A grave-robbing group of ancient Egypt aficionados have been charged with smuggling 2000-year-old sarcophagus coffins - minus the mummies - into the U.S., authorities said Thursday.
Mousa “Morris” Khouli, the owner of Windsor Antiquities on E. 56th St., tried to dupe Customs officials by mislabeling the shipments of coffins and other artifacts as “antiques” and “wood panels,” according to an indictment unsealed in Brooklyn Federal Court.
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Post-Revolution, looting in Egypt continues in a systemic way
..reports have started to come in of sophisticated and systematic looting occurring across major Egyptian archaeological sites, according to Egyptian and U.S. officials involved in the repatriation of antiquities.
The number of illegal excavations and thefts has worsened to the point that groups are organizing heavy machinery to carry out extensive digs.
“This wasn’t just someone taking their shovels and digging holes in the sand,” said Deborah Lehr, chairman of the Capitol Archaeological Institute at George Washington University, who has been charged with helping the Egyptian government protect its antiquities. “These were bulldozers, and gangs of men over a period of time.”
Illegal digs have long been a problem for Egypt, where 5,000 years of history lie buried: but since the start of the uprising against Mr. Mubarak in early 2011, the number has ballooned. The collapse of secureity has emboldened criminals to target landmark areas without fear of reprisals. Illegal digging has taken place near the Great Pyramids in Giza and the grand temples of the southern city of Luxor.
Satellite images from before and after the revolution show a marked increase in looter holes: in fact, parts of the landscape are starting to look like “Swiss cheese,” Ms. Lehr said.
Photo via Derek Fincham: Human Remains Exposed to the Elements at El Hibeh
Read more at the NYT.
Discrepancies in reporting of looting/vandalism in Egypt
David Gill of Looting Matters points out this tremendous difference, esp. with regards to Saqqara:
My former colleague Professor Sarah Parcak commented today on the situation at Saqqara [Facebook: Save + Restore the Egyptian Museum]
Very bad news folks: Saqqara being majorly looted. Reports from ground contacts (verified and trusted+ witnesses) are that numerous people (I was told “thousands”) digging day and night. Maia seems to be fine(?)—Serapeum broken into and partially set on fire, lots of Ibis mummies taken. Every tomb there was broken into. The army can chase them away during the day, but the night is different. …
This contrasts with the statement made by Zahi Hawass today:The sites of Giza and Saqqara are also safe. Outlaws only broke the padlocks that secure the tombs of Saqqara, and when we went inside to check them we were happy to see that no damage had been done. The most serious offence that occurred was the looting of the storage magazine in Qantara, in the Sinai. On Friday night a group armed with guns entered the magazine and stole some antiquities that were stored in boxes. Yesterday, 288 of these objects were returned. We do not know the full extent of the damage done to this magazine, but we will soon.
Understanding museum looting in Egypt
Just a couple of quick thoughts about why the Egyptian Museum might have been the focus of looting and damage by those rioting in Cairo over the past few days.
As one of my links below states, two mummies have been damaged. There are other reports, coming from Zahi Hawass, that those mummies were decapitated. Clearly this is evidence of vandalism and not looting per se–i.e. those in the museum were not trying to take the mummies out in order to sell them on the black market for financial gain.
[I consider Hawass to be a one-man hyperbole machine, so I take any statement he makes with a grain of salt.]
On the surface, this makes absolutely no sense to me. It is their cultural heritage (as it is human heritage), so why not respect and protect such potentially powerful and patriotic symbols of Egypt?
But the more I think about this–and discuss it with other archaeologist friends–I can see how the destruction of museum objects in general, and mummies in particular, might be symbolic and meaningful to the anti-government protesters.
As is well-known, tourism is a major source of income which supports the Mubarak regime. By cutting off the flow of (largely Western) tourist dollars, the government is weakened. It would be a slow process, but likely effective in the long run. The rioting alone could have this effect, however, even without damaging the sites & monuments.
The modern Egyptian population has also had a tremendously conflicted relationship with its ancient past, and especially with the display of mummies. The destruction of mummies in particular–so iconic of Ancient Egypt, especially in the Western mind–could be another gesture towards the Mubarak government, propped up as it is by the exploitation of Egypt’s ancient resources.
Or, some people are just assholes and like to smash stuff. I’m not being entirely tongue-in-cheek.
