This is so sad. It is horrible to see that a cultural heritage as old as Egypt's is being destroyed by barbarians, and that a once great people have descended to this state of barbarianism.
From The International Business News
Egyptian Mummies Set on Fire in Morsi Ousting Riot
September 15, 2013 2:00 PM GMT
Fiona Keating
Ancient Egyptian mummies were torched, antiquities destroyed and a 3,500 year-old limestone statue stolen in five-day rampage.
More than 1,000 objects were looted and destroyed from the Malawi Antiquities Museum, 200 miles south of Cairo.
The museum was a testament to the Amarna Period, named after its location in southern Egypt that was once the royal residence of Nefertiti.
"It was pure mayhem; the result of pure thuggery," said Monica Hanna, a leading Egyptian archaeologist, who witnessed the destruction.
Hanna was in the museum with Safaa Saleh, a local journalist. "They went around smashing objects," she said. "It was really mad."
The teenagers in the building told her they were destroying relics and vandalising the museum in revenge for the interim government's clampdown on the Muslim brotherhood. "The burning of the mummies was a political act - to get back at the state," she told the Sunday Times.
"Sadly people in Egypt regard antiquities as the property of the state, rather than their own heritage."
The break-in during a demonstration on 14 August, is thought to be the work of Muslim Brotherhood supporters, angry at the ousting of President Mohamed Morsi, a brotherhood leader.
The walls of the museum were covered with pro-Morsi slogans. "Yes to Islam, yes to the Muslim Brotherhood," read one slogan.
Armed gangs descended on the museum and set fire to parts of the building. Items too heavy to plunder were torched. One of the museum's greatest treasures, a 3,500 year-old stature of the daughter of Pharaoh Akhenaten, who ruled during the 18th dynasty was stolen.
Unique and irreplaceable jewellery, papyri, pottery, gold Greco-Roman coins, along with sculptures dedicated to the god Thoth, ironically the arbitrator of disputes, were also taken.
Warned in advance of possible looting, employees closed the museum and barricaded themselves inside with a dozen policemen, but they failed to stop the damage. Magdy Tahami, assistant director of the museum told Middle East Online that the scene was like a "battlefield," with automatic fire echoing from all sides so that "we did not know where they were coming from or who was firing".
A ticket collector was shot dead as he tried to gain access to the building and museum staff were forced to retreat from the building by the mob.
UNESCO said the attack had caused "irreversible damage to the history and identity of the Egyptian people"
After several hours, nearly all of the 1,089 museum pieces had been stolen or destroyed, says Tahami. Over 500 items have been returned to the museum after the police offered an amnesty to the looters. As the items are registered and therefore identifiable, many of the thieves have struggled to sell them on to dealers.
Showing posts with label looting in Egypt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label looting in Egypt. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Looting and Destruction Continue in Egypt, Oh Egypt
Hola darlings!
I have now 62 birthdays under my belt, hope for at least 30 more (knock on wood, and may it be in relatively no worse "health" than I am right now, oh the irony the irony, Mr. Don would have appreciated it!) But while my blog stops when I'm not up to posting, the world continues on, oblivious to little ol' me. So it goes. And thus it should be.
Horror continues to go on in Egypt. Well, we knew it was happening but it just is not getting the coverage it deserves in the mainstream press. Unfortunately, people do not value the past as much as they should -- but the uber-rich jerks who are sucking up these stolen artifacts just as fast as they can be looted and shipped out of the country know their value. And we may never ever see any of them again. They will sit in sterile wonder inside some air-controlled vault-room somewhere in Beijing, or St. Petersburg, or New York, or Los Angeles, or Hong Kong, or Hanoi.
People who follow this horror story and are cognizant of the international illicit trade in antiquities mourn their loss, but most of us won't even realize the enormity of the loss we, as a world, have suffered. It makes me sick to my stomach, people. While all eyes are on Cairo, check out this story about the latest "out of sight, out of mind" museum to be destroyed by looters. They took everything that could be easily carried, and I've no doubt that if given the chance, the larger objects will disappear in short order, too:
Pictures: Looters Shatter Museum of Ancient Egyptian Treasures
More coverage, giving a quick "review" of the latest destruction and attempted break-ins all over Egypt, from Al-Ahram:
I have now 62 birthdays under my belt, hope for at least 30 more (knock on wood, and may it be in relatively no worse "health" than I am right now, oh the irony the irony, Mr. Don would have appreciated it!) But while my blog stops when I'm not up to posting, the world continues on, oblivious to little ol' me. So it goes. And thus it should be.
Horror continues to go on in Egypt. Well, we knew it was happening but it just is not getting the coverage it deserves in the mainstream press. Unfortunately, people do not value the past as much as they should -- but the uber-rich jerks who are sucking up these stolen artifacts just as fast as they can be looted and shipped out of the country know their value. And we may never ever see any of them again. They will sit in sterile wonder inside some air-controlled vault-room somewhere in Beijing, or St. Petersburg, or New York, or Los Angeles, or Hong Kong, or Hanoi.
People who follow this horror story and are cognizant of the international illicit trade in antiquities mourn their loss, but most of us won't even realize the enormity of the loss we, as a world, have suffered. It makes me sick to my stomach, people. While all eyes are on Cairo, check out this story about the latest "out of sight, out of mind" museum to be destroyed by looters. They took everything that could be easily carried, and I've no doubt that if given the chance, the larger objects will disappear in short order, too:
Pictures: Looters Shatter Museum of Ancient Egyptian Treasures
Aftermath of the Attack
Photograph by Roger Anis, El Shorouk/AP
Amid the deadly chaos that has erupted in Egypt, the country's cultural heritage took a hit last week when looters ransacked the archaeological museum in the town of Mallawi.
Located about 190 miles (300 kilometers) south of Cairo, the museum was opened in 1963 to showcase the finds from excavations at nearby sites.
"The museum contained irreplaceable artifacts, many not yet studied," says Salima Ikram, a professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo. "The looting leaves enormous gaps in our understanding of ancient Egyptian religious and funerary rites."
Housed in a modest, two-story building, the museum's galleries displayed a wide range of objects—animal mummies, votive statues, religious offerings, brightly painted wooden coffins, necklaces of stone beads, a ritual rattle known as a sistrum, funerary masks, amulets, statues from tombs, stone trays for sacred oils, jars that once held the internal organs of an Egyptian now long dead—all of which had survived in remarkably good condition for more than 2,000 years.
According to local news reports, looters—as yet unidentified—broke into the museum while supporters of recently deposed Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi were holding a sit-in protest in the museum's garden. From the 1,089 artifacts on exhibit, an estimated 1,050 were stolen.
After the looters had departed, gangs of what one source calls "local bad boys" entered the building and began to burn and smash what was left. ...
More coverage, giving a quick "review" of the latest destruction and attempted break-ins all over Egypt, from Al-Ahram:
Saving Egypt’s heritage
How have Egypt’s monuments and museums fared in the ongoing violence, asks Nevine El-Aref 20-08-2013 02:56PM ET
... Malawi, once the capital of the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Akhnaten, was disturbed by violence and deadly clashes between protesters supporting the deposed former president Mohamed Morsi and the security forces after the latter had broken up the sit-ins in the Rabaa Al-Adaweya and Nahda Square in Cairo.
The pro-Morsi protesters broke into the Malawi police station and town council building and then invaded the neighbouring Malawi Museum (MM), clashing with guards and shooting one of them dead. They then damaged the museum garden, damaged the entrance gates, and managed to enter the museum building, breaking into display cases and looting the collection.
