An Archaeological Mystery in Egypt

Scientists have discovered a long-buried branch of the Nile River that once flowed alongside more than 30 pyramids in Egypt, potentially solving the mystery of how ancient Egyptians transported the massive stone blocks to build the monuments.

The 40-mile-long (64km) river branch, which ran by the Giza pyramid complex among other wonders, was hidden under desert and farmland for millennia, according to a study revealing the find on May 16th.

The existence of the river would explain why the 31 pyramids were built in a chain along a now inhospitable desert strip in the Nile valley between 4,700 and 3,700 years ago.

The strip near the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis includes the Great Pyramid of Giza – the only surviving structure of the seven wonders of the ancient world – as well as the Khafre and Mykerinos pyramids.

Archaeologists had long thought that ancient Egyptians must have used a nearby waterway to move the giant materials used to build the pyramids.

“But nobody was certain of the location, the shape, the size or proximity of this mega waterway to the actual pyramids site,” said the lead study author, Eman Ghoneim of the University of North Carolina Wilmington in the US.

The Pyramid of Khafre – Wikimedia Commons

Read the full article here:  https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/16/scientists-find-buried-branch-of-the-nile-that-may-have-carried-pyramids-stones

Clamping Down on a Wedding Custom in Nigeria.

BBC News reported (18/5) that a fundamental part of a wedding celebration for many Nigerians is under threat.

As the bride and groom start dancing, the guests step forward holding large amounts of cash which they throw or “spray” at the happy couple, one note at a time, for the newlyweds to collect towards the cost of the party or setting up their lives together.

The problem is that the authorities have started to crack down on the custom and some prominent personalities have even been sent to prison, for abusing the country’s currency, the naira.

The 2007 Central Bank of Nigeria Act is unambiguous. “For the avoidance of doubt,” it says, “spraying of, dancing or [marching] on the naira or any note issued by the Bank during social occasions or otherwise howsoever shall constitute an abuse”.  The punishment is no less than six months in prison or a 50,000 naira fine ($36; £29), or both. The fine was set in 2007 and the figure has not been adjusted for inflation.

In February, actress Oluwadarasimi Omoseyin was sentenced to six months for spraying and stepping on new naira notes. In April, one of Nigeria’s most popular celebrities, a transgender woman known as Bobrisky pleaded guilty to four counts of abusing the currency and is currently serving her sentence.  The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says 200 people across the country face prosecution, while 24 people have already been convicted.  

Read the full article here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c060mn36py5o

Sports Climbing in Malawi

Globally, in the last decade, climbing has gone from a niche sport to a worldwide sensation and multibillion-dollar industry, says Al Jazeera. The sport made its debut at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and will feature again in Paris in 2024, while the Oscar-winning documentary, Free Solo, turned Alex Honnold into a star when he climbed the 3,000-foot (914m) El Capitan mountain wall without any rope or safety gear in 2017.

In 2022, The New York Times said that climbing could be the “future of tourism” in Malawi thanks to its soaring granite rock faces that have drawn comparisons with Yosemite National Park in the United States, one of climbing’s global hubs. But while Yosemite alone has more than 2,000 sport climbing routes, Malawi has yet to hit 50.

But a small group of enterprising, local climbers has a bold cause – to attract more Malawians to the sport. The Climb Centre, an open-air gym in the capital, Lilongwe, is the heart of the action. The gym is operated by Climb Malawi, an NGO which aims to attract young Malawians to climbing, create new routes across the country and develop Malawi’s local and international climbing scene.

Read the full article here: https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2024/5/12/climbing-is-for-ladies-too-transforming-malawi-into-a-climbers-paradise

Morocco Becomes the Continent’s Biggest Car-Producer.

Business incentives and investing in infrastructure like the freight railway line have allowed Morocco to grow its automotive industry from virtually non-existent to Africa’s largest in less than two decades, reported Associated Press (15/5). The North African kingdom supplies more cars to Europe than China, India or Japan, and has the capacity to produce 700,000 vehicles a year. 

Moroccan officials are determined to maintain the country’s role as a car-making juggernaut by competing for electric vehicle projects. But whether one of Africa’s few industrialisation success stories can stay competitive as worldwide auto production transitions to EVs and increasingly relies on automation remains to be seen.

More than 250 companies that manufacture cars or their components currently operate in Morocco, where the auto industry now accounts for 22% of gross domestic product and $14 billion in exports. French automaker Renault, the country’s largest private employer, calls Morocco “Sandero-land” because it produces nearly all of its subcompact Dacia Sanderos there.

Read the full article here: https://apnews.com/article/morocco-automobile-industry-electric-vehicles-2981a049578c411b95b525752d243f93

South African Artist Wins the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize

The South African artist Lebohang Kganye has won the prestigious Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation prize for her work that uses large-scale cutouts and elements of set design to trace and depict her family history during the apartheid era, reported The Guardian (16/5).

The Johannesburg-based artist took home the £30,000 prize for her winning exhibition, which is on display at the Photographers’ Gallery in central London and is called Haufi nyana? I’ve come to take you home.

In it Kganye – who was born in 1990, in the dying days of apartheid, uses cutout figures and objects that depict scenes from stories she was told by her family. The artist sometimes appears in the scenes, acting them out dressed as her relatives.

Combining oral history, family photo albums and theatrical stages, the result is work that the judges said “reflects on the realities and consequences of apartheid and colonialism”.

Anne-Marie Beckmann, the director of the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation, said: “It was a strong shortlist full of powerful images and long-term projects but we thought that Lebohang’s work experimented with the medium by combining photography and archival material from her family in a new and fresh way.”

Read the full article and see some of Kganye’s photographs here: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/article/2024/may/16/realities-of-apartheid-south-african-artist-wins-deutsche-borse-photography-prize