Based on the book "The Demon Haunted World: Science as a candle in the dark" published by Headline 1996.

The following are suggested as tools for testing arguments and detecting fallacious or fraudulent arguments:

•Wherever possible there must be independent confirmation of the facts •Encourage substantive debate on the evidence by knowledgeable proponents of all points of view. •Arguments from authority carry little weight (in science there are no "authorities"). •Spin more than one hypothesis - don't simply run with the first idea that caught your fancy. •Try not to get overly attached to a hypothesis just because it's yours. •Quantify, wherever possible. •If there is a chain of argument every link in the chain must work. •"Occam's razor" - if there are two hypothesis that explain the data equally well choose the simpler. •Ask whether the hypothesis can, at least in principle, be falsified (shown to be false by some unambiguous test). In other words, it is testable? Can others duplicate the experiment and get the same result?

Additional issues are:

•Conduct control experiments - especially "double blind" experiments where the person taking measurements is not aware of the test and control subjects. •Check for confounding factors - separate the variables.

Common fallacies of logic and rhetoric:

•Ad hominem - attacking the arguer and not the argument. •Argument from "authority". •Argument from adverse consequences (putting pressure on the decision maker by pointing out dire consequences of an "unfavourable" decision). •Appeal to ignorance (absence of evidence is not evidence of absence). •Special pleading (typically referring to god's will). •Begging the question (assuming an answer in the way the question is phrased). •Observational selection (counting the hits and forgetting the misses). •Statistics of small numbers (such as drawing conclusions from inadequate sample sizes). •Misunderstanding the nature of statistics (President Eisenhower expressing astonishment and alarm on discovering that fully half of all Americans have below average intelligence!) •Inconsistency (e.g. military expenditures based on worst case scenarios but scientific projections on environmental dangers thriftily ignored because they are not "proved"). •Non sequitur - "it does not follow" - the logic falls down. •Post hoc, ergo propter hoc - "it happened after so it was caused by" - confusion of cause and effect. •Meaningless question ("what happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object?). •Excluded middle - considering only the two extremes in a range of possibilities (making the "other side" look worse than it really is). •Short-term v. long-term - a subset of excluded middle ("why pursue fundamental science when we have so huge a budget deficit?"). •Slippery slope - a subset of excluded middle - unwarranted extrapolation of the effects (give an inch and they will take a mile). •Confusion of correlation and causation. •Straw man - caricaturing (or stereotyping) a position to make it easier to attack.. •Suppressed evidence or half-truths. •Weasel words - for example, use of euphemisms for war such as "police action" to get around limitations on Presidential powers. "An important art of politicians is to find new names for institutions which under old names have become odious to the public".

Perhaps these concepts will be useful when you doubt whether anything you read or hear is legitimate scientific or other thinking or "something else"... which in Egyptology, unfortunately is plentiful as some people hungry for fame and recognition dabble in subjects they hardly know anything about.

Liz          (archer44@my-deja.com)

Egiptología Sudamericana         (18 de Julio de 2000)

Encontré hace poco unas páginas argentinas de egiptología donde, entre otras cosas, se proporcionan datos sobre la egiptología sudamericana, para acceder a esta información, hay que ir al siguiente sitio:

AMIGOS DE LA EGIPTOLOGÍA DE ARGENTINA

Esta gente ha puesto aquí datos sobre las colecciones del Museo de La Plata en Argentina y muchos otros datos de interés que no se encuentran en otros lados. Intentan emular a la Asociación homónima de España y creo que lo hacen sin copiarles su estilo pero manteniendo la tradición de establecer vínculos entre instituciones afines y proporcionar información útil a los navegantes de ese mar agitado que es Internet.

Luis Suárez          (luis-suarez@bigfoot.com)

Muy buena página sobre Amarna - Very good Amarna Page      (2 August 2000)

I would like to suggest to those interested in the fascinating Amarna Period of ancient Egypt to visit the link given below which has a collection of very interesting pictures of the main characters and their city.

Quiero sugerir a todos aquellos interesados en el fascinante período de Amarna del antiguo Egipto, que visiten una página muy interesante con excelentes fotos de los personajes principales y de su ciudad, el enlace es el siguiente:

AMARNA PICTURES - IMÁGENES DE AMARNA

Alfie         (alfie5198@my-deja.com)

Dear Sir or Madam,        (25 August 2000)

I'm looking for translated texts (in English or Dutch) from original documents, concerning the daily life in Ancient Egypt.

Do you know any books and authors where I can find this information?.

Thank you in advance.

Respectfully,

Ingrid Van Bogaert         ingrid.vanbogaert@pandora.be

Antwerp, Belgium

NOTE FROM THE MODERATOR: Actually there are hundreds of such books, but you could do well by starting with:

- PRITCHARD, "Ancient Near Eastern Texts" (ANET).

