Saturday, February 26, 2011

Saving history for posterity

Al Ahram Weekly (Nevine El-Aref)

An engaging account of how the Akhenaten statuette was recovered, followed by a look at which museums remain closed due to security concerns, the improvement in visitor numbers to various sites and the doubts about damage inflicted on a number of sites which remain to be investigated closely by a committee. I was particularly struck by the remark that there have been reports of houses being built over archaeolgoical sites for the purpose of illegal excavation. Here's an experpt but see the above page for the full story:

Hawass said forced entries had been confirmed at a number of storage magazines, including one near the pyramid of the Sixth- Dynasty king Teti and a storeroom belonging to Cairo University, both at Saqqara. "I have created a committee to prepare reports to determine what, if anything, is missing from these magazines," Hawass said. He added that military authorities had caught thieves attempting to loot the site of Tel Al-Basta in the Nile Delta as well as other criminals who were trying to loot a tomb in Lisht. There have also been reports of houses being built over archaeological sites and of illegal digging.

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