Tracked Ancient Egyptian antiquities after illicit digs and smuggled abroad

Ministry of Antiquities managed to track 5 ancient Egyptian relics were smuggled from Egypt.
The antiquities were a result of illicit digs in south Sakkara at the site of Tabit Al Geish (Tabit Al Geyoush) in 2002.

The minister said "Studying the objects we found that they are parts of the left corner and the entrance of the tomb of "Haw Nefer" who was a priest of the time of Pepi I of 6th Dynasty (Old Kingdom). The tomb was discovered by the French mission of IFAO on Sakkara in 2001."

The minister referred to the cooperation with IFAO to confirm that the antiquities were a result of illicit dig after the first season of excavation for the mission them were smuggled abroad.

 The ministry found 3 of the 5 objects were bought by the museum of fine arts in the Hungarian capital, Budapest from an auction house which the auction house claimed they received in 1974.
The auction house claim is contracting the fact that there were no digs or excavation work in the site before year 2000 till the French mission started an organised excavation in 2001.

The other two objects were found at an auction house in France.

Ali Ahmed, director of Repatriated Antiquities department, said "The 5 objects are a part of Priest “Hau-Nefer” tomb entrance. The ministry took the legal procedures to return the Egyptian antiquities."

An attempt to smuggle antiquities inside a copy of Tut Ankh Amon's mask

Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim, Minister of Antiquities said that the Ministry of Antiquities in cooperation with the customs at Express Mail Service in Attaba (Cairo) aborted am attempt to smuggle ancient Egyptian antiquities.

The mail service personnel noticed the heavy weight of a package were to be sent to Switzerland.

The package was supposed to contain a copy of King Tutankhamun's famous mask but the weight made them suspicious so after X-ray the package they decided to form a committee to check what's inside the mask.
It turned out to be a statue measures 30cm height and 14cm width beside 7 beads amulets which were all proven authenticity.
The objected are confiscated and more checks to be done to determine which era they belong to.

Egypt will repatriate Late Period antiquities from French owner

"A French person who has possession of a Late Period antiquity expressed his will to give it back to Egypt even though has has ownership documents." Minister of Antiquities said today.

Ali Ahmed, director of repatriated Antiquities department, said "This object is 19cm height part of a coffin and cartonnage. It has three lines hieroglyphic inscriptions shows the titles of the deceased."

Mr. Ali also said that the Ministry of Antiquities are working in cooperation with Ministry of Foreign Affairs to take the legal procedures to bring antiquities back to Egypt in the near future including the samples were taken from Khufu's Cartouche from Germany.

1524 objects were seized in a house in Giza

1524 objects were seized in a house in Abo El nomros, Giza.

According to the Minister of Antiquities, the objects were proven authenticity by the committee he formed headed by Mohamed Shiha, the director of Giza antiquities.  

The captured objects include limestone fake doors, statues heads of ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses of different sizes (some are limestone and the others are different metals ores) and faience ushabtis.

The minister said that the diversity of the captured antiquities refers that they are result of illicit digs by armed groups which explains the 50 caliber M2 machine gun bullets were found with the house owner.

863 genuine artefacts were seized on Cairo-Suez road

According to Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim, Minister State of Antiquities, after forming a committee headed by Dr. Yousif Khalifa, Director of the Central Stolen Antiquities Administration, to examine the seized  number of artifacts seized by the Police in a private car after an attempt of escape by the driver when he was stopped at a check point on Cairo-Suez road. The examination resulted in 863 genuine objects.

Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim, said that the recovered pieces dated back to different eras including Old Kingdom, New Kingdom, Graeco-Roman and Islamic. The Minister believes that they are probably were obtained during illegal digs in various parts of the country. He also referred that there were a number of fake objects which the committee found unauthenticated.

Dr. Yousef Khalifa, said that of the most important objects are; a limestone basin dated to the Old Kingdom of 38.5 cm length, 24cm width and 11cm height with inscriptions in hieroglyphics contains the name of the Priest of King Senefru, a limestone tablet of the Old Kingdom as well with a depiction of the head and chest of Goddess Hathor holding a mace beside a black granite statue of Hathor dated to the New Kingdom of a 45cm height.

 The recovered objects contain 10 scarabs, 180 amulets, 120 Ptolemaic coins, 407 Roman coins of bronze, 3 Osirion wooden statues, limestone statue of 24cm height dated back to the First Intermediate Period, 22cm sand stone statue of a man wearing a long kilt dated to the First Intermediate Period and missing few parts by the head and right arm and shoulder which appears that it was recently restored, in addition to a false door on limestone dated to the Old Kingdom which has a depiction of the deceased sitting in front of offerings and inscriptions listing offerings for the deceased are carved along the side panels.

The sites in Siwa are safe according to the Minister of Antiquities

Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim, Minister State of Antiquities, said that the antiquities sites in Siwa oasis are completely safe and away from the fire which broke out in Taaouny and Mashandat areas of Siwa and devoured 60 acres of arable land.

The fire broke out on Tuesday in an olive grove, 15 kilometers west of the Siwa Oasis.

The Minister explained that the nearest site is in Maraki area which is half a kilometer away from the fire and he was following the situation minutes by minute with the head of Egyptian Antiquities department and the directors of the sites in Siwa since the fire broke out and till it was extinguished this morning.

 Oracle Temple,Siwa Oasis

Dr. Abdel Hamed Marouf, Head of the Egyptian antiquities department said “There is an advanced plan to secure the archaeological sites against fires and robbery and it is developed according to the changes on the ground.”

Siwa Oasis is located in the Western Desert, 300 kilometers off the coast of the Mediterranean to the south-west of Marsa Matrouh.

Failed attempt to smuggle 19 antiquities objects at Luxor Airport

Ministry state of Antiquities (Seized Antiquities department office at Luxor Airport) foiled an attempt to smuggle 19 objects of different sizes and dated back to different historical eras.

The captured pieces vary between ushabtis, faience,ushabtisi , ostraca, manuscripts including an English version of a Bible dated back to 16^th century and various coins.

 

Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim (Minister State of Antiquities) said that the objects were in acquisition of a British couple (Michael R. and Angela N.) who was trying to leave the country and that the objects will be transferred to the Egyptian Museum storerooms in the next few days under the supervision of a specialized committee.

The objects include a pottery pot on 9cm with a human face depicted, 5 pottery and green faience ushabti with hieroglyphic inscriptions and depiction of Isis which are dated to late pharaonic times. The objects are protects and fall under the antiquities law No. 117 for 1983 and the Bible is subject of culture property which is protected by law 114/1983.

Mr. Hassan Rasmi (Head of the central administration of ports) said that during the Committee examination of the seized artifacts, the wife did throw and broke 3 lanterns trying to destroy the objects and the police force managed to control her.

Sharm El Sheikh Museum work progress, Phase one is completed

Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim (Minister State of Antiquities) visited the site of undergoing establishing Sharm El Sheikh Museum to check the workflow.

Sharm El Sheikh Museum which is designed to occupy 52 acres on which buildings will be only on 14% of the total area and the rest will be green areas and open display area. The museum is planned to host 7000 objects covering the history of Egypt from Pharaonic ages to modern ages (Mohamed Ali family).

The Museum will also include a theatre and 7 cinema displays plus a conference hall and library.

Adel Abd El Satar (Head of the Museums department) said “The First phase which is completed included the museum building and the administrative buildings and 9 bazaars to show the production of the Sinai handcrafted products.”

General Mohamed Sheikha (Projects department director) said that the work is going on the second phase at the moment which includes the interior finishing and the general layout of the museum and the open display area.