KV63 and academic politics

commercialappeal.com

A University of Memphis team stumbled into international renown two years ago when it unearthed a 3,300-year-old chamber in Egypt's Valley of the Kings.

But when the team leader, Dr. Otto Schaden, returns there in a few weeks to continue research, he will no longer be affiliated with the university.

The U of M did not renew its contract with Schaden last June due to a contentious relationship between him and university staff. On-site altercations and apparent tussles for control were covered in the January issue of Harper's magazine -- tales of yelling, crying, fuming and abruptly getting up from the lunch table to sit elsewhere.

"We would get back (from the dig) and sometimes we wouldn't even order lunch. We'd go to our room and fume," Schaden said.

Egyptian officials require archaeologists on projects there to be represented by an institution. But Schaden is covered. In a rare move, Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities is now representing Schaden's project.

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