Egypt
Nature (Declan Butler)
- Libya Heritage Update
Looted Libyan treasure 'in Egypt' BBC News (Katya Adler) Libya's National Transitional Council says it believes several hundred ancient coins stolen from a bank in Benghazi during the Libyan uprising have turned up in Egypt. More than 7,000...
- Libyan Heritage Update
UNESCO convenes Libyan and international experts meeting for the safeguard of Libya’s cultural heritage World Heritage Convention I haven't seen any update about the outcome of this meeting, which took place two days ago, but something should be...
- A Sigh Of Relief In Libya
Safe Corner After months of negative reporting on heritage sites in the Middle East, finally there is some good news from all five of Libya's UNESCO heritage sites. Both the 2,000 year old Roman city of Sabratha and the ruins of Leptis Magna, which...
- Inspections By New Libyan Antiquities Minister
The Malta Independent Libyan archaeologists are beginning to inspect the country’s priceless historical sites, hoping part of their cultural heritage and economic future has not been ruined by war. “It is the first time I go there since the war,...
- Vandal Threat To Libyan Rock Art
ANSAmed (Francesca Spinola) Some time around the middle of April, in an area of the Libyan Sahara on the Algerian frontier known as Tadrart Acacus, seven cave paintings from the Neolithic era, dating back to a period between 3,000 and 10,000 years ago,...
Egypt
Libya's extraordinary archaeology under threat
Nature (Declan Butler)
This is only the second report that my Alerts service has picked up so far for Libyan heritage under the current conditions of unrest. The good news from this report is that security seems to be good around museums and some sites but that archaeologists are leaving the country and are uncertain when or if they will be able to return. Here's a short exerpt but see the above page for the full story.
Eleven Italian researchers who were evacuated from Libya in a C-130 Hercules military aircraft on Saturday are thought to have been among the last foreign archaeologists in the country. With Libya's people being attacked by forces loyal to the regime of leader Muammar al-Gaddafi, the scientists were thankful to escape to an air-force base south of Rome.
The team of seven men and four women were from the Italian–Libyan Archaeological Mission in the Acacus and Messak, an expedition to research prehistoric archaeology and rock-art. They took temporary refuge in an oilfield camp in the open desert. Stress levels were high, explains Savino di Lernia, head of the team: "We were hundreds of kilometres from an airport, with the entire country to be crossed to reach it," he says. In a Twin Otter light aircraft, they had to make their way at short notice to Sebha airport in central Libya to rendezvous with the evacuation plane.
- Libya Heritage Update
Looted Libyan treasure 'in Egypt' BBC News (Katya Adler) Libya's National Transitional Council says it believes several hundred ancient coins stolen from a bank in Benghazi during the Libyan uprising have turned up in Egypt. More than 7,000...
- Libyan Heritage Update
UNESCO convenes Libyan and international experts meeting for the safeguard of Libya’s cultural heritage World Heritage Convention I haven't seen any update about the outcome of this meeting, which took place two days ago, but something should be...
- A Sigh Of Relief In Libya
Safe Corner After months of negative reporting on heritage sites in the Middle East, finally there is some good news from all five of Libya's UNESCO heritage sites. Both the 2,000 year old Roman city of Sabratha and the ruins of Leptis Magna, which...
- Inspections By New Libyan Antiquities Minister
The Malta Independent Libyan archaeologists are beginning to inspect the country’s priceless historical sites, hoping part of their cultural heritage and economic future has not been ruined by war. “It is the first time I go there since the war,...
- Vandal Threat To Libyan Rock Art
ANSAmed (Francesca Spinola) Some time around the middle of April, in an area of the Libyan Sahara on the Algerian frontier known as Tadrart Acacus, seven cave paintings from the Neolithic era, dating back to a period between 3,000 and 10,000 years ago,...