The museum is now devastated, its showrooms converted into a mess of broken glass, damaged sarcophagi and the statues of ancient Egyptian kings. Inspections carried out by the MM’s curators revealed that 1,040 of 1,080 objects in the Museum’s collection were missing. Large and heavy artefacts were found broken and scattered over the Museum’s floor.
A full list of the missing objects has been put on the International Council of Museums’ (ICOM) Red List for Egypt in order to prevent them from being illegally smuggled and traded on the international antiquities market. Such lists help police and customs authorities all over the world to recognise missing items. ...
From Boston.com
Egypt's devastating museum looting latest casualty
/ Associated Press / August 19, 2013 [that was my 62nd birthday]
... Malawi, once the capital of the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Akhnaten, was disturbed by violence and deadly clashes between protesters supporting the deposed former president Mohamed Morsi and the security forces after the latter had broken up the sit-ins in the Rabaa Al-Adaweya and Nahda Square in Cairo.
The pro-Morsi protesters broke into the Malawi police station and town council building and then invaded the neighbouring Malawi Museum (MM), clashing with guards and shooting one of them dead. They then damaged the museum garden, damaged the entrance gates, and managed to enter the museum building, breaking into display cases and looting the collection.
The museum is now devastated, its showrooms converted into a mess of broken glass, damaged sarcophagi and the statues of ancient Egyptian kings. Inspections carried out by the MM’s curators revealed that 1,040 of 1,080 objects in the Museum’s collection were missing. Large and heavy artefacts were found broken and scattered over the Museum’s floor.
A full list of the missing objects has been put on the International Council of Museums’ (ICOM) Red List for Egypt in order to prevent them from being illegally smuggled and traded on the international antiquities market. Such lists help police and customs authorities all over the world to recognise missing items. ...
From Boston.com
Egypt's devastating museum looting latest casualty
/ Associated Press / August 19, 2013 [that was my 62nd birthday]
... In the past two years of instability since Mubarak’s ouster, illegal digs have multiplied and illegal construction has encroached on ancient, largely unexplored pyramids.
Also threatening sites is the view held by some hard-line religious allies of Morsi who view Egypt’s ancient history as pagan. ...
Of course, all of this violence, terror and looting (whatever news is trickling out), has practically destroyed the Egyptian tourist industry. I mean, really, people -- did you REALLY think "wealthy" (according to your standards, like me, for instance) tourists would continue to flock to the Nile River Valley? This video tells us all we need to know about that Islamic Brotherhood fantasy:
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Female Archaeologist Risks Life to Expose Massive Looting in Egypt
Story at TribLive/USWorld
Egyptologist risks life, career to expose looting
By Betsy Hiel
Published: Saturday, June 15, 2013, 9:13 p.m.Updated: Monday, June 17, 2013
Egyptologist risks life, career to expose looting
By Betsy Hiel
Published: Saturday, June 15, 2013, 9:13 p.m.Updated: Monday, June 17, 2013
ABU SIR AL MALAQ, Egypt — Monica Hanna's reputation as an archaeologist has grown far beyond her native Egypt — but not without risk.
 |
Shawn Baldwin | For the Tribune-Review
Dr. Monica Hanna, an Egyptian archaeologist, surveys the burial grounds in Abu Sir
al Malaq. 'You see dogs playing with human bones, children scavenging for pottery and painted sarcophagi. You also find very well mummified fragments. It is very macabre,' Hanna says. Hanna is a leader in exposing the looting of Egyptian antiquities. |
As she and several journalists documented looting at an ancient burial site here, several men – one with a shotgun slung over a shoulder — threatened her.
“I heard one man say, ‘Beat her and take her camera,' ” Hanna said afterward.
When the men phoned for police, she hid her camera's memory card in her shirt. After 45 minutes of argument, she was allowed to leave.
“The locals, who are a part of the looting, don't want the photos out there because then their business stops,” she explained.
Hanna, 30, is a leader in exposing the antiquity-looting that has exploded since Egypt's 2011 revolution. She appears on Egyptian television debating government officials, takes reporters to looted sites, and encourages Egyptians to protect their heritage. To Nigel Hetherington, an archaeologist and co-founder of Past Preservers, which connects academia and media on archaeological issues, she is “amazing … a revolutionary in the true sense of the word.”
“She is out to get the bad guys and harness the feeling the Egyptians have of their own heritage, and turn it into actual force for good,” he said.
When she was 14, Hanna took a school trip to the Egyptian Museum, which holds some of the country's best antiquities, including the King Tut collection. [Wonder how much of it is actually real antiquities these days? Could all be fakes, sold by the Islamists to fund their foreign jihads and to buy bread for the restless 'natives.']
“I sneaked inside the mummification lab” and saw its director at work, she recalled. “I was fascinated, and I asked him if I could come and help.”
She volunteered twice weekly after school; a year later, she helped with mummy restorations. “I helped repair the toes of Thutmose III,” a pharaoh who ruled Egypt nearly 3,500 years ago.
She graduated from American University in Cairo with a bachelor's degree in Egyptology and archaeological chemistry, then earned a master's degree in teaching English, followed by a doctoral degree in archaeological sciences from the University of Pisa, Italy. She is doing post-doctoral studies at Humbolt University, Berlin.
Not everyone appreciates her work; she often receives threatening phone calls: “People say that I am foreign-paid, that I have a foreign agenda, or that I am doing this for personal glory.”
A policeman told her uncle that she should stop because “she is bothering really big people.”
Salima Ikram, Hanna's former teacher and head of American University's Egyptology unit, is not surprised by the threats: “That means she is doing her job well. She is scaring some of the syndicate people who live around and feed off of the antiquities.”
Hanna concedes she may be risking her career: “I might not get future permits to work on archaeological sites from the antiquities ministry. But, then, it's ethics versus career — if I cannot talk about this, then I really have no place to teach my students one day that we have done our best to protect our heritage.”
She is working with three groups to monitor archaeological sites; a website will allow people, including tourists, to anonymously report damaged antiquities. Her commitment arose, she said, because foreign archaeologists were afraid of losing work permits if they spoke up and antiquities inspectors who reported looting were usually ignored.
“If we Egyptians don't protect our heritage, who will?” she asks. [Who, indeed?]
Hetherington said Hanna “brings a model of archaeological heritage-management that is severely lacking here … (she) can empower the younger generation to take control of this mess.”
Her work “is a service not just to Egypt … because Egypt's heritage is part of the world heritage,” adds Ikram, her former teacher.
Betsy Hiel is the Tribune-Review's foreign correspondent.
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Looting Continues Unchallenged in Egypt
This is so sad. This is just one small example of what is going on in the entire country since the so-called Revolution. Some may argue that what happened to this "mansion" isn't really antiquities looting. I say - oh really? And I want to know - who's getting the money from the theft and sale of these items? I'll bet they go to the Mosque every Friday, and pray real hard to their phoney god, too.
The house of Ispenian was robbed during the revolution. Now it is destroyed
Abandoned mansions may be a common sight in most Egyptian cities; when neighbourhoods fall into urban decay a 19-century mansion can be forgotten amongst towering monstrosities from the 50s and 60s.
But the house of Ispenian in the Haram area is not just any abandoned mansion. The beautiful mansion, which houses Mamluk and Ottoman artefacts, was recently found to have been looted. The structure itself has also been partially destroyed.
