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A woman cleans tombs in Cairo’s City of the Dead cemetery. Asmaa Waguih/Reuters

My mother, who died suddenly when I was a teenager, is buried alongside her ancestors in a historic mausoleum in the area of Cairo known as the City of the Dead. It’s the oldest continuously used Muslim cemetery in the world, and its history traces back to the seventh century. My ancestors chose this burial place in order to be near Imam al-Shafi’i, a ninth-century holy man who rests in a magnificent shrine there. My family has five mausolea in the vicinity; the oldest is from the 1790s. From the outside they resemble the courtyarded houses of medieval Cairo. Inside there are gardens, carved marble cenotaphs and ornately decorated rooms, hung with dusty chandeliers, where grievers used to hold all-night vigils on holidays and death anniversaries.…  Seguir leyendo »

Algo tiene la tumba de Jufu, ese faraón al que los griegos llamaron Keops, que seduce. Motivos no le faltan, porque con sus 146,6 m de altura y sus 230 m de base cuadrada (lo cual equivale, aproximadamente, a la fachada principal del estadio Santiago Bernabéu y la altura de la torre Picasso) durante casi cuatro milenios fue el edificio más alto del mundo. Tan grande es esta montaña artificial que los griegos la incluyeron en su lista de las siete maravillas del mundo y la iban a visitar con asombrados ojos de turista, como después harían los romanos. El problema es cuando la seducción se convierte en obnubilación y para intentar comprender los motivos de su existencia se comienzan a soltar paparruchas sin cuento ni apoyo ninguno en los datos históricos y arqueológicos.…  Seguir leyendo »

Since 2011, Egypt’s police force and other governmental authorities, overwhelmed by political upheaval, have let their protection of the country’s thousands of archaeological sites and museums fall to a bare minimum. Looters have taken full advantage of this opportunity.

More than a thousand objects were stolen from the Malawi National Museum in Minya last year and satellite photographs show some 10,000 hastily dug looting pits cratering the country’s archaeological sites. In some places, more organized gangs of looters have used dynamite and bulldozers to uncover and steal antiquities under the protection of guards armed with automatic weapons.

In response, the Egyptian government has attempted to stanch the flow of antiquities to the United States, which has some of the highest demand for these artifacts.…  Seguir leyendo »

Egypt’s future lies in its history, particularly its archaeological history. For hundreds of years the mystery and wonders of the pyramids, the sphinx and the Valley of the Kings have attracted visitors from around the world. Tourism is the lifeblood of Egypt’s economy and touches the lives of most Egyptians, whether they work as tour guides, restaurant owners, craftsmen or bus operators. Egypt’s history holds the prosperity of the country’s future generations, including that of youths — more than 40 million Egyptians are age 30 or younger — who are seeking opportunities.

But thieves are raiding our archaeological sites and selling their findings to the highest bidders.…  Seguir leyendo »