comment: >
  
  This decade has already given us a pandemic, a horrible meat grinder of a 20th century-style land war, self-transforming Optimus Prime, scandals ensnaring the past two US presidents, and inflation. Heck, there just was a mass shooting in England!
  Let’s throw in a pharaonic curse while we’re at it.
context: CAIRO (AP) — Archaeologists unearthed an ancient tomb in the southern Egyptian city of Luxor, known for its treasures dating back to the pharaohs, authorities said Saturday.
  Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said an Egyptian-British mission found the royal tomb in an ancient site on the west bank of the Nile River in Luxor, 650 kilometers (400 miles) south of the capital of Cairo.
  He said initial examinations show that the tomb apparently belongs to the 18th Dynasty of Pharaonic Egypt, which spanned from 1550 B.C. to 1292 B.C.
  The tomb is the latest in a series of ancient discoveries Egypt has touted in recent years in hopes of attracting more tourists. Egypt has been trying to revive its tourism sector, a major source of foreign currency. The sector is heavily reliant on the country’s ancient treasures. >
  
  Maybe someone should tell the government Egyptian tourism isn’t suffering because of lack of interesting antiquities…it’s suffering because every article on the subject lists Egypt as one of the worst travel destinations in the world due to its culture of rampant fraud, scams, filthy cities, and aggressive sexual harassment of female tourists (and tourists in general for that matter) >
  
  Traveling in a tour group in Egypt, I was offered many camels for every single girl in my tour group. This was also during Ramadan so it seemed a bit extra hypocritical >
  
  Awesome, how many camels did you go home with? >
  
  47 but I think that's beside the point >
  
  Well this might explain the crazy weather. >
  
  Goes nicely with the uptick in Transformers-adjacent tech. >
  
  Is Egypt safe enough to travel to? Anyone been there recently? >
  
  Egyptian here,
  Cairo is fucked
  Go to Luxor, Aswan, Sharm Al Sheikh, Hurghada & Alexandria, these are relatively safe and u will have quite a lot of fun. >
  
  Genuine question, why is Cairo fucked? >
  
  Lots of people, way too crowded even for un-touristic spots, scammers everywhere, if you have a camera and tried to take some pictures it will be confiscated by police, just don’t go to Cairo >
  
  Gotcha, thanks. 
  Me and the missus are planning a trip but we are leaning towards a Nile river cruise to see the temples on the way. >
  
  Wonder what else lies buried in this sandbox. Is this tomb found using satellites and gpr? >
  
  I believe one of the most sought after tombs is that of Imhotep. Whoever finds that, especially if it is intact, would go down in Egyptian archaeological history with great fame. In fact, to some archaeologists it would be the tomb to find.  
  I remember an archaeologist in a documentary speculating on some of the information they would hope was buried with Imhotep taking into account how important he was and what he is believed to have accomplished in various different fields. Hopefully if/when they find the tomb it will be intact and wasn't looted either before or after it was sealed. >
  
  How far back would that be? >
  
  First off I'm definitely no expert.  
  From what I've read he was the vizier and possibly architect to king Djoser which places him within the 27th century BC. They think his tomb is most likely in Saqqara.  
  Some archaeologists hope to learn more about the architecture and medical knowledge from that time. He appears to be a very important person, especially when you look at how he was treated despite him not being a royal.  
  The Egyptians were actually more advanced than some may believe. I can't remember the dates given in the documentary now but they've found the remains of a worker who had an operation performed on their skull. It is believed the person had a brain tumour and the operation was to relieve the pressure. There is evidence that the person lived after the operation and did not die because of the operation. They also knew how to set bones and use honey on wounds.  
  The fact that they operated on an ordinary worker and treated other workers leads archaeologists to believe that they weren't slaves who built the pyramids and tombs. There's no way anyone would go to that much trouble for a mere slave.  
  At one point, again I forget when, Egyptians tried wiring teeth back into peoples mouths using fine gold wire to attach it to adjacent teeth but as you can imagine it didn't stay in place. I imagine such an attempt at dentistry would be reserved for the very high up in society. The sand and grit also got in all their food and water and wore their teeth down.  
  While on the subject of tombs, some tombs were looted using inside knowledge. Such knowledge points the finger at some of the priests either knowing or being participants in the looting. They showed one tomb in a documentary which was looted before the very hard and very heavy block was placed over it. It had not been removed since it was first put in place, which again points to an inside job. >
  
  27th century bc would have been fine.
  Thanks for this aperitif 👌 >
  
  You're more than welcome. I find it an interesting subject.  
  I do wish more people realised that peoples intelligence and ingenuity wasn't reserved to just our times. For example, the Egyptians used a system with sand running out the bottom to lower very heavy blocks down into place. As the sand flowed out the heavy block on top of wooden supports slowly lowered due to gravity. It sounds simple when you think of it but it's actually really clever and is capable of lowering very heavy blocks gently into place.  
  Some of the finds at Egyptian work camps showed their lives were in many respects no different to ours. Archaeologists found some writing from a man complaining about his wife having an affair with someone else. That was quite a find actually as it sheds light on their day to day lives outside the more common seen and famous official writings on tombs and other scared objects. It's a side of past history people don't often see recordings of. >
  
  The Tomb of Criss Angel: Mindfreak >
  
  Better guard it so the British can't steal and snort whomever is buried there. >
  
  Or Let Hwass sell it, I met him, he is a real piece of work >
  
  That's cool. Just saw blue man group there.