There is evidence that the looting is spreading from Abusir to Dashur. On 27th March Dr Hawass said:
In Dahshur, antiquities inspectors were able to recover two large blocks with colored scenes from the funerary temple of Amenemhat I. They are also struggling to prevent people from moving onto archaeological land and digging illegally at night
Nicole Kehrer of the German Achaeological Institute in Berlin has said that their base in Dashur was looted, (this is the report in the comment below) but it is unclear whether the suspected losses were just the teams’ equipment or whether antiquities might have been looted too.
On 13th February, Dr Hawass reported that “In another terrible turn of events, last night a magazine in Dahshur was broken into; it is called De Morgan’s. This magazine contains large blocks and small artifacts.” It is presently unclear whether this is a separate break in to that reported by Nicole Kehrer. On 14th February, Ahram Online stated that the theft amounted to 8 amulets but gave no further details or photographs to aid their recovery. A photo of the bricked up magazine is here.
By Kate Phizackerley
Stephan Seidlmayer, head of the german archaeological institute in Cairo, had an interview with german Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.
He says about the situation in Dahshur:
- now everything is safe and guarded again
- in early february there have been problems. At the ancient cemetry about a dozen tombs have been raided. He suspects the thieves must have been unhappy if they suspected to find golden items because there are none to find. The major damage is not related to the probably discovered items themselves but to the destruction of the finding context.
- Seidlmayer suspects that most of the damaged storage facilities have been opened just because the people wanted to look what is insinde. He proposes to open these storehouses one day for the local people to show them.
The complete and very interesting interview in german:
http://www.sueddeutsche.de/wissen/aegypten-revolution-und-archaeologie-die-raeuber-konnten-seelenruhig-vorgehen-1.1122140
News from Zahi Hawass dating march 27th:
“In Dahshur, antiquities inspectors were able to recover two large blocks with colored scenes from the funerary temple of Amenemhat I. They are also struggling to prevent people from moving onto archaeological land and digging illegally at night. I received a report on Saturday from inspectors saying they had found looters inside of a tomb! ”
http://www.drhawass.com/blog/update-qantara-east-and-archaeological-sites
[...] is still not known what was taken from Dashur. There was previously a report from Nicole Kehrer of the German Archaeological Institute in Berlin [...]
Can someone clarify whether the De Morgan’s magazine is the same as the storage facility of the German team in Dahshur or a different building?
http://www.drhawass.com/blog/sad-news Dr Hawass has repoerted that last night a magazine at Dashur was broken into:
“In another terrible turn of events, last night a magazine in Dahshur was broken into; it is called De Morgan’s. This magazine contains large blocks and small artifacts.”
This is sad news indeed
There is a new interview with the press associate from the german archeological institute in a german science magazine. She reports that the storage facility of the german team in Dahshur has been opened and was looted.
Beside that all the other german projects should be ok. [They are: Abu Mina, Abydos, Dra Abul Naga in Qurna, Siwa oracle temple, Elephantine Island in Aswan, Tell el-Farain / Buto, Maadi]
The german text:
“(…) Der einzige Zwischenfall scheint sich in Daschur – einem Grabungsort 30 Kilometer südlich von Kairo – abgespielt zu haben, wo die Grabungen zurzeit regulär ruhen. Dort hat man wohl das DAI-Grabungshaus aufgebrochen und geplündert. Ansonsten sind uns von unseren eigenen Projekten keine weiteren Fälle bekannt. (…)”
http://www.wissenschaft-online.de/artikel/1063350