News

Among the products imported to Egypt as a result of Hatshepsut’s Punt expedition, there is a big bird, whose identity used to puzzle scholars since the discovery of the reliefs in 1858. It has been suggested that it might have been a crane due to its relatively big size, but this identification could not have been confirmed due to the fragmentary state of preservation of this part of the wall. While re-examining the famous Punt reliefs of Deir el-Bahari our colleague Filip Taterka noted the presence of yet another previously unknown representation of the bird in question. The latter is more complete, thanks to which it is now possible to identify the mysterious creature as the secretary bird (Lat. Sagittarius serpentarius), a species endemic to Africa, which has far-reaching consequences for the discussion on the exact location of the land of Punt. Moreover, the representations of the secretary bird of Deir el-Bahari are the only depictions of this creature known to date of the pharaonic period.

We cordially invite for the lecture by Dr Zbigniew E. Szafrański about the recent works of the Polish mission.

Booklet about the Main Sanctuary of Amun is available online!

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Our Facebook page:

Our Research Centre:

Centrum Archeologii Śródziemnomorskiej im. Kazimierza Michałowskiego Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego

(Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology of the University of Warsaw)

Institutions cooperating with us:

Instytut Archeologii Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego

Instytut Kultur Śródziemnomorskich i Orientalnych Polskiej Akademii Nauk

Instytut Historii Architektury, Sztuki i Techniki Politechniki Wrocławskiej

Our sponsors:

Projects:

- Offering scenes in the Chapels of Royal Cult Complex in the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari

- Building Dipinti Documentation Project in the area of Hatshepsut and Tuthmosis III Temples at Deir el-Bahari

Project:

- Building Dipinti Documentation Project in the area of Hatshepsut and Tuthmosis III Temples at Deir el-Bahari

The Antiquities Endowment Fund (AEF):

Project:

- X-Ray and CT Scanning of 22nd and 25th Dynasty Egyptian Mummies from Thebes

Other websites:

Website of the Mission photographer, Maciej Jawornicki

About Hatshepsut:

Maat-ka-Ra Hatshepsut

Hatshepsut Project Blog

Information about the sites with Hatshepsut building activity:

Theban Mapping Project

Centre franco-égyptien d'étude des temples de Karnak

Brooklyn Museum Excavations at the Temple Precinct of the Goddess Mut

The Johns Hopkins University Expedition to the Mut Precinct

Objects from the Hatshepsut reign:

Cachette de Karnak

The World of Funerary Cones

Hatshepsut Scarab Project by Phil Stewart

Museums collections containing articfacts from Hatshepsut reign:

(many museums have collections with articfacts from the Hatshepsut reign,

but not all of them present it on their webiste)

France

Italy

Muzeo Egizio, Turyn

Museo Gregoriano Egizio, Watykan

Netherlands

Allard Pierson Museum, Amsterdam

UK

The British Museum, Londyn

The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

The Petrie Museum, Londyn

USA

Bolton Museum, Bolton

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Brooklyn Museum, New York

The Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Oriental Institute Museum, Chicago

The Penn Museum, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia

The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore