Secret treasure in Great Pyramid awaits

[kmt_sesh]

Congratulations. You would appear to have expressed a profound lack of understanding in regards to modern archaeological practices.

Edit: Terminology.

LOL A lot of that flinging off the walls at UM. Always has been, so remember to duck!

Nice to see you again, Swede.

[Swede]

LOL A lot of that flinging off the walls at UM. Always has been, so remember to duck!

Nice to see you again, Swede.

Chuckle! Given the mass density reflected in some circumstances, a helmet may be more suitable.

Also good to see you again. As with yourself, time has been rather a valuable commodity of late.

.

[gOOgLer]

I am sure Dr. Hawaz wil find 5,000 years old microwave owen inside the Keops Pyramide. :-)

[FLOMBIE]

I'm sure there are more discoveries to be made like under the sphinx. Considering how things are going in Egypt I don't expect there will be much tourism until things improve.

Best time to go there (if you are a bit of an adventurer). I know a guy who went there just after the revolution, and he was basically alone in the Valley of the Kings, with a couple of tour guides very much taking care of him.

[cladking]

Zahi on television is usually a disaster. Chasing Mummies is glaring proof of that. Thank goodness that idiotic show is dead and gone. And Zahi in popular-peridiocal interviews is nearly as bad. It seems when Zahi opens his mouth for the sake of unfiltered, unedited content, about 75% of what he says is rubbish. If not outright offensive.

The anti-semitic remarks were unacceptable. He was caught in the act, and worse yet, he was a high-ranking government official—so what he was saying could've been misconstrued as an official Egyptian government statement. Egypt continues to maintain a peaceful but tenuous relationship with the state of Israel, so Hawass's remarks were plain reckless. That many Muslims in the Middle East feel this way toward Israel is no secret to anyone, but aside from religious fanatics and other Muslims who continue to live with a medieval mindset, most Muslims are enlightened enough to remain civil and keep it to themselves.

I once read an interview in which he flat-out stated that only wealthy tourists should visit Egypt. In a recent interview with Smithsonian magazine, Hawass declared that his fellow Egyptians don't know how to deal with democracy and need a dictatorship. While this is sadly true for many Middle Eastern states, Hawass does not speak for all of his fellow Egyptians. He makes any number of statements based on personal beliefs and opinions, and he seems to think his personal beliefs and opinions are shared by everyone.

It's important to understand that while Hawass has indeed returned to Egypt, he no longer holds any governmental position, nor does he hold any job or office of authority. He's more or less on equal footing with any run-of-the-mill academic. That he might return to some position in the Egyptian antiquities department can be debated, although I personally consider it unlikely. Hawass was too closely aligned with the Mubarak regime, regardless of how much he professes otherwise. We'll see what the future might bring—and who knows what that might be?—but don't mistake Hawass's return to Egypt with his return to authority. He has no authority.

On the flip-side, it's always amused me how the fringe crowd (including here at UM) loves to vilify Hawass. They always have, continue to do so, and probably always will. The fringe likes to paint Hawass as some sort of boogyman and enjoys using him as a whipping-boy, but on average fringies have very little understanding of how archaeology is actually conducted and how it is administered through government agencies. Highly amusing is the fringe's misguided delusion that Hawass controlled everything with an iron fist and determined the course of all archaeological activities and research pursuits in the country of Egypt. This was always a comically misdirected exaggeration.

I've noted through the years the way in which fringies tend to point everything at Hawass and obsessively record and remember every word he's ever said, as though Hawass were the end-all and be-all of Egyptology. He certainly is not. Based on my own experience in Egyptological research and studies, I have to admit that I wouldn't even place Hawass in the top ten of Egyptologists whose work has pointed us in a learned direction in recent decades.

On a final note, however, I'd wager very few (if any) of those who like to vilify Hawass are the least familiar with his body of published material. Hawass conducted a lot of high-quality, contributive research on the peer-reviewed level, above and beyond the many (if not too many) books he published for a popular audience. In other words, when it comes to Egyptology, Hawass has always been a top-notch historian and researcher. He just needs to avoid the TV camera and the pen and pad of magazine and newspaper interviewers—which of course will never happen. No one can deny Hawass's burgeoning ego and obsession for the limelight. Sadly, it will always be detrimental to his career.

