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Update for 4:30 p.m. ET Jan. 31: Despite the best efforts of the Egyptian army and a human shield, some of the ancient treasures inside the century-old Egyptian Museum were damaged during a brief wave of looting, authorities in Cairo say. Among the damaged artifacts are two pharaonic mummies and a priceless statuette from the tomb of Tutankhamun.
The country's top archaeologist, Zahi Hawass, described the damage in a series of statements, including an update that was posted to his blog on Sunday. He said looters ransacked the museum's gift shop and went on to vandalize authentic treasures as well. More than a dozen display cases were broken into, including one that contained the Tut statuette. "The criminals found a statue of the king on a panther, broke it, and threw it on the floor," Hawass wrote. "I am very thankful that all of the antiquities that were damaged in the museum can be restored, and the tourist police caught all of the criminals that broke into it."
The looters scattered pieces of the mummies across the museum floor — and judging by the photographs that were released Monday (graphic content below), restoring those relics will be challenging to say the least.
Roger Wood/CORBIS
A figurine from Tutankhamun's tomb shows the boy-king riding a panther.
Al Jazeera via EloquentPeasant.com
A video frame from Al Jazeera shows what appears to be the panther in pieces, with the figurine of Tutankhamun missing.
Based on video footage that was shot inside the museum, some observers suggest that other treasures from Tut's tomb may have been damaged as well. Margaret Maitland, an Egyptologist at Oxford University in England, suggested that at least one other gilded statuettes of the boy-king pictures may have been broken off its pedestal.
This one shows Tut standing on a boat with a harpoon at the ready:
Robert Harding World Imagery/Corbis
A wooden statuette shows the gilded figure of Tutankhamun standing on a boat, holding a harpoon.
APTV via msnbc.com
This video frame from the looted Egyptian Museum shows what appears to be the boat, with the Tut figure broken off.
Maitland also pointed to another video showing a wooden block with the broken-off feet still attached. At first, she assumed that this suggested yet another statuette of a standing Tut was snapped off, but later analysis made it seem more likely that these were the broken-off feet from the "Tut on a panther" statuette. Check out Maitland's blog posting at the Eloquent Peasant for those comparisons.
Hawass said two mummies in the museum were destroyed, with their heads ripped off. In one of the most upsetting pictures from the museum, shown below, the mummies' heads and bones can be seen spread across the floor.
AP
This photo was taken early Saturday in the Egyptian Museum and made available on Monday. Parts of unidentified mummies, including the heads, are seen damaged on the floor.
Over the weekend, experts wondered whether two mummies may have been the mortal remains of Tut's great-grandparents, Yuya and Tuya. That surmise was based on a comparison of a gilded mummy case seen in the video with photographs of the case that was laid over Tuya's mummy. Discovery News' Rossella Lorenzi focused on that angle.
On Monday, however, Aidan Dodson, an Egyptologist from the University of Bristol, reported that the mummies were unlikely to be those of Yuya and Tuya. As explained in an update from Maitland, the mummy case had been separated from Tuya's mummy and was being exhibited in the museum by itself.
Maitland noted that two more ruined displays matched up with well-known items from Egypt's antiquity: an array of soldier figurines and a wooden model boat from the tomb of Mesehti, a provincial governor during the 11th or 12th Dynasty (roughly 2025 to 1700 B.C.). Here are pictures showing those damaged artifacts:
MSNBC TV
A video grab shows damage done to a display case that apparently contains an array of soldier figurines from the tomb of Mesehti, a provincial governor from the 11th or 12th Dynasty.
MSNBC TV
An armed security guard stands watch next to a display case containing a damaged model boat from the tomb of Mesehti.
In his blog posting, Hawass provided specific information about the Tut-on-a-panther statuette (which is actually one of two similar statuettes from the tomb), but not about the other items that appear to be damaged in the video. Why not? It could be because Hawass is still trying to get all the facts of the story straight, or because he's reluctant to publicize the full extent of the damage at this time. It's also possible that some of the items shown in the video are display-case replicas or gift-shop knock-offs rather than the real things.
In any case, Hawass sees the damage and looting as a national tragedy.
"My heart is broken and my blood is boiling," he wrote. "I feel that everything I have done in the last nine years has been destroyed in one day, but all the inspectors, young archaeologists, and administrators, are calling me from sites and museums all over Egypt to tell me that they will give their life to protect our antiquities."
The good news
That's the good news about the saga of Egypt's endangered heritage. The current chaos in Cairo easily could have left all the priceless artifacts at the Egyptian Museum, including Tutankhamun's 3,300-year-old golden death mask, vulnerable to widespread looting. After all, that's how the situation played out for Baghdad's national museum in 2003 after the fall of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
It didn't happen that way in Cairo because of the high-mindedness of the government as well as its critics.
