SUMMARY: Antiquities Sites Accross Egypt Known or Reportedly Affected

Summary of sites affected across Egypt – either confirmed or strongly suspected. Data pooled from Egyptopaedia and others.

Alexandria Area (All confirmed by ZH/SCA 5th Feb):

• Anfushi Necropolis – SAFE
• Alexandria National Museum – Rumour of fire incorrect. SAFE
• Bibliotheca Alexandrina – SAFE
• Buto (Desouk) – Attempted break-in to magazine unsuccessful. Two thieves caught.
• Chatby Necropolis – SAFE
• Greco-Roman Museum – SAFE
• Kom el-Dikka (Amphitheatre) – SAFE
  
• Kom El-Shuqafa – SAFE
  
• Marine Museum – SAFE
• Mosaic Museum – SAFE
• Pompey’s Pillar – SAFE
  

Delta Region

• Qantara Museum (Nr. Ismailia) – Magazine looted. 288 objects recovered (4th Feb.), and 5 more (8th Feb.)
• Sa el-Hagar – SAFE
• Tell Basta – Attempted looting. Military arrested thieves. Reported 18th Feb by ZH.
• Tell el Dab’a – SAFE

Cairo

• See earlier report on Cairo Museum thefts.
• See the Eloquent Peasant for a continuously updated record of artefacts confirmed lost/found/damaged. Photographic record of items is being compiled. LINK
• Cairo University magazine entered. No further details available at present. (ZH 17th Feb) LINK

Pyramid Fields

• Tomb of Hetep-Ka at Saqqara entered. False door looted. (ZH 17th Feb) LINK
• Saqqara magazine (Nr. Teti pyramid) entered. No further details at present. Other magazines at Saqqara affected(?) (ZH 17th Feb) LINK
• Tomb of Rahotep at Abusir entered. Fragment of false door looted. (ZH 17th Feb) LINK
• Dashur (DeMorgan magazine, German mission) – Looted. Date of looting uncertain, perhaps multiple times.  Eight amulets confirmed missing. (14th Feb. Al Ahram – LINK)
• Tomb of Maya – SAFE (9th Feb ZH)
• Giza – SAFE (various sources)

Memphis

• Conflicting information. Blue Shield inspection (Austrian mission) reports nothing stolen, but could not locate magazine facility. Dr. Wafaa el Saddik reports magazine has been looted. ICOM suggests looting may have actually been vandalism, and lost in translation.

Faiyum

• Lahun – Signs of illicit digging. (Lahun Survey Project, 3rd Feb)  LINK
• Karanis – Magazine attempted break-in unsuccessful. Now safe. (Lahun Survey Project, 3rd Feb) LINK
• Lisht – Unsuccessful attempt to rob tomb. (ZH 17th Feb) LINK

Middle Egypt

• Abydos – Unconfirmed report of widespread illicit digging and looting of storerooms amidst lack of security presence. (Egyptian Dreams, 13th Feb) – LINK. However ZH (2nd Feb) reported as safe.
• Akhmin – SAFE (ZH, 2nd Feb) LINK
• Beni Hasan – SAFE (ZH, 2nd Feb) LINK
• Dendera – SAFE (ZH, 2nd Feb) LINK
• El Hibeh – Looted. Now secure. (ICOM) – LINK

Upper Egypt

• Karnak – Attempted entry by looters on 28th Jan. Repulsed by locals. (Egyptopaedia, 4th Feb) – LINK
• Luxor Temple – SAFE (Chicago House, 8th Feb) LINK
• West Bank Sites – SAFE (Chicago House, 8th Feb) LINK
• Kom Ombo – SAFE (ZH, 2nd Feb)
• Edfu – SAFE (ZH, 2nd Feb) LINK
• Philae – SAFE (ZH, 2nd Feb) LINK
• Elephantine – SAFE (ZH, 2nd Feb) LINK
• Nubian Museum – SAFE (ZH, 2nd Feb) LINK
• Kalabsha – SAFE (ZH, 2nd Feb) LINK
• Aswan Nobles Tombs – SAFE (ZH, 2nd Feb) LINK

Outer Regions

• Kharga Museum – Unconfirmed report of looting. (Louay Mahmoud Saied, 9th Feb)
• Berenice – SAFE (Egyptology Blog, 3rd Feb) LINK

 

For more information please check the Egyptopaedia Looting Database and the ICOM Report on Egypt’s Museums

 

More DNA Testamania…

From Daily News Egypt – Original article in full

Egypt to DNA-test 2 fetuses from King Tut’s tomb

CAIRO: Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities says the country’s scientists will start DNA tests on two mummified fetuses found in the tomb of King Tutankhamun to determine their link to the young pharaoh.

The fetuses were found in 1922 in the tomb in Luxor and have since been stored at Cairo University. They are widely believed to be King Tut’s stillborn children.

The tests will be carried out in collaboration with Cairo University’s Faculty of Medicine under the leadership of Dr Ashraf Selim, head of Cairo Scan.

Selim together with Dr Yehia Zakaria of the National Research Center have carried out CT scans of the two fetuses and took samples to make the DNA tests.

The council quotes in a statement Egypt’s Antiquities chief Zahi Hawass as saying the test will also try to determine the fetuses’ mother as well as Tutankhamun’s family lineage, a mystery that has baffled Egyptologists for years.

And what, precisely, do we hope to gain from this? A snippet from further into the article rasies some eyebrows for me…

Hawass said the tests will also help in identifying the mummy of Queen Nefertiti.

Which the last batch of DNA tests and CAT scans were supposed to have already established. I am not personally convinced that the ethical issues involved, and the time and cost spent on DNA testing of the royal mummies is consistently repaid in concrete advances in our knowledge. I am willing and ready to concede that some breakthroughs have been made, particularly in regards to the royal line of the early 18th Dynasty. But, at some point a line needs to be drawn between “testamania”, and ethically and practically justifable research, which we can reasonably expect to deliver a significant advance to our understanding.

In addition, most archaeology involves conservation and preservation of material. DNA testing is unusual in archaeology in that it is the opposite. DNA testing is damaging to, and invasive of, the human remains which are subjected to it.