I had no idea. I assumed you were exaggerating about the quality of this show. I couldn't

believe anything could be so bad but now I've seen the show and ity seems more that you

were sugar coating the truth and using polly anna goggles. This thing (especially episode 2)

has some of the funniest stuff ever caught on film. These guys make the Keystone Cops

look like the Harlem Globetrotters. A mummy has little to fear from these stumble bums but

every mommy and daddy does. In the first episode someone gets trapped so people rush in

with no tools and no first aid. In the second a man's back goes out and there is a repeat but

this time an older overweight and clautrophobic producer goes in with no equipment but a ra-

dio. Hawass' treatment of people is despicable in the extreme. Even animal reflexes are suf-

ficient cause for him to lose his temper and destroy the career of a young woman. He has the

gull to lambast a man for simply suggesting that aliens could have been invoilved and imposes

his religion on all. His religion is unique to himself as he says the pyramid is sacred. The run

emotions inspired by this film is extensive and it probably affected me much more than most be-

cause of my perspective but it was simply hilarious. At the end he says he's unilaterally closing

the pyramid because his handheld hygrometer said the humidity in the enclosed relieving cham-

bers with several people in it at 76% and that humidy causes salt!!!

I know this is just a film but it still leaves me shaken. I wonder if it any of it is real. God help us all.

[kmt_sesh]

I had no idea. I assumed you were exaggerating about the quality of this show. I couldn't

believe anything could be so bad but now I've seen the show and ity seems more that you

were sugar coating the truth and using polly anna goggles. This thing (especially episode 2)

has some of the funniest stuff ever caught on film. These guys make the Keystone Cops

look like the Harlem Globetrotters. A mummy has little to fear from these stumble bums but

every mommy and daddy does. In the first episode someone gets trapped so people rush in

with no tools and no first aid. In the second a man's back goes out and there is a repeat but

this time an older overweight and clautrophobic producer goes in with no equipment but a ra-

dio. Hawass' treatment of people is despicable in the extreme. Even animal reflexes are suf-

ficient cause for him to lose his temper and destroy the career of a young woman. He has the

gull to lambast a man for simply suggesting that aliens could have been invoilved and imposes

his religion on all. His religion is unique to himself as he says the pyramid is sacred. The run

emotions inspired by this film is extensive and it probably affected me much more than most be-

cause of my perspective but it was simply hilarious. At the end he says he's unilaterally closing

the pyramid because his handheld hygrometer said the humidity in the enclosed relieving cham-

bers with several people in it at 76% and that humidy causes salt!!!

I know this is just a film but it still leaves me shaken. I wonder if it any of it is real. God help us all.

I think I watched maybe about half of the first episode, and that was too much for me. A friend with whom I work at the museum kept watching the show even though she hated it. She described it as the same thing as a train wreck: it's horrendous but you can't look away.

The most important thing to remember is, every bit of it is fake. All of the characters and supposed "students" are actors. It is all scripted. Hawass laid it on thick with his abrasive personality for the sake of ratings. It was a farce and painted the legitimate field of Egyptology in a cartoonish way, so I personally found the show to be juvenile, absent of intellectual merit, and a general waste of time. So, in all honesty, one of the side benefits of the toppling of the Mubarak regime was the end of Chasing Mummies, because Hawass was tossed out with Mubarak.

I didn't see the episode where he's talking about the relieving chamber, so I'm not familiar with what he said. You sure he didn't say King's Chamber? I just find it odd because tourists don't go in the relieving chambers in the first place, so there would be no such cause for alarm. Even vetted historians rarely go in those tight spaces. But if this is indeed what Hawass said, it would be a good example of his bumbling efforts to sound authoritative and all-knowing for the TV cameras. No, of course humidity doesn't cause salt, and Hawass knows that perfectly well. However, high and steady levels of humidity definitely cause a dangerous increase in the leeching of salt from the mineral matrix in limestone monuments, which is very problematic as far as conservation is concerned. This is a common problem for ancient monuments up and down the Nile Valley.