The place was built around 1935-36 by father and son Paul and Kevork Ispenian, and designed by French architect Joseph Aznavour.
Their collection featured antiquities from the Mamluk and Ottoman era of Egypt. It also included artefacts from the collection of Ambroise Baudry whose 1875-76 mansion was demolished by the turn of the 20th century.
The house stayed in the Ispenian family until the 1960s when it was then sold to the Abdel Nour family who then sold it to the Supreme Council for Antiquities. The house has been abandoned for 15 years.
Ahmed El-Bendary, who works for The Centre for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage (CULTNAT), first discovered the condition of the house in the spring of last year.
“The house’s contents have always been sealed in red wax and it is a crime to go in. As such, I have only been there from the outside. When I went last spring, I discovered the house to be in a much worse condition; the house’s contents were stolen and the structure was partially demolished.”
El-Bendary was told the house was robbed around the time of the revolution but he says there is no way to know for sure. The house’s contents are registered as antiquities by the Supreme Council for Antiquities.
“Whoever stole the contents knew what they were doing; it was systematic. Everything from the ornamented roof, the ornamental screens, the marble floors and even a historic column supporting the balcony were stolen. They took their time and took everything apart.”
El-Bendary says the column may also date back to the Mamluk or Ottoman era but he is baffled, as is everyone else, on why the structure seems to have been harmed in the process as well.
“The main structure was partially destroyed, as was a smaller, less elaborate structure that could possibly have been a guesthouse or a place for the servants. The house is in the middle of a residential area but it is surrounded by three acres of empty land,” said El-Bendary.
El-Bendary says the mansions’s condition is not unusual by any standards, “these things happen all the time due to negligence.”
Systematic ruin of Egypt’s antiquities in Haram
 |
The dilapidated mansion has suffered looting and
destruction to its outer structure despite being handled by
the Supreme Council of Antiquities.
Courtesy of Ahmed El-Bendary |
But the house of Ispenian in the Haram area is not just any abandoned mansion. The beautiful mansion, which houses Mamluk and Ottoman artefacts, was recently found to have been looted. The structure itself has also been partially destroyed.
The place was built around 1935-36 by father and son Paul and Kevork Ispenian, and designed by French architect Joseph Aznavour.
Their collection featured antiquities from the Mamluk and Ottoman era of Egypt. It also included artefacts from the collection of Ambroise Baudry whose 1875-76 mansion was demolished by the turn of the 20th century.
The house stayed in the Ispenian family until the 1960s when it was then sold to the Abdel Nour family who then sold it to the Supreme Council for Antiquities. The house has been abandoned for 15 years.
Ahmed El-Bendary, who works for The Centre for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage (CULTNAT), first discovered the condition of the house in the spring of last year.
“The house’s contents have always been sealed in red wax and it is a crime to go in. As such, I have only been there from the outside. When I went last spring, I discovered the house to be in a much worse condition; the house’s contents were stolen and the structure was partially demolished.”
El-Bendary was told the house was robbed around the time of the revolution but he says there is no way to know for sure. The house’s contents are registered as antiquities by the Supreme Council for Antiquities.
“Whoever stole the contents knew what they were doing; it was systematic. Everything from the ornamented roof, the ornamental screens, the marble floors and even a historic column supporting the balcony were stolen. They took their time and took everything apart.”
El-Bendary says the column may also date back to the Mamluk or Ottoman era but he is baffled, as is everyone else, on why the structure seems to have been harmed in the process as well.
“The main structure was partially destroyed, as was a smaller, less elaborate structure that could possibly have been a guesthouse or a place for the servants. The house is in the middle of a residential area but it is surrounded by three acres of empty land,” said El-Bendary.
El-Bendary says the mansions’s condition is not unusual by any standards, “these things happen all the time due to negligence.”
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Massive Looting of Archaeological Sites in the "New Egypt"
Awful, horrible, and disgusting. There is no excuse of this kind of destruction - none, None, NONE! For whatever reason, the government either cannot or will not provide guards for archaeological sites. Thus, the new normal in Egypt is rampant destruction and looting of precious archaeological sites. I'm sure we're only hearing about a fraction of what is actually going on, because for reasons of their own, the new "leaders" in Egypt are doing the old Death To America bullshit and therefore, in some areas, it has become downright dangerous to travel, let alone be a reporter of news to the west.
I used to dream about visiting Egypt one day and taking a river cruise on the mighty Nile. Not anymore.
I used to have respect for Egyptians -- not the leaders, I mean, the regular people of Egypt, who seemed to be proud of their ancient heritage and, by and large, caring of it. Not anymore.
Sad. So sad. Once lost, the knowledge that is contained in situ at looted sites like El Hibeh is lost forever. It cannot ever be put back to the way it was before.
Warning: There are some shocking photographs in the article. I chose not to put any of them here. It makes me cry, this horrid descretion of a sacred place.
From Popular Archaeology
July 6, 2012
Massive Looting and Destruction at Ancient Egyptian Archaeological Site
After the January 2011 revolution in Egypt, Professor and Archaeologist Carol Redmount of U.C. Berkeley began contacting friends and colleagues in the country to get some updates about their safety and welfare. In 2001, she and a team of archaeologists with the University had conducted excavations at the ancient site of El Hibeh about 180 miles south of Cairo, a site that evidenced occupation from Pharaonic times through the early Islamic periods. Their last season was completed in 2009, and for a variety of reasons they were not able to return. Now, there were concerns about the state of the archaeological remains at the El Hibeh site. She had been informed that there was extensive looting, and that the situation there was "very bad".
"Very bad" may have been an understatement. When she and a team finally returned to begin work at the site again in February, 2012, the scene was more than disheartening. They found hundreds of looters' pits, exposed tombs, destroyed walls, and even human remains, including remnants of dismembered mummies and strewn mummy wraps, littering the site like trash.
"The day before we were supposed to start work I received a phone call telling me that local Beni Suef security had yanked our permission to work", wrote Redmount in her Facebook account. "The upshot was that a local "gangster", whose name is known, from El Ogra, the village north of the site, had formed a sort of mafia focused on looting the site. This "criminal" is evidently a murderer who got out of prison after the revolution. His "gang" is looting the site non-stop, on a massive scale. When I returned to Cairo from our dig house........our van passed the site heading for the eastern desert highway, [and] we saw about ten men openly looting the mound and desert behind (we have pictures of some of them), with conveniently parked motorcycles nearby."
El Hibeh is not the only site in Egypt that has been subjected to looting and destruction during and since the revolution. There are a number of others. But El Hibeh is especially significant because it is one of the least disturbed sites of the Third Intermediate Period. It was built about 1070 BCE by the High Priests of Amun at Luxor/Thebes and was occupied for over 1,700 years through the Pharaonic, Ptolemaic, Roman, Coptic, and early Islamic periods.
“The damage was so severe to the site, and so ongoing, that I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t try and do something,” she told NBC in an interview . “I just felt that if I didn’t come forward, there wasn’t going to be anything left.”
And come forward she did. Her interview was aired recently on NBC's Rock Center with Brian Williams, and she has established a Facebook page dedicated to getting the word out about El Hibeh's plight, as well as the plight of many other sites in Egypt facing the same threat. More than 1,700 people have joined the group, where Redmount and others have also posted hundreds of photographs illustrating the destruction and news about other threatened sites in Egypt and across the Middle East.
