h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: The Mystery of the Egyptian Pharaoh at Niagara Falls - A87812201
Author: Galaxy Babe - eclectic editor - U128652

Something a little different

GB

This is faultless Galaxy Babe! I love it.

Not only did it make me want to read every word from start to last, and kept me hooked throughout, with a subject that really captivated me it did not fail at the end - the finish was a strong as the start.

I love this style of writing, so polished and easy on the mental ear. You've combined what could be quite dry facts into a polished Entry, in the very best h2g2 Guide Style. Well done GB!

If any authors are reviewing, take note - GB's Entry is the perfect length too. She knows her subject, has researched it well and has drafted and honed the text before submitting it.

Total magic

I too found this to be flautless. So should be accepted into the guide (IMHO).

One question ... what should we call the mummy, he, she, it or thingy?

Good entry, GB.

Excellent entry! Only thing I could think of to mention is that Ramses is also often known as Ramesses.

<BB<

thank you all for your reviews, I'm so glad you all enjoyed it,

I knew there was something I'd forgotten thanks <BB< I'll add a footnote later about the alternate spellings of his name. I chose Ramses as that's what he's called in other entries in the EG.

As to the "he, she or it", I believe a cadaver is sexless, but I could be wrong and am willing to change mention in the entry if it is. Undoubtedly the body when it was alive was male, as it had its genitalia intact. I can add that fact if requested.

GB

Are there copyright issues when adding images to articles after they have been accepted into the guide? - an image of the mummy, the museum at Niagara & maybe the giza that bought the mummy would be interesting to include.

There are indeed copyright issues. We have to write to the owners of pictures and get permission before using them. This is why we normally rely on photos taken by Researchers themselves, which are donated to the site.

In some cases we can find collections of photos which are in the public domain.

We would certainly never take a picture without asking.

This is really a very good Entry. It jsut made me think: I hope the mummy is safe where it is now. With the current state of Egypt things are not so good for its cultural heritage. I'm not sure how much things have improved again in this respect, but at least tomb raiding is a lot more common again now.

Aside: Egypt is relatively safe ... it is places like Iraq & Libya that fills me with despair ... there are so many gaps in our knowledge of the foundations of our "civilisation" & in theory there are still untapped / undiscovered sources of potential knowledge. More information on Assyria would be extremely useful.

I enjoyed this Entry, too

"There is, however, one travelling Pharaoh who visited one of the most beautiful places on Earth, Niagara Falls, albeit as a mummy so he couldn't really enjoy the experience, although he did manage to remain incognito for 140 years."

I think this sentence says a lot in one go and might be better in more than one sentence...

I'm also slightly puzzled by how the mummy ended up being anonymous, as the sentence "Giovanni Belzoni who located Pharaoh Ramses' resting place in 1817" suggests that the tomb had features identifying Ramses I, but then James Douglas obtained an anonymous mummy.

I also nominate "Rest in Perspex" to be a contender in the "best header" competition

Wasn't it normal practice to wrap small tokens with the Pharaoh's name into the mummy bindings? Have they unwrapped this mummy?

The mummy was indeed unwrapped. The mummy was found in Ramses I's coffin, and it was the Egyptian family who sold it to James Douglas as "a good condition mummy", although if he was an expert he'd have guessed it was royal.

I'll have a look at that long sentence...

I've tweaked some of the text to explain how the mummy became anonymous. Here is the report from the Carlos museum at Emory, who performed all the tests: http://carlos.emory.edu/RAMESSES/3_physicalevidence.html
they stop just short of saying its definitely Ramses I but it would have been sacrilege to have been mummified with arms crossed if this mummy hadn't been a Pharaoh in life, unless of course this is another Pharaoh (unlikely, I think, due to him having no ancestor Pharaohs and a similar head-shape to Seti 1 and Ramses II, which I would rather rely on than Radiocarbon dating something that's been mummified in resin.)

GB

I'm glad you enjoyed the "Rest in Perspex" header, SashaQ.
It occurred to me as I was watching the documentary and I saw Ramses in his Perspex viewing box, being gawped at by visiting schoolchildren. But I was glad they had draped a towel over his midsection, he had no such privacy at the Niagara Falls museum.

Lovely work!

Well done excellent entry

Thanks

GB

Just stopping by to say, lovely entry!

Niagara Falls is kind of funny as a tourist attraction isn't it? Basically, nobody knows what the narrative is. Is it about natural beauty? Hydroelectric powr? I can see Canada from here? Romantic Red Indians? Honeymooners?

So why NOT Pharaohs? But this does beat all.

Well done.

I've only two problems with this entry.

1. I think of a mummy as a preserved body wrapped in bandages. I had to ask in Peer Review before I figured out that this one doesn't have any bandages. I think it would be worth stating somewhere.

2. The phrase "Tutankhamun's tomb discovery". It sounds like the tomb discovery belonging to Tutankhamun, when in fact you meant the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb. You should change it to "the discovery of Tutankamun's tomb".