Museum Junkie: Royal Ontario Museum hosts Dead Sea Scrolls

by Sean McLachlan on

Visitors to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto this summer will have a chance to see the famous Dead Sea Scrolls.

“Dead Sea Scrolls: Words that Changed the World” will showcase some scrolls that have never before been seen by the general public as well as numerous artifacts from the period. There will also be a series of lectures by leading religious and secular scholars.

The scrolls, found in caves near the Dead Sea, date from about 150 BC to 70 AD. and include all the books of what is now known as the Old Testament. Many are close to later versions of the same books of the Bible, but there are a few surprises as well. The collection of scrolls includes some previously unknown psalms as well as numerous Apocryphal books that were never incorporated into the standard version of the Bible. Some of the more accepted books, such as Exodus, are quite different from later versions. Controversy has raged over the scrolls since their first discovery, but one thing they do prove is that there were several different variations of the Old Testament until the books became canonized in about 100 AD.

In an interesting article in HalogenLife, Dr. Risa Levitt Kohn, the curator of the exhibit, said that the scrolls concern themselves with philosophical issues that we still wrestle with today.

The show starts June 27 and runs six months.

Five places Obama should have seen in Egypt

by Sean McLachlan on

When Obama visited Egypt last week he took time out from making historic speeches to see the country’s most famous sights–the Pyramids and the Sphinx at Giza. It’s surprising he had the time, considering he was only in the country for nine hours. It reminds me of some of the package tours that zip through the world’s most historic country faster than you can say Tutankhamun.

OK, Obama’s a busy guy, but Egypt is a place you need to take slowly. Here are five sights that every visitor to Egypt should spend a day seeing.

Islamic Quarter of Cairo. Many people only use Cairo as a base for seeing the pyramids at Giza and the fantastic Egyptian Museum. While these are two of Egypt’s greatest hits, Cairo has plenty more to offer. Take a stroll through the Islamic Quarter, the old medieval district of winding alleyways and historic architecture. You’ll pass by thousand-year-old mosques, ornate madrasas, and sumptuous fountains. Take the time to have some tea or coffee in one of the quarter’s innumerable cafes and you’ll be sure to end up in an interesting conversation with the local shopkeepers.

Valley of the Kings. It’s best to get here as early as possible. I arrived at dawn and found most of the guards asleep, but a wee bit of baksheesh (“tip”) got me inside the tombs. I asked them not to turn on the lights. Seeing the tombs alone with only a flashlight for illumination was one of the most stunning experiences of my life. I didn’t enjoy it for long. Within an hour the first tour groups arrived. Although I was already further along in the valley, they soon caught up. But that hour or so I had by myself was unforgettable. With the help of a map, take the trail over the ridge to get above the modern-looking Temple of Hatshepsut. You can then take a trail down to this famous temple of the woman pharaoh, passing the tombs of its builders on the way.

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Karnak. The most magnificent Egyptian ruins besides the Pyramids at Giza, this massive temple complex near Luxor begs to be seen at a leisurely pace. The Great Hypostyle Hall in the Precinct of Amun-Re is awe inspiring. It’s a forest of massive columns covered in hieroglyphs. I spent an enjoyable morning from dawn until noon sitting in just this one giant hall watching the light and shadows move over the carvings. Most tour groups ran through here in fifteen minutes or less, but there was so much to study I’m sure I missed half of it. While there are a lot of people selling tourist trinkets, if you hang out long enough they leave you alone. You’ll have to say no to each of them at least two or three times, but the solitude that follows is well worth it.

St. Catherine’s Monastery, Sinai. Built in the 6th century AD, this monastery at the foot of Mt. Sinai may be the oldest functioning Christian monastery in the world. Not only are there historic churches and age-old traditions to experience, but an incredible collection of early Christian art, including some especially beautiful icons. Several tour companies from Egypt and Israel send buses here, and it makes a good stopover if you’re traveling between the two countries.

At least one small town. Egypt has been hustling tourists since the days of Herodotus, so it’s nice to get away from it all by visiting an out-of-the-way place where tourists tend not to go. I spent an enjoyable three days in Minya, a small provincial capital that doesn’t have much in the way of ancient ruins. When I visited the local museum the curator was so excited he insisted I sign the guest book. I was the first person writing in something other than Arabic for several days. I spent my time sitting by the Nile, watching the faluccas while chatting with everyone who stopped by. Nobody tried to sell me anything. Away from the economic pressure of the tourist industry, I found the Egyptians to be warm, friendly, and eager to meet foreigners. I smoked waterpipes and drank tea in cafes, read the paper, and did nothing in particular. It was like a vacation from my vacation.

If you are looking for more about Egypt, check out last year’s post by Matthew Firestone of five other things you can do in Egypt. Interestingly enough, only one of them kinda overlaps with my list.

There are lots of guidebooks to Egypt, but the best cultural and historical guide I’ve seen is the Blue Guide, which is like a crash course on all things Egyptian. Sadly, the last edition was in 1993 and it is now out of print. You can easily find used copies but obviously you’ll need to buy another guidebook to supplement it. Hey, Blue Guides! Do you need a former archaeologist to update your Egypt book?

