Berlin, 15.10.2009

PRESS RELEASE Seite 1 von 7

Staatliche Museen zu Highlights from the Collections Generaldirektion Stauffenbergstraße 41 D-10785 Berlin Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection Mechtild Kronenberg Leiterin der Abteilung Presse, The Bust of Nefertiti Kommunikation und Sponsoring 1351–1334 BC [email protected] Amarna, Egypt www.smb.museum www.smb.museum/neuesmuseum

Of all the highlights in the collection of Amarna art at the Anne Schäfer-Junker Egyptian Museum in Berlin, the bust of Nefertiti ("The beautiful Presse one has come"), the wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten, is the most Tel. + 49 (0)30 266 42 3402 Fax + 49 (0)30 266 42 3409 famous. Dating from around 1340 BC, the bust was crafted by [email protected] the royal sculptor Thutmose in his workshop in the capital city www.smb.museum/presse Akhetaten and displays the extent to which late Amarna art had developed. In this period, in the round were Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz modelled with a graceful, more dynamic approach and a new Dr. Stefanie Heinlein sense of naturalism. Presse- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit Von-der-Heydt-Str. 16–18 Recent studies of the artwork have revealed that the bust con- D-10785 Berlin sists of a limestone core covered with various layers of stucco, Tel. + 49 (0)30 25463 206 Fax + 49 (0)30 25463 268 which allowed the artist to achieve the fine contours of the [email protected] face and neck. Black-coloured was used to inlay a piece of quartz in Nefertiti's right eye. This bust would have served as a model for the artist to create other statues of the queen.

Around 1340 BC, when she was barely 30 years old, Nefertiti mysteriously vanished from the political stage. Up until that point, she had enjoyed a status equal to that of her husband and had brought considerable change to political and religious life in Egypt. Together with Akhenaten and their daughters, they established a new cult dedicated solely to the sun disk Aten.

After Akhenaten's death, his royal city languished, and the spectacular bust of Nefertiti' lay buried in rubbish in the work- shop undisturbed for more than 3,000 years.

On 6 December 1912 an archaeological team of the German Oriental Company led by Egyptologist Ludwig Borchardt (1863–1938) working on the site of Akhetaten near the mod- ern city of Tell el-Amarna unearthed the 'buried treasure' from the sculptor's workshop. Borchardt remarked simply in his di- ary: "Description is useless, see for yourself."

James Simon (1851–1932), a businessman and patron of the arts from Berlin, had financed the dig. He also held the license for the dig from the Egyptian Department of Antiquities which Seite 2 von 7 stipulated that the finds would be divided between the two. In Staatliche Museen zu Berlin 1913, Simon was allocated scores of objects, including the Generaldirektion bust, which he gave to the Egyptian Museum in 1920. "The Stauffenbergstraße 41 beautiful one" first went on public display in the Neues Mu- D-10785 Berlin seum in 1924. Although the work of art was evacuated from Mechtild Kronenberg Berlin during the Second World War, it was taken back to the Leiterin der Abteilung Presse, city in 1956. Kommunikation und Sponsoring On 16 October 2009, the beautiful queen will finally return to [email protected] her original residence in the Neues Museum on the Museum www.smb.museum www.smb.museum/neuesmuseum Island.

Anne Schäfer-Junker Presse The Berlin Green Head Tel. + 49 (0)30 266 42 3402 Fax + 49 (0)30 266 42 3409 400–100 BC, Greywacke [email protected] Origin unknown, purchased in 1894 www.smb.museum/presse

Named for the greenish stone out of which it was carved, the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz "Green Head" depicts an ageing man. The aesthetically bal- Dr. Stefanie Heinlein anced proportions of the face are underscored by the painstak- Presse- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit ingly smoothed surface. Despite demonstrating a meticulous Von-der-Heydt-Str. 16–18 pursuit of perfection, the head's features demonstrate a clear D-10785 Berlin departure from Ancient Egyptian ideals, instead conveying the Tel. + 49 (0)30 25463 206 Fax + 49 (0)30 25463 268 distinctive feel of an individual portrait. This impression is fur- [email protected] ther reinforced by the asymmetry present in the face and skull, as seen for example in the disparate widths of each side of the face or the length of the nasolabial , which end in a different position at each corner of the mouth.

