A curse

I hadn't intended to post again so soon, but this really struck a nerve today.

I first visited the Egyptian Museum in December 1999. I was studying my Masters in Egyptology and was in Egypt as part of an archaeological dig in Cairo. The very first day I arrived, I went straight to the museum. I was tired, jet lagged, and deeply overwhelmed, but I immediately loved this place. For years, I had been studying Egyptology, reading books and writing essays. But here, right in front of me, were the artifacts I had always read about and loved. The Narmer Palette, the Tutankhamen collection, the Hatshepsut statues.

So you get the idea that this is one of my favourite places in the world. There is a quiet magic in there.

When I tell people I studied to be an archaeologist, I am often asked the usual questions:

“Is it just like Indiana Jones?”
“Did aliens build the pyramids?”
“Is there a curse of the mummy?”

Sorry, but no. Archaeology is a lot less romantic than you think. The magic, for me, is in the art and the symbolism.

The curse of the mummy, at least, has some small basis in fact. Egyptian tombs had inscriptions on the outside of them saying things along the lines of, “May my tomb never be touched!” There's no shaman uttering curses, and there's no actual magic. The curse of Tutankhamen’s mummy was a media beat-up when the tomb was discovered (media sensationalism is not new!). 

Well (to finally get to my point), today I wish there was a curse.

I've been reading about the rioting in Egypt, and I'm not really in a position to comment on the political side of things. Frankly, I was always more interested in ancient Egypt than modern.

But then I started hearing that the Egyptian Museum had been looted, and artifacts destroyed. That got my attention! As it turns out, the looters got into the museum, smashed up a few artifacts, ripped the heads off two mummies, and were then caught.

I could cry!