Out of all global history, what really makes Egyptian history such a good story to retell?
Because first of all this is part of African history and Egyptian civilization presents one of the oldest civilizations on earth and we do appreciate we have this very strong history. Nowadays people feel separate from history and think they are different as the gap is getting bigger and bigger. This is not the right path as this is the strongest tool to protect heritage – to narrow the gap from people and their past. It’s now almost 2000 years since this ancient civilization and people think that the pharaohs were very different ‘today’, but we try and tell them otherwise.
Archaeologists have had to try and decipher and decode the past from different sources to shape what happened – how accurate can this be?
Frenchman Jean-François Champollion was the first genius scholar to decipher the hieroglyphs in the first half of the 19th century around 1835. Hieroglyphics is one style of writing and ancient Egypt had three. Hieroglyphics was the sacred writings used by the priests that we see on the artefacts. The second one was Hieratic – a cursive abbreviated language style mostly written on papyri. The third style of writing was demotic, which was daily writing used by the people.
The accuracy of our reading of the language is that we know now how to read ancient Egyption in all the different styles and the grammar is well-known and taught to students.
We can translate from temples, tombs and papyri, but we have another problem – do we have to believe what was written? For example, there was a war and Ramses wrote that he had destroyed his enemies, but the other king also wrote that he had defeated the Egyptian army – so we see the first peace treaty between two kings. This is a problem historians face when translating, as people exaggerated. Some people say the most faithful one you can believe 100% is the monuments from prehistoric time – as all that you have here is the object and they didn’t leave writing – so through these objects we write history.
Ancient Egypt is for us like a book you can read what is there because there’s still a lot between the lines. We read the inscriptions which are mostly magical spells, we can translate them, but can’t know 100%, for example, about the curse inscriptions, poisonings and about the crocodiles, but we do know the power in these words.
Why was the Tutankhamun period chosen for the show?
Tutankhamun is not just about treasure, china and the gold, it’s the story about a young African king. Tutankhamun is an African king – he’s the only king whose tomb and treasure was found completely intact. It is a beautiful window to see their beauty and magic and it gives us a chance to touch this time of history and the equipment they thought they needed for eternity. We are glad we still have this treasure from the ancient world.
There must have been many artefacts to choose from to replicate – why this selection?
In the Tutankhamun exhibition we display over 1000 objects representing the master pieces of the treasure of Tutankhamun, which was 5389 objects. It tells the story of the life and death of Tutankhamun, and the perfection of manufacturing production of these object in ancient time. People are often taken by the shining gold more than a focus on the artisans who were all from Egypt. They were sculptors – people who still have the talent of their ancestors.
This exhibition is important because the concept is to give visitors the feeling of when the tomb was found – when archeo-logist Howard Carter saw the treasure. So we reconstructed this moment and visitors can watch a documentary on the treasure of Tutankhamun, then face the treasure and his tomb. Our visitors will explore the beauty of each object . Labels explain that each object has a function and were a tool with a meaning, and were not just there to make the king look rich in the afterlife. We tried to make perfect replicas because we feel a responsibility to represent ancient Egypt. We are using this exhibition as a promo-tional tool for people to travel to Egypt to see the pyramids.
Museums in Egypt are safe now and the country has had tourists back, but not in the same number. The problem of the archeological land in the last four years is that people took advantage of the instability in the country and turned it into modern cemeteries and made farms – this is bad as we don’t know what is underneath.
We do have the Ministry of Antiquities controlling large parts of the country, but the local communities who live close-by have turned land protected by the Ministry into houses and farms. This is a problem and it will take some time to recover, but its not easy as it is unexcavated land and we don’t know what is there and the only way is to excavate. Because when you discover a huge cemetery you don’t find all the mummies – it requires huge resources, so we excavate part of it and put it on maps and this way protect our heritage.
What still excites you about ancient Egypt?
You know I’m attracted to the normal people who made this civilization. The people who cultivated the land, we still call them the hidden hands behind the Egyptian civilization. People are very interested in the pharaohs and priests, but there are also tombs of the pyramid builders of Giza. And also in Luxor there’s a village of artisans who made the tombs and we have so many stories of their lives and how they spent time decorating and furnishing the tombs of the kings. We just need to try and come close to it.
You’ve been involved in various excavations – what has been the most thrilling?
I have been working with Egyptology for the last 20 years. My first site was around the Great Pyramid, at Abu Sir, and also in Saqqara and I also excavated mummies in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor.
Excavation is very interesting work and the excitement to be the first person to see the artfacts is a beautiful moment – because all of a sudden you are facing history.
l At GrandWest until September 27. Book: www.tut-exhibition.co.za Sunday – Thursday 9am to 7pm, Friday – Saturday 9am – 9pm. Estimated viewing time 2 hours. Tickets (plus audio guide): Adults R160, seniors (60+), students R120, children (6 to 18) R100; 5 and under free. Family and group discounts.