Jolle in Egypt

09/21/2026

Good tip for the GEM

Grand Egyptian Museum tip.

It can get busy. Crazy busy. Particularly in the Tutankhamun Galleries.

For the best chance at having the galleries almost to yourself, as I have here, the sweet spot is the last hour of the day. Wednesdays and Saturdays, the galleries are open until 9pm.

Here you can see your editor standing before Tutankhamun's innermost gilded shrine (GEM 16) - one of four nested shrines which surrounded the royal sarcophagus. To the left is Tutankhamun's spectacular outer coffin (GEM 7590), gleaming under the display case lights.

Walking among Tutankhamun's treasures virtually by yourself is simply magical.

Photo: Heather Burzacott

09/21/2026

Gold Collar from Memphis

Men and women alike wore elaborate collars and necklaces, often adorned with floral motifs and protective symbols. These pieces were made from brightly coloured glazed materials and semi-precious stones, and sometimes from gold and silver. Jewellery could also signal status. Rings engraved with the wearer's name and titles marked an office held, while other pieces showed royal favour.

Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum

09/18/2026

Exciting news

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-02621-2?fbclid=IwZnRzaAUZbadwZG9mBWZkaWQWUOo_99ST9RWYtIHJtcuaqnV8AONHRGV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkCjY2Mjg1NjgzNzkAAR4WZt2cBiPlDG_mHTyRJZZcFieBEBpxBCPwzKn0iOqpTuyQJHNmQpFOst9rEg_aem_Ldb9QHtKGM8Dj25a8PH3wA&utm_id=97758_v0_s00_e0_tv1_a1demo0dz0k0my

Geophysical survey yields ‘tantalizing’ data that could point to Nefertiti’s burial place – but it’s too early to draw definitive conclusions.

09/17/2026

Another Pierpont Morgan Museum Egyptian artifact!

Donor Presenting a Mummified Osiris (Osiriphoros)
Egypt, Thebes, Twenty-Sixth Dynasty, ca. 640–600 B.C.
Gray-green schist
Acquired by Pierpont Morgan before 1913

This statue fuses a donor figure with the mummified form of Osiris, lord of the netherworld, in a single composition. The pairing was meant to secure the donor's lasting presence within the rites performed in Osiris's honor, and the piece would originally have stood inside a temple. No dedicatory inscription was ever added, which hints that the statue may have been produced as ready-made temple stock, carved in advance and left unfinished until a buyer came forward.

09/16/2026

Another great find!

09/12/2026

Block Figure Dedicated to Amun-Ra | Thanefer
Egypt, Thirtieth Dynasty, ca. 380-340 B.C. Mottled dark gray granite

This seated figure, arms folded across drawn-up knees and body wrapped in a cloak, revives an archaic form nearly two millennia old by the time it was carved, the block statue. Temples across Late Period Egypt were filled with these compact, geometric figures, often set up as funerary monuments and inscribed with prayers on behalf of their owners. Here, the back and base carry a dedication to Amun-Ra, made on behalf of a man named Thanefer.

The statue entered the collection of financier and collector J. Pierpont Morgan before 1913, the same year Morgan traveled up the Nile to Cairo and toward Khartoum on what would be his final journey abroad. Illness forced the party to turn back, and Morgan died in Rome that March.

Nearly 2,400 years after it was carved, this small granite figure still holds its silent dedication. 🏺

09/12/2026

One in, one out

09/08/2026

Triad of Osiris, Isis, and Horus, dating to the Third Intermediate Period, Dynasty 22, reign of Osorkon I, about 872–837 B.C. Crafted from gold inlaid with lapis lazuli, this statuette was purchased by the Louvre in 1872 and now belongs to the Musée du Louvre, Paris, and was on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. ✨

The piece depicts the family group central to ancient Egyptian kingship mythology: a shrouded, seated Osiris, falcon-headed Horus, and Isis wearing the sun disk and horns that often formed her head ornament during the first millennium B.C. Like other divine statuettes made from precious metals, it features suspension loops, likely used to carry the object safely or to hang it as a pectoral on a god’s cult statue. 🪙

09/08/2026

And in other news: no underground city under the pyramids https://www.newsweek.com/bombshell-great-pyramid-of-giza-study-retracted-12412886?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwdGRjcAUM7wlwZG9mBWZkaWQWUODZVxcEH64reja-IEo48axX4VNlKmV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkCjY2Mjg1NjgzNzkAAR7WG3e8pK38uRAq6btjLndWV2xRIfpDRBziWX2gNB5QXw2iNWgdZOxQOIFsog_aem_FnDj7bcosLRiFC3zEcwhoQ =1788849040

A journal found 'serious flaws' in research behind viral claims of an underground city beneath the Giza pyramids.

09/08/2026

New discovery