Saqqara, Abusir tombs looted. Tell Basta looters caught.

From the blog of Zahi Hawass: http://www.drhawass.com/blog/further-updates-state-egyptian-antiquities

I am very sad to announce that several important antiquities sites have been vandalized. After a preliminary inventory had been taken, Dr. Sabri Abdel Aziz, Head of the Pharaonic Sector of the Ministry of State for Antiquities Affairs, reported to me the following incidents: At Saqqara, the tomb of Hetepka was broken into, and the false door may have been stolen along with objects stored in the tomb. I have arranged for a committee to visit the tomb this coming Saturday to compare the alleged damage with earlier expedition photos. In Abusir, a portion of the false door was stolen from the tomb of Rahotep. In addition, break-ins have been confirmed at a number of storage magazines: these include ones in Saqqara, including one near the pyramid of Teti, and the magazine of Cairo University. I have created a committee to prepare reports to determine what, if anything, is missing from these magazines. The Egyptian Military caught and released thieves attempting to loot the site of Tell el Basta; the military also caught criminals trying to loot a tomb in Lisht. There have also been many reports of attacks on archaeological sites through the building of houses and illegal digging. I have asked the sector heads in the Ministry of State for Antiquities Affairs to prepare full reports for each site under their jurisdiction.

 

Practical Travel Updates

Not Egyptology related, but for anyone travelling in Egypt, you may want a few “heads up”:

CAIRO METRO

There has been a bout of renaming on the metro system, so some station names have been changed. Giza Suburb is now Omm el Misryeen. I think there may be a few others as well, so make sure when travelling to note of number of stops as well as the name, as some metro maps in circulation on the internet are out of date. Line 3 still isn’t open (surprise!).

CAIRO AIRPORT

Terminal 3 is now open and operating.  Virtually all EgyptAir flights are now using this terminal.

OBELISK OF SENUSRET I AT HELIOPOLIS

Is CLOSED due to the site being developed into an “open air museum”. Note that this is  actually closed instead of “Egyptian Closed”. It was meant to re-open in October, but don’t hold your breath.

LUXOR PUBLIC BUS FARES

Have gone up. It is now 35pt per person, not 25pt per trip on the East Bank. West Bank fares are, as always, something of a movable feast. 50pt remains a pain free rule of thumb for anything except very long rides (i.e. Seti Is mortuary temple).

WEST BANK BUS STATION AND VEHICLES

Has been changed. Now located immediately north, across the unfinished road, from the old station. Prior advice about heading into the village and flagging a already part-full bus on the main road out still stands. Also, a new fleet of vehicls has been introduced, so some buses are now of the East Bank minibus variety, rather than pick ups. The newer ones do look a little like the vehicles some tour companies use, so don’t let them sail by on the road thinking it’s just for people with bigger budgets than you and I.

KARNAK TEMPLE

Visitor centre is now open. Contains some models of the complex with not much explanation, and a short video in English. Has AC, but lies beyond the ticket and security check point, which is still at the 1st Pylon, and is the same as before. There’s some shops too, if you feel the need.

LUXOR MUSEUM

Does not accept Egyptian issued ISIC cards. Students, make sure to bring your own uni ID card as well! They are accepted provided they have the usual details (photo, name of your uni, your name, student number etc.) and look “legit” (i.e. produced on a proper card printer rather than stick on and laminate job)

AVENUE OF SPHINXES

Excavations are ongoing. Be aware that the excavation is being extended northward, so there are some road closures, including around the mosque previously just beyond the northern edge of the temple site. There mosque is still there, but the road has been mostly removed.  See Google Earth image below:

CLOSURES AND DEMOLITIONS

Some buildings are being cleared to make far for a widening of the Corniche, and Avenue of the Sphinxes project. However there is a lot of rumour, much of it untrue. Before taking it off internet rumour that any particular apartments or hotels are closed, call and check in person.

