Radar find
Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) last week announced that an Austrian team has used radar imaging to find the outlines of the 3,500-year-old capital of Egypt. According to Irene Muller, the head of the Austrian mission, the radar imaging shows the outlines of streets, houses and temples underneath the green farm fields and modern towns in Egypt’s East Delta region. It reveals that a Nile branch passed through that region back then; two islands were spotted by the radar as well as a port. SCA secretary-general Zahi Hawass said that the area could be part of Avaris, the summer capital of the Hyksos, invaders from Asia who ruled Egypt from 1664 – 1569BC. Such non-invasive techniques, he said, are the best way to define the extent of the site. Aerial photographs show several modern towns in the area.
Egyptian dates
Scientists have established for the first time clear dates for the ruling dynasties of ancient Egypt after carbon dating plant remains, according to research published earlier this month in the US Journal of Science. Led by Professor Christopher Ramsey of Britain’s Oxford University, an international team tested seeds, baskets, textiles, plant stems and fruit obtained from museums in the United States and Europe for the landmark study. “For the first time, radiocarbon dating has become precise enough to constrain the history of ancient Egypt to very specific dates,” said Ramsey.
Dates for Egypt’s Old, Middle and New Kingdoms had been based on historical documents or archaeological findings, but estimates were notoriously uncertain as each dynasty would reset the clock. The new data showed the reign of Djoser, among the best known pharaohs in the Old Kingdom, was between 2691 and 2625BC, some 50 to 100 years earlier than the established wisdom. The study also concluded that the New Kingdom started slightly earlier than thought, between 1570 and 1544BC. The research team included experts from the universities of Oxford and Cranfield in Britain, the National Centre for Scientific Research in France, and experts from Austria and Israel.
WATANI International
27 June 2010