When fire broke out on Friday night at the ruling party's headquarters, Khaled Youssef, an Egyptian film director who has made movies critical of government policies, issued an urgent call on the Al Arabiya television channel: "I am calling on the Egyptian army to head instantly to the Egyptian Museum. There is a fire right next to it in the party headquarters," he said in a report relayed by Reuters.
As the fire raged, would-be thieves started entering the grounds surrounding the museum, The Associated Press reported. But other young men, some armed with truncheons taken from the police, formed a protective human chain outside the museum's main gates. "I'm standing here to defend and to protect our national treasure," one of the men, a 40-year-old engineer named Farid Saad, told AP.
AP quoted 26-year-old Ahmed Ibrahim as saying that it was important to guard the museum because it has "5,000 years of our history. If they steal it, we'll never find it again."
Another defender at the gates pleaded with the crowd not to let the looters in, shouting, "We are not like Baghdad!"
Finally, four of the army's armored vehicles took up posts outside the museum. Soldiers surrounded the building and moved inside.
AP said the soldiers rounded up would-be looters who made it onto the museum grounds and lined them up in a row. As the soldiers corralled one man toward the line, crowds outside the fence shouted, "Thief, thief!" A couple of the troops hit the man with the butts of their rifles and sat him down with others who were apparently caught inside the gates.
The army and the people are continuing to keep watch on the museum and its riches amid Egypt's crisis.
Treasures galore
Tut's golden mask is arguably the most precious of the museum's treasures — so precious that authorities will no longer let it travel out of the country, even though many other artifacts from Tut's time are currently on the road. (I had the chance to see the mask in Seattle in 1978 during the "Treasures of Tutankhamun" exhibit.) The 109-year-old museum serves as the central repository for the riches from Tut's tomb, which was discovered by Egyptologist Howard Carter in the Valley of the Kings in 1922. But there's lots more to protect. The highlights range from monumental statues of Amenhotep III and his family to Roman-era gold treasures dug up from Egypt's Western Desert.
Amr Nabil / AP file
The golden mask of Tutankhamun is the best-known treasure at Cairo's Egyptian Museum.
Elizabeth Bartman, president of the Archaeological Institute of America, told me she was heartened to hear that the Egyptian people were so keen to protect their cultural heritage.
"If the reports about the human cordon around the museum are true, that's a very moving thing for me," she told me. "They regard their archaeological finds as so precious that it's worth their lives to protect them."
University of Pennsylvania archaeologist C. Brian Rose, the institute's past president, wasn't surprised by the reports.
"It's not possible to plan for the future unless one understands the past, and I think this is something that all Egyptians understand very well," Rose told me. "There's a great respect for the cultural heritage of Egypt — shared, I think, by I would say nearly all Egyptians. I hope that respect will keep the archaeological sites and museums safe from any harm during this period of conflict."
Even if the protesters and government forces share that respect for the museum's antiquities, the situation could still lead to unintended and unwelcome consequences.
"Especially with Egypt being such a dry place — they have all these organic materials, they have textiles, they have ancient food, they have lots of wooden items — fire is a very scary proposition," Bartman said. "Let's just keep our fingers crossed that the museums are not going to be caught in the crossfire."
More tales from the museums:
- Germany's Zeit Online quotes a former director of the museum, Wafaa el-Saddik, as saying that the would-be looters of the Egyptian Museum included museum guards and policemen. She also said that Egypt's Memphis Museum was "completely robbed," but that museums in Luxor and Aswan appeared to be safe. (Google translation from German.)
- Jan. 29 video: Msnbc.com's Al Stirrett narrates the video shot inside the museum.
- Jan. 30 video: NBC's Kate Snow reports on the damage for NBC's "Nightly News."
- Jan. 31 follow-up: Egypt worries about antiquities being smuggled.
- Slideshow: Tutankhamun's treasures
And other sagas of endangered antiquities:
- Mystery of Afghan gold has a happy ending
- Looted Baghdad museum restored, dedicated
- Iraq finds missing artifacts in premier's storage
- Fire at Nazi death camp destroys victims' shoes
Join the Cosmic Log community by clicking the "like" button on our Facebook page or by following msnbc.com science editor Alan Boyle as b0yle on Twitter. To learn more about Alan Boyle's book about Pluto and the search for planets, check out the website for "The Case for Pluto."
Leave a Comment:
Perhaps the only respectable response to come from anyone in Egypt this week.
Why did they not mention Hawass?????!!! He was probably out there beating people down with an Ankh
The Egyptians need to lead their own destiny. They do not need our help nor our interference. They have had enough of us, and who can blame them. The best advice is keep your military out of politics, and let the chips fall where they may. If they end up being anti-us, they will probably have good reason. Perhaps if we left them alone they would not resent us so much, plus it might save us a billion or so.
- ars longa vita brevis -
Thanks goodness they thought to save those antiquities. I feel terrible aboutthe museums and treasured antiuquities in Iraq. I understand some things have been returned and restored there but so much was destroyed and on the black market. Egypt has SO many of the worlds historical treasures. I am glad they were protected.
Teacher Trish--
Ita! Video et taceo.
Yea, Muslim extreme types, they would never wreck priceless artifacts of culture and history, just ask the Taliban about that!
As for USA interference in Egypt... eh? They really don't do much of anything about anything. The one alignment of interest I can think of is not letting Hamas gain political traction in Egypt. They were appalled when Hamas "cleansed" Gaza of all Fatah officials. Hamas does not play well with others. But that cat is a bit out of the bag, as they realized a porous border with Gaza had let many of their influential members into their country. Clamping down on the boarder was to little to late I suspect.
"The day is short, the labor vast, the workers lazy, the reward great, the Master urgent." - Avot 2:17
veritas diaboli manet in aeternum
vita incerta, mors certissima
Hawass is one of Mubarak cronies. His life is most likely also in danger. Quite possible that he has fled the country.
Hi:
There is an exhibit here in Puerto Rico, of many of Tut's artifacts. My question is, Are these artifacts replicas or the real original versions? I am planing to go, but if they are not original, then it would be very expensive for me to see the replicas. Please ket me know. Thank you very much.
So much for the idea that all museums in all countries should send their Egyptian antiquities back to Egypt where they can "be better protected."
Zahi Hawass was mentioned in the article. But who really cares?
Hawass is there. Practice reading so your comprhension improves.
The Chinese can re-make all this stuff for $ 4.99 each . Coming soon to a WalMart near you .
I was just there 1 month ago and it breaks my heart to see the people of Egypt destroy there history. Deal with the situation with out destroying the history of there country. Put the rage and anger were it belongs. To the government. Once you have destroyed artifacts you cannot replace them.
Rebecca......We were also there until 3 weeks ago, got back in the states on January 9th. They are not only destroying their past but also their future. They NEED to vent their anger at those who deserve it....the government officials who have chosen not to take care of their own people and not at the one asset this country has......their priceless antiquties that will continue to bring in revenue for MANY years to come.
Lame... sorry...they do not "need" to "vent their anger" at anyone because to do so simply illustrates what they would do to Egypt if they were ever empowered.
I tended, actually, when reading the early accounts, at least to be concerned their rights were being infringed. Balderdash. The more I see of these rioters, the more they have lost my support. The spit out words like "freedom" and "justice" and illustrate irrefutably the very opposite.
VIOLENCE, folks! Attempts to destroy 5,000-year-old artifacts of a culture any sane person would be proud of. But, what do they know about sanity?
I wouldn't trust these "protesters" who have the brains of Neanderthals for a hot minute ... and perish the thought that next on their agenda would not be manning suicide bombers to deal with modern cultures who disagree with them.
LBowman1,
First of all, as much as it breaks my heart to see it happen? These are their treasures to destroy if they wish.
Second of all, I'm sure there are plenty of Native Americans who would take issue with how well we've protected and preserved many, if not most, of their cultural and archaeological artifacts right here in the USA.
Hawass needs to go along with Mubarak, they both deny King Tut his true African heritage and attempt to rewrite and revise history as "experts" of Egyptology. Get the fundamental religious extremists out of office and stop the "holy lock down" of political and religious freedoms.
Was just there 6 weeks ago....Neanderthals? What kind of nimrod says things like that. The Egyptian people I met were well mannered, hospitable, open, definitely unhappy w/Mubarak. They have a strong national identity that crosses religious lines to a great degree and simply need to have a chance to succeed where rampant corruption, non existent public services( like trash collection) and substandard state run education and healthcare set the stage for poverty and despair, even among college graduates. my muslim tour guide has a bachelors degree in monument restoration, an engineering degree, and couldn't find a job...!! My Coptic guide was a happy vibrant guy who wanted desperately to emigrate to Canada or New Jersey so his degree could be put to use or to open a business. All things we take for granted, while some snipe from 8000 miles away behind a computer without hthe first idea of what is truly happening. support peaceful protest and change. support corruption and dictatorship being eliminated. support self-determination.....
3rd world country, 3rd world thugs..............they are not ready for democracy.
Scott:
Are we a first world thugs.
How are we different from them? If we can not get to discuss nothing each other without jumping into other's throat.
We seem to "fix" somebody else's problems (around the world) and we are incapable of solving our own problems at home.
Do as I say, not as I do. Is our favorite phrase.
If you are exposed to the same conditions (political and social) that the Egyptians went through for the last lets say 60 to 70 years (both Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak aren't examples of democracy exactly) what would be your reaction?
We were a third world country when democracy started here.
So the idiots don't like the government and use it as an excuse to trash their history. Knuckleheads.
There are two different things. Keep the politics with the politics and history with history. The Egyptian people had to endure many years of oppression (Not only Nasser, Sadat or Mubarak, but even before that, when Egypt was an English protectorate). They don't know or they have not enjoyed freedom as we conceive it in the US. When poverty is rampart and corruption paramount, this is bound to happen (If we get goosebumps at the mere indication of a rise in the inflation rate, imagine what could happen if we had their social/political situation). Now, having said that, nothing justifies destroying the history of a nation. Europeans have made that mistake over and over and over. Since the 'discovery' of America, Europeans just obliterated entire cultures, and now we're paying the price of not being able to understand some of these cultures. The Spaniards destroyed any vestige of Mayan/Aztec/Incan and other cultures and now we can stand in awe without a single trace of comprehension when we see their creations. With Egypt is the same. They've been invaded by the Romans/French/English/Turks, etc. and every single one of them took something without leaving plenty of room for understanding how that people lived for many centuries.
For the Egyptian people, the only suggestion one can made is: THOSE WHO RENEGE THEIR HISTORY ARE DOOMED TO REPEAT ITS ERRORS.
To those Americans calling them 3rd world thugs, not ready for democracy, etc.... Why do you group an entire nation in with a small percentage of looters?
Do you not remember your own nation, and the massive looting that happened after Katrina?
BlackLabsDad and justiceforall know what they're talking about. The government has chosen to ignore the needs of their people..........trash piles were 8-10 feet high, we saw SOO Many stray animals wandering around and homeless people everywhere. And it's just as bad outside of Cairo....
Our guide was a modern Muslim and a WONDERFUL person... he HATES the president and what the government is doing and NOT doing for it's own. This is not a religious fight...it's a human rights fight.
Until you go over there and experience the sights, smells of a neglected society, you have no idea what they've had to endure on a daily basis. We complain when our garbage isn't picked up for over a week........try living with the smell, health hazards and sight when it's been laying aorund for a month....or more. I've traveled to all 7 continents.......and have never seen neglect like in Cairo...Shame on the Egyptian government.
Elisa, they are mostly replicas. You might enjoy it anyway.
http://tinyurl.com/6e3f9wy
Hey, dingle-berry, read what King Tut's DNA said about his ancestral heritage. Some people are just moronic!
http://www.eutimes.net/2010/06/king-tuts-dna-is-western-european/
I know...I know...It's a "conspiracis" as the black community calls it!
I'm impressed that the museum employees and others were willing to place themselves between the looters and their national treasures. It breaks my heart to see the ancient works shattered on the floor. What were those looters thinking? It's OK to express your anger, but not OK to destroy irreplaceable artifacts. Times like these bring out the best and the worst in people.
Anyone surprised at all this? I'm not! They never condemned terrorist, Al Quida or Taliban. They aren't our friends let alone an Ali. I hate seeing the museum looted and mummies destroyed, these people have little conscious about anything. They are all neurotic religious morons. They have little value of life or anyone else's life. If trouble in the world starts its always in the middle east. I'm not surprised. Let them all kill each other off so the world will be a safer place.
Al -
I have to take exception to your remark. These artifacts are NOT theirs to do as they wish. The ancient Egyptian artifacts are part of our human past, our universally human patrimony and the current Egyptians (largely not direct descendants of the creators of these objects, by the way, just the current occupiers of the same territory) are merely the caretakers. Thanks to cultural exchange and ancient trade and everything else, all western cultures (and many non-western) connected to one another and share much of the same cultural heritage. Greece borrowed from Egypt and Egypt from Greece. Rome borrowed from both as well. Rome brought new ideas throughout Europe, and the Germanic tribes that conquered Rome were forever changed by the contact, too. I could go on. History is not a series of unconnected, parallel timelines, with each civilization tracing back from today to Day 1 in an unbroken line. History is a web of interconnection, exchange, population movements and contact. So to say any ancient culture "belongs" to one current one is just politically based, arbitrary nonesense.
And even within Egypt, there is disagreement over what should and shouldn't be done -- with the majority on the side of protecting these invaluable remnants of history -- so why should a few destructive criminals get to decide what "they" do with them?
Glenn, with a mentality like that, the world would be a safer place without YOU in it.
Probably it was not, "I'm going to express my rage at the government by destroying some of my nation's priceless cultural heritage," but more likely, "Oooh, I bet these gold ones are worth a lot of money! Let's steal 'em!"
Unfortunately, although I'm not an expert, from appearances in the video, the pieces they stole (or was it only an attempt, I'm not quite certain) are likely made of wood and gilded with gold leaf, so they're not really all that valuable in terms of the gold itself. They're priceless value is in the ancient history, phenomenal beauty, and irreplaceable uniqueness of the items, which, now that they are broken, can never be completely recovered, even if they can be partially restored.
This is truly a foolish tragedy and it is a credit to the rest of the Egyptian populace that they prevented it from becoming worse. As they said themselves, "The Egyptian people protect the Egyptian treasures," and further, Cairo "...is not Bahgdad." Thanks [sic] God for that.
Most of the statements here are really moronic. Lets shed tears for material artifacts and stay ignorant to the facts. The artifacts belong to the Egyptians. It's comparable to your spouse throwing your grandmother's vase at you because you were sleeping with the babysitter. Save the marriage and damn the vase. I'm not going to condemn your spouse for throwing her own vase.
I'm sure the sentiment wasn't the same when we were bombing Iraq's artifacts to protect our soldiers, or if we happen to blow up an ancient statue while bombing Ben Laden. We burned up entire cities in Germany, but I'm sure we missed all the artifacts. Ignorant statements like "destroying their history" show a lack of intelligence. History is destroyed when people forget or disregard it. Such as forgetting the destruction of our civil war (no artifacts there?), or when good Christians destroyed everything non-Christian during the crusades. As mentioned before we were much more destructive over a court ruling than the Egyptians have been during a civil revolution.
These are not our treasures. Just as our native American beads and blankets do not belong to Egypt. Besides, if they end up with a democracy in Egypt (even an Islamic one) with no more bloodshed, it would be truely historic. Say a prayer for the people, not for the articrap.
Melb33- And just because they did it before means that is alright? I do not see your logic. Sorry to disagree but history is destroyed when your culture is obliterated on purpose. As you mentioned the Christians (who accuse the Muslims to be violent) obliterated entire cultures in order to perpetuate their power. Namely in Latin America or in parts of the Balkans, Christians massacred everything and anything that would not resemble something Christian. We burned the cities in Germany, but the Nazis stole most of those treasures and hid them well, only for us and the Russians to find it and claim them as 'spoils of war.' And yes, we shed tears for the artifacts, for is the only thing that will remain when you and your ignorance are long gone from this lifetime.
Would you have the same opinion if a mob looted the National Archives and destroyed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution? I don't think so.
If it is on fire it was the work of the Muslim Brotherhood, They would want to destroy all signs of a religion pre dating islam in Egypt.
Muhamood. You have to be one of the most uninformed, and unitelligent idividuals in the world when it comes to the President Of the United States. Also, you obviusly didn't watch the footage. Soemof the artifacts were destroyed. They are 5,000 years old.
إنه يوم حزين حقا ، عندما يقوم رجل يفتح فمه مرارا وتكرارا ، عرض فقط الجهل والكراهية في كل مرة.
It is a truly sad day, when a man opens his mouth repeatedly, showing only ignorance and hatred each time.
Are you kidding me? What does one have to do with the other? Oh I'm sorry, I'm using big words and obviously you don't understand more than one syllable at a time you poor beer swilling birther party wing nut. Egyptian antiquities are a once in a lifetime jewel and so is our current President. May God bless him and the United States of America and save us all thinking people from the likes of your ilk.
Quite true, John. Authentic Egypt ended with the Muslim conquest. Since then Egypt has been just another corrupt, violent, benighted Islamic cesspool.
Actually what most of us consider 'Ancient Egypt' ended during the Hellenistic period during Alexander the Great's conquest. The spread of Islam came much later.
or christianity for that matter...theyre both guilty of that attitude.
GenericName: Actually it ended with the Persians, Alexander came after 343 BC when they were invaded by the Persians. Then Alexander defeated the Persians and after Alexander's death, the Ptolemaic dynasty continued until Cleopatra, time when the Romans invaded, the rest... well, they are the ones who can write it.
Please, Dr. Hawass, tell us again how ALL antiquities should be returned to Eygpt. This set your cause back decades.
I don't care if the people who are doing this are Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Buhhdist, Atheist, or Satanic. Those artifacts are pricless beyond any amount that tangible currency can put on them; what kind of person would just go in to break them?
It probably wasn't to break them, but to steal them. The idiots likely don't realize that with the exception of the King Tut mask itself most of the large items are made of wood and are only gilded with gold leaf. If they try to melt them down all their foolish efforts will just go up in a tragic cloud of smoke.
Guard these treasures. They are infinitely more valuable than any one-day rage fest.
ABSOLUTELY!!!!! Destruction of any of these antiquities due to bat@!$%# rage is ludicrous.....
Best comment I've seen in years.
