Well, unless something else replaces it and communication from Egypt becomes more consistent and fluid, Hawass's blog will be missed. His self-promotion did serve to get some information about antiquities news to the wider world.
I am sorry that I have not updated my website for the past several weeks. I have had to spend a great deal of my time dealing with false accusations that have been made against me. I am now waiting for the Office of the Attorney General to finish their investigation; after this I will be free to publish the details of these ridiculous allegations.
I am glad to say that I have also found time to work on a book about the Egyptian Revolution, and its effect on our antiquities. I am also getting ready to start the second part of my archaeological autobiography, Secrets from the Sand Part II.
My life as a private person is very different from my life as an antiquities official, and apart from having to deal with false accusations, I am enjoying my freedom from the great responsibility I have been carrying for the past nine years.
5 comments:
As you probably know, the facebook page of the Ministry of Antiquities (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ministry-of-Antiquities-%D9%88%D8%B2%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AF%D9%88%D9%84%D8%A9-%D9%84%D8%B4%D8%A6%D9%88%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A2%D8%AB%D8%A7%D8%B1/172009302844728) has a pretty constant stream of useful information - though only in Arabic.
-Chuck Jones-
[I wonder if that url will work? If not it's easy enough to find on facebook
Dr Hawass may now use his blog to promote his books and lectures instead of what we are used to.
What i have seen myself is that the Egyptophile community is growing at a good rate and whilst recent reports have been through alternative means, many discussions have begun over old work on the JAMa paper, DNA and other fields. The hawass updates have been replaced by websites, blogs and forums which is healthy.
I have seen less and less of the anti-Hawass debates as this is no longer an issue to the future of Egyptology. This has opened up time to dicsuss more important areas other than reasons to dislike ZH.
Stuart
Charles, thanks very much for that link. Yes, it works beautifully. Sadly I don't read Arabic, and that's what I meant by my rather vague reference to the "wider world". Perhaps they will be able to find a translator who will post duplicates in a European language.
Stuart, thanks for that point. You are so right. Hawass did many good things for Egyptology but in the eyes of a lot of people in the West his self promotion was a barrier to his having a positive impact. Hopefully a few new faces will be able to build on the good things he achieved and introduce some new initiatives - improving, one would love to think, a better way of communicating the main news in at least one European language.
The sins long outlive the good that might have been done. thankfully he is gone.
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