Egyptian...
I went and saw Keku's Story, the egyptian exhibit at the QLD museum the other day. It cost $11 for an adult so it was a trifle pricey. I miss my student card. :)
Anyway it was basically a walkthrough of a minor noble mummification and burial rites etc. It had the inner and outer sarcophaguses and the mummy itself, and a large chunk of jewelry and assorted other grave goods. There was a great set of alabaster canopic jars which looked sweet.
There was also a couple of stelae covered in heiroglyphs which looked awesome, but since the entire exihibit was already under dim spot lighting due to light sensitive pigmentation issues in the papyrus and statues on display I couldn't take photos which is sad.
They had quite a few spells from the book of the dead in cabinets, either on papyrus sheets, or inked onto the grave wrap bandages themselves which was fashionable during a certain dynastic period which escapes me. Very cool. The book of the dead, or the book of going forth by day as it was known was grand collection of the various spells and incantations necessary to pass through the various places and guardians of the underworld to safely reach the field of reeds, the egyptian afterlife. They had translations up of about half a dozen spells and the actual papyrus or bandage the particular spell was written on side by side. They were fascinating. I'll have to see if I can dig up a translated copy somewhere for reading later on.
They had a few shabti and quite a few amulets of various sorts. My favourite are the scarabs, the big pectoral ones with wings made from lapis or the little crouched ones with heiroglyphs running down their back. Rock! Another thing that was interesting were the mummified hawks, ibis and cats they had...little linen wrapped bundles sitting next to the tiny pencil-box like carved wooden receptacles for them. They made up part of the grave goods and were buried in the chamber with everything else. They had taken x-rays of the bundles and had them up on the wall next to the cabinets. They also had a nice writeup on the fake artifact trade and a few examples of more cunningly made fakes that were originally bought by the museum back in the early 1900's and later turn out to be not genuine. All in all it was quite interested. If I had to set the price myself I would have been happy to pay 7$ - 9$ to go see it, $11 was a little stiff, but then I don't really begrudge the museum my money.
Still coughing and spluttering, especially at night. I really hope this flu disappeared in the next few days before I give it to everyone at work. Anyway, more later...
Anyway it was basically a walkthrough of a minor noble mummification and burial rites etc. It had the inner and outer sarcophaguses and the mummy itself, and a large chunk of jewelry and assorted other grave goods. There was a great set of alabaster canopic jars which looked sweet.
There was also a couple of stelae covered in heiroglyphs which looked awesome, but since the entire exihibit was already under dim spot lighting due to light sensitive pigmentation issues in the papyrus and statues on display I couldn't take photos which is sad.
They had quite a few spells from the book of the dead in cabinets, either on papyrus sheets, or inked onto the grave wrap bandages themselves which was fashionable during a certain dynastic period which escapes me. Very cool. The book of the dead, or the book of going forth by day as it was known was grand collection of the various spells and incantations necessary to pass through the various places and guardians of the underworld to safely reach the field of reeds, the egyptian afterlife. They had translations up of about half a dozen spells and the actual papyrus or bandage the particular spell was written on side by side. They were fascinating. I'll have to see if I can dig up a translated copy somewhere for reading later on.
They had a few shabti and quite a few amulets of various sorts. My favourite are the scarabs, the big pectoral ones with wings made from lapis or the little crouched ones with heiroglyphs running down their back. Rock! Another thing that was interesting were the mummified hawks, ibis and cats they had...little linen wrapped bundles sitting next to the tiny pencil-box like carved wooden receptacles for them. They made up part of the grave goods and were buried in the chamber with everything else. They had taken x-rays of the bundles and had them up on the wall next to the cabinets. They also had a nice writeup on the fake artifact trade and a few examples of more cunningly made fakes that were originally bought by the museum back in the early 1900's and later turn out to be not genuine. All in all it was quite interested. If I had to set the price myself I would have been happy to pay 7$ - 9$ to go see it, $11 was a little stiff, but then I don't really begrudge the museum my money.
Still coughing and spluttering, especially at night. I really hope this flu disappeared in the next few days before I give it to everyone at work. Anyway, more later...