John, if you want to destroy every evidence of religion predating islam in egypt, you must destroy the entire country, probably by sinking it below sea level. Not really possible. And Zahi Hawass and the intelligent folk wont be having any of that.
Crazy people, Mubarak needs to step down! The clown has been in charge for thirty years, Time for change..
Except he is not a clown, He has managed to keep an Islamic society out of the crazy house for 30 years. I'd bet you couldn't do it for 12 hours.
I visited that museum in 1980, before they actually got it organized. It was unbelievable.
all things of value will disapear ,but they will be back its our time, put value in god ,not gold
No, do NOT put value in claims of invisible gods or demons at work in your life. there are none. Take responsibility for yourself; your own actions and inactions, your words both spoken and printed. Do not perpetuate the very thing that has served only to divide mankind and justify all manner of atrocities, torture, genocide AND material greed - RELIGION. Humankind's #1 flaw.
We'd better Dave away from the Smithsonian!
Mikey, how many of your children would you give up to save GW's wooden teeth?
Mel,
if you're talking about hypothetical children, since I don't have any, I'll say all of them.
Look into the Buddhas of Bamiyan and Afghanistan, Its very easy to have a whole country reshaped in the way you see fit.
True, but it is going to take a heck of a lot explosives to remove the pyramids.
Indeed, I remember National Geographic having an article and pictures before the destruction - terrible, just blown up.
The words Explosives and Pyramids do not belong in the same sentence. I think would nut up if someone actually tried to damage the Pyramids. OH yeah, I would. I would empty my bank account, take out a second loan on my Tractor Trailer, round up everyone who wanted to go to Egypt then buy the airline tickets. Its not happening! Not in my Life time! They would have to kill me first, and I would consider that a good death!
Anybody remember what happened to the nose on the Sphinx?
The pyramids originally had a sheath of polished limestone, most of which is gone, (there is a small amount left at the top of one, Khafre's). Arab historians record this was covered in Egyptian writing.
The reason the rest is gone? The Muslim rulers of Egypt stripped it off to rebuild city walls, etc. with it after the earthquake of 1356.
Anybody remember what happened to the nose on the Sphinx?
The nose was blown off in a war because the nose was Negroid and they never wanted the world to know the truth, that Africans built the pyramids. Egypt is Africa but ask most people and they'll say it's the middle east.
Does anyone ever wonder why the Rosetta Stone was carved in 196 BC but mysteriously not found until 1799 AD? People who seek to control and dominate the masses will do anything to hide the truth, as evidenced in the "dark ages."
@Mtg - Strange, King Tut's nose on his Golden Mask doesn't look 'Negroid" to me, and the Great Sphinx was defaced in 1380 by the then Muslim ruler of Egypt with more damage being inflicted later by the Mamelukes, not by Napoleon's troops, (a story told by Arab tour guides). :-p
No but the nose on the Great Sphinx did, the whole face is negroid, just look at it! As a matter of fact, have you noticed just how many of the ancient Egyptian artifacts have their noses and lips destroyed? Do you really think they all just broke off?
If one seeks to rewrite history they need to change or hide the evidence...
I was in Egypt in 1977 and 1979 and have been yearning to return, specifically to see the Egyptian Museum before things are transported to the new Grand Museum in Giza. What will happen now? Will the new museum even open? As far as Egypt's "African" heritage, I have had many unfortunate conversations with African-Americans desperate, for somewhat legitimate reasons, to reclaim their true history. Unfortunately, Ancient Egyptians were not Negroid, even though they occupied the northeastern part of the continent of Africa, and no revisionist desire can make them so. Dr. Derry, the specialist whom Howard Carter invited to study Tut's mummy, specifically stated that Tut's skull was Caucusoid. In other words, Tut was an ethnic shade of White, not Black. His grandfather's primary Queen, Tiy, WAS Black, but not Tut. There WAS a Black dynasty, the 26th, headed by pharaohs who came up from Nubia, about 600 BC. But that was unusual, as Nubia traditionally was Egypt's enemy. Actually, the 26th Dynasty restored much of Egypt's pride after a long period of turmoil, so our Afrocentric friend here has some cause for celebration. But as for ALL Ancient Egyptians being Black--no, not historically correct, no matter how much a Black man wants it to be so. Look elsewhere for conspiracies. They certainly exist. And recognize that defiant cultural pride does not necessarily equate with the facts of history.
@Mtg - The faces were defaced by Muslims in accordance with their prohibition of images. The Egyptians did depict 'negroid' features on Nubian slaves, but their surviving tomb paintings show that the Egyptians themselves did not have 'negroid' features.
just wonderin: The nose of the sphinx was blown off not in a war (as MTG303 claims) but actually in an artillery practice done by the French while Napoleon was conquering the country (despite the act of barbarism, Napoleon brought along with him a young doctor Jean-Francoise Champollion, who ended up discovering the Rosetta Stone, becoming the father of Egyptology.
justiceforall is correct........the French used all sorts of things for target practice, including the Sphinx's nose. They also dug out holes in some of the ancient columns to tie up/feed and water their horses........
