If it hadn’t been for tomb raiders the Elgin Marbles would have been burned for lime to make mortar, and Lord Elgin bought them legally from the government.
Fuck Hawass, previously the muslim overlords of the middle east have destroyed artifacts and mined buildings for building material. Again, if it was not for tomb raiders, much would have been lost. Permits for digs were legally paid for and the artifacts removed and conserved. Don’t bitch over what previous governments did.
Actually I hadn’t heard the news … nor am I surprised that he got dragged into court by someone.
No, this pitting was a result of watching yet another mockumentary on Egypt’s history that featured a rant by Hawass on how the precious treasures of Egypt have all been looted by everybody else in the world.
I’m sure you’re right that tomb raiding led some things to be preserved when they would have been destroyed or wound up in private collections, but that doesn’t make him wrong.
Wow, I thought that maybe someone had done a false translation on that, but it turns out that it is true based upon his trying to “explain what he really meant” on his website.
For those who did not see it he talks about how Jews control the entire world.
When one legally gets an item it is not stealing or looting. The items removed from Egypt under excavation permits were legally acquired. He is now calling them variously looted and stolen depending on which rant you are listening to. Yes, it does make him wrong.
[and it was the natives digging up the mummies and selling them off as mummia [ground up mummies used in medication] using the wrappings in making paper products, and using mummies variously as fertilizer and fuel for steam trains. It was the natives selling permits to dig. ]
Simply because they now want everything back does not make it illegal retroactively. Look at it this way. Your granddad went to a gallery 90 years ago and bought a painting for $2, now the store is trying to get you to give it back to them claiming your granddad stole the painting. That is essentially what Egypt and Greece are trying to do with the contents of universities, private collectors who bought deacquisitioned goodies and other museums.
I think Hawass keeps forgetting that these ancient relics are for *all *of humanity to ponder and study, not for a few Egypt-centric elite archaeologists.
And his anti-Jewish rants are lame, especially coming from someone that should have a very keen and broad historical perspective.
