by Yelena TOLMACHEVA, Cand. Sc. (Hist.), academic secretary, Egyptology Research Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia Egyptology has gained great popularity in our country since Jean-Francois Champillon (1790-1832), a French historian (elected honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences) broke the Egyptian hieroglyphic code in 1822. Here in Russia Egyptology has long-standing traditions going back to such eminent scholars as Vladimir Golenishchev (1856-1947), Boris Turaev (1868-1920), Vassily Struve (1889-1965), Mikhail Korostovtsev (1900-1980), among many others. Unfortunately our Egyptologists had for a long time no opportunity of doing on-the-spot research. Only in 1995 RAS scholars started taking a regular part in international field parties or working on their own in Egypt. Their research findings have opened a new page of ancient Egyptian history making it possible to rethink many of the conventional notions. стр. 96 THE BEGINNING Way back in 1955 Mikhail Korostovtsev field a memo in which he insisted on setting up a Soviet research center of Egyptology in Cairo. "Egypt has become an international research laboratory in archeology, anthropology, ethnography, philology, history and art appreciation. It is sad indeed that our great country is in no way represented." His idea was materialized only in 1992. That year our scientists went for the first time to Egypt for archeological excavations in joint international parties. The Russian side was represented by research workers of the Egyptology Cabinet (RAS Institute of Oriental Studies) headed by Galina Belova (later, head of our research center). Archeological excavations at Tell Ibrahim Avad in the eastern part of Lower Egypt involved our research scientists for the first time; this work was carried on within the framework of the joint Russian-Dutch project "Nile Delta". Next, in 1998, came another project in cooperation with the Institute of Egyptology a ... Читать далее