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I want my mummy! Annual Egyptology lecture set.
September 19, 2008
PLU faculty fellow and Egyptologist Don Ryan will talk about his most recent experiences in the Valley of the Kings this Wednesday, Sept. 24, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Scandinavian Cultural Center.
Titled “Recent Archaeological Adventures in Egypt's Valley of the Kings,” Ryan will discuss PLU’s Valley of the Kings Project and the examination of a series of intriguing tombs in Egypt's famed royal cemetery. This lecture by the expedition's director will present the latest results of the project which continues to produce provocative surprises.
Conceived in 1989 by Ryan, the PLU Valley of the Kings Project focuses on exploring and studying the more obscure tombs in the valley. Most were burial sites for Egypt’s elite, but not necessarily for its royalty.
There are two or three dozen of these smaller tombs, which are largely ignored because they lack the inscriptions and decoration of royal tombs, Ryan explained. His team has been the first to look seriously at them, concentrating on six.
“If you want to find something new and interesting, then you have to go where others don’t,” Ryan said. “In every one of those tombs we found interesting surprises. The fact is that all of this stuff is in the Valley of the Kings – everybody buried there and everything done there is pretty darn special.”
Perhaps the team’s biggest surprise came this past summer, when Egyptian authorities identified one of the mummies Ryan rediscovered as Egypt’s most famous female pharaoh, Hatshepsut, who ruled from around 1502 to 1482 B.C Read more about Ryan’s discoveries here.
Sponsored by the Division of Humanities, the lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, call the Division of Humanities at 253-535-7321.
Conceived in 1989 by Ryan, the PLU Valley of the Kings Project focuses on exploring and studying the more obscure tombs in the valley. Most were burial sites for Egypt’s elite, but not necessarily for its royalty.
There are two or three dozen of these smaller tombs, which are largely ignored because they lack the inscriptions and decoration of royal tombs, Ryan explained. His team has been the first to look seriously at them, concentrating on six.
“If you want to find something new and interesting, then you have to go where others don’t,” Ryan said. “In every one of those tombs we found interesting surprises. The fact is that all of this stuff is in the Valley of the Kings – everybody buried there and everything done there is pretty darn special.”
Perhaps the team’s biggest surprise came this past summer, when Egyptian authorities identified one of the mummies Ryan rediscovered as Egypt’s most famous female pharaoh, Hatshepsut, who ruled from around 1502 to 1482 B.C Read more about Ryan’s discoveries here.
Sponsored by the Division of Humanities, the lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, call the Division of Humanities at 253-535-7321.