From My Fantasy Writing Desk:
I’m sticking to photos from my travels in Spain this week, but this time they are all from the Egyptian Museum in Barcelona. I enjoyed this small, private collection. I have no idea how honorably (or not) the collector acquired the objects, but there were some beautiful and engaging pieces. The museum did a reasonably good job of explaining their context and use. I didn’t put notes with the photos right after visiting, alas, bad me, so I don’t have specifics for them except when my sieve-brain actually remembers.
(top) Figure of Akhenaten; (below) Nefertiti Ring 
Pharaoh Amenhotep III 
Ramesses II (Pharaoh in my fiction) 
Head rests (how did they sleep!) 
A bed 
A sistrum (musical rattle)
And no museum of ancient treasures is complete without the jewels
I did buy a beaded collar so I can look vaguely Egyptian at some point at an author event. I love the beaded diadem above–that is quite the head decoration.
Archaeology I enjoyed:
Tracing Grape Varieties into the Ancient World
We have evidence of winemaking way back into human history. Now some specific vine types are getting a close look. Geneticists are tracing specific grape vines back into history to Medieval and Roman times (which is actually kind of modern in the overall history of wine). They are trying to figure out how far back specific vine types go. The genetic links they are finding show that way back growers understood how to reproduce vines asexually from plant cuttings and thus they can trace genetically identical grape seeds across time.
Said one of the researchers, “It is rather unconventional to trace an uninterrupted genetic lineage for hundreds of years into the past. Instead of exploring broad patterns in genetic ancestry, as in most ancient DNA projects, we had to think like forensics scientists and find a perfect match in the database.”
Read the article for the really old grape varieties they’ve tracked. Click here for Archaeology News Network “Ancient DNA from Roman and medieval grape seeds reveal ancestry of wine making”
It’s all in the word–Peace
What meaning peace? This article is a deep dive (but not very long) into what the Egyptian word for peace meant, hatep. Hatep is the word used in the treaty between the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramesses II and the Hittite Emperor Hattusili III (two historic people who are characters in my fiction–the names are changed, but not to protect the innocent). It’s all about relationship and community and outward physical signs that reflect inner realities. Want to know what two ancient peoples intended when they signed the earliest extant peace treaty we have in history? This is for you. Click here for the ASOR blog “Peace in Ancient Egypt”