M. El-Damaty “Secrets of Egyptian Antiquities – New Discoveries”

Join us in May for our last talk of the season to hear the latest updates on work at the site of Arab al-Hisn by Dr. Mamdouh El-Damaty, Former Minister of Antiquities in Egypt and current Professor at Ain Shams University. We look forward to welcoming you: reserve your ticket for this lecture on Eventbrite.

The SSEA Toronto Chapter wishes to thank Prof. Mohamed S. A. Hamza, the Cultural Counselor at the Egyptian Embassy in Washington DC, for his kind assistance in arranging Dr. El-Damaty’s visit to Toronto.

Who?

Dr. Mamdouh El-Damaty (Ain Shams University)

When?

Wednesday, May 15 at 7.00 pm

Where?

Sidney Smith Hall
Room 1083
100 St. George Street
Toronto

Abstract

We still have undiscovered secrets in the Egyptian antiquities, especially in the area of the great temple of Re in ancient Heliopolis/Matarya. Arab Al-Hisn is an important part of that great temple. In Oct. 2017, started Ain Shams University its new mission under the supervision of Mamdouh Eldamaty to make an excavation in Arab Al-Hisn, which is showing very positive results until now.

The work in the excavation area let us know, that we are excavating and researching in the religious complex including a ceremonial palace of Ramesside time. At the end of our second season in April 2018, we discovered a very unique ceremonial chapel of Ramesses II, which was used for the royal celebrations of the king, like the ceremony of the king’s coronation and the Heb-Sed festival. The royal chapel is considered as the first of its kind during the New Kingdom of Egypt. The area of the ceremonial palace witnessed important incidents of the ancient Egyptian history, including the Kings Ramesses II, Ramesses IV and Ramesses IX.

An important collection of mud brick walls of a casemate building was revealed, which is including three phases of the building, dating back to the Ramesside period, which is the main building, a second layer of the third intermediate period and the late period layer on the top of the building. Several important artifacts have been discovered during the digging process that helps in rewriting the history of the ancient city of Heliopolis.

Speaker Bio

Dr. Mamdouh El-Damaty is currently a Professor of Egyptology in the Department of Archaeology at the Faculty of Arts, Ain Shams University and Former Minister of Antiquities. He has received the Legion of Honor “Cavalier” from the Italian Government, State Award for Excellence in Social Sciences, Gold Medal of Charles University in Prague and the Award of Appreciation in Social Sciences of Ain Shams University. He has participated in 25 International Conferences in Egypt, Germany, Italy, Austria, France, Japan, Finland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. He is the author of 10 books and 28 scientific research papers in both international and local scientific journals. He was previously the President and Vice President of the International Committee of Arabic Museums. Since June 2017, Dr. Eldamaty has headed the team at the excavations of Arab Al-Hisn in El-Matarya on behalf of Ain Shams University and since September 2015 he has been part of the research project in the Valley of the Kings, Tomb of King Tutankhamun.