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

 

Luxor Development Plans

From Al Ahram Weekly – Link to article

The width of the Nile Corniche boulevard in Luxor is to double as part of a development plan that is now steaming ahead at full speed, says Jill Kamil

Egyptologists and concerned Luxor residents regard it as a terrible loss of historical 19th-century buildings and other structures on the town’s riverside esplanade, but several such landmarks are being demolished to make way for increased traffic between the two major temples on the east bank. Meanwhile letters have been flying back and forth on Internet blogs.

“If the current plan is implemented, this zone will be at the expense of buildings, and gardens in front of buildings, including those of a military club, a mosque, a Coptic Catholic rest house, and Chicago House garden. Can a less radical plan not be drawn up?” writes one anxious party.

“I thought that tourism was to be moved out of Luxor city centre to permit better conservation of Theban monuments. Now we hear that the whole area between Karnak to the north and Al-Tod, the site of a Graeco-Roman temple to the south, are to become part of a tourist zone. What’s happening?” bemoans another.

Indeed this has caused a stir online. As the article states, the master plan is not in itself new, but up until now the scope of things had not been clear, though both the marina and the clearing of the Avenue of Sphinxes have been known for some time.

I must admit that I am inclined to agree with the writer. Whilst it may sound cold hearted, I am not primarily concerned with the modern city of Luxor. Whilst it is true, as the author says, that in Pharaonic times (and beyond) the temples were surrounded by the urban communities that operated and depended on them, both spiritually and materially, the situation was very different today. Firstly, there is the issue of damage to both the excavated and unexcavated aspects of the sites by modern day settlements. There are issues such as pollution, vibration, damage from buried utilities, foundations, and new construction, separate to issues concerning agriculture.

Secondly, there is the issue of encroachment. Sites in urban areas have been most affected by this, as sites such as Heliopolis, Giza and Helwan attest. The opportunity to clear land in order to protect these as yet unexcavated areas is undeniably “a good thing”. If the issue were this simple, I must admit I could live with some people having to be relocated, provided they recieve good homes and secure income.

The issue, however, is not this simple. Much of this redevelopment, as the author so clearly points out, is not about Waset or Thebes, but very much about tourism. Any benefits gained by shifting the Nile cruisers away from the temple will immediately be lost (and the problem severely aggravated) by the vibration and pollution caused by the vast increase in the number of heavy tourist vehicles using a widened cornice as a quick route to Karnak.

Any idea of reducing the overcrowding that is damaging the VK tombs will be dead in the water if a marina brings in dozens more cruisers, each packed with hundreds of visitors visiting the site as a single horde each day.

Ultimately we cannot talk about archaeological conservation and increasing the number of visitors in the same breath. There is, however, another, and, I feel, often overlooked solution. Rather than increasing visitor numbers, the Tourism authorities could look at increasing visitor spend. It’s about quality, not quantity.

Put simply, most foreign visitors to Egypt do not spend, by western standards, very much. Egypt is seen as a low-cost destination, despite possessing the highest “value” as a cultural destination (for the purposes here, we are concerned only with the Nile, not the Red Sea)

So, rather than brining in ever more visitors to fragile, unique and irreplaceable sites, the focus should be to increase their spending habits for measures such as encouraging higher standard and *greater variety* of leisure facilities such as hotels, restaurants, sports facilities etc. In addition the encouraging of archaeologically and environmentally aware practises by tour groups, a less invasive, higher revenue industry can be created, and one need only look at examples of “eco holidays” in Latin America and Asia to see how such things have been achieved. Sensitively built, non-invasive “natural spa” style hotels, built on low/no “footprint” ideas, often operating on a “fair trade” or “locally owned” basis attract high spending visitors whilst being far less invasive than “Costa Del Concrete” style resorts.

In this approach I do see how both the needs of both Ancient and Modern Egypt can be successfully met at the same time, whilst minimising the harm to both.

 

Four Sphinx statues recovered in Luxor

From SIS – Link to original article

Culture Minister Farouk Hosni said 15/8/2008 that four statues for sphinx have been recovered in the ancient city of Luxor.

The four giant statues are made of the sand stones and were found in Luxor’s Eastern Bank.

Dr Zahi Hawwas, the Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said the statues were found without the upper parts.

“They were fixed upon sand-stone bases, which were brought from Aswan by the Pharaohs,” he added.

He said the bases are inscribed with the name of the founder of the 30th royal dynasty King Nekhipto.

Hawwas said he will allocate LE 100,000 to restore the discovered statues in cooperation with the Luxor’s Supreme Council chaired by Samir Farag.

The SCA is gradually clearing the entire length of the ceremonial avenue that ran between Luxor and Karnak temples, so this find isn’t surprising, as the entire length was lined with statuary. However it’s always heartening to see more late period sculpture gain attention, and that these ones will be restored.

Interestingly, a Middle East News article, carried by M&C, adds:

The team also excavated Ptolemic and Roman buildings along with a sandstone block that carries a cartouche (a royal title) of famed Queen Cleopatra, the last Ptolemaic ruler of Egypt.

Monsters & Critics

The SIS press release, however, doesn’t mention this.

 

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.