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PART ONE of a Two-Part Portrait of Zahi Hawass, Secretary-General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities
The discovery last week of a tomb associated with the household of the mysterious Pharoah Akhenaten as well as the recent "very unique" discovery by Japanese archaeologists of four wooden sarcophagi from the New and Middle Kingdoms is just the latest evidence that archaeology is once again in full swing in Egypt.
New finds are being generated more prolifically than at any time since 1997 when more than 60 people, mostly Japanese and Swiss tourists, along with Egyptian police and guides, were killed by an attack on the archaelogical hotbed of Luxor, perpretrated by extremists from the outlawed Islamist Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiya, a terror group with links to Ayman al Zawahiri and Al Qaeda. That attack not only made ensuring the safety of tourists in the country more problematic, but it made archaeology much more challenging and risky as well.
So, both the volume and importance of new finds coming from Egypt are remarkable, particularly considering the continuing extreme unrest elsewhere in the Middle East. Thanks for this are due, according to many, to the stewardship of the man sometimes referred to as the Egyptian Indiana Jones, the head of the Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, the singular Dr. Zahi Hawass
Named one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People for 2006, he is the person who -- to quote the venerable magazine -- "determines who will excavate in Egypt, and when and where."
An Emmy winner and a self-promoter extraordinaire, Hawass is a veritable headline machine, most often to be found as the grinning co-host in Fox television specials and Discovery Channel documentaries when tombs are being opened for the first time. The Pennsylvania Gazette, the alumni magazine of his alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, calls him "archaeology's answer to Carl Sagan...a celebrity...equal parts statesman, salesman, scientist, teacher, magician, and showman." Dr Farouk El-Baz, the Egyptian director of the Remote Sensing Centre at Boston University, calls him -- not without respect -- "something of a media whore". It's true that a Google search on his name will bring up more than 290,000 hits, and it's also a fact that he even has his own fan club.
Glory hound or not, Hawass is credited by many for restoring the lustre to Egyptology, especially over the last three years, which have seen not only major discoveries but also the repatriation of Egyptian antiquities formerly housed in museums around the world -- another of Hawass' pet causes.
So who is this charismatic and controversial figure?
His official website is full of praise for his recent accomplishments, but is maddeningly curt about his early years: "Dr. Hawass received a Fulbright Fellowship and studied in the United States. He received his Ph.D. in Egyptology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1987. He has written numerous scholarly articles, and is highly respected as an Egyptologist."
His list of official responsibilities details what at first would appear to be a relatively unspectacular rise, accompanied by only average academic pursuits. By 1979 he had spent 10 years as an Inspector of Antiquities, only being promoted to the position of First Inspector in his tenth year. By that time, when we was 33, he had managed to accumulate a Bachelor of Arts in Greek and Roman Archaeology and a Diploma in Egyptology.
There are more detailed biographies of the man out there, though. And, especially in his earlier days, they paint a portrait of a less illustrious figure. And maybe, just maybe, they reveal a somewhat more shadowy and conflicted image than the grinning Indiana Jones figure happily cracking open tombs for the television cameras.
STAY TUNED FOR PART TWO of this portrait of the colourful and controversial Dr Zahi Hawass, in which we will encounter prophecies, Atlantis, conspiracies, psychic phenomena and robots. COMING NEXT WEEK!