"We started the "Save Hibeh Egypt" facebook page because we are at our wits end as to what else to do........We are posting here pictures of the site, of looting, of articles regarding this issue........We must take action to save El Hibeh and hundreds of other sites like it that have been severely damaged as a result of [only] limited police protection since January 28, 2011."
More information, including photos, of the El Hibeh situation can be seen at the “Save El Hibeh Egypt” Facebook group".
I used to dream about visiting Egypt one day and taking a river cruise on the mighty Nile. Not anymore.
I used to have respect for Egyptians -- not the leaders, I mean, the regular people of Egypt, who seemed to be proud of their ancient heritage and, by and large, caring of it. Not anymore.
Sad. So sad. Once lost, the knowledge that is contained in situ at looted sites like El Hibeh is lost forever. It cannot ever be put back to the way it was before.
Warning: There are some shocking photographs in the article. I chose not to put any of them here. It makes me cry, this horrid descretion of a sacred place.
From Popular Archaeology
July 6, 2012
Massive Looting and Destruction at Ancient Egyptian Archaeological Site
After the January 2011 revolution in Egypt, Professor and Archaeologist Carol Redmount of U.C. Berkeley began contacting friends and colleagues in the country to get some updates about their safety and welfare. In 2001, she and a team of archaeologists with the University had conducted excavations at the ancient site of El Hibeh about 180 miles south of Cairo, a site that evidenced occupation from Pharaonic times through the early Islamic periods. Their last season was completed in 2009, and for a variety of reasons they were not able to return. Now, there were concerns about the state of the archaeological remains at the El Hibeh site. She had been informed that there was extensive looting, and that the situation there was "very bad".
"Very bad" may have been an understatement. When she and a team finally returned to begin work at the site again in February, 2012, the scene was more than disheartening. They found hundreds of looters' pits, exposed tombs, destroyed walls, and even human remains, including remnants of dismembered mummies and strewn mummy wraps, littering the site like trash.
"The day before we were supposed to start work I received a phone call telling me that local Beni Suef security had yanked our permission to work", wrote Redmount in her Facebook account. "The upshot was that a local "gangster", whose name is known, from El Ogra, the village north of the site, had formed a sort of mafia focused on looting the site. This "criminal" is evidently a murderer who got out of prison after the revolution. His "gang" is looting the site non-stop, on a massive scale. When I returned to Cairo from our dig house........our van passed the site heading for the eastern desert highway, [and] we saw about ten men openly looting the mound and desert behind (we have pictures of some of them), with conveniently parked motorcycles nearby."
El Hibeh is not the only site in Egypt that has been subjected to looting and destruction during and since the revolution. There are a number of others. But El Hibeh is especially significant because it is one of the least disturbed sites of the Third Intermediate Period. It was built about 1070 BCE by the High Priests of Amun at Luxor/Thebes and was occupied for over 1,700 years through the Pharaonic, Ptolemaic, Roman, Coptic, and early Islamic periods.
“The damage was so severe to the site, and so ongoing, that I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t try and do something,” she told NBC in an interview . “I just felt that if I didn’t come forward, there wasn’t going to be anything left.”
And come forward she did. Her interview was aired recently on NBC's Rock Center with Brian Williams, and she has established a Facebook page dedicated to getting the word out about El Hibeh's plight, as well as the plight of many other sites in Egypt facing the same threat. More than 1,700 people have joined the group, where Redmount and others have also posted hundreds of photographs illustrating the destruction and news about other threatened sites in Egypt and across the Middle East.
"We started the "Save Hibeh Egypt" facebook page because we are at our wits end as to what else to do........We are posting here pictures of the site, of looting, of articles regarding this issue........We must take action to save El Hibeh and hundreds of other sites like it that have been severely damaged as a result of [only] limited police protection since January 28, 2011."
More information, including photos, of the El Hibeh situation can be seen at the “Save El Hibeh Egypt” Facebook group".
Monday, March 12, 2012
Ten Egyptian Looters Die in Illegal Dig Collapse
From Yahoo News/AFP
Earlier today
10 die in Egypt while digging for ancient treasures
Earlier today
10 die in Egypt while digging for ancient treasures
Ten people were killed when the soil caved in on them as they were illegally digging for ancient treasures under a house in a central Egyptian village, police officials told AFP on Monday.
The 10, including four brothers, were buried alive when the walls of the dig collapsed in the village of Arab al-Manasra, north of the historic city of Luxor.
Rescue services were working to recover the bodies, the official said, adding that two people were also injured in the incident.
Ambitions of making money quickly have incited many to turn to illegal archaeological digging, particularly in antiquities-rich locations such as Luxor, Aswan and Cairo.
"We have to work on many levels to stop these get-rich-quick schemes, where people are digging for an illusion," Mansur Boreik, head of the Luxor antiquities department told AFP.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Abu Sir Being Trashed - Literally!
If whoever the hell is running Egypt don't get their act together real soon, they will have NO tourism left. Who wants to go into the desert to explore ruins only to see mountains of trash and dead half-burned up animals?
And then what will the stupid sucks running things do, heh? Continue their bashing of the United States out of the sides of their mouths while accepting with both hands greedily outstretched our foreign aid? News flash - that's not going to continue for very long. We (meaning the majority of American people) are losing patience and you do not want to piss off the President. He is the epitomy of a man who walks softly and carries a big stick.
From Egypt Independent
Garbage dumping and archaeological looting in Abu Sir alarm residents
By Steven Viney
Sun, 26/02/2012 - 11:52
Since last January’s uprising, the archaeologically rich area of Abu Sir in the Giza Governorate has come to resemble an ad hoc garbage disposal site due to a lack of law enforcement coupled with an ongoing conflict between the army, a nearby sand quarry and a garbage dump, residents say.
The governorate’s garbage dump site is situated several kilometers into the desert at the end of a road that also leads to a sand quarry, near the Beni Yusef army base.
However, due to a lack of law enforcement and police presence, the garbage trucks no longer deposit at the dump site regularly, dumping the garbage in the nearby canals, throughout the desert, and among the area’s archaeological sites instead.
The garbage now reaches as far back as the western end of the Moneib highway, starting in the desert and running all along the Mansoureya road canal.
The Abu Sir sand quarry has, according to residents, been digging outside its property for years, crossing the restrictive lines put in place by the Ministry of State for Antiquities Affairs.
The same location was reported to have fallen victim to archaeological theft and looting during the 2011 protests earlier last year.
Residents say that this looting and digging for antiquities has never stopped and now involves many of the quarrymen. “Before, there were occasional cases of people searching at night with a shovel and a flashlight, but now it’s being done on a bigger scale, using the trucks during the day,” says a local resident who asked to remain anonymous due to sensitivity around the issue and a fear for his own safety.
“They’re no longer just taking sand, you can find them looking through the sand inside the trucks, dumping it then taking more. They’re even digging into the mud all the way under the sand, too, which dates back to ancient times,” the resident said.
Recently, territorial issues with the nearby army base have led to conflicts that resulted in trucks from the sand quarry blocking important roads in Abu Sir with bulldozers and sand in retaliation, including the road leading to Giza Governorate’s garbage dump site.
The details of the disputes are uncertain, but road blockades mean that all of trucks transporting the governorate’s garbage are often not able to reach the dump site, so it gets dumped throughout Abu Sir. This practice, residents say, has continued even after the roads were cleared.
