July 16,
2017, Cairo – The American University in Cairo (AUC) has recently taken the
initiative to transfer nearly 5,000 Islamic, Coptic, Pharaonic, Greek and Roman
antiquities to the protection of the Egyptian government. AUC has been in legal
possession of these antiquities since the 1960s, ensuring their
preservation.
“Though
we legally possessed these artifacts and scrupulously preserved and protected
them over so many years, we took the initiative to transfer these
important antiquities to the Ministry of Antiquities because we felt that
this should be their rightful home,” said AUC President Francis J.
Ricciardone. “Egyptology has been one of AUC’s most beloved fields over many
years. In collaboration with the ministry, we have always strived to advance
the field globally, through both our scholarship and our demonstration of
responsible stewardship.”
Former
Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs Zahi Hawass also commended this
collaboration. “I am thrilled to know that AUC gave its antiquities collection
to the Ministry of Antiquities as a gift,” said Hawass, who had officially
stated in 2011 while serving as minister that all artifacts in AUC’s storage
were registered and documented with the ministry. “People have to know that all
these artifacts were given to AUC by law from the Antiquities Department as a
division of the findings from excavation work.”
The
nearly 5,000 pieces were registered and reviewed in collaboration with the
Ministry of Antiquities. They date from a time when archaeological
material, after a stringent review, did not have to remain exclusively in the
hands of the Egyptian Antiquities Organization (now the Supreme Council of
Antiquities). The AUC collection was more of a teaching collection that
included pottery shards, pieces of fabric, glass fragments,
beads and some coins. The bulk of the materials consisted of
fragments of everyday pottery, such as bowls, ulnas, jars
and bits of fancy lusterware vessels. Most of the materials could be
dated back to the 10th and 11th centuries. Some
of the objects in the collection had been legal gifts to the University.
“The
materials from the excavation often seem humble, but they help fill in the
blanks to understand what people ate, their social class and trade in the
region,” said Distinguished University Professor Salima Ikram and head of the
Egyptology unit at AUC’s Department of Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology and
Egyptology. “The pots, for example, can point to how people lived and the
technologies used at the time, and can demonstrate artistic influence on ceramic
production and decoration.”
Specifically,
AUC acquired most of these artifacts during joint excavations in the Fustat
area led by the late George Scanlon, professor emeritus in AUC’s
Department of Arab and Islamic Civilizations who became a prominent name in the
field of Islamic archaeology. “George Scanlon’s work at Fustat was invaluable,
as it set the stage for Islamic archaeology in Egypt,” said Ikram. “He and his
colleagues helped create the discipline, fusing art history, archaeology and
texts in an effort to understand the administrative, sacred and secular lives
of the inhabitants of Fustat, one of the first Muslim capitals of Egypt.”
Ikram
had reviewed the Pharaonic materials in AUC’s possession, while Scanlon was
responsible for the Fustat materials. The objects were regularly checked
against the list made by AUC and the Egyptian Antiquities Organization. “The
Fustat objects had already been catalogued by Dr. Scanlon, who excavated them,
so they were fully recorded,” said Ikram.
The
discovery of these artifacts was shared between Egypt and the American mission
at that time. After this excavation, the diverse antiquities were brought
to AUC, and the University came to legally possess these artifacts in
accordance with the Egyptian Antiquities Law No. 215 for 1951, which
previously allowed foreign excavations in Egypt to have 50 percent of their
findings. The remaining 50 percent of the artifacts went to the Egyptian
state.
Throughout
AUC’s period of custody over the valuable collection, the materials were kept
under close surveillance, securely stored to prevent damage. The special
storage room, locked behind two secure doors, was equipped with protected
cupboards to ensure the safekeeping of the materials.
The
same committee from the Ministry of Antiquities responsible for the recent
hand-over had collaborated closely with AUC over the years to conduct regular
reviews of the collection twice a year, keeping records of the inventory and
maintaining photographic documentation. In May 2017, the Ministry of
Antiquities assigned a special committee to review all inventory of antiquities
at AUC, comparing it to its own government records. They worked with AUC’s
Office of Legal Affairs to ensure that all antiquities were preserved and
documented in the hand-over.
“This [transfer] is incredible news,
and I hope that any institution that owns antiquities not shown in museums
would give them back,” said Hawass. “AUC President Francis Ricciardone will be
remembered in history because of his courage, power and honesty to take this
decision.”
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