 

Egypt Suspends Louvre Saqqara Excavations over Stolen Artefacts

Link to original article

Egypt has decided to suspend all archaeological cooperation with the Louvre, after the French museum refused to return fragments of a Theban Tomb. The news was confirmed today by Dr. Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt’s antiquities department. The artefacts were excavated in a tomb near Luxor, and according to Dr. Hawass were stolen by the French. This decision endangers planned conferences at the Louvre, as well as the French team’s current excavations at Saqqara, the ‘city of the dead’. A boycott of the Louvre‘s Egyptological activities also ensures no archeological expeditions sponsored by the French museum could go ahead in Egypt.

The decision to cut all ties with the Louvre, as well as its archaeological teams, was taken two months ago after the Louvre had repeatedly ignored requests for the return of four reliefs. Dr. Hawass says the reliefs were illegally taken from a tomb in Luxor’s Valley of the Kings in the 1980s.

The disputed artefacts are 5 fragments from the wall of Theban Tomb 15 (TT15), the tomb of Tetiki on the West Bank at Dra Abu’l Naga.  The tomb was photographed in 1968 and shown intact.  In the 1990′s the tomb was – like so many – lost, and thought to be destroyed by modern building. A team from the Heidelberg University rediscovered this tomb during excavations at Dra Abu El-Naga in 2001, but the fragments were missing.

Update from ABC News -

…Subject to a decision by France’s national museum scientific committee, Mr Mitterrand said he was ready to order the frescoes be handed back.

Under the UNESCO convention of 1970, member countries agreed measures to prevent the illegal export of national treasures.

Mr Mitterrand [French Cultural Minister] said the five Egyptian pieces had been acquired in good faith by the Louvre and it was only in 2008, after the discovery of the tomb from which the murals apparently came, that serious doubts were raised about their provenance….

It would seem that all is set to end well, but does this set a precedent of “gunboat diplomacy” with regards to antiquities? And where is the line drawn? Dr. Zahi Hawass, has repeatedly said that it is only ilegally aquired anqituities that should be returned to Egypt, and so, one assumes, where methods like this would be used.

However, Dr. Hawass has repeatedly referred to a desire to see the Rosetta Stone and Bust of Nefertiti returned to Egypt, despite both peices being regarded as legally removed by the UNESCO Convention of 1983.  Will “gunboat diplomacy” be used to secure these peices? If it is, then the implications for both foreign archaeologial research in Egypt, and the status of all Ancient Egyptian collections in foreign museums could be far reaching.

Foreign museums will be loathed to surrender peices that they hold, in their and UNESCOs eyes, perfectly legally, and may have done so for the better part of 200 years. Yet, threatened with their ongoing work in Egypt being wiped out, they face a “Catch 22″ situation that may end up causing more harm than good.

In addition, the history of these artefacts is often entwined with the history of more than just Egypt. The Rosetta stone, for example, from the point of view of Ancient Egyptian history, is of relatively minor importance compared to it’s unique and hugely symbolic importance to modern Egyptology, which is essentially an international discipline centred as much around Paris, London, and any number of cities from Tokyo to Buenos Aires, as well as Cairo.

 

Egypt warns pharaohs’ tombs could disappear

AFP – Wednesday, August 19

LUXOR, Egypt (AFP) – - The ornate pharaonic tombs in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings are doomed to disappear within 150 to 500 years if they remain open to tourists, the head of antiquities has warned.

Zahi Hawass said humidity and fungus are eating into the walls of the royal tombs in the huge necropolis on the west bank of the Nile across from Luxor, which is swamped daily by several thousand tourists.

Poor ventilation and the breath of the hordes of visitors are causing damage to the carvings and painted decorations inside the tombs, he told journalists on a tour of the royal necropolis on Monday.

“The tombs (in the Valley of the Kings and nearby Valley of the Queens) which are open to visitors are facing severe damage to both colours and the engravings,” Hawass said.

“The levels of humidity and fungus are increasing because of the breath of visitors and this means that the tombs could disappear between 150 and 500 years.”

The Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens, where pharaonic royalty was mummified, is home to the tombs of legendary pharaohs such as the boy king Tutenkhamun and Queen Nefertiti.

Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities have taken a series of measures to protect the tombs, including setting up new ventilation systems, restricting the number of visitors and closing some tombs.

Hawass said the authorities have also decided “to close some tombs definitively to tourists and replace them by identical replicas,” including those of Tutenkhamun, Nefertiti and Seti I.

“A team of experts is currently using laser technology to examine these tombs in order to build the replicas… which would then open to visitors in a place near the Valley of the Kings,” Hawass said.

Link to full article

The idea of building exact replicas of the most visited tombs has long been suggested, though this is perhaps one of the most concrete statements I have come across so far that the SCA is seriously looking into giving this idea the go ahead.

 

Ramadan 2008

Ramadan has kicked off yesterday (1st September) and will run till the 30th of September, with end of Ramadan celebrations on 1st and 2nd of October. This affects the opening times of most SCA sites, particularly Saqqara, which closes fairly early anyway, be aware! Also some trains times may be affected, transport can be more crowded, and in non tourist areas cafes/restaurants may close during the day.

Note also thatthere are several public holidays falling during this period that will add to the disruption:

11th September : Coptic New Year

1st – 2nd October : End of Ramadan

6th October : Armed Forces Day

 

Burial chamber of Senusret II uncovered

From Egypt Daily News – Link to Article

CAIRO: Egyptian archaeologists have uncovered the burial chamber and coffin of King Senusret II who was believed to have ruled Egypt from 1897 BC to 1878 BC, official MENA news agency reported on Sunday.

The burial chamber was found in Al Lahun, the town built by Senusret which became Egypt’s political capital during the 12th and 13th dynasties, and where the king built his pyramid.

“The coffin is made of pink granite and the burial chamber is lined with red granite,” said Ahmed Abdel Aal, head of antiquities in Fayoum, south of Cairo.

The team also discovered “corridors and passageways inside the pyramid built to mislead thieves,” Abdel Aal said.

Wooden parts belonging to the king’s boat were also found as well as alabaster and ceramic containers decorated with hieroglyphs.

Senusret II was known for launching major irrigation projects in the Fayoum area, turning vast areas of marshland into cultivable land. –AFP

I await more news with interest, and will post anything I find, as I’m sure this has already been discovered???

 

UNESCO praises efforts for developing Luxor

From the State Information Service (Link to original article)

“UNESCO has commended Egypt for its efforts to develop the Upper Egyptian city of Luxor,” Head of Higher Council of Luxor City Samir Farag said Tuesday8/7/2008.

The international organization also hailed projects being implemented to turn Luxor into an open museum, he added that such admiration has been expressed to the Egyptian delegation to the annual conference of the World Heritage Committee being held in Quebec, Canada, he pointed out.

Projects implemented in the city fall within the overall development plan that runs till 2030, he said.

Also, a more complete article is available on Jane Akshar’s blog

For those who have only visited Luxor within the last few years, or who have never been in person, it’s hard to understand the scale of development that has taken place around Luxor Temple, as well as on the west bank, where several sites have  had extensive works carried out, such as the Valley of the Kings visitors centre.

Meanwhile, as I write, the approach to Karnak is also being completely revamped. No one can deny that a lot of money is being pumped into these projects and that they are viewed by both the SCA and the touristic powers that be as the way of the future.

 

SCA Ticket Price Rises

This is somewhat delayed news, as I only actually found out when Googling for information for myself. From the “Luxor News” blog of Jane Akshar.

SCA Ticket prices are to rise 25% from November 2008. A list of the rises on the blog above only gives the full (foreigner) rate however, so whether or not this will affect ticket prices for Egyptians and students I don’t know. Just be aware, as the guide books probably won’t be updated in time.  Expect guided tours and excursions to reflect the increase, though independent travellers in particular, should adjust their budgets accordingly.

As for me, It looks like my wish to try and grab a few nights comfort on my next trip by taking two or three nights in a nice hotel, to indulge the body and belly for a while, just went west. Back to the baladi bread and  bottles of warm tap water it is then…