To make matters worse, the garbage is also sifted through for valuable items, and often burned.
Visiting the location reveals a shocking site of massive piles of burning trash, dead animals, birds and dogs among archaeological heritage sites and around the canal.
Meanwhile, the over-digging from the quarry has left holes of meteoric proportions scattered throughout the locality. The army appears to remain idle as garbage trucks and trucks filled with sand just whisk by consistently dumping their goods, or rummaging through it and burning it.
According to the residents, many official complaints have been filed, to no result.
The issue is also particularly sensitive among the residents, who asked for anonymity out of fear of the quarrymen, who are very well known and locally established in Abu Sir — and often armed.
“The garbage is of course a huge disaster that needs fixing, but what’s more crucial is preventing and monitoring the archaeological looting,” said another resident who wished to remain anonymous. “But they’re all related, and nobody, not the ministry or the army, wants to address the issue.”
The Ministry of State for Antiquities Affairs refused to provide a statement, stating that any looting of the area has stopped, and that the issue of garbage dumping is not its responsibility.
The Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs said that issues involving the sand quarry and the Abu Sir locality fall under the responsibility of the Ministry of State for Antiquities Affairs.
And then what will the stupid sucks running things do, heh? Continue their bashing of the United States out of the sides of their mouths while accepting with both hands greedily outstretched our foreign aid? News flash - that's not going to continue for very long. We (meaning the majority of American people) are losing patience and you do not want to piss off the President. He is the epitomy of a man who walks softly and carries a big stick.
From Egypt Independent
Garbage dumping and archaeological looting in Abu Sir alarm residents
By Steven Viney
Sun, 26/02/2012 - 11:52
Since last January’s uprising, the archaeologically rich area of Abu Sir in the Giza Governorate has come to resemble an ad hoc garbage disposal site due to a lack of law enforcement coupled with an ongoing conflict between the army, a nearby sand quarry and a garbage dump, residents say.
The governorate’s garbage dump site is situated several kilometers into the desert at the end of a road that also leads to a sand quarry, near the Beni Yusef army base.
However, due to a lack of law enforcement and police presence, the garbage trucks no longer deposit at the dump site regularly, dumping the garbage in the nearby canals, throughout the desert, and among the area’s archaeological sites instead.
The garbage now reaches as far back as the western end of the Moneib highway, starting in the desert and running all along the Mansoureya road canal.
The Abu Sir sand quarry has, according to residents, been digging outside its property for years, crossing the restrictive lines put in place by the Ministry of State for Antiquities Affairs.
The same location was reported to have fallen victim to archaeological theft and looting during the 2011 protests earlier last year.
Residents say that this looting and digging for antiquities has never stopped and now involves many of the quarrymen. “Before, there were occasional cases of people searching at night with a shovel and a flashlight, but now it’s being done on a bigger scale, using the trucks during the day,” says a local resident who asked to remain anonymous due to sensitivity around the issue and a fear for his own safety.
“They’re no longer just taking sand, you can find them looking through the sand inside the trucks, dumping it then taking more. They’re even digging into the mud all the way under the sand, too, which dates back to ancient times,” the resident said.
Recently, territorial issues with the nearby army base have led to conflicts that resulted in trucks from the sand quarry blocking important roads in Abu Sir with bulldozers and sand in retaliation, including the road leading to Giza Governorate’s garbage dump site.
The details of the disputes are uncertain, but road blockades mean that all of trucks transporting the governorate’s garbage are often not able to reach the dump site, so it gets dumped throughout Abu Sir. This practice, residents say, has continued even after the roads were cleared.
To make matters worse, the garbage is also sifted through for valuable items, and often burned.
Visiting the location reveals a shocking site of massive piles of burning trash, dead animals, birds and dogs among archaeological heritage sites and around the canal.
Meanwhile, the over-digging from the quarry has left holes of meteoric proportions scattered throughout the locality. The army appears to remain idle as garbage trucks and trucks filled with sand just whisk by consistently dumping their goods, or rummaging through it and burning it.
According to the residents, many official complaints have been filed, to no result.
The issue is also particularly sensitive among the residents, who asked for anonymity out of fear of the quarrymen, who are very well known and locally established in Abu Sir — and often armed.
“The garbage is of course a huge disaster that needs fixing, but what’s more crucial is preventing and monitoring the archaeological looting,” said another resident who wished to remain anonymous. “But they’re all related, and nobody, not the ministry or the army, wants to address the issue.”
The Ministry of State for Antiquities Affairs refused to provide a statement, stating that any looting of the area has stopped, and that the issue of garbage dumping is not its responsibility.
The Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs said that issues involving the sand quarry and the Abu Sir locality fall under the responsibility of the Ministry of State for Antiquities Affairs.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Zahi Hawass Resigns as Egypt's Antiquities Minister
I never thought I'd see the day! I thought he would go on forever, like the Curse of the Mummy. Here's the news from The New York Times:
March 3, 2011, 1:25 pm
Egyptian Antiquities Chief Says He’s Out
By KATE TAYLOR
After Egypt’s prime minister resigned on Thursday and the army asked his replacement to form a caretaker cabinet, Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s powerful and controversial antiquities chief, said he would not be part of the new government. His comments came after he posted on his Web site for the first time a list of dozens of sites that have been looted since the beginning of the uprising that led to the fall of President Hosni Mubarak. [I knew that reassurances from the government that wholesale looting was not taking place were white-wash. Will we ever know the true extent of what has been stolen from the heritage of all Egyptian people?]
Reached by telephone Mr. Hawass, a member of the previous cabinet, said he was happy that he had made the “right decision” and lashed out at colleagues who have criticized him, including one who has accused him of smuggling antiquities.
Among the places Mr. Hawass named as having been looted were the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s storerooms at its excavation site in Dahshur, south of Cairo. In a statement the Met’s director, Thomas P. Campbell, described that incident as having taken place several weeks ago.
Mr. Campbell expressed alarm about continuing looting, calling it “a grave and tragic emergency.” In a statement, which was issued before Mr. Hawass’s resignation was confirmed, he said:
“The world cannot sit by and permit unchecked anarchy to jeopardize the cultural heritage of one of the world’s oldest, greatest and most inspiring civilizations. We echo the voices of all concerned citizens of the globe in imploring Egypt’s new government authorities, in building the nation’s future, to protect its precious past. Action needs to be taken immediately.”
Well, Mr. Campbell, what do you want the "world" to do? Invade Egypt and put all antiquities under UN guard??? Have the "world" mount an invasion and "rescue" mission??? Should be airlift the Great Pyramid block by block and rebuild it in Moscow? Put Pepi's tomb in Omaha? No - I've got it - near Fort Knox!
As could be expected, this article generated lots of comments at the NYT. I have never been a fan of Zahi Hawass but I think it's outrageous that some people are suggesting he is guilty of looting antiquities. If Hawass is one thing, it is totally dedicated to preserving the ancient history of Egypt. I think he's made a mistake stepping down when he is needed most but, let's see what happens. I assume a new Minister will be appointed - soon, let's hope, and that he (doubt it will be a she) will be given the tools he needs to guard the vast ancient resources of Egypt.
Meanwhile, you can read the man's words at his blog. Will his blog disappear soon? Will Dr. Hawass go riding into the sunset, never to be seen nor heard from again?