From Wikipedia:
Mikey, kinda like what Christians did during the crusades, and what we did to thousands of native American artifacts huh.
Sorry.......Wikipedia is not considered a reliable source. We aren't even allowed to use it as a resource in college!!
I saw the exhibit in Toledo, Ohio and was ever so thankful to have seen it. Sorry to hear it will no longer leave the country. But I am glad it will hopefully be safe.
I thought Al Gore found Tut"s tomb.
No, Gore just tried to warm it up.
And, YES!!! Al Gore is just waiting for someone to slide a lid on it,,, and seal it!!
All factions in Egypt know that if any harm comes to Egypt's Historical treasures the party responsible would have zero chance in participating in whatever new government emerges. The danger is that one group might harm the museum to try to frame it's opponent(s), like the Nazis did with the Reichstag fire.
Some (not all) American citizens could learn a thing or two from the Egyptian people about understanding and cherrishing their heritage and wanting to protect it at all cost. May God bless them all and help them to sort this all out.
And may God bless our men and women in uniform that are protecting us so that we may sleep in peace at night. Can't say this enough. THANK YOU!
My heart breaks for the people there. It's time for everyone to stop fighting or there will be no one left to fight. This country needs new leadership and us in the USA must not get involved. The USA should stay out of all of the other countries too. There leaders don't come here telling us what to do so maybe if we did stay out, maybe they wouldn't hate us so much. God bless all of you, and I am praying that you get what you want and that this leadership should step down....
If there is one thing to save in Egypt, it's the antiquities. Too many have already been lost. Thank goodness these are being protected.
When I was about 10 years old, the exhibit of King Tuts tomb treasures. I was probably too young to appreciate the display, but I'm still grateful to have seen it. I hope that these priceless relics are preserved.
What american heritage? Baseball, apple pie and Chevy? Get real... The only heritage most Americans have is what they brought from the original country they are from.
BlackshoesBlacksocks - Didn't pay attention in American history class, did you? What would you call the Declaration of Independence, the Liberty Bell, the Bill of Rights, the moon rocks, etc. These might not be ancient treasures in the sense of those in Egypt, but they represent the national treasures of the USA, the basis on which our country was built.
God save the Apple Pie! Now I'm hungery again!
Americans national treasure is third world compared to Egypt, atleast they have culture and heritage. We have hooters and dunkin doughnuts. Not to mention a gov that cant get anything acomplished for its citizens. Its all about greed and its sickening . You think people here would fight off looters i doubt it there to worried about flashy cars and designer purses we need to stand up and fight like the egyptians atleast they have the balls and are smart enough to realize the injustice imposed on them.
We have New Orleans, New York, and have made great strides in our short history. These countries are older then us, enslaved many people to build all those things you are idolising and have not progress, but have reverted back before the blood lust pharaohs. I wouldn't glorify any of their history. We have pains, but we have progressed further in a shorter amount of time then any of those countries. We still have a couple of thousand of years before we are caught up in time. Later tater,We the American people rock
...Who the hell are you? Certainly not an American, or at least what I would define as one, wether you actually live here or not. I'm just gonna list a couple of things I hold to be a herritage, a treasure to be shared with everyone fortunate enough to live in this country:
The Grand Canyon, The Statue of Liberty, the Mississippi river, the Gulf of Mexico, the Great Lakes, the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, Jazz, New York, LA, Seattle, Miami, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, the Redwood trees in California, the Mangrove Swamps in the lower south, the alpine forests of Northern Newengland, Hollywood, the Hoover Dam, the feilds of Joshua trees in the south western deserts, the Northern Lights in Alaska, the volcanos of Hawaii, the kelp forrests of the oceans of the north west, Elvis Presly, Bob Dylan, Humphry Bogart, Orsen Wells, the animated films of Disney, --the invention of skyscrappers, the train, the automobile, the television, telephones, and the internet--, Broadway, the Bald Eagle, the American Robin, the Grizzly Bear, the Gray Wolf, the Atlantic Salmon, the Monarch Butterfly, the American Alligator, the Bison, the Native American tribes, Yellowstone, the Everglades, Yosemite, and Washington D.C. to name a few.
I don't know who you are, or who you think you are, but no matter what standing the United States has with the rest of the world, these are our treasures. Before I think of politics, or world powers, or economic standing, I think of these things first when I hear the word 'America'.
Good thing the bust of Nefertiti is in Berlin, hein?
Where was the Great Bull of Apis, Chief Zahi, during this time?
