"
Egyptian archaeologists, who normally scour the desert in search of treasures of the past, have discovered that one of the greatest caches of antiquities may well be in the basement of the Egyptian Museum. For the last century, artifacts have been stored away in crates there and forgotte..."
Egyptian archaeologists, who normally scour the desert in search of treasures of the past, have discovered that one of the greatest caches of antiquities may well be in the basement of the Egyptian Museum. For the last century, artifacts have been stored away in crates there and forgotten, often allowed to disintegrate in the dank, dusty cavern.Forgotten until now. The recent theft and recovery of three statues from the basement have prompted antiquity officials in Egypt to redouble an effort already under way to complete the firstcomprehensive inventory of artifacts in the basement."For the last 100 years, curators sat down to drink tea, but they did not do their jobs," said Zahi Hawass, the general secretary of the Supreme Council of Antiquities.
"How many artifacts are in the basement? It was awful."
Step through
a small, Hobbit-sized door, down a steep flight of stairs and through a
locked gate. The basement is a maze of arched passageways and bare
light bulbs hanging from decaying wires. It is packed with wooden
crates, hundreds of them, sometimes piled floor to ceiling.
Cobwebs cling to ancient
pottery and tablets engraved with hieroglyphics. Six hundred coffins
and 170 mummies have been found so far. No one knows what may have been
stolen over the years. Last year, officials reported that 38 golden
bracelets fromRoman times had vanished from the basement, apparently
six years earlier.
"It is an accumulation of
100 years of neglect," said Dr. Ali Radwan, a professor of Egyptology
at Cairo University who took a recent tour of the basement. "It is not
appropriate for a country like Egypt to have such miserable storage for
its history."
The Egyptian Museum is a
104-year-old repository of the some the world's most famous
antiquities. Inside, there are the mummified remains of pharaohs, like
Ramses II, who died in 1212 B.C. There are the treasures of the young
Pharaoh Tutankhamen, the golden chariot and the golden mask.
Built and designed by the
French, the two-story building in central Tahrir Square has changed
little over the decades. It remains crowded with an estimated 120,000
items, most of which have also neverbeen prope......
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Satanic curses
Tutankhamen-like Curse Killed Nepal's Royal Family?
The evil eye throughout history
Behind the curse
The curse of Tutankhamun
Egyptian tomb raider dies from 'curse'
The Curse of the Stolen Cloak
Curse of the cocaine mummies
'Cursed' black diamond on display
The "Superman" Curse
