Egyptologists around the world anxiously await news from Cairo.

Science Insider reports that the tomb of Maya, King Tut’s wet nurse, may have been destroyed by looters at Saqqara. “We still don’t know the extent of the damage, but things have been bad and out of control,” said an unnamed Western archaeologist.  

A law requiring that all human remains uncovered during archaeological investigations in England and Wales be reburied in two years could be passed. “Archaeologists have been extremely patient because we were led to believe the ministry was sorting out this problem, but we feel that we cannot wait any longer,” wrote one of 40 archaeology professors who signed a letter addressed to the justice secretary.  

David Kennedy of the University of Western Australia has spotted nearly 2,000 archaeological sites in Saudi Arabia using high-resolution satellite images from Google Earth. The sites have been confirmed on the ground.  

Here’s more on the story of the discovery of James Madison’s chess set at his Virginia estate, Montpelier.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Friday, February 4, 2011. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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