Thursday 12 September 2013

Egypt: Artefact Thieves Cover their Tracks?

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The collectors' lobbyists will have a field day with this story if it is confirmed (Nevine El-Aref , 'Ancient Egyptian artefacts looted from Mit Rahina', Al-Ahram Thursday 12 Sep 2013). An investigation is underway into the looting of Ancient Egyptian artefacts from the archaeological storerooms and a museum gallery at Mit-Rahina (i.e., ancient Memphis). The story began last month when inspectors at Mit Rahina found (on 28th of August) the ceilings of two galleries at the site had been broken through. Reportedly it was found that doors, ceilings and the glass of some showcases in the gallery had been broken and a "large number" of artefacts were missing. A comprehensive inventory of the contents of the premises was begun. I wrote briefly about this earlier. A new development however is that, reportedly:  
Antiquities Minister Mohamed Ibrahim has asked the prosecutor-general to question representatives from the Ancient Egyptian department at the antiquities ministry, the director of Mit Rahina archaeological site, and local guards and security personnel about the incident.[...]  according an MSA archaeologist who required anonymity, 261 artefacts were stolen. He also suggested the thief was “probably” an archaeologist with access to the MSA, because papers concerning the missing objects had been removed from the site's files.
Let us note for the moment this is hearsay, there is a lot of unfounded rumour and gossip flying around in archaeological circles over there and rampant infighting in the organization (and we know there is opposition to the current Minister and there will be those wanting to discredit him and the management), still, things are not looking too good at the moment.

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