STAFF
The staff of the Uruguayan Institute of Egyptology has consisted over the last 14 years of the following:
TEACHING:
Prof. Juan José Castillos
Dr. Alberto Bianchi (deceased)
Dr. Alberto Galasso
QF Antonio Muniz
Mr. Ricardo García (deceased)
Mr. Oscar Patrón
Mr. Augusto C. Rondán (deceased)
SPECIAL PROJECTS:
Mr. Carlos Galucci
(Automatic translation of Ancient Egyptian)
Mr. Jorge Casariego
(Western Valley of the Kings)
Mr. Víctor Capuchio / Mr. Daniel Luongo
(New Classroom / Museum Projects)
COURSES AVAILABLE
First Year
Introduction to Egyptology
Archaeology: History and Methodology
History of the Ancient Near East I
Basic English for Egyptology
Basic French for Egyptology
Second Year
History of the Ancient Near East II
Prehistory of Egypt
Archaic Egypt
Ancient Egyptian Language I
Basic German for Egyptology
Third Year
Ancient Egyptian Language II
Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period
Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period
New Kingdom
Third Intermediate and Late Periods
Fourth Year
Graeco-Roman Period
Ancient Egyptian Religion
Ancient Egyptian Art
Ancient Egyptian Literature
Ancient Egyptian Science and Technology
Students who pass all exams and present an original thesis on an egyptological subject of their choice which is accepted by a board of professors of the Institute, graduate with a Diploma in Egyptology.
Those students who do not wish to do research and simply want to acquire a good knowledge of this ancient civilization, after passing all the above exams are given a Certificate of Expert in Egyptology.
Víctor Capuchio and Daniel Luongo at the entrance to the White Chapel of Sesostris I at Karnak
Attendance to all these courses is open to people who do not wish to become egyptologists and only want to improve their knowledge on that specific subject. This possibility appeals to High School or University teachers who lack information on topics that have to do with their specific areas and which have to do in some way with ancient Egypt and to laymen who simply wish to know more than what you can get from reading a few books. Such students get Certificates of Attendance for the courses they took and were present in more than 60% of the classes.
Due to lack of resources, all our teaching staff is honorary and work very hard as a generous contribution to Uruguayan culture. Students do not have to pay anything to register for the courses as long as they are Members in good standing of the Uruguayan Society of Egyptology. .
Val Isaacs near the access to the pyramid complex of Sekhemkhet at Sakkara
Our Institute also provides free of charge assistance to other institutions or scholars who require specific information on our subject and to journalists who wish to avoid the far too common mistakes while reporting local events or transmitting information received from press agencies, which is not always accurate.
For instance, Prof. Castillos and Dr. Bianchi assisted in the refurbishing of the Egyptian Rooms of the Museum of History of Art belonging to the Municipality of Montevideo and the former assisted the Director of the Museum of Decorative Arts of Montevideo regarding a small collection of ancient Egyptian statuettes in their possession. The yellow decoration on one of them, assumed to be paint, was correctly assessed as being gold leaf, which was confirmed by chemical analysis.
Our staff tries to contribute with their original research to the advance of our science and to the purpose we publish in several Journals and we take part in international conferences and congresses, whenever possible.During the recent IX Congress of Uruguayan Archaeology last year four people from our Institute presented papers which will be published shortly by the organizers.
Prof. Castillos attended and presented papers at the Cambridge VII International Congress of Egyptologists in 1995, at the XIII IUPPS Congress at Forlì in 1996, at the Poznan Symposium on the Prehistory of North-East Africa in 1997 and also participated in the VIII International Congress of Egyptologists in Cairo in March-April, 2000 as well as in the Poznan Symposium of August-September 2000, as well as many other later conferences to which he was invited to read papers on his current research.
In 2001 Prof. Castillos was elected a Professional Member of the Board of the prestigious Société Française d´Égyptologie of Paris, France and was also honoured during the opening ceremony of the X Congress of Uruguayan Archaeology by the Uruguayan Association of Archaeologists with a commemorative plaque for his contributions to Egyptology in Uruguay.
We will be delighted to receive any comments, suggestions or queries from anybody so as to establish better communication with colleagues around the world. For the purpose, you can reach us at :
Email:
J. J. Castillos
Regular mail: 4 de Julio 3068 Montevideo
CP 11600 URUGUAY
Fax: ( 598 2 ) 622 5352
Phone: ( 598 2 ) 628 0743