THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE The University of Chicago 1155 East 58th Street Chicago, IL 60637-1540 BETWEEN HEAVEN & EARTH: Birds in Ancient Egypt Tour March 6 – 24, 2014 Escorted by ROZENN BAILLEUL-LESUER Left: Birds in an Acacia Tree, Nina de Garis Davies, 1932. Cover: Baskets of eggs beside a small flock of captured Dalmatian pelicans (Pelecanus crispus). Tomb of Horemheb, Thebes. BETWEEN HEAVEN & EARTH: Birds in Ancient Egypt Tour March 6 – 24, 2014 Escorted by ROZENN BAILLEUL-LESUER Dear Members and Friends of the Oriental Institute, Our latest special exhibit Between Heaven & Earth: Birds in Ancient Egypt, gave us an unprecedented glimpse at the importance of these feathered denizens of the sky in the world of ancient Egyptians. I now want to invite you to join the exhibit guest curator, Rozenn Bailleul-LeSuer, in exploring firsthand the impact of birds on ancient Egyptian culture, while having the opportunity to admire the real–life models that inspired Egyptian craftsmen. Offered for the first time by the Oriental Institute, this tour to Egypt combines a unique historical discovery of the country with an ornithological flavor, which will make THURSDAY, MARCH 6: Clap-Netting scene from the tomb of Nakht (ca. 1400–1390 this program a wonderful journey not Depart from Chicago. BC). Four fowlers are shown having caught in their net a wide only for art–history aficionados and variety of colorful waterfowl, for the most part ducks and coot (Fulica atra). From Nina Davies 1936, vol. 1 pl. 48. archaeology buffs, but also for bird FRIDAY, MARCH 7: CAIRO watchers. The tour has been specifically We arrive into Cairo and transfer to the Mena timed to coincide with the peak of spring House Hotel, situated on the Giza plateau. from the Delta. Today the site is an impressive migration, when the myriads of Palearctic This evening we will meet with Rozenn outdoor museum. birds that winter in sub-Saharan Africa Bailleul-LeSuer for dinner. MENA HOUSE HOTEL (B/L) return to their breeding grounds in MENA HOUSE HOTEL (D) Europe and Western Asia. In the breath- MONDAY, MARCH 10: CAIRO taking landscape of the Nile Valley, SATURDAY, MARCH 8: CAIRO We will spend the morning at the Egyptian surrounded by the splendors of ancient Our tour begins at Saqqara with visits to the Museum and discover highlights of its huge Egypt, we will have exciting opportunities newly opened museum and the Step Pyramid collection, including the “Geese of Meidum,” to observe these splendid species. complex of Djoser. Here we might sight a a fragment from the temple of Userkaf, the pharaoh’s eagle owl. We will also tour the new animal mummy room, and the objects Rozenn Bailleul-LeSuer’s expertise in bird catacombs of North Saqqara, the smaller from the tomb of Tutankhamun. After lunch, Egyptology, combined with her knowledge Pyramid of Teti, the mastaba tombs of the touring continues to the only surviving and passion for Egyptian avifauna, will nobles Ti and Ptahhotep, as well as the small, motivate our guests to develop a deep unfinished tomb of Neferherenptah, known appreciation for Egypt’s cultural and as the “Bird Tomb” for its agricultural and bird natural heritage. She will be joined by a hunting scenes. After lunch, we will meet remarkable team of onsite experts and with our birder for an afternoon of birding at local birders to give you an experience of Lake Dahshur. Some of the common birds we a lifetime. Whether you have visited Egypt might spot today are the common kestrel, before or not, this tour will undoubtedly laughing dove, the unique Eurasian hoopoe, provide you with a new and fresh look on pallid swift, hooded crow and the dainty the fascinating world of ancient Egypt. white wagtail. We may also have the good fortune to see many of the other migrants that pass through this region. MENA HOUSE HOTEL (B/L) Gil J. Stein SUNDAY, MARCH 9: CAIRO Director, Oriental Institute This morning we continue our birding at the Abbassa fish ponds in the Eastern Delta. Here a nice mix of water and bush country birds Rozenn Bailleul-LeSuer is a Ph.D. candidate in can be seen, including Senegal thick-knees, Egyptology at the University of Chicago, a life-long little bittern, squacco heron, purple birder, and, most recently, the curator of the special swamphen, and clamorous reed-wabler, exhibit Between Heaven & Earth: Birds in Ancient white-throated, pied kingfishers and also Egypt at the Oriental Institute Museum. After possibly jack snipe, crested lark, and studying chemical engineering in France, as well as bluethroat. Later we continue to Tanis, Zoan of the Bible, and capital of Egypt during the Greek and Latin in Vermont, she is now able to 21st and 22nd Dynasties. Tanis served combine her passion for birds and