March 3, 2011, 1:25 pm
Egyptian Antiquities Chief Says He’s Out
By KATE TAYLOR
After Egypt’s prime minister resigned on Thursday and the army asked his replacement to form a caretaker cabinet, Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s powerful and controversial antiquities chief, said he would not be part of the new government. His comments came after he posted on his Web site for the first time a list of dozens of sites that have been looted since the beginning of the uprising that led to the fall of President Hosni Mubarak. [I knew that reassurances from the government that wholesale looting was not taking place were white-wash. Will we ever know the true extent of what has been stolen from the heritage of all Egyptian people?]
Reached by telephone Mr. Hawass, a member of the previous cabinet, said he was happy that he had made the “right decision” and lashed out at colleagues who have criticized him, including one who has accused him of smuggling antiquities.
Among the places Mr. Hawass named as having been looted were the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s storerooms at its excavation site in Dahshur, south of Cairo. In a statement the Met’s director, Thomas P. Campbell, described that incident as having taken place several weeks ago.
Mr. Campbell expressed alarm about continuing looting, calling it “a grave and tragic emergency.” In a statement, which was issued before Mr. Hawass’s resignation was confirmed, he said:
“The world cannot sit by and permit unchecked anarchy to jeopardize the cultural heritage of one of the world’s oldest, greatest and most inspiring civilizations. We echo the voices of all concerned citizens of the globe in imploring Egypt’s new government authorities, in building the nation’s future, to protect its precious past. Action needs to be taken immediately.”
Well, Mr. Campbell, what do you want the "world" to do? Invade Egypt and put all antiquities under UN guard??? Have the "world" mount an invasion and "rescue" mission??? Should be airlift the Great Pyramid block by block and rebuild it in Moscow? Put Pepi's tomb in Omaha? No - I've got it - near Fort Knox!
As could be expected, this article generated lots of comments at the NYT. I have never been a fan of Zahi Hawass but I think it's outrageous that some people are suggesting he is guilty of looting antiquities. If Hawass is one thing, it is totally dedicated to preserving the ancient history of Egypt. I think he's made a mistake stepping down when he is needed most but, let's see what happens. I assume a new Minister will be appointed - soon, let's hope, and that he (doubt it will be a she) will be given the tools he needs to guard the vast ancient resources of Egypt.
Meanwhile, you can read the man's words at his blog. Will his blog disappear soon? Will Dr. Hawass go riding into the sunset, never to be seen nor heard from again?
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Egypt: Update on Looting and Thefts of Antiquities
From Yahoo News/AP
18 items missing from Egyptian Museum after unrest
By JASON KEYSER, Associated Press Jason Keyser, Associated Press – 17 mins ago
February 13, 2011
CAIRO – A full inventory of the Egyptian Museum has found that looters escaped with 18 items during the anti-government unrest, including two gilded wooden statues of famed boy king, Tutankhamun, the antiquities chief said Sunday.
The 18-day uprising that forced out President Hosni Mubarak engulfed the areas around the famed museum, on the edge of Cairo's Tahrir Square. On Jan. 28, as protesters clashed with police early on in the turmoil and burned down the adjacent headquarters of Mubarak's ruling party, a handful of looters climbed a fire escape to the museum roof and lowered themselves on ropes from a glass-paneled ceiling onto the museum's top floor.
Around 70 objects — many of them small statues — were damaged, but until Sunday's announcement, it was not known whether anything was missing.
Antiquities Minister Zahi Hawass said the museum's database department determined 18 objects were gone. Investigators searching for those behind the thefts were questioning dozens of people arrested over several days after last month's break-in.
The most important of the missing objects is a limestone statue of the Pharaoh Akhenaten, the so-called heretic king that tried to introduce monotheism to Egypt, standing and holding an offering table.
"It's the most important one from an artistic point of view," said museum director Tarek el-Awady. "The position of the king is unique and it's a beautiful piece of art." During Akhenaten's so-called Amarna period, named after his capital, artists experimented with new styles.
Also gone is a gilded wooden statue of the 18th Dynasty King Tutankhamun, Akhenaten's son, being carried by a goddess. Pieces are also missing from another statue of the boy king wielding a fishing harpoon from a boat.
"We have the boat and the legs of the king, but we are missing other parts of the body," el-Awady said. "We are looking everywhere for them — around the museum, outside, on the roof, from where the thieves got into the museum."
He said none of the missing objects was from the gated room containing the gold funerary mask of King Tutankhamun and other stunning items from his tomb in the Valley of the Kings — the museum's chief attractions. The looters did not break into the room, he said.
The other missing items are a statue of Nefertiti, Akhenaten's wife, making offerings, a sandstone head of a princess and a stone statuette of a scribe from Amarna, and a heart scarab and 11 wooden funerary statuettes of the nobleman Yuya.
Antiquities authorities also announced Sunday that thieves broke into a storage site at the royal necropolis of Dahshur, south of Cairo, on Feb. 11. They had no information yet on whether items were missing.
The Egyptian Museum remains closed and guarded by an army unit, but workers are cleaning the vast building and the garden around it. Efforts are being made to improve security.
18 items missing from Egyptian Museum after unrest
By JASON KEYSER, Associated Press Jason Keyser, Associated Press – 17 mins ago
February 13, 2011
CAIRO – A full inventory of the Egyptian Museum has found that looters escaped with 18 items during the anti-government unrest, including two gilded wooden statues of famed boy king, Tutankhamun, the antiquities chief said Sunday.
The 18-day uprising that forced out President Hosni Mubarak engulfed the areas around the famed museum, on the edge of Cairo's Tahrir Square. On Jan. 28, as protesters clashed with police early on in the turmoil and burned down the adjacent headquarters of Mubarak's ruling party, a handful of looters climbed a fire escape to the museum roof and lowered themselves on ropes from a glass-paneled ceiling onto the museum's top floor.
Around 70 objects — many of them small statues — were damaged, but until Sunday's announcement, it was not known whether anything was missing.
Antiquities Minister Zahi Hawass said the museum's database department determined 18 objects were gone. Investigators searching for those behind the thefts were questioning dozens of people arrested over several days after last month's break-in.
The most important of the missing objects is a limestone statue of the Pharaoh Akhenaten, the so-called heretic king that tried to introduce monotheism to Egypt, standing and holding an offering table.
"It's the most important one from an artistic point of view," said museum director Tarek el-Awady. "The position of the king is unique and it's a beautiful piece of art." During Akhenaten's so-called Amarna period, named after his capital, artists experimented with new styles.
Also gone is a gilded wooden statue of the 18th Dynasty King Tutankhamun, Akhenaten's son, being carried by a goddess. Pieces are also missing from another statue of the boy king wielding a fishing harpoon from a boat.
"We have the boat and the legs of the king, but we are missing other parts of the body," el-Awady said. "We are looking everywhere for them — around the museum, outside, on the roof, from where the thieves got into the museum."
He said none of the missing objects was from the gated room containing the gold funerary mask of King Tutankhamun and other stunning items from his tomb in the Valley of the Kings — the museum's chief attractions. The looters did not break into the room, he said.
The other missing items are a statue of Nefertiti, Akhenaten's wife, making offerings, a sandstone head of a princess and a stone statuette of a scribe from Amarna, and a heart scarab and 11 wooden funerary statuettes of the nobleman Yuya.
Antiquities authorities also announced Sunday that thieves broke into a storage site at the royal necropolis of Dahshur, south of Cairo, on Feb. 11. They had no information yet on whether items were missing.
