Hawass in Hawaii

Star Bulletin (Katherine Nichols)

For those interested in Hawass, past and present, this is an enthusiastic overview of his career and activities, written to coincide with Hawass's visit to the University of Hawaii. The story is accompanied by photographs.

How does an archeologist achieve rock-star popularity? With plenty of passion, charisma and intelligence, a slightly wicked sense of humor, minimal patience for inefficiency and a savvy relationship with the media. Famed Egyptologist Zahi Hawass brought all of these characteristics to Honolulu last week to talk about his DNA lab for mummies, a remote-controlled robot that will explore the secrets of the pyramids, as well as his most recent discoveries.

Professors and business people welcomed Hawass, secretary general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, at Longhi's Monday night with performances by hula
dancers, Raiatea Helm and an exotic belly dancer. He arrived in jeans and an aloha shirt; between bites of salad, he managed to autograph his books and pose for photos at the fundraiser for the Cairo Children's Museum.

Part of Hawass' appeal is that he is as comfortable in a coat and tie as he is in denim
and his trademark fedora, scaling tunnels hundreds of feet into the Earth -- sometimes in the company of bats or raw sewage.

See the above page for the full story (the photo on this page actually shows Hawass in Grenoble a few years ago).