Trowel Tales: The AIA Blog

AIA Trustees in Discussion with Libyan Delegation
April 16, 2013
AIA Trustees Ronald Greenberg, Elizabeth Macaulay-Lewis, and Paul Rissman joined AIA CEO Peter Herdrich and colleagues from the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University in hosting a delegation of archaeologists from Libya for discussions in New York. Lead by Dr. Mftah Ahmed of the Libyan government’s Department of Antiquities, the group discussed the current situation for archaeologists in Libya as well as possible areas of collaboration among those attending. The group also received a tour of the current exhibit, Temple and Tomb, Prehistoric Malta 3600-2500 BCE, currently on display at ISAW. The archaeologists from Libya were in the U.S. under the auspices of the U.S. State Department’s International... Read More
AIA Tours: The Ancient Capital of Memphis and Arrival in Aswan
by Egyptologist Stephen Harvey
February 14, 2013
Day 5: Thursday, February 7. Some days on the tour are more about traveling to the next destination rather than pure archaeological tourism, and today was to be one of those days, with an important exception: a trip en route to the ruins of ancient Memphis. Morning saw our hotel check out, and the loading of our bags onto the bus that would eventually take us to the Cairo airport and thence to Aswan, where we are to board our cruise ship on Lake Nasser. At Memphis, our guide Mahmoud showed us the archaeological park formed out of statues and temple parts from this, the capital of Egypt during most of the ancient millennia. We also saw column bases from the poorly-known (and hardly published!) palace of King Merneptah, excavated in the... Read More
AIA Tours: Private visit to the Egyptian Museum & Descent into the Step Pyramid
by Egyptologist Stephen Harvey
February 13, 2013
Day 4: Wednesday, February 6. Our plan for a morning visit to the Egyptian Museum, located in the now globally famous Tahrir Square, has been on my mind for weeks prior to the departure of this trip. Even the smallest chance of any disturbances in the area would prevent our visiting the treasures located in the museum. Through careful AIA Tours planning, and as a great benefit of our “behind the scenes” special access, the museum was opened to our group exclusively at 7 AM, two hours before the public opening. We all felt quite special as the museum staff opened the ornate, early 20th century iron gates of the museum just for us, ushering us into the entirely empty museum garden. For professional Egyptologists, the chance to... Read More
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