The identity of the subject remains a mystery. The head bears no inscription and its origins are unknown. Only the remains of a rear pillar and the baldness of the subject tell us that the artwork is Egyptian. The lack of hair could also point to a priestly function.

Dating estimates for the Green Head range from the 30th Dy- nasty (c. 380–342 BC) to the Ptolemaic Period (332–30 BC). These estimates are based on stylistic cues, like the head's similarity to Hellenistic portrait , but also take into account iconographic details, like the remains of the necklace seen at the base of the neck above the left shoulder, a charac- teristic which is documented in the 30th Dynasty (380– 342 BC).

The Book of the Dead of Neferini ptolomaic, 4th century BC Seite 3 von 7 The Book of the Dead was a collection of funerary verses and Staatliche Museen zu Berlin spells that was used in Ancient Egypt from the early New Generaldirektion Kingdom (1500 BC) until the Roman Period. This rather infor- Stauffenbergstraße 41 mal collection of texts was mainly written on papyri and illus- D-10785 Berlin trated with small drawings, called vignettes. It contained the Mechtild Kronenberg knowledge that the deceased would need to pass through the Leiterin der Abteilung Presse, dangers of the afterlife and achieve rebirth. Kommunikation und Sponsoring [email protected] This illustrated manuscript belonging to Neferini dates from www.smb.museum www.smb.museum/neuesmuseum the Ptolemaic Period (323–30 BC) in Akhmim (Middle Egypt).

The papyrus is almost 10 metres in length and contains 80 Anne Schäfer-Junker chapters. Presse Tel. + 49 (0)30 266 42 3402 Fax + 49 (0)30 266 42 3409 The selection shows chapter 125: on the left the deceased (in [email protected] the middle) is led by two gods. She appears here before Osiris, www.smb.museum/presse the divine judge of the dead, seated imposingly on a throne, and 42 other judges to justify her worthiness by reciting a long Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz list of possible sins and declaring her innocence (negative con- Dr. Stefanie Heinlein fession ). Her heart is placed upon a scale and balanced against Presse- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit a feather, the symbol of truth, balance and order (the Egyp- Von-der-Heydt-Str. 16–18 tian principle of maat ). For each lie, the heart grows heavier D-10785 Berlin and tips the scale further. If proved to be completely deceptive Tel. + 49 (0)30 25463 206 Fax + 49 (0)30 25463 268 it will fall into the jaws of the waiting monster and be de- [email protected] voured immediately. The deceased must now prove that dur- ing her life on earth her deeds were just and in harmony with the laws of the afterlife. But in this, the gods provide her with assistance. The jackal-headed Anubis keeps the scale aloft while Thoth, with the head of an ibis, records the favourable verdict and the god Horus himself pleads on behalf of the de- ceased.

Highlights of the Museum of Pre- and Early History

“Berlin Golden hat” Ceremonial hat Around 1000 B.C. Place of discovery: unknown

Ever since the , humankind has wanted to under- stand and make use of nature’s rhythms and patterns. A par- ticularly impressive testament to astronomic knowledge can be seen in the Berlin ceremonial hat, dating from the and made from hammered which is absolutely unique for its size and the quality of its preservation. The chased patterns on wafer-thin gold sheet have an astral relevance. The sun,

immediately conjured up in the colour of the gold and pattern of rays at the top, influences day and night as well as the sea- sons through its apparent orbit. The moon, depicted in several Seite 4 von 7 places on the hat, allows for the subdivision of time in months Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and weeks. The arrangement and number of the adornments Generaldirektion is far from coincidental: they make it possible to calculate the Stauffenbergstraße 41 19 year cycle of the sun and moon with 228 solar and 235 D-10785 Berlin lunar months. Those who knew how to read this ornament Mechtild Kronenberg were able to calculate the calendar shifts between solar and Leiterin der Abteilung Presse, lunar years, as well as predict lunar eclipses and set dates for Kommunikation und Sponsoring rituals. [email protected] www.smb.museum www.smb.museum/neuesmuseum Deciphering the chased pattern grants us an entirely new pic- ture of the astronomic knowledge of people some 3000 years Anne Schäfer-Junker ago. More than 500 years before Meton of Athens was able to Presse mathematically calculate the shifts in time between the solar Tel. + 49 (0)30 266 42 3402 Fax + 49 (0)30 266 42 3409 and lunar calendars in 432 B.C., Bronze Age scholars already [email protected] knew how to do so! www.smb.museum/presse

