNIE

Peter is also very familiar to our group, being one of the founding members of the Calgary SSEA, as well as Professor Emeritus in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Calgary. Peter is a familiar - and always popular - speaker to our group. He will give us an overview of "Ancient Languages of the Nile", which will be a description of the several languages written (and presumably spoken) over the centuries and millennia along the Nile, from the Delta down into Nubia. Although it is not known what the Ancient Egyptian languages sounded like when spoken, changes can most definitely be seen in the written languages over time. As well, the Coptic language, spoken by the Coptic Christians in Egypt even today, gives us a few insights into what the ancient language may have sounded like.