I spent a whole day at the museum a year ago, just unbelievable. Praise to the citizens who protected it until the Army showed up.
this shows that not all crowds are destructive. even dissenter's can respect something such as a National Treasure. Good for them.
FOOL'S Gold! "For neither their silver nor their GOLD shall save them in that day, says The LORD." Glory Be To GOD!
It's Allah dumby, ALLAH
AMEN.......
Alan-1380274,,,glory to JEHOVAH GOD.....amen.
Find a chapel and stow the gab
mythology
except that the Egyptian culture predates all of them by about 2000 years.
It is impossible to find a leader for the angry mobs in Egypt. He would have to hold a sword in hand, be pure of heart, and ready to drive the forces of evil from Egypt. Such a person can only come from the heavens because corruption lies in the hearts of all earthly men.
Did you say "drive the forces of evil from Egypt"? Does that mean you sanction genocide? You've obviously never been to Egypt.
They are not safe because the hordes don't know about History or Museums or Treasuries, they only want Money , Power, Women or Men so Egypt is entering on a historic stage trapped on modernism. Let see the subsequent episodes to know clearly what they really wants: Democracy, Freedom,Licentiousness.
Not true! I was in Egypt for about a month 10 years ago. The vast majority of Egyptians, and especially the youth, value their heritage. As the young person quoted said "We are not like Baghdad".
i dont think egyption people will do anything to those antiques and treasures , egypt is known all over the world for their amazing history and i hope everything works for the better , for the people of egypt. god be with them .
Who do you think the original tomb-raiders of pre-archeology were? Some called them 'Sand Robbers'. Even the guarded excavations were raided by local bandits in the early days. Not all the artifacts taken from the tombs of the ancients were foreigners, my friend.
JohnS.... and who do you think led huge expeditions to pillage the tombs of the treasures that now fill the museums of Europe and the United States? Pay attention....this is about the FEW who tried to loot the Egyptian museum....and the MANY who stood up to them and stood guard over their cultural treasures. Stop being so sanctimonious, I heard enough of that blather in Grad school from imperious professors who had never left this country...but believed they were better stewards of others cultural artifacts than the countries they came from.
does anyone have feelings for real alive people , all i can see is you guys talking about art affects. OMG what happened to this world , screw art and feed the people
"all i can see is you guys talking about art affects"
Art affects, eh? Well, so much for the depth of your understanding, the acuity of your perception.
"OMG what happened to this world , screw art and feed the people"
People of intelligence did, and largely always have. Unfortunately.
there were grave robers way before white man steped in Egypt.
Quite frankly, why are these treasures such a major concern to Us rather than the fact that we bankrolled this dictator?
These treasures are of such concern to Us because in them contain the historical beginnings of all mankind, the birthplace of all language, communication and religion comes from the tombs and historical antiquities of Egypt (Kmt, Kemet). For years the powers that exist have known that all human Dna is traced back to Africa and out of Africa. For this reason governmental powers have allowed the Egypt of Africa to be Islamicized all so that the world would never recognize Egypt as Africa but instead as the middle east. Any map and history itself will prove this point, Egypt is stolen African land!
Things were relatively peaceful until morning prayers when the muslim animals received their orders in the mosques,another modern country collapses into history.
The people have a right to get a new leader, but these treasures are to be protected at any cost.
I would have to wonder if the very same government is doing this as a way to threaten or stop the civil unrest, then again it could be the people making a statement that if you don’t step down this is what will become of some of the greatest treasures of our time.
The fact is that I would think that this leader is behind the damage done because he has no real understanding or care of these artifacts even though they make millions in tourism and there value alone, but still this leader is one that is ruthless enough that he would stoop to this level to try and make a statement to the people.
That if you continue to oppose me, you will put these artifacts in harms way, but that is just speculation on my part.
I hope they continue to go against this leader, and get there new government in place, but they must also be careful that they do not trade one dictator for someone worse, and there are many who would love to seize control of this area.
I hope they all can make it through this time in history without any bloodshed.
Power to the people, and hopefully V for victory as the French once said.
I wonder when the people of the US will come to this turn in time ?
Oh I forgot we only allow our leaders 8 years or 4 and we like I Pods
What the heck are you blathering on about? What does this have to do with hooligans and looters destroying Egypt's AND the world's cultural treasures? Why don't you sober up before posting next time?
I think this is really dumb! This country has many old antiques and now people can see just how reckless people can be to destroy their countries most rare artifacts. I feel very bad for Egypt and its people.=(
It would be great if, with the inevitable shifting of TIME (2012) our memory of how we got here could stay preserved!
Remember the burning of the great library of Alexandria?
We forgot so much after that event that since then, we entered the dark ages of ignorance.
It took a lot of effort to crawl out of that! Some of us never did......