CAIRO - Many Egyptian archaeologists have recently called for an end to the foreign missions' monopolising mummifications and archaeological digs. At the seminar, entitled ‘The Future of Archaeology in Egypt', held in Beit el-Sanary (Sanary House) in el-Sayyeda Zeinab, southern Cairo, they also called for ‘Egyptianising' the conservation of archaeological discoveries and establishing a school for mummification. The participants said that officials from the Mubarak regime, like Safwat el-Sherif, Speaker of the Upper House and Fathi Sorour, Speaker of the Lower House, had ordered archaeologists to appoint certain people to important positions in the governmental Supreme Council of Antiquities (since renamed the Ministry of Antiquities), according to the Middle East News Agency. During the seminar, Khaled Azab, the director of el-Sanary House, honoured antiquities inspector Mohamed Abdel Rahman and presented him with some of the Bibliotheca's publications, out of gratitude for the part he played in hunting down the thieves who sold 12 antiquities stolen from the Egyptian Museum in downtown Cairo during a popular revolt against Mubarak. The antiquities are now back in the museum. Azab, meanwhile, criticised the misconception that Egyptology is just for foreigners. He also wondered why some foreign researchers refuse to translate their theses into Arabic.
