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My first Thread - Please add without mindless argument
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It used to be thought that pyramids were built by slave labour. Greek historian Herodotus, writing in the fifth century, believed 100,000 men were forced to take part in the construction.
But such theories are challenged by modern Egyptologists, including Zahir Hawass, Director of the Pyramids in Cairo, who has carried out extensive excavations over many years.
He believes fewer than 25 thousand labourers were involved and that far from being slaves they were peasants who were well cared for and proud to take part in a 'national project', out of love and respect for their Pharaoh and his divine authority.
By the New Kingdom period, pyramid building had largely been abandoned and the Pharaohs were instead building stone tombs in the Valley of the Kings, in southern Egypt.
"The myth of slavery is very good for everyone... it looks good for movies. In reality slavery can build huge buildings but can never produce something like this civilisation. If you look at every inscription and every scene in a tomb it shows love... it shows the idea of a national project.
"Ancient Egypt had a system called family support... every household in the north and the south used to participate in building the pyramid instead of paying tax. The pyramid was a national project for the whole nation."- Zahir Hawass, Director of the PyramidsPosts: 12143 | From: When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable | Registered: Jun 2007
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Egyptian archaeologists have uncovered a fabulously-decorated 2,300-year-old mummy in the Saqqara burial complex.
"Maybe [it's] the most beautiful mummy ever found. It has a golden mask and the body is completely covered with cartonage - the most beautiful I have ever seen in my life," says chief archaeologist Zahi Hawass
-------------------- Without data you are just another person with an opinion - Deming Posts: 12143 | From: When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable | Registered: Jun 2007
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Here is a quote that was presented by a former posted here:
Hawass: Of course, because we are the descendants of the pharaohs. If you look at the faces of the people of Upper Egypt, the relationship between modern and ancient Egypt is very clear. Habits in the villages, our celebrations when we finish a project, are similar to what they had in ancient Egypt. After someone dies, we make a celebration after 40 days, just like the ancient Egyptians did during the mummification process. Everything in our lives is like ancient Egypt.
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By MICHAEL SLACKMAN Published: April 17, 2009 CAIRO
Dr. Hawass was born in the village of Al Ubaydiyah, near the city of Damietta northeast of Cairo in the Nile Delta region. He joined the nation’s antiquities service as an inspector in 1969, about two years after receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in Greek and Roman archaeology from Alexandria University. In 1987, he received his Ph.D. after studying as a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania. On Jan. 1, 2002, he was named general secretary of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, and he has never looked back.
HE is the very definition of multitasking. “Quick, take off your hat,” Dr. Hawass said. He was waving what looked like a replica of the Indiana Jones-style hat that he always wears.
When the ruins do not reveal a detail, Dr. Hawass often tries to fill in the blanks, spinning stories based on his vast knowledge of Egyptian history — and his showman’s desire to attract the biggest crowd.
There are scientists who say he is too concerned with self-promotion and is often loose with facts.
Less than two weeks later there was another discovery, dozens of brightly painted mummies found in a necropolis in Fayoum, the oasis town about two hours south of Cairo
-------------------- Without data you are just another person with an opinion - Deming Posts: 12143 | From: When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable | Registered: Jun 2007
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quote:Originally posted by ausar: Here is a quote that was presented by a former posted here:
Hawass: Of course, because we are the descendants of the pharaohs.
If you look at the faces of the people of Upper Egypt, the relationship between modern and ancient Egypt is very clear. Habits in the villages, our celebrations when we finish a project, are similar to what they had in ancient Egypt.
After someone dies, we make a celebration after 40 days, just like the ancient Egyptians did during the mummification process. Everything in our lives is like ancient Egypt.
Really??! How?? By some ancient Egyptian resurrection magic, or by the power of the head of the SCA??
Posts: 26286 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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Hawass confuses me... he seems to flip flop a lot...
On the race of the Egyptians: "Tutankhamun was not black, and the portrayal of ancient Egyptian civilisation as black has no element of truth to it" "Egyptians are not Arabs and are not Africans despite the fact that Egypt is in Africa,"
So he knows for sure they were not black or Arabs...but on video he's not sure what they are... what gives? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUaWazRHTLg "If we talk about race in Ancient Egypt and we try to look at the Ancient Egyptian and find out the origin of these people - it's so difficult"
Zahi Hawass - "If you are a scientist you cannot announce a discovery unless you are sure hundred percent" I guess he's admitting he's not a scientist then and we shouldn't take his word on anything that has to do with anthropology anyway.
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On the 90 mummies Germany wanted to donate: "Secretary General of the SCA Zahi Hawwas said that these mummies are not royal and of no importance."
"The royal mummies will not give us important evidence about the people because the majority of the Egyptians were common people. The royal family and officials maybe represent only 20% of population. And in my opinion the non-royal mummies could be very important project for us"
-------------------- Without data you are just another person with an opinion - Deming Posts: 12143 | From: When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable | Registered: Jun 2007
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"I am already famous and powerful. What I do I do for Egypt. It is the first time that Egypt has been correctly explained to the public... No one in the history of archaeology has helped Egypt more than I."
"I don't want to talk about myself. I am an archaeologist who works with dust. Other archeologists sit behind their desks and do nothing. This hat does not change me. I studied in America and that's why I understand Americans. I use Americans to help Egypt, not vise-versa."
He also points out that the Tutankhamun exhibition visited Basel in Switzerland and Bonn in Germany, where it earned $6 million, before embarking on its two year tour of four American states, from each of which it will earn $9 million.
“Egypt made $1 million from every state in which the exhibition was held."
“That is why for the first time ever an archaeologist has become a star."
"This is the jealousy," Hawass says angrily, "of the followers of the evil god Seth."
"I am damn good. I am doing all this for Egypt and nothing else. . . . . . "
“No amateurs allowed," he suddenly shouts. "This is Egypt's archaeological law."
"I used National Geographic to help carry out the project," Hawass responds. "They don't, after all, need the SCA to screen a movie about Tutankhamun. Like any other channel they can make four films a week about Egypt if they want, and for the very low fee of LE100 a day. But National Geographic provided the CT scanner -- which costs $1 million -- in collaboration with Siemens. They offered another $500,000 to maintain the device though it was decided that $50,000 would be sufficient."
“I will never give my successors the chance to ruin what I have done," he says. "I have given all my energy and strength to archaeology, which is my love."
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I'm not sure he was quoted correctly but he was reported to have said, "we know everything about the Giza Plateau" the other day. He also said there are no caves under Giza but I'm sure he either mispoke or was quoted wrong; he had just climbed out of the Osiris shaft (at Giza) where he was exploring a cave.
-------------------- Men fear the pyramid, time fears man. Posts: 393 | From: NW Indiana, US of A | Registered: Aug 2006
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quote:Originally posted by sam p: I'm not sure he was quoted correctly but he was reported to have said, "we know everything about the Giza Plateau" the other day. He also said there are no caves under Giza but I'm sure he either mispoke or was quoted wrong; he had just climbed out of the Osiris shaft (at Giza) where he was exploring a cave.
Indeed, Hawass is always hiding something...
"There are no new discoveries to be made at Giza. We know everything about the plateau," --Zahi Hawass
= = = = = According to a 1970 United Nations agreement, artefacts are the property of their country of origin and pieces smuggled out must be returned.
-------------------- Without data you are just another person with an opinion - Deming Posts: 12143 | From: When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable | Registered: Jun 2007
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