Following the ICOM visit, an unconfirmed report from Le Monde suggests that the bas reliefs have been hacked from the tomb of the physician Qar in the north of the site. Dr Hawass has indicated on 27th March that the situation is still bad:
I received a report on Saturday from inspectors saying they had found looters inside of a tomb! In Saqqara, I had previously reported that magazines and tombs had been broken into. Now, eight acres of land near the Mastaba el-Faraun and the pyramid of Merenre I has been overtaken by people
Update – Late April 2011
Dr Hawass has announced that the tombs of Maya, Horemheb and the Serapeum are likely to open, which offers further reassurance that they survived intact. Also, Dr Maarten Raven has indicated that damage to his concession is slight, “Soon we shall try to carry out a final inspection of our site to assess the minor damage incurred (mainly some modern wooden doors which have been kicked in).”
ICOM / Blue Shield Inpsection
On 15th February 2011, Karl von Habsburg and Drs. Joris Kila accompanied by the office manager of the Dutch Institute, Tilly Mulder, visited the archeological site of Saqqara on behalf of Blue Shield, having failed to reach the site the previous day. A full report of their visit was issued on 17th February, which for Saqqara states [editor: bold added for quick reference]:
During the tour of the premises the mission went first to see the tomb of Mereruka – it looked seemingly undamaged
Relief in Tomb of Teti © Karl von Habsburg
Teti – undamaged
Tomb of Kagemni – the door was opened by vandals but now it was welded shut, supposedly no damage.
Inside Pyramid of Unas - © Karl von Habsburg
Unas Pyramid – was especially opened for the mission, obviously closed since a long time and was untouched.
Tomb of Isisnofret – door was welded, supposedly unharmed
Tomb of Maya – clear signs of vandalism (broken locks (photo here), broken pieces of wood), supposedly no looting. The entrance to the famous reliefs was sealed with an SCA seal so it could not be visited. It was guaranteed to be in perfect order. The mission had no real reason to doubt this, since reliefs were generally left untouched.
Tomb of Tia & Tia – cupboards for reliefs were not locked, though reliefs look untouched. Some cupboards were sealed but definitely only after the break in.
Tomb of Horemheb – seemingly untouched, same as Tia.
2 brothers – new locks, doors welded shut, definitely broken into before.
The same applies to Nefer.
Blueshield also report, “The museum and the main storage facilities next to the main office building were untouched according to the SCA inspector, but could not be visited.” However, the SCA inspector’s report might be incomplete as the same day Dr Hawass reported:
Dr. Sabri Abdel Aziz, Head of the Pharaonic Sector of the Ministry of State for Antiquities Affairs, reported to me the following incidents: At Saqqara, the tomb of Hetepka was broken into, and the false door may have been stolen along with objects stored in the tomb [3rd March: carved stone blocks reported stolen] … In addition, break-ins have been confirmed at a number of storage magazines: these include ones in Saqqara, including one near the pyramid of Teti, and the magazine of Cairo University.
(The best online picture of the false door is on the Echo site.) There was good news, however, in October 2011 when it was announced that two of the four reliefs stolen in 1986 from the tomb of Hetepka had been recovered. I also received an email inJanuary 2012 that “Ptahsheses is fine and untouched”. The reliefs have been inspected and there is no obvious sign of damage, nor sign any attempt was made to remove them.)
Relief from tomb of Hetepka, recovered Oct 2011
It is unclear whether the two reports do refer to the same storage magazine. If they do, then other reassurances given by the SCA inspector might also be suspect.
Reports of illegal construction the pyramid of Merenre and the Mastaba Fara’un have also appeared on Dr Hawass’ blog.
Again news from Z. Hawass dating march 29th:
“Villagers forcefully moved onto 15 acres next to the Mastaba Faraun and the pyramids of Pepi I and II; I am sure that this area contains archaeological remains dating to the Old Kingdom, over 4,000 years ago. The people built a cemetery with about 500 huge tombs, about 4m high and 6x5m wide. The people who built these tombs intend to sell them.”
http://www.drhawass.com/blog/current-news-sites-and-objects
News from Zahi Hawass dating march 27th:
“In Saqqara, I had previously reported that magazines and tombs had been broken into. Now, eight acres of land near the Mastaba el-Faraun and the pyramid of Merenre I has been overtaken by people. ”
http://www.drhawass.com/blog/update-qantara-east-and-archaeological-sites
I have found this report on the Tomb of Hetepka at Saqqara.
It seems that the looting occured at a much earlier
date, being December 1991.