[cladking]

I didn't see the episode where he's talking about the relieving chamber, so I'm not familiar with what he said. You sure he didn't say King's Chamber? I just find it odd because tourists don't go in the relieving chambers in the first place, so there would be no such cause for alarm. Even vetted historians rarely go in those tight spaces. But if this is indeed what Hawass said, it would be a good example of his bumbling efforts to sound authoritative and all-knowing for the TV cameras. No, of course humidity doesn't cause salt, and Hawass knows that perfectly well. However, high and steady levels of humidity definitely cause a dangerous increase in the leeching of salt from the mineral matrix in limestone monuments, which is very problematic as far as conservation is concerned. This is a common problem for ancient monuments up and down the Nile Valley.

He was actually sitting in the third(?) relieving chamber at the time.

I'm sure he knows better and part of the problem could be as simple as editing but

this is the sort of thing they put pover the air with this episode. He made the statement

while ostensibly on Egyptian TV and was at the end of episode 2.

The whole thing is just chilling since it leaves one with the impression that incompetence

is rampant and Hawass has the disposition and sensitivity of a ancient torture device.

[docyabut2]

Can`nt they drill a hole at the end stones of the queen shafts from the outside, the shafts the boxes were found in almost lead to the outside.

[Tutankhaten-pasheri]

Can`nt they drill a hole at the end stones of the queen shafts from the outside, the shafts the boxes were found in almost lead to the outside.

Difficult because the shafts, though always conveniently drawn straight on diagrams, are not straight in reality. Is it necessary to further damge the GP by drilling speculative hole from the outside in the hope of joining up with the shafts? what would be the purpose?

All this is better explained on the site of the UPUAUT project http://cheops.org/

[docyabut2]

Difficult because the shafts, though always conveniently drawn straight on diagrams, are not straight in reality. Is it necessary to further damge the GP by drilling speculative hole from the outside in the hope of joining up with the shafts? what would be the purpose?

All this is better explained on the site of the UPUAUT project http://cheops.org/

That shafts at the end could be filled with sand topped with stones, it would`nt be that hard, they did find sand when the queen chambers wall was drilled into.

Edited July 23, 2013 by docyabut2

[Tutankhaten-pasheri]

That shafts at the end could be filled with sand topped with stones, it would`nt be that hard, they did find sand when the queen chambers wall was drilled into.

We won't know unless drilling is carried out, which Is unlikely to be done anytime soon. Some of these questions will have to wait for new technology, or the dismantling of the GP stone by stone, then all will be revealed. With current situation in Egypt who can say which will come first......

[Heroic Bishop]

Zahi Hawass is a shady character himself, not for me to tell tales but there are plenty or reports about this guy and his 'credentials'...The Egyptians should have deposed him too and done the field of Egyptology a massive favour...at least we might get chance to look under the paws of the Sphinx ....

[kmt_sesh]

Zahi Hawass is a shady character himself, not for me to tell tales but there are plenty or reports about this guy and his 'credentials'...The Egyptians should have deposed him too and done the field of Egyptology a massive favour...at least we might get chance to look under the paws of the Sphinx ....

Hawass was in fact "deposed." He lost his position not long after Mubarak was sent packing. Hawass is back in Egypt but holds no office and has no authority now.

Hawass's main problem is his burgeoning ego. All can agree on that. He is not what I would consider to be the finest Egyptologist and he rubs me the wrong way the same as anyone else, but at the same time I do not like to see him misrepresented. You're misrepresenting him, Vigilanis. While Hawass was always too in love with TV cameras and too frequently allowed his ego to guide him, his credentials are not in question. He studied both in Egypt and at the University of Pennsylvania, a very prestigious school for the study of Egyptology, and holds a Ph.D. in the field. His body of professional literature and peer-reviewed papers is impressive. Hawass was a solid and highly effective Egyptologist and archaeologist for many years, prior to his rise in the former Egyptian government. That's when his ego started to inflate, and he became a highly effective PR agent for his country but stepped on toes pretty much everywhere he walked.

It's interesting that you mention the Sphinx, as though Hawass had hidden its subterranean features. Aside from numerous series of GPR conducted around the Sphinx and which revealed nothing substantial below ground, Hawass led a team years ago that sunk deep bore holes all around the monument to test for rising water contamination; in the process he sent cameras down the bore holes, just to see what was down there. And his team found nothing.

[Harte]

Let's not forget what might be Hawass's greatest contribution - at least to Egypt. That would be his tireless efforts to return (sometimes literally) stolen Egyptian artifacts to their rightful place - Egypt.

Harte