Conclusion and Website Reviews

Conclusion and Website Reviews

Conclusion

Early in Egyptian history the dead were buried with special grave offerings in small ditches in the desert, which was similar to other early civilizations. As their civilization progressed and developed, their religion and burial practices expanded. Centuries after the Ancient Egyptians stopped creating lavish and extraordinary tombs, their past still leaves us in awe. If it were not for the extra measures they took to preserve their deceased for the afterlife, we would not have the opportunity to view and study who these people were. By examining their remains we can determine how the people lived, what their diet consisted of, and what diseases may have affected them. By studying the artifacts that were left behind in their tombs, archaeologists and researchers are able to determine what resources existed during those times.

Many Egyptian burial rituals still exist in our present day society. Many still embalm their loved ones and have them buried in a coffin within another tomb or mausoleum. Prayers are said and wakes are held. At times, the deceased will also be buried with jewelry or items of sentimental value. Some people also continue to visit the deceased at the cemetery to give offerings, such as flowers.

By studying how the Egyptians thought about death and funeral practices, we can come to a better understanding of our own society and how we relate to the afterlife.

Website Reviews

http://www.jhu.edu/~gazette/2006/30jan06/30bryan.html

It was incredible and I could not stop reading. It had a calendar over a two month period of what the PhD candidates were working on. You can click onto an image on the calendar day, there would be pictures and description of what they were digging up or if they were visiting a temple to examine and research the site. The expedition was headed off by Dr. Betsy Bryan. The newest discovery of the team was a life size statue of one of the queens of the king Amenhotep III. The PhD candidates documented their progress on a daily basis, and it was interesting to see how they worked, who the locals they worked with, and their discoveries. You could view how they section off the designated areas they wanted to dig, how they took measurements and when they did clear off dirt the great things they would find. It was pretty exciting to see their daily progress. The calendar spanned over a two month period, then they would have to close up shop because they needed to study and at many times put the artifacts back together again. This was a great educational resource, but it didn’t assist in the topic I was actually looking for.

http://guardians.net/hawass/index.htm

Website for Dr. Zahi Hawass
Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities

At first, when reviewing this website, I had no idea who this person was, but I was referred to the website from another website. The farther I navigated through the site, the better it became. This website contains current archaeological digs being done in Egypt, and the information was pretty extensive. He wrote about some of his past achievements and honors. There are a lot of images of the work that has been done and that is currently under research. This website was a great resource. This quote from a speech he gave for receiving an honorary award from the American University in Cairo, may give you some idea what type of person he is.

“And now I have the responsibility for all of the antiquities in Egypt. This is a heavy charge, to protect our common past. But it is an important job, and I am honored to do it. The past is not just dry bones and broken pots, or even just magnificent statues. It is what has made us all who we are today, and if we do not understand it, we are doomed to failure in the future. Here in Egypt, we are at a critical point. Our past, which belongs to the entire world, is in danger, threatened by the exploding population, pollution, and especially by ignorance.”

http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/burialcustoms/index.html

There was so much information available, but they had the information organized in chronological order, which was very helpful. It seems it would take days to go through all of the pictures of the artifacts they have cataloged. A beautiful time line, with links to other pages with more information than one person could handle! The information available on this website is truly incredible, but it is from the University College of London. The amount of artifacts that one can view is really overwhelming. This website was a great resource.

http://members.tripod.com/~ib205/book.html

Egypt, Land of Eternity

By Ian Bolton May 2002

He built the website for academic purposes, great resource! The menu contains a map with all the major cities, and then he included all the major cemeteries within those cities. There was also information about the chronology of the dynasties that ruled, and the kings and queens in power. Information about individual tombs, pyramids, and monuments is available. He would also have links to other websites if he didn’t have information about some of the other ancient texts. He included a list of Egyptians deities, translations of the Egyptian zodiac, and astrology. Then there was my favorite section, Death and the Afterlife. This website was a great resource, unfortunately some of the pictures were missing because in his homepage, he had explained that his site was sponsored by Tripod at first, and then were bought by Lycos. Lycos will not allow him to have as much web space as Tripod had previously. He does have some advertisements on the periphery of the website, but not anything to distracting. His site is very easy to navigate through, and the information is presented in a very aesthetic and clear presentation.

http://www.rom.on.ca/egypt/case/about/burial.html

By the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM)

