Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Egyptian Antiquities Minister: We've Got Things Under Control

Egypt's current antiquities minister is quoted as stating,

"All the warehouses of antiquities are fully secured, noting that only 2 percent of the artifacts were stolen during the state of lawlessness which prevailed in the country, he added."

http://allafrica.com/stories/201202211274.html

If so, where is the "emergency" that has prompted all the lobbying from the archaeological community and the sole source contract to ICOM to prepare a "Red List" of Egyptian antiquities that are supposedly at risk?
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2 comments:

  1. Dorothy KingFebruary 23, 2012 at 7:37 AM

    Oh for goodness' sake, the man is a pratt. "Only 2%" stolen - that's a heck of a lot considering how much is in Egypt, and almost as much as in Iraq since 2003.

    And the rest of the article sounds odd - Israel-Egypt is a very tightly controlled border, and this sounds like the least obvious route to smuggle stolen items.

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  2. Cultural Property ObserverFebruary 23, 2012 at 4:14 PM

    It's unclear the reasons for the returns to Egypt from Israel. I suppose it could be material from old archaeological excavations in the Sinai.

    Well, it seems like the warehouses are secure at this point. 2% could be a lot, but perhaps not. For the Iraq Museum, they were literally counting every bead lost as a single artifact. Like many articles in this area, it raises more questions than it answers.

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