Maarten Raven Maarten Raven Maarten J. Raven (born 1953, Utrecht) is a Dutch Egyptologist. Raven is the curator (since 1978) of the department of Egyptology at the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden. In addition to his work at the museum, he has been active as an archeologist in Saqqara since 1975. In Saqqara, he has been working (as joint field director since 1999) on a New Kingdom archeological burial site, a cooperation of the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden and the Egypt Exploration Society (1975–1998) and Leiden University (1999-) In September 2012 he was also appointed as extraordinary professor 'Museology of Ancient Egypt' at
Saqqara Bird which he "suppose[d] was lost," and noted that the Egyptians often placed miniaturized representations of their technology in their tombs. Messiha contended that the Saqqara Bird differs significantly from other statues and models of birds housed in the Cairo museum. According to Messiha, the Saqqara Bird has a vertical stabilizer which is unlike the generally horizontal shape of a real bird's tail. Richard P. Hallion described this fin as "shaped as if the bird had twisted its tail feathers." It is also legless and has wings set at an angle Messiha sees as similar to that of modern aircraft, which