I’ve also heard complaints that he required huge “contributions” in order to work anywhere in Egypt and it was virtually impossible to work at any well known site.
Having met him twice, aside from a troll which does not really tell us much, what did he say/do that made you have such a poor opinion of him? Would you agree that he has been one of the best directors when it came to protecting Egypt’s artifacts and was relentless in getting artifacts back that were taken over the decades? Or, would you fall into the group who believes his work was to enrich his name and bank account more so than a desire to protect his countries history?
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The complaints about contributions and getting firmans to work at any well known site are true. Very much so.
And he was definitely out for the money and fame rather than the best interest of Archeology, Egyptology or his country.
I am used to dealing with Professors and academics and they tend to be an arrogant lot but he was even moreso. He didn’t want to be here, he hated America but he enjoyed the fawning that particularly the lay (armchair) archeologists gave him. He would shun women (which was actually a pretty high number of the professionals), and gravitate to the men, particularly if he thought he could get money from them, making promises that he would never deliver (access to digs and such). He also was disdainful of any students (I was a grad student at the time and the only grad student who was president of a chapter of AIA).
His desire, IMO, to have antiquities returned to Egypt was more to get his hands on them, and I have heard rumors from reliable sources that many of those items disappeared under his watch (similar to Carter and Canavoron with Tut’s tomb). His lectures were good, but rehearsed and he had difficulty with the one question and answer session I saw. One of my professors used to refer to him “Budge” which is a huge smackdown if you are familiar with the history of Egyptology. There are also a couple of accounts of him making false accusations of black market antiquities dealings in order to get items back to Egypt.
His decision in 2000/2001 to stop all tourist activity at the pyramids was officially to slow degradation of the sites but unofficially he was planning on selling access to the highest bidders (under the table of course - one of my professors was approached by him about this). The sharp decline of tourism after 9/11 led to a change of mind, possibly because of pressure from the Egyptian government.
I have also heard he was very harsh, particularly to non-muslim and non-Egyptian archeologists. His goal, IMO, was to prevent outsiders from working there, but financially that wasn’t feasible.
I only met him here stateside, and I never worked with him, but I can’t think of any professional in the field who liked him.
I am really hoping that the next director will be better.
Thank you for the reply. I’d consider myself an armchair archaeologist but one who knows enough to realize I’m ignorant on the subject and there is much that can’t be learned reading Archaeology magazines or watching programs on various digs and new findings.
You’ve confirmed much of what I’ve heard about Hawass. I am friends with a few people in the field as well as others who’ve gone on digs in Egypt and other parts of the Holy Land. Rarely do I hear anything good when it comes to dealing with Hawass or the Egyptian Antiquities Department.
I’ve heard the name Budge but honestly can’t remember if he was the eccentric man who wore ballet costumes (tutu’s) while doing his digging or if he was the curator in England who specialized in ancient text, only to learn later on that many of his translations were worthless.
Archaeology is such a closed field, especially when it comes to biblical archaeology or anything to do with Egypt. It’s hard to judge what is simply the rantings of a disgruntled researcher, a student at the end of their rope over the roadblocks placed in front of them not allowing completion of their work or professionals who are honestly concerned about the direction Hawass was/is taking Egyptian Archaeology.
Two close friends/family of mine are archaeologists, both who had met with Hawass had very strong opinions about him. One who has sadly passed away, Brenda Lazendorf, the only underwater archaeologist in the Florida Keys and our neighbor for many years, and my cousin who specializes in Precolumbian archaeology. She has spent many months in Egypt and Israel on digs with various universities and has told me horror stories about the way Israeli’s and American’s are treated in Egypt. She absolutely loves Israel and Egypt but detests how they are treated when in country. According to her sexism is alive and well in any middle-eastern area aside from Israel and as you mentioned, many women are in the field, yet have a difficult time working with Hawass and most Muslim countries. Not to mention the general hatred that exists for Christians or Jews.
Sadly, Egypt is such a corrupt nation it seems whoever is picked to take over Antiquities will simply follow in that vein. For all of Hawass’s complaints that artifacts were stolen from Egypt, the fact is for centuries curators, archaeologists and government officials were perfectly willing to sell Egypt’s treasures for the right price. Now with the Muslim Brotherhood grabbing a foothold, I personally think the problem will be even worse. Not only is there little care or respect for any pre-Muslim countries, there is little respect for their own countries history prior to Islam taking over.
Thank you for the response. Being as I said an armchair archaeologist, I’m always interested in learning about and hearing about new finds and what is going on in Egypt and elsewhere. I’d love to speak with you more on the subject.