US Scholar, Looting "Helps" Archaeologists (Just Like the PAS)

Amelia Templeton reports on the annual meeting of the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE), which took place in Portland (Oregon US) this week. The Center is heavily involved in U.S. Agency for International Development-funded work to preserve and restore tombs, temples, mosques, and churches that reflect Egypt’s many cultures and religions. Matthew Adams (Institute of Fine Arts at New York University) talked of his return to Abydos after the looting that took place almost every night for several months in 2011.

In 2013, a small team of NYU archeologists returned to Abydos to formally survey the damage caused by the looting. They found more than 200 pits dug by looters. About half the pits were harmless, but others damaged buried tombs and mud-brick buildings. Adams says the damage the team found was discouraging, but in conducting the survey, he also learned that an ancient burial area for high officials at Abydos was larger and more densely packed with tombs and monuments than anyone had realized. “The looters, by digging randomly across the site, brought our attention to areas that we’re not normally working in, and to periods of ancient activity that are not our normal focus. Even though the looters caused significant damage to tombs and chapels on the site, in investigating what the looters had done, we as archeologists were looking at these things for the first time,” he said.

So, that's OK then, just like the PAS in England and (for the moment) Wales. Looters are archaeology's friends. "There's a common ground". Obviously.

Amelia Templeton, 'Portland Egyptologist Conference: Scholar Says Looting in 2011 Revealed New Tombs', OPB (Oregon Public Broadcasting) April 5, 2014