The Egyptian Museum remains closed and guarded by an army unit, but workers are cleaning the vast building and the garden around it. Efforts are being made to improve security.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
The National Geographic Says - No Looting of Maya Tombs
Here's what the NG blog says:
Report From Saqqara: Contrary to Rumor, the Two 'Maya' Tombs Are Safe
Posted Feb 9,2011
After looters swarmed the ancient burial ground at Saqqara on January 29, panic swept the world of Egyptology. One online group reported that looters had entered and “destroyed” the interiors of “many tombs.” On the Facebook group “Egyptologists for Egypt,” a contributor wrote that the tomb of Maya, in particular, “is destroyed and even the reliefs in the burial chamber have been hacked out.” As that rumor spread, there was confusion about which Maya tomb—there are two at Saqqara. Some reported that it was the tomb belonging to King Tutankhamun's wet nurse (whose name is often spelled Maia); others said it was that of Tut’s treasurer.
It turns out the reports were grossly exaggerated. The tomb of the wet nurse is still sealed with bricks. And on Tuesday, inspectors at Saqqara led me into Maya the treasurer’s burial chamber. “Nobody touched the tomb here, “ said Mohammad Mohammad Youssef, chief inspector for South Saqqara, as he and a colleague broke a wire and seal on the metal door leading underground. “We put seals on the lock about a month ago when we checked it for humidity and temperature, and the same seals were still here and the locks were not broken.” Youssef and I walked down a tight, sandy staircase of a dozen steps to an iron gate with another three locks on it, and another seal that was untouched after the looting. Then we entered three chambers, over 3,000 years old, shimmering with golden-yellow reliefs.
The reliefs are from the Amarna period, about 3,350 years ago, when wall paintings were more naturalistic than in other pharaonic eras. They show the treasurer and his wife with various gods, including Osiris, god of the afterlife; Isis, goddess of motherhood and fertility; Ptah, god of creation; and Anubis, the jackal-headed god who oversees mummification. Maya "is praying to these different gods, meaning that he has good relations with all of the gods, who will be with him in the afterlife,” said government Egyptologist Ashraf Mohiee.
Aboveground, looters broke into several small storerooms, which hold bones, shards of pottery, and other collected items. The treasure hunters rifled through a portion of this material, tossing items on the floor. “We’ll lose some archaeological information if it’s a mess inside,” Maarten Raven, who leads the Dutch expedition at the site, told me by phone from the Netherlands. “But it’s nothing major.” He expressed great relief that the tomb itself was fully intact.
—Jeffrey Bartholet
Truth? Lie? Somewhere in between? Cleary, something happened at Saqqara. I very much doubt that archaeologists and their workers were just making things up as they were emailing reports and blogging about tombs being broken into and looting taking place. They did not imagine those events!
So what, really, happened? We will probably never know the full truth because the Egyptian government - however it is constituted now and in the future - will make sure we do not! Tourism in Egypt has already suffered a great heart-blow during the recent unrest that led to the ultimate resignation of President Mubarak. The authorities, whoever they may be, are not going to 'fess up to the wholesale rape of ancient antiquities! Billions of dollars are at stake - and I don't mean the billions that the illicitly stolen antiquities will ultimately fetch on the underground market.
Report From Saqqara: Contrary to Rumor, the Two 'Maya' Tombs Are Safe
Posted Feb 9,2011
After looters swarmed the ancient burial ground at Saqqara on January 29, panic swept the world of Egyptology. One online group reported that looters had entered and “destroyed” the interiors of “many tombs.” On the Facebook group “Egyptologists for Egypt,” a contributor wrote that the tomb of Maya, in particular, “is destroyed and even the reliefs in the burial chamber have been hacked out.” As that rumor spread, there was confusion about which Maya tomb—there are two at Saqqara. Some reported that it was the tomb belonging to King Tutankhamun's wet nurse (whose name is often spelled Maia); others said it was that of Tut’s treasurer.
It turns out the reports were grossly exaggerated. The tomb of the wet nurse is still sealed with bricks. And on Tuesday, inspectors at Saqqara led me into Maya the treasurer’s burial chamber. “Nobody touched the tomb here, “ said Mohammad Mohammad Youssef, chief inspector for South Saqqara, as he and a colleague broke a wire and seal on the metal door leading underground. “We put seals on the lock about a month ago when we checked it for humidity and temperature, and the same seals were still here and the locks were not broken.” Youssef and I walked down a tight, sandy staircase of a dozen steps to an iron gate with another three locks on it, and another seal that was untouched after the looting. Then we entered three chambers, over 3,000 years old, shimmering with golden-yellow reliefs.
The reliefs are from the Amarna period, about 3,350 years ago, when wall paintings were more naturalistic than in other pharaonic eras. They show the treasurer and his wife with various gods, including Osiris, god of the afterlife; Isis, goddess of motherhood and fertility; Ptah, god of creation; and Anubis, the jackal-headed god who oversees mummification. Maya "is praying to these different gods, meaning that he has good relations with all of the gods, who will be with him in the afterlife,” said government Egyptologist Ashraf Mohiee.
Aboveground, looters broke into several small storerooms, which hold bones, shards of pottery, and other collected items. The treasure hunters rifled through a portion of this material, tossing items on the floor. “We’ll lose some archaeological information if it’s a mess inside,” Maarten Raven, who leads the Dutch expedition at the site, told me by phone from the Netherlands. “But it’s nothing major.” He expressed great relief that the tomb itself was fully intact.
—Jeffrey Bartholet
Truth? Lie? Somewhere in between? Cleary, something happened at Saqqara. I very much doubt that archaeologists and their workers were just making things up as they were emailing reports and blogging about tombs being broken into and looting taking place. They did not imagine those events!
So what, really, happened? We will probably never know the full truth because the Egyptian government - however it is constituted now and in the future - will make sure we do not! Tourism in Egypt has already suffered a great heart-blow during the recent unrest that led to the ultimate resignation of President Mubarak. The authorities, whoever they may be, are not going to 'fess up to the wholesale rape of ancient antiquities! Billions of dollars are at stake - and I don't mean the billions that the illicitly stolen antiquities will ultimately fetch on the underground market.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Looting in Egypt Continues - Rare Tomb at Saqqara May Be Destroyed
Report by Andrew Lawler at Science Insider:
Egypt Update: Rare Tomb May Have Been Destroyed
by Andrew Lawler on 3 February 2011, 5:26 PM
[Excerpted] Reports of damage to one of the few ancient Egyptian tombs devoted solely to a woman have tempered the news that most of Egypt's priceless antiquities have escaped damage and that teams of foreign archaeologists are safe amid widespread protests against the regime led by Hosni Mubarak.
One archaeologist present at the famous cemetery of Saqqara, south of Cairo, said that as many as 200 looters were digging for treasure in the area this past weekend before police resecured the area. The excavator, who requested anonymity, added that the tomb of Maya, the wet nurse of King Tutankhamun, was "completely destroyed." Another Western archaeologist said, "We still don't know the extent of the damage, but things have been bad and out of control."
Full article.
The good news is that other major archaeological sites appear to be quiet - at the moment. But as of Saturday "all foreign expeditions were ordered to halt work and leave." Leave? Leave the country? Leave the sites but stay in the country? If all is quiet, why should they stop working and leave? This sounds very suspicious to me.
