Egyptian Museum in Cairo on the brink

[Phidippides]

With all that is going on in Cairo, looters are threatening to break into the famous Egyptian Museum and carry off thousands of years of Egyptian (and world) culture.  We know what happened in Baghdad after looters took many Mesopotamian works, and the works in the Egyptian Museum are arguably even more well-known throughout the world.  

Once they're stolen, artifacts can be sold on the black market (probably not for much money since they're hard to sell), but more likely is that they'll be stored away somewhere and get damaged.  This is the shame in it all: what was once on display for people everywhere simply disappears, never to return in the same condition.  

Egyptian army storms museum to protect from looters

[scout1067]

It is a good thing the army got involved because once the mob gets worked up individuals stop thinking and let the mob take them.  According to a piece from Reuters, "On Friday, looters broke into the Egyptian Museum and destroyed two pharaonic mummies, said Zahi Hawass, Egypt's top archaeologist." How stupid can people be?

[Phidippides]

I read an article this afternoon that said some looters had damaged some mummies there.  Looters and vandals are a part of society that always seems to exist, but I have a hard time understanding what goes through their minds. 

[scout1067]

I don't believe they do think.  Some people just get a kick out of defacing and destroying things.  I fully support shoot-on-sight orders for looters no matter where they are found in the world.

[scout1067]

Here is a photo of one of the Damaged mummies in the Egyption Museum in Cairo I pulled off of Yahoo; this is the link.  How is that for indignity?  3,000 years dead to have some illetrate throw you on the floor looking to make some quick cash.

[skiguy]

Did you all read this yet?  Beside Anderson Cooper getting beaten twice there's these two stories.
http://www.deadline.com/2011/02/fox-news-team-severely-beaten-hospitalized-in-cairo/

http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/02/03/time-exclusive-cbss-lara-logan-and-crew-detained-in-cairo-as-violence-escalates/

Um, maybe you should get out their reporters.  Just saying.  

[scout1067]

But the reporters feel like they should be inviolate because they are only truth-seekers.  I am sure Daniel Pearl went to his death wondering why they hated him so.

[scout1067]

Apparently, the looters did get some things including a staue of King Tut.  According this story by CNN: King Tut statue among missing Egypt treasures, minister says, 17 objects are missing from the museum after looters managed to eneter the facility during the recent round of riots in Egypt.

[Phidippides]

I saw that story link on Drudge last night (still there today), and I thought that Drudge went a bit sensational because he shows an accompanying photo of the ever-famous Tutankhamen death mask, which was not taken.  Had that been taken, it would have been one of the most cataclysmic thefts in museum history.

[scout1067]

I have to agree but still, whoever took the statue mentioned in the story will probably have a difficult, if not impossible time fencing it.  I imagine they will get caught sooner rather than later whenever they do try to sell it.

[Phidippides]

Yeah, that's the thing.  Unless they're pretty good and know what they're doing (possibly a buyer lined up beforehand), they'll either get caught, sell it for a steep discount, or it will end up buried in their backyard somewhere.  Actually, perhaps it's a bit different in Egypt because the authorities aren't quite as well equipped, but then again, the number of wealthy buyers will be lower.  I'm guessing the people who stole the artifacts were low-level looters who will not know how to get rid of them.

[scout1067]

I have always heard that it is extremely difficult to get rid of artifacts and pieces of art that are very famous because of the notoriety of the pieces.  I hope the people that have these pieces think twice and just turn them back in.  I know they are still finding pieces stolen from the museum in Baghdad in 2003 all over the world.

[Omer]

Check your garbage bin !

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/02/17/cairo-teen-finds-looted-pharaoh-akhenaton-statue/

[Phidippides]

Yeah, that's just it - it ends up in the trash after the looters realize that there's no way they can get anywhere near the actual value of the artifact, and trying to sell it is fraught with peril.  So in the end, it gets dumped.  Fortunately it was found, but if not, everyone loses.