- TYLDESLEY, "Daughters of Isis" (mainly about women).

- LICHTHEIM, "Ancient Egyptian Literature", ( 3 Vols.).

- MANNICHE, "Sexual life in ancient Egypt".

All can be found in any good library. These will get you going and from the bibliography quoted in them you can undertake other readings.

Para información         (5 de Setiembre de 2000)

Mi nombre es Viria Solís, soy de Costa Rica, estudié psicología, razón por la cual desconozco muchísimo de la cultura e historia egipcia, sin embargo, por motivos personales, estoy muy interesada en tratar de obtener información de un pueblo antiguo llamado: Carmaneo, o los carmaneos. Si ustedes tienen alguna informacion sobre donde puedo obtener libros o lecturas sobre este pueblo, se lo agradeceré infinitamente.

Muchas gracias.

Viria Solís          vmsolis@cariari.ucr.ac.cr

NOTA DEL MODERADOR - Jamás he visto nada sobre tal pueblo mencionado como teniendo nada que ver con Egipto, pero quizás algún otro lector de este Foro pueda ayudarla.

EGYPTOLOGY         (24 September 2000)

Hi, I'm a student at a Florida (USA) university and I'd like to share some thoughts on Egyptology. I'll appreciate comments from any of you.

Egyptology

First Discipline Report

My Thoughts: It appears to me that Egyptology, while it is a distinctively specific discipline, owes its birth to Archaeology. In fact, its existence as a separate academic discipline was made legitimate by the foundation of linguistic understanding, through the discovery and hieroglyphic translation of the Rosetta stone, which forever set it apart from the generic archaeological study of the physical place Egypt. Hence, once the written history of the people could be read, comprehended, and interpreted Egyptology became an individual field of social science with unlimited sub-fields or specifications.

A. Definition(s) of Egyptology

According to The World Book Encyclopedia: The study of ancient Egypt is called Egyptology, and experts in the field are Egyptologists (144).

According to Prof. Juan J. Castillos, Director of the Uruguayan Institute of Egyptology: "definitions can vary but I would define Egyptology as a specialized branch of History of a regional nature that deals with Egypt’s past, from the earliest times to the end of the Byzantine Empire’s rule in the country, in the 7th Century AD. This subject encompasses ancient Egyptian history, archaeology, the language and all the manifestations of that civilization". (Castillos, Prof. Juan J., Online E-mail. 17 Sept. 2000.)

Egyptology is the study of ancient Egyptian society through the perspective of various social disciplines in order to understand such social phenomena as religious beliefs, government structures, literature and art, education (including law and medicine), economics, etc. (Author)

B. Objects of Study Examined

Much of their [Egyptologists] knowledge comes from studying the architecture and other arts of ancient Egypt. Excavations of pharaohs’ tombs, … (World Book Encyclopedia 144).

The 1,000 or so Egyptologists cover fields such as language, literature, history, religion, art, which for the modern world would be separate. Sadly, original work in Egyptology has become an almost exclusively academic pursuit. … activity in Egypt is a small part of the total work… there is often surprisingly little contact between the field and the study. (Baines and Malek 29)

C. Problems/Questions Approached

Egyptologists, while unearthing mummies or studying the Pyramids, are concerned not only with dating these objects accurately within their historical time periods, but may seek to solve such sociological questions as; “What prompted the ancient Egyptians to build such monuments?” “Were they objects of civic pride, like statues in modern day public parks or did they serve as religious works, attempts to gain closeness to mythical gods?” “Could they have been political or military statements proclaiming Egypt’s dominance over prospective enemies?” Or, “Why was such care taken in the mummification and burial, within Pyramid tombs, of some while others’ remains were less cared for?” The Egyptologist may ask: “Was such special care and artistry preserved for a certain economic or social class of people?” “How does such an economically based theory relate to the masses of ancient Egyptian citizens?” “How would the common person feel, in ancient times, as s/he gazed at the great monuments?” Bratton has suggested such monuments, as the Pyramids, may have been statements proclaiming: The basic belief of the ancient Egyptians and the conviction around which all else grew was the changelessness of the universe. Everything in their environment pointed to the one consistent fact that the world was static, and with that observation went the further conviction that changelessness was the only real and unchangeable truth. (19-21).

