Ancient Egypt

Concerned archaeologists called today on Egypt’s Prime Minister Essam Sharaf to return police to archaeological sites. The move is required to put an end to illegal excavations and wild looting of storehouses and tombs. “The desecration of archaeological sites and monuments is not only a huge loss for the people of Egypt on a national, economic, and human level, but is also a loss to all of humanity and to science,” Tarek El Awadi, director of the National Egyptian museum, said in an open letter to Sharaf. Following the revolution that toppled President Hosni Mubarak last month, a new unprecedented wave of looting and vandalism took place at various sites in Egypt. “During the revolution of January 25th, the Egyptian Army protected our heritage sites and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. However, in the last 10 days the army has left these posts because it has other tasks to do,” said Zahi Hawass, who resigned this week as minister of antiquities in protest at the lack of proper action on the looting.

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Image Credit: Jon Bodsworth

63-year-old Hawass has resigned from his post following the recent political turmoil in egypt.Well known for his appearances in numerous documentaries about ancient Egypt Hawass cited a number of reasons for his resignation including the looting of antiquities, illegal excavationsand a lack of protection for important sites.

Egypt"s chief antiquities official, Zahi Hawass, has confirmed his resignation late this week from his post, amid political turmoil and the looting of antiquities.  

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French architect Jean-Pierre Houdin believes the Great Pyramid contains chambers yet to be found.Houdin who has been campaigning for a new exploration of the pyramid claims that a 3D simulation of the structure by egyptologist Bob Brier points to the presence of the undiscovered chambers. "I amconvinced there are antechambers in this pyramid.

What I want is to find them," he said. A French architect campaigning for a new exploration of the 4,500-year-old Great Pyramid of Giza said on Thursday that the edifice may contain two chambers housing funereal furniture.  

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Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed six missing pieces from a 3,400-year-old colossal double statue of King Tut's grandparents, the Supreme Council of Antiquities announced Sunday. Belonging to the statues of King Amenhotep III and his wife Queen Tiye, the fragments were found at the pharaoh’s mortuary temple in Luxor during work to lower the ground water on the west bank of the Nile. Currently a centerpiece of the main hall at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, the double statue was unearthed in 1889 at Medinet Habu on the west bank of the Nile by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette. “When the statue was first discovered an Italian team restored it and filled in the missing pieces with modern stonework,” Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, said in a statement. Ranging from 47 cm (18.50 inches) to 103 cm (40.55 inches), the uncovered fragments belong to the right side of Amenhotep III's chest, crown and leg.

View: Full Article | Source: Discovery Channel

Image Credit: Jon Bodsworth