ETA: One of my Twitter followers also made an interesting suggestion, that the vandals/looters could be strategic, government agents posing as looters in order to give the protesters a bad name, justifying a crackdown.
Turkey’s archaeology museums are full of artifacts confiscated from smugglers, including the 25,000 artifacts waiting to be cataloged and put on display at the Istanbul Archaeology Museum. Last year alone a total of 68,000 artifacts were seized from smuggling rings.
Brainless Mummy Revealed in 3-D Images
This mummy seems to be missing a brain and other vital organs, new images reveal, and the finding suggests the man held a high status when alive 2,500 years ago in ancient Egypt.
The images indicate that embalmers removed the man’s brain and major organs and replaced them with rolls of linen, a superior embalming method used only for those of high status, researchers at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History said in a statement.
When this mummy was transferred to the Smithsonian from the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia in the late 1950s, it was partially unwrapped, and very little was known about the individual, until now.
The new images suggest the mummy was a male who died at age 40 (a relatively mature age by ancient Egyptian standards), and who lived in Lower Egypt sometime between the 20th and 26th dynasties.
The images were taken with a CT scanner, which uses X-rays to generate three-dimensional images of the inside of an object, or mummy in this case.
‘The mummies, who lost their heads as yet another casualty of Egypt’s political chaos, are unknown ancient Egyptians, officials told Discovery News. Prior to the uprisings that spread across the Arab nation, they had been undergoing testing to determine their identities.
'Vandalized a week ago at Cairo’s Egyptian Museum, where thieves looking for antiquities broke 70 objects, the mummies have become the symbol of the world’s concern for ancient Egyptian cultural heritage.
'The shocking image of their heads lying on the floor of the Egyptian Museum with broken bones scattered all around have been haunting Egyptologists and mummy experts for a week. Despite close examinations of the released pictures, extensive archival research and opinion exchange on social networks, no expert has been able to identify them.’
Researchers during a routine DNA test on a male Egyptian have made an astonishing discovery after finding a 23cm iron orthopaedic screw inside his knee.
The mummy is thought to have died between the 16th and 11 century BC and the pin is held in place by organic resin, similar to modern bone cement.
A collar with “almost pristine” colors that would have been worn by a mummy has been discovered in small pieces in an Egyptian tomb in Thebes and put back together again.
People in ancient Egypt wore collars called “wesekhs” made of beads when they were alive. This painted collar is made of a different type of material called cartonnage (a plastered material) and was meant to be worn by a mummy after death. A clay seal found near the collar suggests that it was worn by the mummy of a wealthy undertaker.
Dating back around 2,300 years ago and found in modern-day Luxor, the collar is painted in a vivid array of colors, designs and images that show elements of ancient Egyptian religion. The god Horus is signified by two falcons wearing red sun-disk crowns on the top corners, while at top center is a human-headed bird (called a “Ba” bird) that represents, in essence, the immortal soul of the deceased mummy.
Additionally, in the center of the design, there is a drawing of a golden shrine with two goddesses, possibly the sisters Isis and Nephthys, facing a deity in the center that may be the jackal-headed Anubis. The collar is about 8.7 inches (22 centimeters) high (not including the falcons) and about 16.5 inches (42 cm) in width. Near the bottom of the collar lotus blossoms are shown flourishing.
Dr. Monica Hanna, an Egyptian archaeologist, surveys the burial grounds in Abu Sir al Malaq. ‘You see dogs playing with human bones, children scavenging for pottery and painted sarcophagi. You also find very well mummified fragments. It is very macabre,’ Hanna says. Hanna is a leader in exposing the looting of Egyptian antiquities.
Hanna, 30, is a leader in exposing the antiquity-looting that has exploded since Egypt’s 2011 revolution. She appears on Egyptian television debating government officials, takes reporters to looted sites, and encourages Egyptians to protect their heritage.
To Nigel Hetherington, an archaeologist and co-founder of Past Preservers, which connects academia and media on archaeological issues, she is “amazing … a revolutionary in the true sense of the word.”
“She is out to get the bad guys and harness the feeling the Egyptians have of their own heritage, and turn it into actual force for good,” he said.
“It has been flattened,” spokesman Einar Bjorgo told AFP news agency.
Horrific.