Zahi Hawass resigns as minister of antiquities

Egypt’s minister of antiquities Zahi Hawass has resigned his post, according to local news reports. The move came as Prime Minister Essam Sharaf informed Hawass that he would not be continuing on in his position.

Egyptian daily newspaper al-Youm al-Saba’a also reported that upon hearing the news, angry archaeologists, who had been camped out in front of the ministry, allegedly chased the embattled minister throughout the streets before his bodyguards were able to get Hawass into a taxi.

The move comes after a series of Bikya Masr articles detailing Hawass’ performance as a minister and the widespread anger and resentment over his continued position as minister.

This amazing video shows archaeologists surrounding Zahi Hawass as he left the ministry in a taxi.

And here's a video which shows A small protest against former minister of antiquities Zahi Hawass at Tahri Square. This took place on May 27th.

And here is Zahi Hawass, who is also a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, giings a passionate defense of Hosni Mubarak, who, at the time, was days away from stepping down as the President of Egypt. (6 February 2011).

Dr Sarah Parcak: "To excavate a pyramid is the dream of every archaeologist"

Just discovered this quote from 'space archaeologist' Dr Sarah Parcak about her satellite survey of Egypt which is believed to have identified more than 1,000 tombs and 3,000 ancient settlements from infra-red images. Some reports have suggested 17 lost pyramids have been located.

Dr Parcak, an Egyptologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, told the BBC, she was overjoyed about the discoveries: "We were very intensely doing this research for over a year. I could see the data as it was emerging, but for me the 'Aha!' moment was when I could step back and look at everything that we'd found and I couldn't believe we could locate so many sites all over Egypt. To excavate a pyramid is the dream of every archaeologist," she said.

How exciting must that work have been?

And I have found another clip from Egypt's Lost Cities which shows Dr Zahi Hawass and presenter Dallas Campbell inside the Great Pyramid exploring the rarely visited top chamber. Click HERE.

Meanwhile, the news of that a robot has sent back the first images of markings – ancient graffiti tags – on the wall of a tiny chamber in the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, seems to have received remarkably little attention.

Surely such a momentous event would have received the full Hawass media treatment: a TV epic on National Geographic. But nothing. Very strange.

Excavations at Lahoun in the Fayoum halted due to ‘negligence’ of the excavators

Excavation works being carried out by the Egyptian mission at Lahoun archaeological site in Fayoum have been halted by The Permanent Committee of Egyptian Antiquities.

The archaeological mission was originally sent at the request of Zahi Hawass and found that the site was subject to deterioration.

Ahram Online reports that a collection of ancient Egyptian mummies discovered at the site were damaged due to negligence, while clay sarcophagi were left in the sand without any protection or restoration, which led to their deterioration.

Hawass: about 1,000 relics stolen during Egyptian unrest

According to Egypt's Minister for Antiquities Zahi Hawass, thieves stole around 1,000 relics from Egypt’s museums and archaeological sites after public protests against the country’s government broke out in January

An the inventory of all the items that were stolen during the uprising and the weeks of unrest thereafter, will be given to UNESCO, the UN cultural agency.

Artefacts, including a statue of King Tutankhamun and objects from the time of the rebel Pharaoh Akhenaten, are missing from the Egyptian Museum after looters broke in during unrest.