CAIRO: Protecting Egyptian treasures from tomb theft and retrieving what has been smuggled out of the country is no mean feat. It is a long process that requires patience, persistence and a strong belief in the priceless value of Egyptian antiquities. Whether they are made of gold, alabaster, black granite, or even traditional sandstone, the tombs of the pharaohs are not merely a collage of rare stones, but represent a whole civilization.
Zahi Hawass, the secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), told The Daily Star Egypt that documenting antiquities all over Egypt should be the first step to avoid such thefts.
“Why are antiquities stolen? Because our home is not organized. If you want to protect your home from theft, don’t leave the door open. You have to close the door and arrange your home first, said Hawass.
The history of Pharaonic grave robbery dates back to the era of the ancient Egyptians, says Hawass.
“We have papyri called the Tombs Robbery Papyri. They narrate the 2,700-year-old story of the mayor of the east bank who wrote a complaint against the mayor of the west bank claiming that he steals antiquities. Yet the investigative committee said nothing was stolen and verified the innocence and honesty of the west bank mayor.
“But knowing that he was a thief, the east bank mayor went to the king and demanded setting up an honest committee, which went down to the tombs to make an inventory of each tomb’s contents to list what was missing and what was stolen, said Hawass.
There is strong evidence, he continued, of thefts that occurred in 1871 from the tomb of Tutankhamen in the Valley of the Kings. The Abdel Rasoul family knew all the secrets of the valley and was considered the most dangerous tomb robbers in the past two centuries.
“One day a member of the family was herding sheep and goats in the valley when he coincidently discovered a hole that was 15 meters deep. Inside he found gold treasure and mummies.when he was caught he was sent to jail and all the mummies were moved to Cairo in 1881, said Hawass.
Right after heading the SCA in 2002, Hawass was able to retrieve 4,000 antiquities to Egypt after planning a careful strategy.
He built 33 new electronically guarded storage spaces and introduced an effective security system headed by trained guards.
The biggest theft case in the history of tomb robbing was that of the magazine of Sakkara 10 years ago, recalls Hawass.
“In Sakkara, there used to be 65 primitive storage rooms, where people used to go and steal, said Hawass.
In 2003 Hawass set up The Department for Retrieving Stolen Artifacts to trace stolen artifacts.
Head of the department Ibrahim Adel Meguid, said the department was able to return about 5,000 monuments from different countries since its establishment, including the mummy of King Ramses, two Egyptian masks and the status of King Amenhotob.
He said that the latest monuments returned to Egypt are the remnants of hair, linen bandages and resin used in the mummification of the 19th dynasty king Ramses, after 30 years of being in France. Two alabaster duck-shaped food boxes from Dahshur were also returned.
The SCA has recently been intensively negotiating the return of the famous limestone bust of Nefertiti from Germany, which was taken out of the country in 1912 when Ludwig Borchardt, one of the excavators of Tel El-Amarna, found it in a sculptor’s workshop. Hawass has written a letter to the German ministry of culture requesting a short-term loan of the bust in 2010, to mark the opening of the Akhenaton Museum in Minya.
“We are taking a hard-line attitude in dealing with foreign museums when they refuse to return our monuments. We even threatened to cut relations with them .and I wrote in my letter that the Nefertiti issue could risk the excellent relations between Egypt and Germany, said Hawass.
Abdel Meguid said that the department tries to track down stolen documented artifacts and investigates if they are offered for sale on the international market through the various auctions on the internet.
“There are two main auctions taking place twice a year. We monitor them to know if they are selling any of our stolen artifacts by examining their description in the catalogs, said Abdel Meguid.
If a stolen piece is found in any of the auctions, the SCA informs the embassy of the country where the monument is being offered and demands its return through either diplomatic or legal means.
“According to the Unesco treaty for protecting historical and cultural artifacts, countries have the right to retrieve the stolen artifact, provided that the artifact was moved from the country through illegal means and proven to have been originally located in the country, said Abdel Meguid.
He added that Switzerland houses most of the stolen Egyptian artifacts as it wasn’t a member of the Unesco treaty. Ironically, after signing the treaty, Germany became the new host of many stolen monuments, the most common of which being traditional food bowls, as they are found in almost all tombs in Egypt.
Legally, law 117/1983 enforces a harsh prison penalty for tomb robbery and forbids the sale of Egyptian antiquities stolen after 1983.
Mohamed Hussein, the media consultant of the SCA, said the new law replaces the former antiquities law of 215/1931 that used to permit the sale of artifacts and monuments from the Cairo museum in the international market.
“Any antiquity that has been stolen before 1983 cannot be returned to Egypt, but can be proven to be Egyptian and that it has been stolen in Egypt. But after this date, the country has the right to spot and detect the stolen monument and return it, said Hussein.
Sadek Okasha, head of the department of confiscated stolen artifacts, said police forces were able to detect five big theft cases last year. “Most of the antiquities detected included gold coins, small statues and maps of different Pharaonic periods, said Okasha.
Hassan Rasmy, general manager of storage units in Egypt, said the number of cases of tomb robbery depends on the number of inspections undertaken.
Rasmy said that in 2006, the SCA carried out 850 investigative campaigns in almost all airports in Egypt. He said there have been 167 campaigns in Luxor, 99 in Cairo, 110 in Northern Sinai and 34 in Hurghada airports.
“The biggest case of antiquities theft was uncovered in Ain Sokhna airport, where we confiscated four huge 40-meter containers, as they attempted to transfer stolen monuments, said Rasmy.