The Egyptian exhibition closed May 23, 2000, but the information is now part of the museum’s archive. This website was a great source of information. It did not have as much information as some of the other websites, but it was a great comprehensive body of work. The links they had on their menu were; Interactive timeline, Intro to the Age of the Pyramids, Map of Ancient Egypt, Curator’s Notepad, Religion, Gods and Goddesses, and Burial Customs. The design of the website was beautiful and it was very easy to navigate through. The information available is based on the artifacts they had on exhibition, but their website definitely contained more historical information for the public if they were interested. This website was one of my favorites, and one of the most helpful of the websites I had viewed.

http://www.crystalinks.com/egyptafterlife.html

The information she wrote up on her Egyptian Afterlife page was very helpful. She had summarized the information concerning spirituality, different deities associated with afterlife, and the elaborate tombs of the Old Kingdom. The images she also had were very useful. But some of the information I found in other sources was different from hers, so some of her information may have been a bit inconsistent with what other archaeologists have found. It appears she is very interested in the Egyptian history, but more so because of the aspects of the after life because she is a psychic. If you go to her homepage, it is titled ‘Crystalinks’…Ellie Crystal’s Metaphysical and Science Website’. Not to devalue what she has done, and the work she has put into her website, but she also has a link from her homepage for those who are interested in a psychic reading with her. And interestingly, here is an exert from her biography,

From a very young age, Ellie developed her abundant, intuitive and natural psychic abilities. At age eleven, Ellie experienced an otherworldly encounter that abruptly changed her life and shaped her future. In the Nevada desert, a spirit named Zoroaster, lovingly called Z, appeared to her. He became part of Ellie's daily life, bringing her to a destiny set in motion from the beginning. Those who know Ellie, or have read about Ellie and Z, have suggested that their ongoing repartee and adventures would itself make a humorous, magical, and heartwarming movie.

It is a very interesting website, and for those interested she has information about UFO’s.

http://www.egyptologyonline.com/chronology.htm

This website looks like it was created for students, or perspective students for the National Home Study College, which also offers distance learning courses in archaeology and Ancient Egyptian subjects. Copyright 2001-2006 The Astra Corporation Ltd.

This was a very helpful website, but it gives the viewer a brief summary of history or chronology tables, or whatever your interest might be about Egypt. The menu on the main page has a lot of subjects to choose from, but the information on any of the links of interest had very general information. The site appears to have been created to lure perspective students to the on-line courses available. But the material in website was still very useful, it was a great way to discover a broad idea of what is available to study concerning the present or past Egypt. Such as the link on monuments, pyramids and chronology were very useful.

http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/DEPT/RA/ABZU/DEATH.HTML#Shabtis

The information that was offered on this website was brief and a good summary of the elements associated with Ancient Egyptian afterlife. It did not have much information about the tombs or pyramids though. But it did contain other information that was helpful. This website actually seemed to be a good template of how our website project should be, but with more information and resources. The audience for this site seemed more for educational purposes.

http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/nehebkau.htm

Nehebkau, the God Who Joined Ka to the Body, God of Protection and Magic

This website had information on the theory and history of the Egyptian god Nehebkau, and other deities associated with Nehebkau or the after life, which is why I was drawn to it. But it offers more than historical and educational information. It is a tourism based website, and people also have blog sites on there concerning Egypt. This website is linked to other sites about the weather in Egypt, general or specific tours in Egypt. There are also feature stores about different travel sites, museums, and there is a section were the writer updates everyday. This is a great website that offers research and tourism information.

http://www.paralumun.com/egyptburial.htm

Paralumun New Age Village appears to be the group that built and designed the website.

This did seem to be legitimate historical Egyptian website because the information that was offered was very brief and basic. But what really bothersome was the link that was in red on every page at the end of every paragraph that said, Weight Loss Secrets, which was an advertisement for some weight loss plan. And there was an advertisement bar at the top of the page concerning celebrity trivia, so that was bothersome as well. But I was impressed that they had this information to offer because it was one of few sites that mentioned this; the deceased would need them to row them across the River of Death, the serpent that guarded Twelve gates and crossing the Lake of Fire, and lastly the 42 gods that help judge the deceased upon entering the Hall of Ma’at. This website stated it was the Hall of Osiris, but the Hall of Ma’at was more frequently translated as the place of judgment in the afterlife. It was impressive that they had that information, but other than that, the website was not very helpful.

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