Hawass on Manfred Bietak

We as Egyptians believe that our monuments belong not only to us, but to everyone, all over the world. At the same time, the discipline of Egyptology was created by foreign scholars, and they solved many mysteries like the riddle of hieroglyphs. Many French, German, Italian, and American expeditions, among others, have worked in Egypt and published countless volumes that are very important and useful to this field.

Whenever we mention foreign expeditions, we must also talk about individual colleagues. We cannot remember all of them, but there are certain ones whose love of Egypt and Egyptians stands out -- people who have dedicated their lives to Egyptology, and lived among us for many years. One such scholar is Manfred Bietak, who is now working at the site of Tell Al-Dabaa in the northeastern Nile Delta. This site is the location of the ancient city of Avaris, the capital of the Hyksos, who occupied Egypt for more than 100 years. It is also near the site of Qantir, where the capital of Ramses II was located.

Bietak did careful, scientific work at Tell Al-Dabaa, a site that has been ruined by agriculture, with much of its history lost below the water table. Earlier work had also destroyed much of the historical sequence at the site. Bietak began, however, to excavate carefully using the best techniques, and he learnt and recorded the history from each level of this important site. I once visited his camp at Tell Al-Dabaa. I can say that his work may be among the most important scientific efforts underway in Egypt right now, and that he is one of the most important scholars here.