22 - 28 March 2001
Issue No.526
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 22 - 28 March 2001 Issue No.526 |
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Cliff mission
THE CLIFFS overhanging the temple of Hatshepsut in Thebes are difficult of access and were thought seldom to have been visited, either in antiquity or in modern times. Nevertheless, a recent search by Mikolaj Budzanowsku, an alpinist from Warsaw, and an Egyptian colleague has resulted in the discovery of no fewer that 250 important historical graffiti in the form of inscriptions and drawings scribbled on the rock face. During the hazardous mission, Budzanowsku was suspended on a 50-metre rope and dangled from the top of the mountain.Among the most important graffiti, which are located immediately above Hatshepsut's temple, is a cartouche of the Pharaoh Merenre, making it the earliest rock inscription so far found in western Thebes. Others, located in the neighbouring valley, include a large graffito by a royal scribe, Butehamun, and his son.
The mission, led jointly by Andrzej Niwinski of Warsaw and Shafia Bedier of Ain Shams University, is now investigating whether a royal tomb may have been cut into the rock shelf near the place marked by Butehamun's inscription.
Leaky pipes fixed
THE PROBLEM resulting from the unfortunate breakage last month of two main drainage pipes feeding the east and west banks of Luxor, which affected the west side of Luxor temple and part of the route leading to Hatshepsut's temple, has been remedied and steps taken further to safeguard the monuments.The first step was to construct mud and stone barriers to lessen the volume of water leaking into the western side of Luxor temple, where it was affecting Graeco-Roman pillars, while fire-fighters pumped the water out of the temple and drained it directly into the Nile. As for Hatshepsut's temple, the depression made by the water was filled in with sand and rubble and levelled. Fortunately the danger fell short of the temple itself.
The cause of the problem was unexpected. Apparently the roots of the trees, now growing prolifically along the Nile Corniche, wrapped themselves around the pipes and cracked them. The result could have been drastic had it not been for timely action. As a precautionary measure, SCA secretary-general Gaballa Ali Gaballa said a two-metre high limestone fence would be built around the temple and that the existing iron fence would be erected on top of it.
Open-air museum
ONE OF the most interesting ancient Egyptian sites, Tel Basta at present day Zagazig, is finally to get the attention it deserves. Gaballa Ali Gaballa, general secretary of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), has announced that it has been chosen as the site for an open-air museum to be established especially to house monuments of the four important Delta cities: Tel Basta, centre of the cult of the cat-goddess Bastet; Qantir, which was the Hyksos capital of Avaris; Per Ramses, the Delta capital of Ramses II; and Tanis, where the golden treasures of the Libyan kings were excavated in the 1930s.Among the displays will be impressive statues of various Pharaohs, as well as documentary evidence in the form of treaties between Egypt and neighbouring countries.
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