The ninth International Congress of Egyptologists in Grenoble was immersed in the debate over two French architects' claims of having located Khufu's sepulchral room in the Great Pyramid at Giza. Nevine El-Aref listens in At the ninth International Congress of Egyptologists -- a weeklong event that ended last Sunday -- the corridors and lecture halls were buzzing with talk of the latest discoveries, publications and archaeological studies. A heated controversy, meanwhile, threatened to overwhelm the entire event, which was hosted by the city of Grenoble, the capital of the French Alps. The debate began even before Gilles Dormion and Jean-Yves Verd'Hurt, the two French architects who claimed to have located Khufu's sepulchral room, gave their official presentation. Media covering the event had been inundating the Egyptologists in attendance with questions about the Frenchmen's claims. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), who has thus far declined to allow the duo to probe into Khufu's Pyramid in order to prove their theory in situ, attracted much of the attention as well. Dormion and Verd'Hurt attempted to explain how they came to the conclusion that Khufu's sepulchral room is located beneath the room known as the queen's chamber. In doing so, they found both supporters and detractors. Jean Leclant of France's Fine Art Academy said their theory could be verified in a non- destructive way, by using a geo-radar system to discover exactly what lies beneath the queen's chamber. "The existence of another corridor which we do not know anything about is an interesting subject and we must know why," Leclant told Al-Ahram Weekly. Leclant, however, decried the manner by which the two men seemed to going about it. "France develops a multitude of research missions in Egypt; we must abide by the regulations imposed by the Egyptians, after which we would have the authorisation required. It was inefficient to make an appeal on television," he said, referring to the media hullabaloo generated by the two Frenchmen. Jean-Pierre Corteggiani of the French Archaeological Institute for Oriental Studies (IFAO), said geo-radar studies carried out by the Societé Geomega had already "verified half of the hypothesis. Under the queen's funeral chamber they detected a one metre large corridor, which nobody knew about before. According to papyri and written documents, Khufu wanted to create a unique and innovative complex for his Pyramid," Corteggiani said. According to Hawass, however, the accuracy of geo-radar studies on limestone and granite areas left much to be desired. Since anything appearing beneath granite or limestone surfaces looks like an anomaly, wondered Hawass, "how can they be certain that it is Khufu's burial chamber?" Meanwhile, French archaeologist Jacques Bardot, a Khufu Pyramid expert, had doubts about the theory as a whole. He told the Weekly that the fourth dynasty solar cult mandated that the Pyramid must be oriented from the east to the west, because the latter symbolises the world of the dead. There may be a corridor beneath the queen's chamber, he said, "but I don't believe in the existence of a subterranean burial chamber without an entrance facing the east." Hawass continued to stonewall the duo. "I will never ever allow these amateurs access to the great Pyramid. They are not affiliated to any scientific institution or museum or university. In addition, they are architects, and not archaeologists specialised in Pyramid studies," he said The French hypothesis, Hawass said, does not contain anything new or even any concrete traces of an important discovery. "Every day I receive almost 300 theories like this," he said. Since its construction at Giza, he said, Khufu's Pyramid has been subject to non-stop intrigue. "If they were real scientists they would not use television and newspapers to promote their ideas; they could have come to me directly to discuss their theory," Hawass said. Trying to reinforce his opinion of them as amateurs, he said that when the duo were allowed to probe into Khufu's Pyramid in 1986, during which they found nothing, they sold hundreds of t- shirts emblazoned with an image of the Pyramid and the words, "we are the ones who probed the Pyramid". Nicola Grimal of the College de France, on the other hand, defended the duo's professional credentials. Their work at the Medum Pyramid in Fayoum led to the important discovery of three unknown chambers, Grimal said. In addition to their 1986 probe into Khufu's Pyramid, in 1998 they installed the Pyramid's new ventilation system. Grimal told the Weekly that the duo had been working in the field for more than 18 years. "At the beginning, I was completely against them, but when they showed me their studies and plans they succeeded in convincing me of their theory, and I understand that it is serious work. As a specialist in the Old Kingdom who has excavated in different areas in Egypt for more than 30 years and headed the IFAO for ten years, I proposed a request in the name of the College de France to permit access to the Pyramid, but the SCA refused. Michel Vallogia also submitted another request in the name of Geneva University and it led to the same result." But in the end, Grimal said, "Hawass is the head of the SCA, and if he denies access, we will follow his desire. The Pyramids belong to Egypt." Hawass said that as secretary general of the SCA, he is the guardian of the Pyramid, and history will judge him poorly if he permits "amateurs" to probe into the Pyramid. "Can France give me access to probe into the Notre Dame cathedral if I submitted a request?" he asked. He said that next year, in collaboration with Singapore University, a robot would probe the Great Pyramid of Khufu to explore what may be behind the door discovered during an earlier robot-led probe in 2002.
