One hundred years ago, Howard Carter uncovered the tomb of King Tutankhamun.
The November 4 centenary of that find will be celebrated around much of the world with books and seminars, exhibitions and documentaries.
But away from the limelight and the fanfare, the countdown has fuelled a conversation on long-debated subjects related to Egyptology.
Those topics include ownership of the narrative on Egypt’s ancient civilisation, the decolonisation of Egyptology and the need to produce a more inclusive and equitable account of those involved in archaeological excavations.
The significance to Egyptology of the 1922 discovery — arguably the world’s greatest archaeological find — cannot be overestimated, chiefly because the contents of the tomb, unlike most other royal tombs, were found intact, providing a wealth of material for scholars seeking to piece together details of life in ancient Egypt.
The blue-and-gold mask found in the tomb became a global symbol and the unrivalled representation of Egypt's ancient civilisation.
It transformed Carter, an English archaeologist who died in 1939, into an international household name and the quintessential colonial adventurer, with the magnitude of his find matched only by the size of the vast empire he was born into.
Carter, however, is viewed by his apologists as a typical product of his time, growing up in an England that ruled a sprawling empire.
When he discovered the tomb in 1922, Britain was still holding on to that empire, but its wholesale exploitation of its colonies, including Egypt, was beginning to be seriously challenged for the first time in centuries.
Fast forward to 2022 and the man once the empire's star son is cast in a less-than-flattering light.
The debate goes beyond the scope of his discovery, tackling post-colonial issues that are relevant more than half a century after most British colonies, including Egypt, became independent.
That Carter's name is the only one widely associated with the discovery is a contentious point — while his professional integrity is another.
“Egypt is totally missing from King Tut’s story,” said Heba Abd El Gawad, an Egyptian heritage and museum specialist at University College London. “We get totally dismissed and disenfranchised from the story. In fact, we are totally dismissed from the whole narrative of ancient Egypt.
"We are only mentioned, blamed actually, when artefacts are damaged, but rarely when a new and significant find is made.
“They view us as ‘Egyptianised’ rather than the native inhabitants of Egypt. They look at our civilisation as one without a specific owner. They look at us in the West as no more than the caretakers of ancient ruins and artefacts, but who have no claim to them as their own."
Carter's ascent to becoming the archetypal white European adventurer began when his fascination with Egyptology sent him to Egypt at age 17. The years he spent there searching for Tutankhamun’s tomb yielded excavation and documentation techniques that are highly valued and relevant to this day.
As his discovery of the 3,300-year-old tomb of a "boy king" — who died aged 19 about 1333BC after a decade on the throne — is celebrated, it has not shielded Carter from the scrutiny to which his legacy is now subjected.
A recent book by prominent Long Island University Egyptologist Bob Brier, Tutankhamun and the Tomb that Changed the World, cites evidence that purports to confirm allegations that have for years swirled around Carter's name — that he stole artefacts from the tomb.
“But now, there’s no doubt about it,” Brier told London's The Observer earlier this year.
Also questioned is Carter being accorded the sole credit for the discovery ― British members of his team are rarely included in praise, while Egyptians who worked for and provided him with invaluable local knowledge on where and how to dig hardly get a mention.
“The [tomb] discovery was not achieved by a solitary heroic English archaeologist, but by the modern Egyptian team members who have so often been overlooked and written out of history,” Egyptologist Richard Bruce Parkinson of the University of Oxford recently said.
His comments were released to coincide with the opening in England this year of an exhibition dedicated to the Egyptian workers who, many are convinced, made the discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb possible.
In today's Egypt, authorities are at pains to emphasise the role played by Egyptians whenever a find is made. When a discovery is the exclusive work of Egyptian archaeologists, the mood at the government news conference that follows is celebratory.
Salima Ikram, an Egyptologist from the American University in Cairo, came to the defence of Carter. She says his discovery gave Egypt and the entire world an invaluable gift.
“I am not a fan [of Carter's], but I am fed up with people throwing mud at somebody just because he’s white,” Ms Ikram said. “Archaeology is an international discipline.”
The tomb’s discovery had unlikely political ramifications in Egypt, resonating with the country's political activists of the time. They saw it as a rallying cry to continue pressing demands for an end to British rule and as a source of additional energy to establish a new and modern Egyptian identity.
The country’s prominent politicians at the time — their national pride bolstered by the discovery — broke with standard practices and insisted the artefacts stay in Egypt and not be shared with Carter and his aristocratic English backers.
“There is a great deal of talk about decolonising the narrative on Egypt’s ancient civilisation,” said Amina El Bendary, an associate professor of Islamic and Arab studies at the American University in Cairo.
“Research and scholarship on Egypt’s civilisation is published in many languages, but those in English receive much more attention and, in the view of many, carry more weight.
“I feel that what happens in our universities and schools is isolated from what is going on abroad. Similarly, westerners don’t read enough of what is being published here.”
