埃及宝藏仍待挖掘

埃及是一个具有悠久历史文化的国家，它是人类最早文明的发源地。埃及各地至今仍保存着大量珍贵而独具特色的古代文物、古董和珍宝。埃及和国际考古学家们合作发现了许多考古遗址，包括金字塔、木乃伊、藏品处、雕像、寺庙和宫殿等。但是专家们认为，埃及有大约70%的古董仍未挖掘出土。

发现阿萨西夫墓葬群

2019年10月19日，全世界都被一条新闻所震惊：一个埃及考古团队在埃及南部卢克索的阿萨西夫发现了一个封盖棺木（王朝末期）的墓葬群，这是100多年来埃及考古界最大的发现。墓葬群有30个属于第22个法老王朝的棺木，它们被埋在一个仓库的地下，以防被人偷盗。这些棺木呈两排摆放，第一排18个，第二排12个，里面有男人和女人，还有3个里面是小孩。它们被埋在一个有石门的仓库里，由高级牧师负责看守。据考证这个墓葬群已经有3000年的历史了。

由于这一重大发现是由埃及人组成的考古团队完成的，这说明埃及的考古能力已经达到了相当成熟的水平，并且取得了非常骄人的成绩。自文物部于2016年11月成立以来，考古队在过去几年中获得了许多重大发现。

2012年2月14日，文物部决定恢复“埃及考古使命”这项自2011年中断的工作。自2016年以来，考古团队宣布在卢克索的各个方位和驼峰等地都已经有了许多重大发现。对于埃及考古界最重大的发现就是上文提到的位于阿萨西夫的墓葬群。同时，埃及也非常重视文物的展出。从未离开埃及的图坦卡蒙法老宝物将于今年11月在伦敦展出，将展出出自图坦卡蒙墓中5000件文物中的150件。图坦卡蒙国王的纪念碑曾在巴黎展出，有142.3万人前去参观，这次纪念碑也将在伦敦展出。

⬆10月19日，埃及文物部称，考古学家在卢克索发现了包括20多具完好密封石棺的“巨大宝藏”  图片提供｜马哈茂德·萨阿德迪亚卜

阿卜杜勒·拉苏尔传说

近期的考古发现不禁令人想起公元1881年在埃及Al-Deir El-Bahri发现的第一个古物被盗的故事。

1881年在埃及Al-Deir El-Bahri的悬崖中，发现了从公元前167年到公元前45年十八十九二十二十一王朝的几乎全部的法老木乃伊，一共有几十具。关于1881年的考古发现，民间流传着这样的传说：1905年去世的牧羊人艾哈迈德·阿卜杜勒·拉苏尔在当时的古物管理局负责人马斯佩罗·帕沙之前先发现了埃及史上第一批文物。由于他和他的兄弟把一些文物卖给了古董商人，这是一种非法行为，因此马斯佩罗逮捕了他，并为此获得了约500埃及镑的奖励，这在当时是一笔非常大的数额，因为埃及镑相当于一磅黄金。尽管当时气温很高，但埃及古物管理局的官员们还是马不停蹄地把古物从墓穴转移，并将其运抵尼罗河岸边，等待船运。当时由于交通工具还很原始，运输非常困难，用了48小时才被转移出来并。1882年7月11日，它们中的大部分被运往开罗，存放在布拉克博物馆。

1881年在阿尔代尔巴赫里发现的古物藏匿处是历史上境外走私埃及古物犯罪案件中最严重的案件之一，因为它的规模巨大，具有考古价值的藏品数量非常多，所以它被刊登在当年的金字塔报上。除了阿卜杜勒·拉苏尔和他的兄弟外，涉案人员中还有外国的领事和大使。在被走私到境外的木乃伊中，拉美西斯二世的木乃伊经过埃及文物部的努力，终于在2003年重新回到埃及。公元1891年，艾哈迈德·阿卜杜勒·拉苏尔发现了另一个文物藏匿处，那里藏有一些阿蒙祭司的棺木，后来这个故事被拍摄成为电影《木乃伊之夜》。

⬆埃及国家博物馆展出的图坦卡蒙宝座正面的雕刻画  图片提供｜马哈茂德·萨阿德迪亚卜

加强与中国的合作

“埃及的考古学家们决定在新的挖掘季节全力以赴发掘古埃及历史。新的考古挖掘已经开始，将持续到2020年。”11月，埃及文物部部长穆斯塔法·阿纳尼教授访华，在埃及驻华使馆，部长就埃及考古最新发现接受我的采访时表示。他告诉我，目前有大约40个埃及和国外的考古团队在埃及不同地区的多个考古地点工作，这样的规模在埃及考古史上是第一次。

阿纳尼部长还告诉我，今年冬天的挖掘季从法老文明之都底比斯市的卢克索展开，共有13个考古团队参加，其中3个是埃及团队，4个是美国团队，5个是西班牙团队，他们首先着手调查卢克索西部古墓地的法老历史。在这些考古团队中，最知名的是由埃及著名考古学家、文物部前任部长扎希·哈瓦斯教授率领的“埃及考古使命”团队。扎希·哈瓦斯教授本人在被称为“猿人谷”的西河谷地区和包括数十座古埃及国王陵墓的帝王谷工作。