The knowledge documented on the golden hat is definitely the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz result of observing the heavens and the patterns of nature Dr. Stefanie Heinlein over several generations. This knowledge was encrypted in the Presse- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit designs of an object, which for its exquisiteness and design Von-der-Heydt-Str. 16–18 may well have formed the ceremonial headdress of a high- D-10785 Berlin priest ruler, in such a way that would have made it accessible Tel. + 49 (0)30 25463 206 Fax + 49 (0)30 25463 268 to only a chosen few. [email protected]

Further works of art from the Bronze Age are preserved in the collection, they show that astronomical knowledge was fre- quently documented on valuable and sacred objects. Astro- nomical observations have even been proved to have existed as far back as the Stone Age. Several of these early testa- ments to the observation of the heavens are on display in the Neues Museum, including: circular ditches, which were used as a solar observatory, Mesopotamian evidence of calendric calculations, astral symbols from Troy and Central Europe, calendars from Roman times as well as Islamic and Jewish calendars.

Silver vessels from the treasure find of Troy around 2500 B.C.

The treasure finds dating from the 2nd half of the 3rd millen- nia B.C. are among the most valuable objects in the Collection of Trojan Antiquities, which Heinrich Schliemann donated to his country of birth in 1881 for it to be ‘forever preserved in its undivided state in the state capital’. The research work con- ducted on these precious metal finds from the Schliemann Col-

lection currently focus on those objects which were not taken to the Pushkin Museum in Moscow in 1945 and which are still being held there against international law and which thus con- Seite 5 von 7 stitute ‘looted art’. The objects in question are various Staatliche Museen zu Berlin vessels, mostly originating from part A of the treasure find, Generaldirektion which Heinrich Schliemann took as once belonging to Priam Stauffenbergstraße 41 the Trojan king known to us in the Homeric myths. Recent D-10785 Berlin research on these objects and several small gold objects in Mechtild Kronenberg Berlin have already produced some quite exceptional findings. Leiterin der Abteilung Presse, Archaeological examinations produced findings on the deposits Kommunikation und Sponsoring from where the silver was taken as well as on its treatment [email protected] and the techniques used in the production of the vessels and www.smb.museum www.smb.museum/neuesmuseum . Gold granulation, brazing and casting methods as well as the forging of thick vessels were techniques which Anne Schäfer-Junker were perfectly mastered in Troy as far back as the 3rd millen- Presse nium BC. Tel. + 49 (0)30 266 42 3402 Fax + 49 (0)30 266 42 3409

[email protected] Particularly interesting is the large silver vessel that originally www.smb.museum/presse had two handles, in which Schliemann found the gold jewellery from Priam’s Treasure. It contains textile remains, from the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz fabric in which the jewellery was wrapped when it was discov- Dr. Stefanie Heinlein ered. The container itself is the largest and heaviest silver ves- Presse- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit sel ever unearthed in Western Asia Minor and bears resem- Von-der-Heydt-Str. 16–18 blances with the precious metal hollowware from the Babylo- D-10785 Berlin nian royal cemetery of Ur. Tel. + 49 (0)30 25463 206 Fax + 49 (0)30 25463 268 [email protected]

The from Le Moustier Middle , ca. 45 000 BC; Bones Le Moustier, Dép. Dordogne, France

The small municipality of Le Moustier lies at the foot of a steep chalk cliff on the bank of the Vèzére. It was here that in 1908 the Swiss archaeologist Otto Hauser discovered the remains of an Ice Age . Together with anthropologist Hermann Klaatsch, he began to unearth the skeleton. The position of the bones suggested they had discovered a grave. The unusual shape of the deceased’s skull was sensational, it featured large bulges above the eyes and a sloping forehead which differed greatly from those of modern . It soon became clear that what they had found were the remains of a homo nean- derthalensis, so named after the oldest find of such an individ- ual, whose remains had been discovered in 1856 in Neander- thal near Düsseldorf. The find of Le Moustier clearly proved that the buried their dead. The preliminary as- sessment of the find by Klaatsch the anthropologist presumed the body was that of a young individual, male, around 16 years old.