Egyptology struck roots in Egypt in the 1940s and 1950s despite the earlier emergence of local pioneers, although Egypt has not always jealously guarded its pharaonic antiquities as it does now.
The country allowed the sale and export of ancient artefacts well after independence from Britain in the 1950s.
In the 1960s, Egypt's nationalist leader Gamal Abdel Nasser gave temples, obelisks and statues to several western nations to show his gratitude for their help in saving ancient monuments in the south of the country.
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid
When: April 25, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Allianz Arena, Munich
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 1, Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid
COMPANY PROFILE
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Analysis
Members of Syria's Alawite minority community face threat in their heartland after one of the deadliest days in country’s recent history. Read more
ENGLAND SQUAD
For first two Test in India Joe Root (captain), Jofra Archer, Moeen Ali, James Anderson , Dom Bess, Stuart Broad , Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Ben Foakes, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Dom Sibley, Ben Stokes, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes. Reserves James Bracey, Mason Crane, Saqib Mahmood, Matthew Parkinson, Ollie Robinson, Amar Virdi.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How Islam's view of posthumous transplant surgery changed
Transplants from the deceased have been carried out in hospitals across the globe for decades, but in some countries in the Middle East, including the UAE, the practise was banned until relatively recently.
Opinion has been divided as to whether organ donations from a deceased person is permissible in Islam.
The body is viewed as sacred, during and after death, thus prohibiting cremation and tattoos.
One school of thought viewed the removal of organs after death as equally impermissible.
That view has largely changed, and among scholars and indeed many in society, to be seen as permissible to save another life.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
MATCH INFO
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What: first T20 international
When: Friday, 2pm
Where: ICC Academy in Dubai
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Match info
What: Fifa Club World Cup play-off
Who: Al Ain v Team Wellington
Where: Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain
When: Wednesday, kick off 7.30pm
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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UAE SQUAD
Mohammed Naveed (captain), Mohamed Usman (vice captain), Ashfaq Ahmed, Chirag Suri, Shaiman Anwar, Mohammed Boota, Ghulam Shabber, Imran Haider, Tahir Mughal, Amir Hayat, Zahoor Khan, Qadeer Ahmed, Fahad Nawaz, Abdul Shakoor, Sultan Ahmed, CP Rizwan
Pakistan Super League
Previous winners
2016 Islamabad United
2017 Peshawar Zalmi
2018 Islamabad United
2019 Quetta Gladiators
Most runs Kamran Akmal – 1,286
Most wickets Wahab Riaz –65
Pathaan
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THE BIO
Favourite car: Koenigsegg Agera RS or Renault Trezor concept car.
Favourite book: I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes or Red Notice by Bill Browder.
Biggest inspiration: My husband Nik. He really got me through a lot with his positivity.
Favourite holiday destination: Being at home in Australia, as I travel all over the world for work. It’s great to just hang out with my husband and family.
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SQUADS
Pakistan: Sarfraz Ahmed (capt), Azhar Ali, Shan Masood, Sami Aslam, Babar Azam, Asad Shafiq, Haris Sohail, Usman Salahuddin, Yasir Shah, Mohammad Asghar, Bilal Asif, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Abbas, Wahab Riaz
Sri Lanka: Dinesh Chandimal (capt), Lahiru Thirimanne (vice-capt), Dimuth Karunaratne, Kaushal Silva, Kusal Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Roshen Silva, Niroshan Dickwella, Rangana Herath, Lakshan Sandakan, Dilruwan Perera, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep, Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Gamage
Umpires: Ian Gould (ENG) and Nigel Llong (ENG)
TV umpire: Richard Kettleborough (ENG)
ICC match referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM)
Scoreline
Germany 2
Werner 9', Sane 19'
Netherlands 2
Promes 85', Van Dijk 90'
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Low turnout
Two months before the first round on April 10, the appetite of voters for the election is low.
Mathieu Gallard, account manager with Ipsos, which conducted the most recent poll, said current forecasts suggested only two-thirds were "very likely" to vote in the first round, compared with a 78 per cent turnout in the 2017 presidential elections.
"It depends on how interesting the campaign is on their main concerns," he told The National. "Just now, it's hard to say who, between Macron and the candidates of the right, would be most affected by a low turnout."
MATCH INFO
Barcelona 4 (Messi 23' pen, 45 1', 48', Busquets 85')
Celta Vigo 1 (Olaza 42')
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
Bournemouth 0
Manchester United 2
Smalling (28'), Lukaku (70')
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
Price, base / as tested: Dh182,178
Engine: 3.7-litre V6
Power: 350hp @ 7,400rpm
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'Saand Ki Aankh'
Produced by: Reliance Entertainment with Chalk and Cheese Films
Director: Tushar Hiranandani
Cast: Taapsee Pannu, Bhumi Pednekar, Prakash Jha, Vineet Singh
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
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Profile of Bitex UAE
Date of launch: November 2018
Founder: Monark Modi
Based: Business Bay, Dubai
Sector: Financial services
Size: Eight employees
Investors: Self-funded to date with $1m of personal savings
