WARSAW, POLAND—Researchers from the University of Warsaw are studying the ancient temple at Gebelein in Upper Egypt, and they are employing new technology that will help to bring its damaged and faded decorations and inscriptions to life. The temple was dedicated to Hathor, and perhaps Amun-Ra, and it was constructed and first decorated during the reign of Hatshepsut, in the fifteenth century B.C. (Fragments of preserved inscriptions contain feminine word endings for the queen’s name.) “Perhaps, many years after her death, due to a complicated dynastic situation, Tuthmosis III was afraid that another ambitious queen might take over and push his own son away from power? This could lead to his decision to remove references to Hatshepsut as pharaoh, according to the principle—if it is not engraved in hieroglyphics, it never happened. But this is one of many theories. Why he wanted to erase her name is still a mystery,” expedition director Wojciech Ejsmond told Science & Scholarship in Poland. The team also plans to remove the debris from the floor of the temple and look for artifacts from the period. To read about another ancient Egyptian temple, go to "The Cult of Amun."
