JE 99128; limestone; H: 58cm; Fifth Dynasty; Western Cemetery, Giza

Another one of my favorite pieces in the museum is the statue of Kai. This statue is amazing and I found it in the tomb that I nicknamed the "Nefertari of Giza" because of its vibrant colors and beauty.

Cultural Minister Farouk Hosni announced today that the Austrian mission at Tell el-Daba has located the southern suburban quarters of the ancient city of Avaris, the capital of the Hyksos in the Second Intermediate Period (1664-1569 BC). The excavation team found this area using a combination of magnetometry and resistivity surveys.

The Golden Mask of Tutankhamun – JE 60672; gold, lapis lazuli, quartz, carnelian, turquoise, obsidian, colored glass; Height: 54cm; Eighteenth Dynasty, New Kingdom

A few weeks ago I told you about a group of students from the Friends Select School in Philadelphia. These students had written letters to me about their studies of the Great Sphinx. Because of their hard work and their love of ancient Egypt, I invited the students to go on a personal tour of the brand new exhibit Cleopatra: The Search for Egypt’s Last Queen. This exhibit opened at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia on June 5.

Recently I went to visit the Great Pyramid of Khufu and observe the work of the Djedi team. Djedi is a joint international-Egyptian mission, which I named after Djedi, the magician who Khufu consulted when planning the layout of his pyramid. The purpose of this project is to send a robotic tunnel explorer into the two “air shafts” that lead from the Queen’s Chamber of the Great Pyramid of Khufuto gather evidence to determine the purpose of the shafts. 

Sometimes you can dislike people without reason and this is wrong. I came to this realization at a garden party held by the French Institute in Cairo last week. The former director of the IFAO in Cairo, Dr. Bernard Mathieu, was removed from his position as director by someone in France. This person, whom I will not name, is conceited and made many people, including several French archaeologists, very angry with his decision to remove Dr. Mathieu. I do not understand why this person seems to go out of their way to harm relations between France and Egypt.

I would like to thank the Spanish Ambassador, Antonio Lopez Martinez and wife, Nichole, for their hospitality and service to the Egyptian people. I became a very good friend of them when I went to give a lecture in Seville in 2009. I will never forget this visit and the kindness of all the people that I met in Spain. Last week Ambassador Martinez and Nichole hosted a dinner in my honor. It was a great time and several other ambassadors attended.

If someone were to ask me what I thought was one of the best things I had done during my term as Secretary General of the SCA, I would say the building of storage magazines all over Egypt. Over the last eight years I’ve supervised the construction of 36 new storage facilities. All of them are equipped with conservation rooms and photography labs, and the objects are stored in a secure and environmentally protected space.

Recently the German Archaeological Institute, Cairo (DAIK) held a two day conference at the Supreme Council of Antiquities’ Ahmed Kamal Pasha Hall in Zamalek. The conference was entitled “Rituals and Sanctuaries in the Archaeology of Egypt” and addressed many interesting topics including origin of ritual, sacred space, and ritual offerings. I was very happy to open this conference and to acknowledge the DAIK for their extensive contributions to the field of Egyptology, especially their ongoing excavations at Elephantine near Aswan.

The Archaeology faculty at Cairo University has discovered a new tomb at Saqqara. The mission uncovered the tomb of Ptah Mes, arm leader and royal scribe, in the 19^th dynasty cemetery of top governmental officials, which is located at the southern side of the ramp of king Unas’ pyramid in Saqqara.