EGYPTIAN
ARCHAEOLOGY
Safeguarding Egypt’s antiquities news section of Egyptology Resources: http://tinyurl.
As we go to press Egypt is entering a third week of demonstrations and, since events are fast-moving, it is impossible to predict what may have happened by the time this issue has been printed and is in your hands. On 31 January, the Society’s Chair, Karen Exell, issued the following statement: ‘On behalf of The Egypt Exploration Society I would like to express our concern for the situation in Egypt at the moment. As an organisation that works closely with the Supreme Council of Antiquities in the preservation of the heritage of Egypt we are watching closely as events unfold. Whilst it is distressing to hear news reports of looting and damage to museums and artefacts, we are aware that the SCA and the Egyptian people are doing their best to protect the sites and museums, and we are deeply grateful to them for such actions amidst the unrest. Above all, we wish the Egyptian people well and hope fervently that a resolution to the situation, without further injury and loss of life, can be achieved as soon as possible’. The reports of looting and damage that Karen referred to relate to the few days immediately after the withdrawal of the police, not just in Cairo but throughout the country, which left the antiquities sites, magazines and museums vulnerable. It now seems that many of the early reports of looting and illicit excavations were misleading and SCA Inspectors and local people took over the guarding of sites and magazines - action which the whole Egyptological community warmly appreciates. Zahi Hawass, appointed as Minister of Antiquities in the new Egyptian Cabinet, is posting regular updates on his website: www.drhawass.com which EA readers are encouraged to consult for the official SCA view of recent events as they affect the country’s aarchaeological sites and museums. Other useful compilations of information can be found in the news digests of The Egyptologists’ Electronic Forum: www.egyptologyforum.org/ and the
com/6endoqu.
Although many reports of illicit excavations and looting appear now to have been unfounded, there was a well-publicised break-in on 28 January at the Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square in Cairo, during which cases were broken and a number of objects damaged, including some of those from the tomb of Tutankhamun, although an initial report of damage to two mummies proved not to be accurate. An SCA storage magazine at Qantara on the Suez Canal was also broken into and objects removed, but most were later recovered by the authorities. Archaeological missions that were working in Egypt when the unrest broke out have had mixed experiences, with some being instructed to close down, others choosing to do so and some continuing to work normally. The EES had one mission in the field at the time - our new project on the west bank at Luxor, directed by Angus Graham who describes (opposite) the aims of the project and the results of the team’s initial investigation. EES members will be pleased to hear that our Cairo Representative, Faten Saleh, and her predecessor, Rawya Ismail, are both safe and well. The British Council (www. britishcouncil.org/egypt.htm), where the Society’s Office is situated, is currently closed but our Office will reopen as soon as the Council feels it is safe to do so. At the moment the Society, along with other institutions that organise archaeological expeditions to Egypt, is waiting to see if missions planned for spring 2011 will be able to go ahead, and we are keeping a close eye on the situation and on the travel advice for Egypt issued by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. We will post updates on our website and circulate them in our e-newsletters - if you don’t already receive these and would like to, please contact any of the staff at Doughty Mews. PATRICIA SPENCER
EES Centenary Awards a very strong field of applications, awards were made to Jennifer Cromwell for a study of unpublished non-literary Coptic documents in the University of Copenhagen, Kenneth Griffin for his work on The Book of the Dead from the Tomb of Karakhamun (TT 223) and Hélène Virenque for a study of ‘Édouard Naville and the Egypt Exploration Fund through his correspondence’. Reports on these projects will be included in future issues of EA and an article by Maria Correas Amador on her fieldwork funded by a 2009 Centenary Award can be found on pp.14-16 of this issue. The 2011 Centenary Awards will be advertised in the late summer.
The EES Centenary Awards were established with funds raised by an appeal in our centenary year of 1982, to encourage students to undertake their first research projects, either in Egypt or in museum collections. The first award was made in 1983 and many of the grant-holders, then in the early stages of their careers, have since become established Egyptologists, some now directing their own fieldwork projects in Egypt. A list of all the past holders can be found on the Society’s website: www.ees.ac.uk/research/centenary-awards.html
The Centenary Awards, now aimed at ‘early career researchers’, are advertised annually and in 2010, from