Here is a hypothetical question:

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Originally posted by ausar:
The goverment of Egypt wants to build a wall around the pyramids. Right know a rice factory is slow detereating the stone from the pyramids.

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Oh dear heavens, a rice factory? Why did the Egyptian government ever allow a factory that close, it's ridiculous.

I heard the Cairo is so over populated that the Egyptian govenment has built a city in the western desert. As for that walt disney theme Rasol, I don't know if you knew it already, but they did build a park a few miles from the Giza pyramids, based off the Universal Theme park in Florida. I mean that's fine, but to build a park "right on" an ancient site is a horrible idea! In my opinion, it will take away from the entire ancient feel of it.

But Supercar, I think the pyramids could last as long as the mountains, unless by some unfortunate chance that area became a war zone, which I pray will never occur.
http://www.dreamparkegypt.com/dreampark.asp

Now, I think this could be an outline for what may happen to the pyramids...except slightly altered. I think that many people will start to neglect the structures, i.e. more vandalism, more factories in that vicinity, etc. There will be a few people, like Hawass and other historians who will fight to keep the area clean. After a short while, this attempt will prove futile as that generation of historians have no more power and a new one comes along who don't seem to really care about anything, thinking that we already know everything about them and that they are just a waste of space.

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Originally posted by Keiko:
I think that the future of all ancient structures are doomed! I have a reason, though it may seem silly ...There's this high school in my city that's about 100 years old and for the past 5 years, many people were trying to tear it down to build something else there (I can't remember what) but a few people wanted to keep it there. So they spent a lot of money to keep it, and now they decided to destroy it.

Now, I think this could be an outline for what may happen to the pyramids...except slightly altered. I think that many people will start to neglect the structures, i.e. more vandalism, more factories in that vicinity, etc. There will be a few people, like Hawass and other historians who will fight to keep the area clean. After a short while, this attempt will prove futile as that generation of historians have no more power and a new one comes along who don't seem to really care about anything, thinking that we already know everything about them and that they are just a waste of space.

I find this very likely because todays society seems to be going down the drain very quickly!

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That sounds really bleak. But for the Egyptians, they had better hope it doesn't come to that. These Pyramids and other AE monuments are not just a valuable asset to their country, but also a source of foreign exchange. Tourism in Egypt is widely centered on seeing these Ancient sites, and laying eyes on these magnificant monuments. So, if they neglect them due to pressure of population growth or lack of maintenance, they are going to also hamper the tourism industry.

You have to also remeber that regualr Egyptians who are barely making ends meet right know are dependent upon tourist dollars. The monuments are the only thing Egypt has to keep their country afloat besides aid from America.

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Originally posted by ausar:
Unfortunatley,the monuments in Upper Egypt are starting to decompose due to neglect. Since the Aswan Dam has been built the whole flood table of the Nile has begun to rise. Unesco has a website documenting threatened sites,and apparently the Valley of the Kings and the beautiful temples at Karnak and Luxor are on that list. Some measures must be taken to preserve the monuments.

You have to also remeber that regualr Egyptians who are barely making ends meet right know are dependent upon tourist dollars. The monuments are the only thing Egypt has to keep their country afloat besides aid from America.

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I know that Egyptians need the money for their income. That should one of the reasons to safeguard these monuments. But I hope that a portion of the returns from tourism is kept aside for use in the maintenance of the pyramids, the Great Sphinx, and so on.

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Originally posted by supercar:
If what Ausur stated is to be held as truth, then the AE monuments will definitely have an unsure future. Political leaders of the country usually value less the very things the common people hold so dear. As such, it wouldn't be surprising if the Egyptian government didn't see anything insane about building a wall around the pyramids. It is these same politicians who disregard monuments in an event of a war (God forbid), which could literally end up in the entire destruction of people's long built heritage in one day! Look at what happened to Iraq's historical artifacts in one day, a total destruction from which they are still trying to recover from. The same thing with the historical Buddha statues which were once in Afghanistan...they are no more. People should press for a huge international penalty for defacing historical monuments, whether during peace time or war!
The AE monuments could continue to stand, if they are backed up by the entire weight of the common Egyptian people of all generations.

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Originally posted by Keino:
War is a great and real threat to these historical treasures indeed! My heart cried for the lost artifacts in Iraq and Afghanistan. And in this day and age Egypts Arab government puts them as a target for America. Hope this day never comes to pass, but with the current state of the world government an politics that day could be any time.

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Originally posted by supercar:
It is interesting how human nature makes the predictions for the futur look bleak in various aspects. Let us just hope, no such thing happens to these African icons.

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Originally posted by Keiko:
I really don't think that most of today's society realizes just how important these monuments are in so many ways. like you all have said, they effect more than just the Egyptians. Hopefully more people will come to there senses and actually care for these structures.

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Originally posted by asterisk:

Originally posted by Keiko:
I really don't think that most of today's society realizes just how important these monuments are in so many ways. like you all have said, they effect more than just the Egyptians. Hopefully more people will come to there senses and actually care for these structures.

Keiko, let us trust firmly,but your understanding of the trend of loss is quite right;the more it is examined, the more serious is revealed the end of this trend, & indeed as for the pyramids, there is MUCH more to lose than the stones, the economy and the culture .one can sleep at the wheel but a little while before the sound of snoring becomes concerning...

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Yet another way of putting it...interesting! I guess one can see another side of why the Egyptians are concerned about the over-population that Homeylu pointed out. In the process of making way for the accomodation for the population growth, the government is left with desperate attempts to sacrifice some of the ancient lands around the monuments, building factories close to the area, like the rice factory Ausar pointed out earlier, only then to build yet other structures like the wall (Ausar pointed out) around the the monuments to protect them from deterioration due to exposure to elements and wastes from those nearby factories. This gradual change in the ancient lanscape is of concern to those, who have become familiar with its present state. This in turn, is putting at risk the tourism industry talked about earlier, because the last thing one needs, is to put off potential tourists. Although not at a crisis level yet, another side effect of over population is the bad publicity that Egypt gets from violence against African immigrants stationed in the country, which doesn't also help in diluting concerns in the tourism connected with the Ancient monuments. Tourism, as pointed out earlier, is an important source of foriegn income. As we can see, all these situations are interconnected in varying degrees. However, is there anything assuring at the moment, aside from tourism, that doesn't make the future of these monuments bleak?

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Originally posted by asterisk:
Rasol,I like that the literal root of 'depend' is 'hang from'.If person or nation finds themselves hanging from tourism,gambling misery or whatever, it seems the wise (excuse the expression) course would be, while not cutting the rope, at least thinking(excuse the expression) about how to change such a doomed arrangement

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Originally posted by ausar:
The goverment of Egypt wants to build a wall around the pyramids. Right know a rice factory is slow detereating the stone from the pyramids.

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Since some month the workers there are getting no sallery and the situation around the plateau is very bad. I hope one day it will get better. I can show some pictures if u want to see the wall. Some people belive its good to have the wall, but in my eyes its not there to protect the pyramids.

Best wishes
Akhnaton

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Originally posted by AkhnAton*:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by ausar:
[b] The goverment of Egypt wants to build a wall around the pyramids. Right know a rice factory is slow detereating the stone from the pyramids.

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Since some month the workers there are getting no sallery and the situation around the plateau is very bad. I hope one day it will get better. I can show some pictures if u want to see the wall. Some people belive its good to have the wall, but in my eyes its not there to protect the pyramids.

Best wishes
Akhnaton

[/B][/QUOTE]

Please do show us the picture. It should be interesting to see!