The camel and horse touts in Giza are very upset with our new project to save the Pyramids. They do not understand what we are trying to do. Regrettably, many of them do things that harm tourists; I receive many letters from tourists claiming that they will never return to Egypt because of the way they were treated or harassed for money. I do not think that I need to elaborate much more, since one look at the pyramid site shows what kind of pollution the camels and horses cause. You see them everywhere, even inside the tombs and temples. We do not plan to hurt the animals. I honestly believe that this is what the camel and horse drivers t...

On Saturday, April 11, I attended the opening night of a week of performances by the Turkish dance troupe “Fire of Anatolia.” The show was a retelling of the story of the Trojan war through various types of dance, including ballet and traditional Turkish folk dance. I gave permission for this performance to be held at the Sound and Light theater at the Giza Pyramids under the auspices of Cairo’s Opera House. There were many VIP’s in attendance at opening night. Even Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak, Egypt’s First Lady, was there. Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni and Mr. Abdel Moneim Kamel, the director of the Cairo Opera House, were present as well. ...

I read an interesting article recently in the online edition of The Nation. Written by Britt Peterson, it is called “Tales from the Vitrine,” and addresses the ongoing public debate over the role of museums in the illicit antiquities trade. In the article, Peterson brings up the book Who Owns Antiquity, by Art Institute of Chicago director James Cuno - reading the article, I was happy to note that Peterson exposes many of the deep flaws in Cuno’s argument. I would like to add my own remarks here. The premise of Who Owns Antiquity is that ancient artifacts are best kept in the encyclopedic museums of the West, even if they were stolen from...

Many years ago, I was working as an Inspector of Antiquities in Luxor. One night, by the light of the full moon, I went with Sheikh Nagdy, the head of the guards for the Valley of the Kings, to climb El-Qurn, the pyramid-shaped mountain that rises above the valley. I went to sleep at the top of the mountain. At sunrise, I opened my eyes and looked at all of the tombs in the valley from the top of the mountain, thinking about all of the great discoveries that had been made there, and the many adventurers and archaeologists who had both good times and difficult ones. When I came down to the valley, I found Sheikh Nagdy waiting, laughing and...

What happened in Damaitta can be a lesson that all of us (governors, government officials – all Egyptians) can learn from. As we all know, a Canadian company – Agrium - was pursuing construction of a fertilizer factory on the island of Ras El Bar and because of the recent controversy parliament appointed a committee to study the case and they decided to move this factory away from Ras El Bar. First I would like to say that I am from Damaitta and I have always been proud of my origin. When the National Geographic made a film about my life story and work, I took them to Ras El Bar, the seashore where I spent my childhood. I took them to a u...

The Quest for Hatshepsut - Discovering the Mummy of Egypt's Greatest Female Pharaoh When the Discovery Channel contacted me to ask if I would appear in a documentary on Queen Hatshepsut, I did not believe that it would actually lead to one of the most important Egyptological discoveries in living memory. However, through a stroke of inspiration during the production of the film, I was able with the help of my all-Egyptian team to identify the mummy of the great queen, shedding new light on one of the most remarkable women in history. The Mysterious Queen Hatshepsut ruled Egypt during the Golden Age of the New Kingdom. She was not the fir...

When people ask me which of my discoveries has meant the most to me personally, I often think first of the Valley of the Golden Mummies at Bahariya Oasis. Introducing this amazing site to the world propelled me into an international spotlight. I feel privileged to have been a part of this story, which is so much a part of my own personal history as well as the history of Egyptian archaeology. The Discovery March 2, 1996, is a day that I will never forget. I was working at Giza at the time, supervising the excavation of the Cemetery of the Pyramid Builders. That afternoon, as I sat cleaning the skeleton of a man who had helped to construct...

The Great Pyramid of Khufu has fascinated people for millennia. It is the only one of the seven wonders of the ancient world still standing today, and its monumental size and the precision of its design astound thousands of visitors each day. I feel very privileged to have had the opportunity over the course of my career to come to know the pyramid in great depth, and to have discovered one of its greatest secrets - the hidden doors inside the shafts that lead from the so-called “Queen’s Chamber.” The story of the discovery of the hidden doors began in 1992, when I made the decision to close the Great Pyramid to visitors in order to begin...

Many people have claimed that the pyramids were built by slaves, or even by aliens. In the past, it was difficult to convince the public that it was actually ordinary Egyptians who constructed these great monuments. With the discovery of the Cemetery of the Pyramid Builders, however, I was finally able to reveal the truth to people around the world. Searching for the Pyramid Builders In my 1987 doctoral dissertation for the University of Pennsylvania, I predicted that we should look for the tombs of the workmen who built the pyramids in the area to the south of an ancient stone wall known as the Wall of the Crow (Heit El-Ghurob). This wal...