Unless the tomb has been looted twice!
See the report of IARC. ( with photos from the tomb).
http://www.mcdonald.cam.ac.uk/projects/iarc/culturewithoutcontext/issue10/watson.htm
new report of j.bartholet at saqqara, he was into the tomb of the tresorer Maya and it’s still safe, he’s says that the Maïa tomb( he wet-nurse) is still lolcked with a brik-wall!
http://blogs.ngm.com/blog_central/2011/02/report-from-saqqara-contrary-to-rumor-the-two-maya-tombs-are-safe.html
hello,
a new article about the tomb of may!
a disaster!
http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2011/02/egypt-update-rare-tomb-may-have.html
etienne
This is the same story which has been floating for about 3 days. It seems as though it has been corroborated because it keeps getting repeated by new blogs and media, but so far as I can tell this is a single, as yet un-verified report, which is circulating. I am very worried. I jump each time I see one of these stories, but so far each one I see just seems to be a rehash without new on site verification.
I am still praying.
UPDATE: there seems to be a genuinely new story from CultureGrrl – now discussed and linked in the main text.
New opdate by Dr Hawass on February 4, 2011.
http://www.drhawass.com/blog/state-egyptian-antiquities-4-february-2011-0
Still saying Saqqara is save….
A reliable source in Cairo (who had this directly from one of the SCA inspectors at Saqqara) confirmed that the Cairo University magazine at Saqqara has been looted. No confirmation could be had about private tombs. Apparently doors have been forcibly opened but whether reliefs have been taken is not clear. The inspectors themselves have not yet had access to all parts of the site.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Ethan Watrall, John Theibault. John Theibault said: Terrible news on #egypt cultural heritage front too. Museum attacked http://huff.to/f2rICI Archaeological sites looted http://bit.ly/ho9JXQ [...]
Update about Saqqara from Dr Sarah Parcak via facebook. it’s not good news at all :’(
“Very bad news folks: Saqqara being majorly looted. Reports from ground contacts (verified and trusted+ witnesses )are that numerous people (I was told “thousands”) digging day and night. Maia seems to be fine(?)—Serapeum broken into and partially set on fire, lots of Ibis mummies taken. Every tomb there was broken into. The army can chase them away during the day, but the night is different. I need *another* ground confirmation/witness. Can anyone get close enough to take photos? Can someone please contradict this?”
[...] Maarten Raven, the Field Director of the Dutch Mission, has posted this statement: ‘There are various reports circulating on the internet about widespread looting in Saqqara [...]
There are various reports circulating on the internet about widespread looting in Saqqara and Abusir. However, we would like to stress that so far we have not been able to obtain any confirmation of this, except the following. On Saturday 29 January our restoration architect in Cairo told us that his contractor at Saqqara confirmed the looting in Saqqara. On Sunday 30 January the SCA Director of Saqqara told us that the site of the Dutch expedition has been involved in the looting. He would or could not give further details, and that is still the current situation. We have so far been unable to establish direct contact with people who know more.
Thanks Maarten, let’s hope for the best.
I’m student in Egyptology at Montpellier and Marc Gabold said yesterday that Vassil Dobrev’s site was completly looted…
Thanks for the confirmation, although the news is not happy at all.
http://www.rnw.nl/nederlands/radioshow/nederlands-opgravingsproject-egypte-geplunderd Dutch website giving more information about Saqqara in particular the areas of the Leiden university expeditions. Google translate is good enough to use for the article.
http://www.rnw.nl/english/bulletin/dutch-egyptologist-sounds-vandalism-alarm here is the same article…in English this time…it’s so sad
I don’t know how reliable this news is since I found it on a facebookgroup but I guess none of the news we are getting is 100% sure at the moment. News From Egypt: From our Senior Guide. I’m sorry to report that a Sakkara inspector told him that in the last few days Sakkara has been ransacked. Maia is destroyed and even the reliefs in the burial chamber have been hacked out. There is mass digging around the Unas area in particular. The inspector could not get as far as the Teti area as he was threatened with guns but the mastabas will have suffered the same fate.
http://www.saqqara.nl/news I used this website during my studies in Egyptian Archaeology, small update about Saqqara some people may find useful. I hope this all ends soon, it’s just heartbreaking.
Zahi Hawass told FOX News that the tombs at Sakkara had not been entered or vandalised. Reported monday
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/01/31/egypts-treasures-saved-looters-vandals/#ixzz1CegBUuMY
Report of magazine at Sakkara South has been looted available here:
http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/egypts-tombs-temples-under-siege.html