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by Ron Toft
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Millions of tourists flock to Egypt every year to gaze in open-jawed wonder at the seemingly timeless Pyramids of Giza, the enigmatic Great Sphinx, the elaborate tombs in the Valley of the Kings, the extraordinarily well preserved royal mummies and golden grave goods of Tutankhamun in Cairo’s Egyptian Museum and all manner of other ancient wonders.

Many, if not most, visitors probably think that modern archaeology has uncovered most of what is left of Ancient Egypt. Nothing, however, could be further from the truth.

In fact, the sands of Egypt have so far revealed only about 30 per cent of their secrets, according to Dr Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the powerful Supreme Council of Antiquities, which is responsible for more than 140 pyramids, thousands of tombs, hundreds of Coptic and Islamic sites and monuments from Egypt’s modern period up to 100 years ago.

“In the Valley of the Kings, for instance, we still haven’t found the tomb of Amenhotep I,” says Dr Hawass. “Tomb KV55 still holds many mysteries. We don’t even know the identity of the mummy found in it.

“We are still searching for the tombs of Nefertiti and her many daughters, the tomb of Tutankhamun’s wife, the tomb of Alexander the Great and the tombs of Cleopatra and Mark Antony.

“There may also be other discoveries waiting to be made that we have not yet even imagined. Egypt still holds many mysteries!”

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Egyptian archaeology is entering a golden era. New technology is being used in a bid to locate as-yet-undiscovered tombs and learn more about mummies unearthed decades ago. Old museums are being restored and new ones built or planned. And the very first all-Egyptian expedition is working in the Valley of the Kings.

Hawass says one of the most exciting developments of the past five years has been the increasing use of technology to study sites and artefacts.
DNA analysis and computer-imaging techniques, for example, are being used to find out more about both royal and non-royal mummies.

Technology is also being used by the current, Hawass-led expedition to the Valley of the Kings, “the first time an Egyptian team has worked in the valley.”

Funded by the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), the expedition is using ground-penetrating radar, among other technological tools, to conduct wide-ranging investigations.

One of the tombs being sought is that of Ramesses VIII which, Hawass believes, may lie somewhere near the tomb of Merenptah.

He also wants to learn more about “an anomaly previously identified by radar near King Tut’s tomb which may be a new tomb (KV64), as suggested by Nicholas Reeves.

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Another of Hawass’ goals is to “restore and investigate a tunnel in the tomb of Seti I, the end of which has never been reached before.” It is thought to be around 100 metres long.

The mummy of boy king Tutankhamun was recently removed from its sarcophagus and placed in a special, climate-controlled case inside the tomb.

“This will allow visitors to see the face of the young king for the first time, reminding them of the amazing discovery of his tomb. It also protects the mummy from further deterioration caused by humidity and the changing temperature in the tomb.”

Hawass also plans to study artefacts left behind by Howard Carter in Tutankhamun’s tomb and in storage magazines on the West Bank at Luxor. Although these “are not spectacular,” they may, nevertheless, be of “great historical significance.”

Arguably the most ambitious of all projects is the construction of the Grand Egyptian Museum at Giza. Set to open in 2012, it will cost at least US $600 million. The Grand Egyptian Museum will house 100,000 objects, the main attraction being the 5,000 artefacts from Tutankhamun’s tomb.

It will also accommodate the ‘solar boat’ or royal sailing barque that belonged to the pharaoh Khufu and is currently displayed in a purpose-designed, boat-shaped museum on the very spot where it was originally found in 1954, alongside the Great Pyramid.

Buried in a sealed pit in 1,224 separate pieces of cedarwood, the 43.3 metre long vessel was painstakingly reassembled over a period of many years.

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Hawass says although the Grand Egyptian Museum, which will incorporate an IMAX theatre, will attract more visitors to Giza, “it will draw them away from the fragile monuments at the site, offering them a satisfying opportunity to learn about Egypt and its history without having to enter the fragile tombs.

“We cannot continue to allow people to enter the original tombs freely. We may one day make replicas of them. Museums like the Grand Egyptian will offer another, alternative way for tourists to experience Egyptian archaeology.”

Hawass adds that it’s truly a compromise between “the need to encourage tourism for the sake of the Egyptian economy and the need to protect our priceless heritage.”

