Written by Sean Williams
The British Museum’s Egyptian Sculpture Gallery was packed last night, as hundreds of dignitaries flocked to see The World’s Most Famous Archaeologist (copyright all bloggers) Dr. Zahi Hawass, speaking ahead of the release of his latest book A Secret Voyage. Cameras in hand, Heritage Key was there to witness Dr Hawass’ appearance, heralded more like the second coming than a book signing.
Stood in front of the museum’s colossal head of Ramesses the Great, Dr. Zahi Hawass boomed out at his fans like an emissary from the pharaoh himself. But as he spoke, you could sense he was looking longingly above all our heads at the Rosetta Stone — the repatriation of which he continues to crusade.
Yet as Dr. Hawass steps up his quest for the Stone, he tried to placate things with BM director Neil MacGregor in his introduction: “When I first came here, everyone thought I came to take back the Rosetta Stone! But I’m not here to talk about the Rosetta Stone…” followed by a couple of minutes talking about the Rosetta Stone.
Dr Hawass speaking in the Egyptian Sculpture Gallery.
Image by Ann Wuyts
The granodiorite slab, famous for unlocking the secrets of the Egyptian language, promised to be the evening’s unsettling white elephant. But once Dr Hawass had launched into his famous acerbic rhetoric half an hour later (after an amusingly Hollywood-esque introductory video) the issue of repatriation had been left behind tales of the SCA’s latest discoveries.
Secret tunnels, lost queens, mixed-up mummies and ancient dams were just a few of Dr Hawass’ topics, pock-marked with his dry humour. “I had no idea archaeology would be my life. In fact, I hated archaeology.”; “At the tomb of Tutankhamun, when Lord Carnarvon asked Howard Carter, ‘What do you see?’ he said, ‘Wonderful things’. In my excavation, when my assistant asked me, ‘What do you see?’ I smelt the sewage, I said, ‘S**t.’”
We were then treated to around five minutes listing the celebrities Dr Hawass has met recently, including of course President Barak Obama.
Yet I couldn’t help but think that seeing Dr Hawass in a suit addressing a room full of dignitaries isn’t the right place to be seeing him in action. Take a look at some videos of Dr Hawass on Youtube.com in full swing, attired in denim shirt, hat and chinos. After all, he is called the ‘real Indiana Jones’.
What Dr Hawass’d give to get his hands on this. Image by Ann Wuyts
– Sean Williams is an English Literature graduate, who currently works as a writer and journalist in London. He enjoys ancient history, theatre and sport. Check out his blog here
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Zahi Hawass does not need to state Egypt’s claim for the Rosetta Stone in the British Museum. He has stated it often. What remains now is for MacGregor and co. to return the stone. What I found symbolic is the presence of Hawass and others before the stone statute of Ramesses II. In view of this huge statute and the other 100,000 Egyptian objects in the British Museum, are the British not ashamed to have to argue with the Egyptians about the return of one object which is significant for the understanding of Egyptian hieroglyphics? No one has claimed that the Rosetta Stone is crucial to understanding any language spoken or written in the British Isles. So for which culture is this artefact more important? If it is for Egyptian culture, then surely it should be in Cairo and not London.