The skull of the Neanderthal survived the Second World War, the remaining skeleton was destroyed in the flames when the museum building was severely damaged in 1945. New re- Seite 6 von 7 search conducted in the last few years have concluded that the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin youth may well have only been 11 years old at the time of Generaldirektion death. In the Anthropological Museum and Institute at the Stauffenbergstraße 41 University of Zurich, a stereolithographic image and a virtual D-10785 Berlin reconstruction of the skull have been made. In addition to this, Mechtild Kronenberg the Department for at the Max Planck Insti- Leiterin der Abteilung Presse, tute in Leipzig completed computer tomographic images of the Kommunikation und Sponsoring skull, in which the scientific interest especially focused on the [email protected] mouth, as the real age of the individual could best be deter- www.smb.museum www.smb.museum/neuesmuseum mined in the development of the teeth. Further examinations of the growth lines in the teeth were made with a series of Anne Schäfer-Junker special X-rays at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility Presse in Grenoble, France. The analysis of these findings will allow us Tel. + 49 (0)30 266 42 3402 Fax + 49 (0)30 266 42 3409 to determine the life span of this Neanderthal child, whether it [email protected] suffered from any diseases and whether it had to endure peri- www.smb.museum/presse ods of malnourishment.

Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz The Neanderthal was acquired together with the skeleton of a Dr. Stefanie Heinlein modern man who was discovered in Combe Capelle (Dep. Dor- Presse- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit dogne). The preserved skull of this skeleton is highly signifi- Von-der-Heydt-Str. 16–18 cant for modern research, as it identifies the individual as one D-10785 Berlin of the early homo sapiens sapiens, who lived in this region Tel. + 49 (0)30 25463 206 Fax + 49 (0)30 25463 268 approximately 30,000 years ago. The museum thus has in its [email protected] possession two objects which are able to throw some light on the great unanswered question of how it came to be that mod- ern humans outstripped Neanderthals so quickly. The two skeletons were purchased in 1910 as the result of a huge campaign for donations and cost 160,000 Reichstaler, which when converted to today’s value makes them the most expen- sive acquisition in the history of the museum!

Collection of Classical Antiquities

• Bronze statue of the Xanten Youth (from the Rhine near Xanten / Lüttingen), Early Roman Empire. Exhibition: Level 2 • Two marble colossal statues of gods (Helios and Isis- Fortuna) from Egypt, Late Roman Empire. Exhibition: David Chipperfield’s new South Dome Room (Level 2) • Torso of a marble colossal temple cult image of Zeus Sosi- polis from Magnesia on the Maeander, Hellenistic, 2nd cen- tury BC. Exhibition: Greek Courtyard (Level 0) • Marble sarcophagus with depiction of lion, Roman Empir. Exhibition: Egyptian Courtyard (Level 0)

• ‘Snake torso’ Sc 1983, tomb monument in the form of a torso wearing armour. From Miletus, Late Hellenistic / Early Empire. Exhibition: Egyptian Courtyard (Level 0) Seite 7 von 7 • Cypriot tank wagon from Kition, bronze, 11/10th century Staatliche Museen zu Berlin BC. (Misc. 8947). Exhibition: Ethnographic Room, south- Generaldirektion west wing (Level 1) Stauffenbergstraße 41 • Cypriot limestone statue of a man from Idalion, 6th cen- D-10785 Berlin tury BC. Exhibition: south-west wing (Level 1) • Mechtild Kronenberg Cypriot terracotta statue of a woman sitting on a throne Leiterin der Abteilung Presse, from Marion, 4th century BC. Exhibition: south-west wing Kommunikation und Sponsoring (Level 1) [email protected] • Historic plaster casts of friezes from the Parthenon and www.smb.museum www.smb.museum/neuesmuseum other constructions on the Acropolis in Athens as well as

from temples and mausolea in Greece and Asia Minor (Ath- Anne Schäfer-Junker ens, Halicarnassus, Xanthos). Exhibition: Stairway Hall Presse (Level 2) Tel. + 49 (0)30 266 42 3402 Fax + 49 (0)30 266 42 3409 • Finds from a Celtic prince’s tomb in Schwarzenbach (Huns- [email protected] rück): bronze amphora and gold jewellery, 5th century BC. www.smb.museum/presse Exhibition: Level 3 • Celtic helmet (iron with bronze coating and enamel inlays) Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz from Canosa (Apulia), 4th century BC. Exhibition: Level 3 Dr. Stefanie Heinlein Presse- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit Von-der-Heydt-Str. 16–18 D-10785 Berlin Tel. + 49 (0)30 25463 206 Fax + 49 (0)30 25463 268 [email protected]