If this was the case, one can only wonder then if the every day Egyptian, the laborer, the lower class citizen would have felt limited, challenged, or content with his or her “static” social position within such a hierarchical structure. “Did the working class Egyptians really ponder the state of the universe or was s/he more concerned with earning a living as most of humanity is today?” Is it fair for us today, out of our fascination with the geometric accomplishments of the ancient Egyptians, to stamp a cultural cliché on every ancient Egyptian as someone obsessed with the physical sciences? I think Egyptologists try to find answers to how ancient Egyptians interacted with one another socially in order to understand how the modern world interacts socially. Perhaps Egyptologists, like other social scientists, seek to use ancient Egyptian society as a gauge in which they compare and contrast our own social structures today. (Homepage of Uruguayan Institute of Egyptology) If Bratton’s theory is correct, the ancient Egyptians may have anticipated that someday we would be asking the same questions about them as they perhaps imagined about us, and therefore strove to preserve their societal history.

D. Glossary of Key Terms

Rosetta stone - (Discovered in 1799, this is the first word in Egyptology because it provided Jean Francois Champollion with the means to break into the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic language. Both the Greek and hieroglyphic writings were on the same piece of stone so he was then able to translate from Greek to Egyptian.)

Hieroglyphs - Signs in the Egyptian script, from Greek “sacred carving”; used only for the monumental form of the script, in which most signs are identifiable pictures, and no signs are joined together. (Baines and Malek 226) This form of writing is believed “to be paralleled by the Babylonian cuneiform and also the Chinese writing.” (Bratton 47).

Papyrus - A plant material used to write on in ancient Egypt. Sheets were made by cutting the pith of the plant into strips laid in rows horizontally and vertically, which were then beaten together, activating the plant’s natural starch to form an adhesive. Separate sheets were gummed together to form rolls. (Baines and Malek 227).

Phonogram - Sign in the script that records a sound. Only consonants are precisely recorded, and phonograms may write 1-4 consonants. (Baines and Malek 227).

Coptic - Comparing it to Italian in relation to Latin, Bratton describes this dialect as a combination of the Demotic writing, introduced around 800 B.C. for mostly commercial and public documentation, in which it was a “modification” of the ancient hieroglyphic style combined with letters of the Greek alphabet. (47) This language is still used today in the Coptic Orthodox Church throughout the world.

E. Sub-fields/Specializations

Some Egyptologists may concentrate their efforts on specific eras of ancient Egypt’s civilization from the earliest known time periods up to 642 A.D. Still, some may specialize in certain areas of interest such as religion of the Egyptians or medical practices, etc. I found that almost anything one could study about a culture or society in the present day, modern technological advances excluded, someone has or is studying that subject through the perspective of the ancient Egyptian.

According to O’Connor, “Egyptologists have produced an exceptionally fine data base in philological, historical, religious and literary studies, in art history, and…in archaeology.” (17).

F. Works Cited

“Ancient Egypt: Mankind’s Wonderful Heritage.” Gateway to Uruguayan Egyptology. Home page. Prof. Juan Jose Castillos, Director of the Uruguayan Institute of Egyptology. 27 Jul. 1998 http://members.spree.com/juancast/

Baines, John, and Jaromir Malek. Atlas of Ancient Egypt. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 1980.

Bratton, F. Gladstone. A History of Egyptian Archaeology. London: Robert Hale, 1967.

Castillos, Prof. Juan Jose. “Re: HELP!” E-mail to Sara Megala. 17 Sept. 2000.

Lesko, Leonard H. “Egypt, Ancient.” The World Book Encyclopedia. 2000 ed.

O’Connor, David. Anthropology and Egyptology. Ed. Judith Lustig. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997.

Sara Megala       ALEXANDRIASON@aol.com

Florida, USA

Re: EGYPTOLOGY           (19 October 2000)

You wrote: "Much of their [Egyptologists] knowledge comes from studying the architecture and other arts of ancient Egypt. Excavations of pharaohs’ tombs, … (World Book Encyclopedia 144)."

On the other hand, I think that too much attention has been devoted to the study of the tombs of kings and other high officials but modern trends in archaeology focus mainly on the tombs (and dwellings) of the poor, anonymous peasants and their humble possessions because beyond the beauty of the objects and the architecture, the true history of the people they are studying comes from the areas where these commoners went about their daily lives. I think this is a significant shift in methodological thinking that is leading to a much more accurate understanding of ancient cultures.

Julio          jurosas@my-deja.com

Grupos de discusión en castellano          (8 de Noviembre de 2000)

Quiero compartir con aquellos a quienes les pueda interesar la dirección de Internet de algunos grupos de discusión sobre el antiguo Egipto y temas relacionados (historia, antropología). Para suscribirse y leer los mensajes y participar de las discusiones, si así lo desean, las direcciones son:

Suscribirse con Email aquí (Lista de Amigos de la Egiptología)

http://www.egroups.com/list/egiptologia

http://www.egroups.com/group/historia_general

http://www.egroups.com/group/antropologia-ucv

Es mucho lo que se puede aportar o aprender participando en ellos. Procuraré ubicar otros para que los interesados puedan vincularse a ellos.

Saúl Linares, Montevideo

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