her academic as the burial place of some of the dynasties’ interest in Egypt. Her dissertation research tackles most important leaders. These pharaohs the economic impact of birds on Egyptian society, as embellished their temples with decorated they were used as offerings for the gods and the stones and monumental sculptures brought dead, and food for the living. representatives of the Seven Wonders of the shrike, brown-necked raven, graceful prinia, Ancient World, the Pyramids of Giza and the and the beautiful Nile Valley sunbird. At this Sphinx. Time permitting, we will stop at the time of the year there will be flocks of remarkably preserved remains of the Solar migrating western yellow and white wagtails, Boat of Cheops housed in a small museum. and trumpeter finches. This afternoon we MENA HOUSE HOTEL (B/L) will visit Chicago House, the home of the Oriental Institute Epigraphic Survey project, TUESDAY, MARCH 11: FAYYUM OASIS and Luxor Temple. Beginning at the newly After an early departure, we will first stop at renovated Avenue of the Sphinxes, which the important Greek and Roman site of originally linked Luxor and Karnak temples, Karanis (Kom Washim), which housed two we examine the Roman fresco paintings limestone temples and a large agora. We then restored jointly by Chicago House and the transfer to 4x4 Jeeps for our touring around American Research Center in Egypt, as well Lake Qarun, the largest saltwater lake in as the open-air museum and blockyard Egypt. Touring continues at the Ptolemaic conserved by Chicago House. town of Soknopaiou Nesos (Dime es-Siba’). STEIGENBERGER HOTEL (B/L) Ringed by a high mud-brick wall, it is reached by a processional way of stone lions MONDAY, MARCH 17: LUXOR/CRUISE ending at the remains of its large temple. The This morning we will cross the Nile to the remainder of the day will be spent birding west bank to continue our touring at the around the Lake Qarun and Wadi El Rayan, temple and chapels of Medinet Habu and the where we are likely to see grebes, coots, most famous of the hundreds of tombs of the ducks, and shorebirds. including the famous “Birds in an Acacia Kings, Queens, and Nobles, spread over two HELNAN HOTEL FAYOUM (B/L/D) Tree.” We then continue to the small town of square miles. These tombs are of special Sohag. interest for their artistic and naturalistic WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12: FAYYUM OASIS EL NILE HOTEL (B/L/D) murals, which give us an intimate view of life Today’s touring to Medinet Madi in ancient Egypt. We will choose some of the (Narmouthis) will give us a chance to see a SATURDAY, MARCH 15: LUXOR tombs with the best bird representations in site famous for its temple built by An early departure will allow us to reach their chapels. We will also visit the Amenemhet III and IV in the late 12th Luxor in time for lunch at our hotel. Our Ramesseum, where the fallen statue of Dynasty. This well-preserved complex also drive will be along canals and fields, where Ramesses II inspired Shelley’s famous poem exhibits two Late Ptolemaic temples, with an the sharp-eyed among us might spot some of “Ozymandias.” Our lunch will be on board avenue of Greek and Egyptian-inspired the area’s birds, in particular the numerous the deluxe Farah Nile Cruiser, our floating sphinxes and wonderful lion statues. We will cattle egrets feeding alongside the Egyptians hotel for the next four nights. then head to Tebtunis (Umm el-Breigat), one working in their fields. We will then spend FARAH NILE CRUISER (B/L/D) of the largest Graeco-Roman towns in the the afternoon touring the magnificent Fayyum, where the first of innumerable sanctuary of Amun-Re at Karnak, with its TUESDAY, MARCH 18: SAIL/EDFU papyrus scrolls was found, enabling maze of monumental gateways, obelisks, This morning will be spent at leisure to archaeologists to begin to understand the pillared halls, and subsidiary shrines. explore the local suqs or the town. During local history during this period. Our last visit STEIGENBERGER HOTEL (B/L) lunch on the Farah, we sail to Edfu to dock today is to Hawara to see the remains of the for the night. Pyramid of Amenemhat III and site of the SUNDAY, MARCH 16: LUXOR FARAH NILE CRUISER (B/L/D) labyrinth thought to be his mortuary temple. This morning our birder will join us to HELNAN HOTEL FAYOUM (B/L/D) explore the extensive fields on Crocodile WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19: SAIL/KOM OMBO Island. Here we are likely to see strikingly Touring begins this morning at the Temple of THURSDAY, MARCH 13: MINYA bright green bee-eaters, pallid swift, masked Edfu, a completely preserved Ptolemaic After visiting the collapsed Pyramid of Meidum, built by Snefru, possibly the earliest true pyramid, we drive to Minya.