Two tours, two Jerusalems

by Sean McLachlan on

BBC’s Tim Franks has written a fascinating article about taking two very different tours to the same place. His guides showed him the same sights and talked about the same things, but their interpretations were entirely different. It was like they weren’t talking about the same place at all.

That place, of course, is Jerusalem.

Franks went to the Temple Mount, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. He took tours with Al-Quds University, the only Arab university in Jerusalem, and the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, run by the Israeli government.

Both took him along the Western Wall, built by King Herod about 2,000 years ago, and through a tunnel dug alongside it. The Jewish tour guide pointed out a mikveh, a room for Jewish ritual cleansing. The Palestinian guide said there was no evidence it was used as such. The Jewish guide said the Western Wall (also known as the Wailing Wall for the anguished prayers of many of the faithful) is one of the walls of the ancient Jewish Temple. The Palestinian guide said there is no evidence for this. The Jewish guide compared this statement to Holocaust denial.

And so it goes, round and round.

Back in my archaeology days I did a field season in Israel and can attest to how quickly history gets turned into a political football. Start talking about archaeology, and sooner or later you’ll start talking religion and politics. Usually sooner. With so many religious sites piled literally on top of one another, there’s bound to be arguments. If you look at the picture of the Western Wall above, you can see the dome for Al-Aksa Mosque right above it, and the Dome of the Rock is just off the picture to the left. Both religions consider this same spot to be sacred.

While we read about this all the time in the news, it’s much more interesting to witness firsthand. So if you are headed to the Holy Land and want to see just how contentious history can be, why not try out both of these tours? Or if this whole thing is just making your head hurt, you can always go to the local Hooters.

Tourist returns ancient piece of Jerusalem

by Sean McLachlan on

The Israel Antiquities Authority got an interesting package from the U.S. recently, Archaeology News reported. It contained a piece of early medieval stonework and came with a note.

The note said that the sender, who apparently remained anonymous, had been an archaeology student 12 years ago and stole the stone from the excavation he was on so that he would have a memento with which to “pray for Jerusalem.” Instead, it made him feel guilty and so he decided to return it. Sometimes guilt takes a while to work.

At least this idiot had to pay a lot in postage. The stone weighed 21 kilograms (more than 46 pounds) and appears to be a portion of a marble column from the Umayyid Dynasty, a Muslim dynasty that ruled the region from 661 to 750 A.D. The Umayyids had the first major Muslim empire, ruling over a vast territory from their capital in Damascus. They were responsible for building two of the major Muslim sites in the holy city–The Dome of the Rock (pictured here) and Al-Aksa Mosque.

Israeli archaeologists believe the column came from a large palace complex built near the Temple Mount that served as the local seat of government.

As some travelers set off to volunteer at archaeological excavations this summer, this former archaeologist would like to remind them that stealing antiquities is not only immoral, but illegal, and could land you in jail. It will certainly get you an F in your archaeology class.

Museum Junkie: England’s most unique museum reopens

by Sean McLachlan on

Oxford’s famous Pitt Rivers Museum has reopened this month after more than a year of remodeling.

The famous Victorian displays, a massive collection of diverse anthropological objects in a large gallery and two upper floors, have remained untouched, preserving an almost unique set of displays dating back more than a century.

One of the most popular cases is the one involving death rituals, which has a spooky group of skulls and shrunken heads. A display about smoking contains a Chinese opium pipe with some suspicious-looking resin and a diagram of how to make a pipe by poking a hole through the ground. The museum as an especially good collection of Native American art, such as this woodcut print entitled “Hungry Bear” by Coast Salish artist Jody Wilson, depicting a grizzly bear in the act of catching a salmon.

The collection started with a donation in 1884 of 20,000 objects from Lt.-Gen. Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers. He was interested in the evolution of objects and organized his collection typologically, placing all items of the same use into a single case in order to show the evolution of form within and across cultures. The collection now boasts half a million artifacts from hundreds of cultures. The cases are cluttered with objects, and below them are drawers that can be opened to reveal more artifacts. The staff hand out free flashlights (called torches in England) so visitors and peer into the deeper recesses of the cases where even more treasures are hidden.

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This style of organization, so different from most modern museums, makes for a fascinating visit. For example, the case labeled Animal Forms in Art has dozens of animal representations from various cultures, some stylized, some realistic, some for worship, some for play. There’s an ancient Egyptian ram’s head made of wood, a nineteenth-century Danish piggybank, and a wooden owl carved by the Ainu about 1900 A.D., packed in with dozens of other objects.

An example of how objects can change their meaning over time is shown in drawer 29.3, labeled Amulets, Religious Artifacts, and Offerings. Inside are nine ushabti, little glazed figurines that the ancient Egyptians put in their tombs to act as servants in the afterlife. But these particular ones date from only a hundred years ago and were carried by Egyptian peasant men who went from village to village. Women would place them on the ground and jump over them in order to become fertile. One wonders if the wandering ushabti carriers had anything to do with it.

The whole effect of all the world’s objects crammed together in the same room is somewhat dizzying; even the walls and ceilings are decorated with totem poles, kayaks, and outrigger canoes.

The upper floor containing an immense array of weapons from all periods and cultures won’t be open until spring of 2010, but the two floors that are already open to the public will give any museum junkie several days’ worth of exploration.