Cf. reports in this article from Archaeology Magazine online:
Letter from Cairo
February 4, 2011
by ARCHAEOLOGY correspondent Mike Elkin
[Excerpted]What concerns the Egyptologists I spoke to, however, is the funerary site of Saqqara, which suffered a 36-hour gap in security before the army moved in around the site. Hawass insists that no looting took place. Some locks on tombs were broken, but the intruders caused no damage inside nor stole anything. "If anything had happened it would have been a disaster," he said.
Several archaeologists with contacts at Saqqara, who requested anonymity, confirmed this assessment. But they added that storage facilities were robbed, something the Supreme Council of Antiquities has denied. Inspectors, sources said, are evaluating the damage to the site with the army because the looters might be armed. The site is now closed to the public.
I spoke to an archaeologist at the French mission, who works at Saqqara and was in Cairo. "We've heard a lot of conflicting stories and many things on the Internet are wrong," he told me, based on calls to his Egyptian counterparts. "People were saying that my site in south Saqqara was destroyed, but in reality only two tents were damaged. We just have to wait and see, because now we have orders to stay out. On Sunday, looters were shooting at inspectors, who were very brave. Looting in Saqqara is nothing new, but before the army arrived, the site was left unguarded."
Egypt Update: Rare Tomb May Have Been Destroyed
by Andrew Lawler on 3 February 2011, 5:26 PM
[Excerpted] Reports of damage to one of the few ancient Egyptian tombs devoted solely to a woman have tempered the news that most of Egypt's priceless antiquities have escaped damage and that teams of foreign archaeologists are safe amid widespread protests against the regime led by Hosni Mubarak.
One archaeologist present at the famous cemetery of Saqqara, south of Cairo, said that as many as 200 looters were digging for treasure in the area this past weekend before police resecured the area. The excavator, who requested anonymity, added that the tomb of Maya, the wet nurse of King Tutankhamun, was "completely destroyed." Another Western archaeologist said, "We still don't know the extent of the damage, but things have been bad and out of control."
Full article.
The good news is that other major archaeological sites appear to be quiet - at the moment. But as of Saturday "all foreign expeditions were ordered to halt work and leave." Leave? Leave the country? Leave the sites but stay in the country? If all is quiet, why should they stop working and leave? This sounds very suspicious to me.
Cf. reports in this article from Archaeology Magazine online:
Letter from Cairo
February 4, 2011
by ARCHAEOLOGY correspondent Mike Elkin
[Excerpted]What concerns the Egyptologists I spoke to, however, is the funerary site of Saqqara, which suffered a 36-hour gap in security before the army moved in around the site. Hawass insists that no looting took place. Some locks on tombs were broken, but the intruders caused no damage inside nor stole anything. "If anything had happened it would have been a disaster," he said.
Several archaeologists with contacts at Saqqara, who requested anonymity, confirmed this assessment. But they added that storage facilities were robbed, something the Supreme Council of Antiquities has denied. Inspectors, sources said, are evaluating the damage to the site with the army because the looters might be armed. The site is now closed to the public.
I spoke to an archaeologist at the French mission, who works at Saqqara and was in Cairo. "We've heard a lot of conflicting stories and many things on the Internet are wrong," he told me, based on calls to his Egyptian counterparts. "People were saying that my site in south Saqqara was destroyed, but in reality only two tents were damaged. We just have to wait and see, because now we have orders to stay out. On Sunday, looters were shooting at inspectors, who were very brave. Looting in Saqqara is nothing new, but before the army arrived, the site was left unguarded."
Monday, January 31, 2011
More on - antiquities being damaged in Egypt by looters
We had the same destruction and looting going on across the USA in the 1960's during the black ghetto riots. I lived through them - under curfew in Milwaukee - I remember - I remember it all.
People who had legitimate grievances and were demonstrating their displeasure in peaceful ways were over-shadowed by a few bad apples who only wanted to get what they could, and would stop at nothing to do it, including arson, armed robbery and theft - looting. It was horrid then and it's horrid now - except it's going on in Egypt and the prime target for looting is priceless antiquities.
A burnt-out building can, one hopes, be rebuilt. But a piece of jewelry or an alabaster pot that is 5000 years old - once stolen and sucked up by the illicit antiquities market - it's gone forever, hidden away in a vault or underground playground "museum" for an uber-rich jerk who thinks he is - and is treated as if he were - above the law.
Damage reported at Giza Pyramids, Looters turned back at Karnak – Dr. Gerry Scott, ARCE director, provides an update from Cairo
Monday, January 31, 2011
From The Wall Street Journal
Egypt's Antiquities Fall Victim to the Mob
February 1, 2011
By ALEX JOFFE
When Zahi Hawass, the secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, came to work at the Egyptian Museum on Saturday, he found that looters had broken in and beheaded two mummies—possibly Tutankhamun's grandparents—and looted the ticket booth. Reports indicate that middle-class Egyptians, the tourism police and later the military secured the museum. But now it appears that many other museum's and storehouses have been looted, along with archaeological sites. A vast, impoverished underclass seems less taken with either the nationalist narrative of Egyptian greatness that stretches back to the pharaohs, or the intrinsic value of antiquities for all humanity, and more intrigued by the possibility of gold and other loot. For his part, Mr. Hawass has now been appointed state minister for antiquities by President Hosni Mubarak.
Numerous news reports aver that average citizens are banding together in attempts to keep looters at bay at shops, residential neighborhoods and museums - but, as always, the criminals are better-armed and better-organized. Who's winning the war when it comes to looting?
I recall the famous words from Shakespeare's play "Antony and Cleopatra:" I am dying, Egypt, dying... now with a more modern spin, unfortunately.
People who had legitimate grievances and were demonstrating their displeasure in peaceful ways were over-shadowed by a few bad apples who only wanted to get what they could, and would stop at nothing to do it, including arson, armed robbery and theft - looting. It was horrid then and it's horrid now - except it's going on in Egypt and the prime target for looting is priceless antiquities.
A burnt-out building can, one hopes, be rebuilt. But a piece of jewelry or an alabaster pot that is 5000 years old - once stolen and sucked up by the illicit antiquities market - it's gone forever, hidden away in a vault or underground playground "museum" for an uber-rich jerk who thinks he is - and is treated as if he were - above the law.
Damage reported at Giza Pyramids, Looters turned back at Karnak – Dr. Gerry Scott, ARCE director, provides an update from Cairo
Monday, January 31, 2011
From The Wall Street Journal
Egypt's Antiquities Fall Victim to the Mob
February 1, 2011
By ALEX JOFFE
When Zahi Hawass, the secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, came to work at the Egyptian Museum on Saturday, he found that looters had broken in and beheaded two mummies—possibly Tutankhamun's grandparents—and looted the ticket booth. Reports indicate that middle-class Egyptians, the tourism police and later the military secured the museum. But now it appears that many other museum's and storehouses have been looted, along with archaeological sites. A vast, impoverished underclass seems less taken with either the nationalist narrative of Egyptian greatness that stretches back to the pharaohs, or the intrinsic value of antiquities for all humanity, and more intrigued by the possibility of gold and other loot. For his part, Mr. Hawass has now been appointed state minister for antiquities by President Hosni Mubarak.
Numerous news reports aver that average citizens are banding together in attempts to keep looters at bay at shops, residential neighborhoods and museums - but, as always, the criminals are better-armed and better-organized. Who's winning the war when it comes to looting?
I recall the famous words from Shakespeare's play "Antony and Cleopatra:" I am dying, Egypt, dying... now with a more modern spin, unfortunately.
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