Egypt is increasingly “setting an example that other countries are beginning to follow in protecting sites. When I lecture abroad, I receive many compliments on the progress we have already made.”

Funding for the Grand Egyptian Museum is coming from various sources. The Japanese have loaned $300 million for the museum’s construction. The rest will come from the SCA and from international donations.

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Since Hawass became Secretary General of the SCA in 2002, he and his colleagues have embarked on a mammoth programme of work aimed at “transforming Egypt’s museums from outdated storage facilities into world-class institutions with beautiful designs and important cultural and educational messages.”

An “ambitious plan” has been developed for the construction of many different types of museums throughout Egypt. Among them are site museums, like the recently opened Imhotep Museum in Saqqara. Another group will include national museums, such as the Alexandria Museum, the El-Arish Museum and the Rashid Musueum.

Construction of the Museum of Egyptian Civilisation – a large museum in old Cairo which will have displays on Egypt’s history from prehistoric times to the present – is nearing completion. “We plan to move the royal mummies to this museum in order to draw people to it.”

Old museums are being restored and redeveloped as part of the programme. In Cairo, the redevelopment of the Coptic Museum has been finished and the Islamic Museum reopened. In Alexandria, the Greco-Roman Museum will remain closed for two years while renovation work is carried out. The Jewellery Museum is also scheduled for redevelopment.

Hawass says he has encouraged training for all SCA employees, “to ensure that the people responsible for the protection of our heritage have the skills, knowledge and dedication necessary to tackle the challenges we face.”

There has been “great success” in stopping the trade in smuggled Egyptian antiquities and in recovering stolen artefacts from all over the world.

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The biggest challenge facing Egyptian archaeology today is conservation. “We are facing the real danger that we may have no monuments left to study within 100 years, if we do not act now,” warns Hawass. Ancient monuments are threatened by damage from sewage and ground water. Other environmental problems also endanger archaeological sites.

As far as many foreign archaeologists are concerned, “conservation is second to excavating and making new discoveries. Conservation needs far more care than we give it today.”

Too many scholars, according to Hawass, still regard Egypt “like a delicious cake from which they only want to take pieces for themselves. They do not seem to care about preserving our heritage for the future.

There are, however, some exceptions. Hawass cites the example of America contributing to conservation through programmes such as the USAID-funded project to protect Karnak temple from sewage and ground water.

Ironically, tourism, which generates valuable income for the Egyptian economy, is archaeology’s enemy. Over the years, “enormous damage” has been caused to ancient monuments by the never-ending stream of millions of tourists. Such damage, says Hawass, will continue unless action is taken urgently.

The tourism authority “needs to focus not on the volume of tourists but on making a priority of ensuring that, in future, revenue will come from a smaller number of visitors who understand the value of the monuments.

“We are trying to accommodate visitors through safe zoning, visitors’ centres and a rotation system for the sites. For example, we close one Giza pyramid to tourists each year.

“Right now, in the Valley of the Kings, we are working on a project to light the valley and protect the tombs by making it possible to distribute tourist traffic throughout the day instead of concentrating visits early in the morning. This will make management of crowds more effective and prevent careless damage to the irreplaceable decoration in the tombs.”

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Hawass – Egypt’s best-known archaeologist – has participated in many headline-grabbing discoveries over the years. Among those especially close to his heart are finding the Valley of the Golden Mummies and the lost city and tombs of the pyramid builders.

The latter “meant an enormous amount to me and to Egyptology because it has given the world a glimpse of the daily lives of the people who built our most famous and amazing monuments and has shown that it was not aliens or some lost civilisation, but Egyptians, who were responsible for these feats of architecture and engineering.

“My team’s recent identification of the mummy of the pharaoh Hatshepsut was also very important to me. It may be the most significant discovery in the Valley of the Kings since the tomb of Tutankhamun and has shown how the latest technology can work in combination with long-established research techniques to give us new insights into Egypt’s history.”

Although Egypt’s ever-shifting sands have already yielded a wealth of archaeological ‘treasures’, clearly many more are still out there somewhere awaiting discovery…

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This article was first published in
Open Skies, inflight magazine of Emirates Airline