First Tut, now Cleo in Dr Zahi's sights
August 17 2006 at 03:59PM
By Shaun SmillieIn little over two months, famed Egyptologist Dr Zahi Hawass hopes to unearth the discovery of
his lifetime: the tomb of one of history's greatest women,
Cleopatra.
The celebrity archaeologist, who is on a whistle stop lecture tour of South
Africa, said that "the discovery would even be bigger than that of
King Tut".
Hawass told The
Star on Wednesday that he suspects
Cleopatra is buried with her
Roman lover
Mark Antony at a temple 30km from Alexandra called Tabusiris Magna.
This is Hawass's first visit to SA
"I believe it is a very sacred place and this is where they would have hidden
Cleopatra and
Marc Antony from
Octavian," Hawass explained.
Access to the tomb, Hawass believes, is through a shaft. Previously he
had descended 35m down the shaft but could get no further because of water.
"It has a high water table but I plan to go back in October," Hawass said.
Some of the clues that point to the tomb belonging to
Cleopatra are
a coin bearing her face and a statute.
Cleopatra and
Mark Antony committed suicide as the
Roman leader
Octavian hunted them in
Egypt, in 30BC.
South Africans, particularly those with DSTV, would probably recognise Hawass as that Egyptologist who endlessly appears on documentaries wearing that Indiana Jones-styled hat.
But the Zahi Hawass who appeared in the Wits Great Hall cut a different figure... he was dressed in a charcoal suit.
This is Hawass's first visit to SA and he took the opportunity to introduce the audience to "adventure in archaeology", a slide show tour of some of
his discoveries of
Egypt.
"You know that 70 percent of
Egypt's treasures
still need to be uncovered," he said.
Some of these archaeological treasures, Hawass said, actually lie under the streets and houses of Cairo.
His lecture also touched on how he organised a CT scan to be done of
King Tutankhamun's mummy.
For years scientists have speculated whether the boy
king was murdered. The project, which took place at the Valley of the Kings,
had even Hawass wondering at one stage if the Curse of
King Tut
had returned. Unexplained power failures
had workers fearing for their lives.
The results of the CT scan, believes Hawass, put to bed the theory that Tut was murdered by a blow to the
head.
"What was originally thought of to be the hole in the back of
his head that killed him, we found was
part of the mummification process," Hawass explained.
While in SA, Hawass has also been in contact with several universities. "Perhaps we could collaborate in the future, talk about excavation techniques," he said.
When he gets back to
Egypt, Hawass will have to start preparing for
his next big operation - moving a 250
ton statute through the streets of Cairo.
Link:
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=588&art_id=vn20060817110201376C264205Salve
Bohemond
