Archeologists rush to save relics in Egypt

November 12, 1995
Web posted at: 8:25 a.m. EST

From Correspondent Patricia Sabga

GIZA, Egypt (CNN) -- Throughout Egypt, archeologists are in a race against time to save ancient relics before they're plowed under. (438K QuickTime movie) Last November, it took an international effort to halt construction of a road which threatened to roll over buried treasures on the Giza Plateau.

And more recently, in the Sinai Desert, the building of the Salaam Canal (22K JPEG image) has triggered a furious round of excavations.

"It's an emergency," said Egyptology professor Faisa Heikel. "You have to excavate because if you don't excavate today, it will disappear." (80K AIFF sound or 80K WAV sound)

But the relentless push of progress is not the only thing which threatens Egypt's antiquities. Many unearthed treasures sit in storerooms, the contents of which have never been restored or recorded.

"If you keep monuments in a store for about five, ten years, maybe the monuments will be completely destroyed or deteriorated," said Zahi Hawass, director of the Giza Plateau operations.

Archeological digs entail more than simply moving dirt. Sites must be meticulously mapped an photographed, and any objects removed, fully restored (13.8K GIF image) and catalogued until they can be transferred to museum.

But enforcing those standards is a relatively new practice -- past digs have left Egypt with a crushing backlog of antiquities to inventory. The situation has led to calls to halt excavations.

"We should completely stop digging for the coming ten years and we should encourage the recording of the existing monuments in Egypt," Hawass said. (103K AIFF sound or 103K WAV sound)

But many Egyptologists believe stopping excavations is no solution.

"If we return back after ten years maybe a lot of sites will be lost," said archeologist Dominique Valbelle.

The government lacks the resources to update the storerooms and continue digging at the same time. And with the Ministry of Antiquities' stated goal of issuing fewer excavation permits, dealing with what has been found may soon take priority over protecting what still lies beneath the sand.

Archeologists rush to save relics in Egypt

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