48 replies to this topic

[Still Waters]

www.dailymail.co.uk said:

The last missing pages from a supposedly 'magical' Book of the Dead from an Egyptian priest, Amenhotep, have been found after a century-long search - in a museum in Queensland.

British Museum Egyptologist Dr John Taylor said he was 'floored' by the discovery of the 100 fragments.

It's the end of a worldwide search by archaeologists for the papyrus scroll - which supposedly contains spells to guide spirits into the afterlife.

Read more...

[The Puzzler]

Yeah, I read that on ninemsn, how bizarre - "gee, sorry, we didn't realise we had the missing pages of The Book of the Dead in the storeroom..."  

[questionmark]

The Puzzler, on 23 April 2012 - 01:13 PM, said:

Yeah, I read that on ninemsn, how bizarre - "gee, sorry, we didn't realise we had the missing pages of The Book of the Dead in the storeroom..."  

If you knew how many solution to mysteries are in storerooms of museums you would start a campaign to have them cleaned out.

[ShadowSot]

questionmark, on 23 April 2012 - 01:35 PM, said:

If you knew how many solution to mysteries are in storerooms of museums you would start a campaign to have them cleaned out.

I always  figured the warehouse the Ark was stored in Indiana Jones was the storage of the Smithsonian.

[questionmark]

ShadowSot, on 23 April 2012 - 03:01 PM, said:

I always  figured the warehouse the Ark was stored in Indiana Jones was the storage of the Smithsonian.

I was more referring to *real* mysteries, not created ones.

[ShadowSot]

questionmark, on 23 April 2012 - 03:07 PM, said:

I was more referring to *real* mysteries, not created ones.

I was being facetious Questionmark. My cousin works for the Smithsonian and has told me just how crowded their storage is.

[questionmark]

ShadowSot, on 23 April 2012 - 05:08 PM, said:

I was being facetious Questionmark. My cousin works for the Smithsonian and has told me just how crowded their storage is.

I know.... but could not resist...  call it a preemtivestrike against the fringe telling us *what else is to be found*.

[Abramelin]

ShadowSot, on 23 April 2012 - 05:08 PM, said:

I was being facetious Questionmark. My cousin works for the Smithsonian and has told me just how crowded their storage is.

I guess you will know that now many people will haunt you with their questions.

It's like saying you have a sis working in the Vatican Library no one gets easily access to.

[ShadowSot]

Abramelin, on 23 April 2012 - 06:54 PM, said:

I guess you will know that now many people will haunt you with their questions.

It's like saying you have a sis working in the Vatican Library no one gets easily access to.

  I've been begging here to let me into the storage since I was six.
  (She's a much older cousin, obviously.)
I do wish we lived in the same state so I could pester her more often....

Edited by ShadowSot, 23 April 2012 - 09:58 PM.

[Sir Wearer of Hats]

Does the phrase "liberated by Australian forces while deployed to Egypt" factor into this at any stage? because, bless their cotton socks, Australian forces, especially in WW1, were notorious for taking everything that wasn't nailed down.

[questionmark]

Wearer of Hats, on 23 April 2012 - 09:51 PM, said:

Does the phrase "liberated by Australian forces while deployed to Egypt" factor into this at any stage? because, bless their cotton socks, Australian forces, especially in WW1, were notorious for taking everything that wasn't nailed down.

Could be, could not be... the most likely variation is that you have to find an Aussie archeologist who participated in the dig and got part of the scroll as his booty. All proud he took it to the museum and the curator (by political appointment) did not know what to do with it. As it did not look like Nofretete or Tut-Anch-Amun nor anything like that it got put in a box and was forgotten until the day the intern was ordered to take the boxes from one end of the magazine to the other....

[kmt_sesh]

questionmark, on 23 April 2012 - 09:58 PM, said:

Could be, could not be... the most likely variation is that you have to find an Aussie archeologist who participated in the dig and got part of the scroll as his booty. All proud he took it to the museum and the curator (by political appointment) did not know what to do with it. As it did not look like Nofretete or Tut-Anch-Amun nor anything like that it got put in a box and was forgotten until the day the intern was ordered to take the boxes from one end of the magazine to the other....

In regards to the bolded portion, should we contact Daniel Collins or Hans-Dieter von Senff? They're both world-renowned archaeologists with Ph.D.s coming out their hoo-hoos, as is proved by the discussions with which they blessed us right here at UM.

Oh, my. I shouldn't say such things.

In all seriousness, it's not uncommon for a single papyrus text to have left Egypt in more than one piece. A lot of this stuff was sold to foreigners in the old days, and papyri with writing was especially popular to wealthy tourists in the late nineteenth century. An antiquarian in business for himself or even a savvy Egyptian villager could sell such stuff to the antiquities dealers who prowled Egypt, who in turn sold it to markets for auctions in the big cities (especially Luxor, Cairo, and Alexandria). This is how many museums with Egyptian exhibits fleshed out considerable portions of their collections.

The Book of the Dead is one of my favorite topics for research so naturally this discussion caught my eye. John Taylor is one of the leading Egyptologists of the British Museum. Oddly, however, I am not familiar with this particular Book of the Dead.

[questionmark]

kmt_sesh, on 23 April 2012 - 11:24 PM, said:

The Book of the Dead is one of my favorite topics for research so naturally this discussion caught my eye. John Taylor is one of the leading Egyptologists of the British Museum. Oddly, however, I am not familiar with this particular Book of the Dead.

I was interested for quite a while in it, even had some reproductions hanging in my office but I got tired of it after a while. Lie to the gods to get into heaven? Nah!

Edited by questionmark, 23 April 2012 - 11:45 PM.

[kmt_sesh]

questionmark, on 23 April 2012 - 11:45 PM, said:

I was interested for quite a while in it, even had some reproductions hanging in my office but I got tired of it after a while. Lie to the gods to get into heaven? Nah!

Aw, come on, you have to admit...it's an easier route than the Roman Catholic way.

[Simbi Laveau]

questionmark, on 23 April 2012 - 03:07 PM, said:

I was more referring to *real* mysteries, not created ones.

Not necissarily fabricated.
I know for a fact,that the Museum of natural history in nyc,has store room that go for blocks,under the city.
It has stuff that's never seen the light of day.
They done testing there,that should be out in public domain,but its not.Museums have wealths of knowledge and artifacts ,they just don't make the public privy to.Why that is,is anyone's guess.

Stands to reason,that most institutions of this nature ,have them.
The Smithsonian,being in the capitol ,probably has some classified stuff the Govt likes to keep close to the vest.
It doesn't mean it looks like that last scene in Indiana Jones,but I have always thought a warehouse like that,exists somewhere in the USA.