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French Egyptologist who saved Nubian temples dies [Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt]
Yahoo! ^ | Friday, June 24, 2011 | AFP

Posted on 06/26/2011 7:30:52 AM PDT by SunkenCiv

French Egyptologist Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt, known for her books on art and history and for saving the Nubian temples from flooding caused by the Aswan Dam, has died at the age of 97, her editor Telemaque said Friday.

In a career spanning more than half-a-century, Desroches-Noblecourt also helped preserve the mummy of King Ramses II, which was threatened by fungus, and became the first French woman to lead an archaeological dig in 1938...

Desroches-Noblecourt's greatest accomplishment came in 1954 when the government of Gamal Abdel Nasser decided to build a new dam with a capacity of 157 billion cubic metres, which would extend into Sudan... Desroches-Noblecourt identified the threatened sites and then made a formal appeal for international support to move 14 temples and make urgent excavations at sites that would soon be under several dozen metres of water...

Desroches-Noblecourt managed to find funding -- from 50 countries at the time of the Cold War. The rescue project, including the transportation and reconstruction of the temples on their new sites, took two decades...

This in turn led to the organization of a Tutankhamun exhibition at the Louvre in 1967, which attracted nearly 1.3 million visitors, followed by the exhibitions of Ramses II in 1976, and Amenophis III in 1993.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: aswandam; egypt; france; godsgravesglyphs
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To: SunkenCiv

I’d love to see Palmyra. Maybe if the Assad dynasty is ever deposed . . .


21 posted on 06/27/2011 12:37:37 PM PDT by colorado tanker
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To: colorado tanker

http://www.facebook.com/people/Paul-Myra/1743297173


22 posted on 06/27/2011 2:45:27 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (It's the Obamacare, stupid! -- Thanks Cincinna for this link -- http://www.friendsofitamar.org)
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To: SunkenCiv
Could I have Elvira instead? She'd keep me abreast of things.


23 posted on 06/27/2011 2:50:45 PM PDT by colorado tanker
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To: colorado tanker

24 posted on 06/27/2011 2:58:34 PM PDT by colorado tanker
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To: colorado tanker

At one time, I’d agree with that. ;’)


25 posted on 06/27/2011 4:21:05 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (It's the Obamacare, stupid! -- Thanks Cincinna for this link -- http://www.friendsofitamar.org)
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To: SunkenCiv

I’m about done traveling, so far as I can see. Just a few places I’d have liked to see before that happened, is all...

I’m lucky, in many ways, having seen more of the world than many of my high school classmates.

Most of the sites I got to see were in Turkey, and at the time (mid-80’s) the local population was mostly very friendly. I’d probably not like to visit there again, however, as the place is becoming more and more Islamist.

I’ve been, for example, to Goreme, in Cappodicia, and it’s well worth visiting. About 25KM from Incirlic AS, near Adana, is a place called Yilankale, or Snake Castle, a Byzantine fortress. When I was there, anyone could go climb all over the castle, and look all around. No fences, not guards, no guides, sometimes a sheep herder grazing his flock on the hills. And I was stationed outside Diyarbakir, a few years later, and walked the wall of the old city. Some of the graffiti is pretty old. One I saw supposedly says “the 6th Roman Legion was here.” And it’s listed as the oldest continuously inhabited city in Asia.

Way things are going now, I’m not going to Mexico for much of anything. I may go looking as historical sites in the US, though. We’ll see. Or not. ;)

OS


26 posted on 06/28/2011 1:14:46 PM PDT by Old Student
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To: Old Student

Thanks Old Student.

http://cdn.wn.com/pd/ff/a3/66656dbad1609c7f63bc02e2f984_grande.jpg


27 posted on 06/28/2011 5:22:02 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (It's the Obamacare, stupid! -- Thanks Cincinna for this link -- http://www.friendsofitamar.org)
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To: SunkenCiv

Looks like they’ve “improved” the site. It was some distance from anything else. I rode there with a friend once, took a taxi there the second time, and drove myself the third time I visited the Castle. It was a lonely and beautiful place. No parking lot, no flag pole, at the time.

this looks much as it did when I was last there:

http://www.pbase.com/dosseman/yilan&page=all

OS


28 posted on 06/29/2011 11:30:37 AM PDT by Old Student
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