Zahi Hawass: Egypt needs international support in order to recover stolen artefacts

By Mohammed Mahmoud in Cairo
For Al-Shorfa.com
2010-03-26

[CRIS BOURONCLE/AFP/Getty Images] Dr. Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities.

Cairo will be hosting the first international conference on the restoration of stolen Egyptian artefacts, from April 7-9. The conference is an effort toward gathering international support in order to take a serious stand against international artefact smugglers, and to obtain reassurances from the participating countries that they will co-operate with Egypt to restore unique Egyptian artefacts.

Dr. Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), sat with Al-Shorfa to discuss Egypt's agenda for the conference and its demands. He also explained the significance of the latest discoveries about the family of King Tutankhamun and the cause of his death.

Al-Shorfa: You are currently preparing for a big international conference on stolen Egyptian artefacts in April. What are Egypt's objectives behind organising such a conference?

Zahi Hawass: We have two objectives behind this conference. The first one is to shed light on Egypt's achievements in the field of restoring stolen artefacts during the past eight years. The conference will also discuss the issue of restoring artefacts and ways to form an international front in order for the participating countries to take collective measures in support of efforts to restore looted artefacts which are on display in some international museums and at auction houses, because Egypt needs these most.

The second objective of this conference is to create an international event in order to bring this issue to the attention of the public worldwide. There will be a review of international legislation relating to countries' rights to retrieve their artefacts, looted cultural property and antique objects.

Al-Shorfa: How many artefacts has Egypt been able to recover so far?

Hawass: The journey of restoring artefacts began in 2002. Until now, we have recovered 31,000 pieces. The most recent one was a sarcophagus restored from the United States, which belonged to a nobleman of the 21st dynasty (1081-931 B.C.), 125 years after it was taken out of Egypt illegally.

In June, a large number of stolen artefacts will be handed over to Egypt, which were seized by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities in New York. We are currently working together with the US Department of Homeland Security to complete the legal procedures on this issue, which also revealed the identity of the criminal networks involved in smuggling artefacts from Egypt and elsewhere.

These pieces include a large number of ancient Egyptian coffins which are decorated with colourful engravings, in addition to a set of clay pots, coins, and artefacts dating back to 300 B.C.

Al-Shorfa: You mentioned in press releases that Egypt has a list of famous artefacts that it wants to retrieve. Could you tell us what these are?

Hawass: For several years, I have been struggling to recover six unique artefacts which include the Rosetta Stone at the British Museum in London, with the help of which we were able to decipher the hieroglyphic language; the bust of Pharaonic Queen Nefertiti; the Dendera Zodiac ceiling painting from the Dendera Temple in Upper Egypt, which is now in the Louvre Museum in Paris; the statue of a pyramid architect which is at the Fine Arts Museum in Boston in the United States; the statue of the architect of the pyramid of Khufu which is in a museum in Germany; and a statue of Ramesses II in Turin, Italy.

Al-Shorfa: You always question the ability of international law to help Egypt recover its artefacts. So how are you planning to recover them?

Hawass: International law does not recognise artefacts stolen before 1972, which were taken out of Egypt at the time when the Partition Treaty was in effect. If we were to stop demanding the restitution of the statue, then we will never recover any of the important artefacts, and I have already talked much about how important it is to recover them.

It is worth noting that in many instances we are not legally entitled to recover the artefacts, but we are morally entitled to these artefacts, which many government and civil society organisations have started to recognise. The US is the best example in this respect, as it is the foremost country that has returned stolen artefacts to Egypt, and the authorities there have acted with an upright conscience. They co-operate at the highest levels more than any other country in the world.

There are pieces like the bust of Nefertiti which we have the right to recover as it was taken out of Egypt illegally. We are currently exerting maximum pressure in order to restore it, by means of appealing to the international public opinion through the press.

Al-Shorfa: What do you mean by saying that "it was taken out of Egypt illegally?"

Hawass: The bust of Nefertiti was taken out of Egypt fraudulently, since the archaeological mission at that time smuggled out the bust and the head of the mission recorded it as being made of plaster and belonging to one of the princesses of the ruling family. They did not record it as being the bust of one of the queens and made of limestone, since at that time there was an agreement between Egypt and the archaeological missions that allowed the missions to take plaster artefacts out of Egypt on the condition that they were not artifacts of a king or a queen. This is why they smuggled it pretending it was the bust of a princess.

Al-Shorfa: You also asked the United Kingdom to lend Egypt the Rosetta Stone for a period of time. What was the response?

Hawass: It was a proposition which we made to the UK asking them to lend us the Rosetta Stone for the opening of Egypt's Grand Museum which could take place within the next two years. However, the British Museum rejected the proposition, and one of the British officials said, 'We have no guarantees that you will return the Rosetta Stone to us if we were to lend it to you.' I responded sternly saying that we are not the pirates of the Caribbean. We are in the 21st century, and we are not that naïve as to embarrass ourselves before the international community.

Al-Shorfa: Will the UK or Germany attend the conference in view of Egypt's constant demand for the restitution of the Rosetta Stone and the bust of Nefertiti?

Hawass: So far, they are expected to attend. And so will the US as an observer. Thirty other countries will participate in the conference, among which are: Greece, India, Iraq, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Mexico, Russia, Spain, Syria, Thailand, Turkey and Yemen.

Al-Shorfa: You described your latest discovery about the family of King Tutankhamun by DNA testing as representing a new era in Egyptology. What did you mean by that?

Hawass: DNA testing has never been used in the past in Egyptology because the technology was not available to researchers. However, now we are at the threshold of a new era of unearthing new secrets about the Pharaohs, such as the family relationships between many of the mummies which we have and do not yet know to which person they belong or to which family. This new technology will also help us determine the cause of death of many kings, which will in turn help solve many mysteries and rewrite the history of many of those kings.

For example, regarding the statue of Tutankhamun, we find that there are many mysteries surrounding the 18th dynasty, especially during the period known as the 'Amarna Period' or the 'Aten Period'. It saw a number of famous and controversial figures such as King Akhenaten, named by some as the 'first monotheist', and the beautiful queen Nefertiti, and the golden King Tutankhamun. This is why we will resume the research to determine who his mother was, his wife and the rest of his family. This will enable us to discover many of the political and social secrets of this obscure period. This is why it is a new phase in Egyptology.

Al-Shorfa: But how will this rewrite history as you said previously?

Hawass: The unavailability of DNA testing and CT scan in the field of Egyptology in the past was the reason behind the many superstitious stories being told about many kings. In the case of Tutankhamun, we were able to find out that his father was Akhenaten and that he was not a homosexual.

We have also been able to determine the identity of many mummies which belong to the same ruling family. In the future, this will help us redraw the family tree and determine the family relationships of many of the royal mummies which have been discovered throughout the past decades.

Al-Shorfa: You said in previous statements that there will be new discoveries in the future. When do you expect the announcement of these discoveries to be made?

Hawass: We have 200 foreign missions carrying out excavations in many Egyptian cities, especially in Luxor. Currently, we are focusing on the family of Ramesses in the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Monkeys, and we have discovered four royal mummies so far. We are also carrying out the restoration of the tomb of Tutankhamun with the collaboration of Paul Getty Foundation in the United States.

At the same time, I am personally working with many Egyptian missions searching for the tomb of Queen Cleopatra and Mark Antony in a temple near the city of Alexandria.

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