另一个埃及团队由文物部秘书长穆斯塔法·瓦齐里率领，在扎拉阿布·纳贾一带工作，同时也包括阿萨西夫地区。西班牙考古团队正在图特摩斯国王三世的神殿工作，美国考古团队则在“阿蒙梅斯”王子的陵墓和帝王谷63号墓地工作。

阿萨西夫墓葬群里涵盖了不同王朝（18-25-26），大约是公元前1550年到525年这一时期，其中有几十座属于当时高级官员的陵墓。

考虑到埃及和中国都拥有人类最古老的文明，因此阿纳尼部长与中国相关部门的官员们讨论如何加强双方在考古领域的合作。他强调在考古、发掘、研究和博物馆管理方面增进合作的重要性。埃及非常渴望学习中国在博物馆和考古保护方面的开创性经验并从中获益。埃及和中国在博物馆和文物领域签署了合作协议，并与中国博物馆馆长和中国驻埃及大使讨论邀请中国在埃及举办一次短期文物展览。他说，文物部会为加强双边关系提供一切必要的便利条件。为此，埃及文物部与中国社会科学院考古研究所近日签署了考古工作谅解备忘录，它包括了在博物馆和文物及其保护方面的合作协议，而且最重要的是在埃及成立中国考古研究所。

阿纳尼部长强调，埃及需要加强文物部门的能力建设，推动文化、教育和考古活动的开展，这样才能提高保护和保存文化遗产的意识。2018年11月，在卢克索的卡纳克发现蒙托神殿期间，中国与埃及展开了首次合作。此外，北京大学还希望在亚历山大省附近的一处考古遗址开展工作。

埃及期待接待更多的中国游客，特别是在最近的考古发现以及许多宫殿、博物馆和考古区修复开放之后。他说，最近的考古发现已经对公众开放，吸引了众多游客纷至踏来。

部长也提到了在开罗赫利奥波利斯区修复恩潘男爵宫殿的项目。这个项目很快就会启动，修复后的宫殿将完整地呈现赫利奥波利斯街区的样貌和赫利奥波利斯的历史。除此以外，埃及国家文明博物馆和大埃及博物馆也正在建设中，预计将在2020年四季度对外开放。

英文版

Egypt is the land of history and civilizations. The country is cradle of many civilizations since millennia. The valuable and unique ancient relics, antiques and treasures are still well-preserved across Egypt. Egyptian and foreign archeologists have long been discovering many archeological sites including pyramids, mommies, cachets, statues, temples, and palaces to name a few. But experts believe that about 70% of Egyptian antiques still remained unearthed. Here I would like to incorporate some major archeological discoveries of Egypt.

The Asasyif cachet

On October 19, 2019, the world woke up to the breaking news: An Egyptian mission discovered a cachet of sealed coffins (Late Period) in Asasif, Luxor South of Egypt; it was the biggest discovery since more than 100 years. This cachet included some 30 coffins belong to the 22th Pharaonic dynasty. They were buried in a warehouse under the surface of the earth to protect them from stealing. There were two rows of coffins; the first row was consisted of 18 coffins and the second of 12 coffins for men and women, three of which were for young children, and they were buried there by senior priests to conserve them in a storehouse with a stone gate. And the age of that cachet is three thousand years.

The important point is that the all members of archaeological mission were from Egypt which means the Egyptian archaeological missions reached the highest levels of success, excellence and great archaeological maturity, and achieved a large number of discoveries over the past years since the decision was taken by the Ministry of Antiquities in November 2016.

The ministry decided to resume the work of the "Egyptian Archaeological Mission" after about five and a half years of hiatus since February 14, 2012.

Since 2016, the archeological missions have announced so many discoveries to all directions and humps in Luxor. The latest discovery was to bring out a group of colored coffins from the ground. A museum of Tutankhamun will be opened in London, with 150 pieces out of five thousand pieces in November, 2020. The monuments of King Tut, which were displayed in Paris and viewed by one million and 423 thousand people, will be put on display in London.

Abdel-Rasoul legends

This discovery is reminiscent of the story of the first cachet discovered in Egypt in Al-Deir El-Bahri in 1881 AD. During the discovery, antiquities were transferred from the well for 48 continuous hours due to the difficulty of transportation that was primitive at that time, and another discovery is known as the cache of the priests of Amun in 1891 AD from where dozens of mummies of priests were found.

It wasn't the first time that an archaeological cachet was discovered by Egyptians. In 1881, the sheep herder Ahmed Abdel-Rasoul, who died in 1905, discovered the first cachet before Maspero Pasha, then head of the Antiquities Authority, arrested him after obtaining permission from Khedive Ismail and received a reward in the amount of about 500 Egyptian pounds, which is a very large amount at the time, as the Egyptian pound was equivalent to a pound of gold, because the brothers of Abdel-Rasoul sold some of the contents of the archaeological cachet to antiquities traders, which is an illegal method, and despite the high air temperature, the officials of the Egyptian Antiquities Authority They continued for 48 hours transferring antiquities from the crave with non-stop well, and that 200 men began transporting antiquities from the well until reaching the bank of the Nile River, and that was on July 11, 1882AD, in preparation for transporting it to Cairo, and waiting for a ship that specifically arrived to transport its large contents to the Bulaq Museum, where transportation and communications tools such as Nowadays.

The cachet of Al-Deir El-Bahari, discovered in 1881AD, was one of the most important major cases in the crimes of smuggling Egyptian antiquities outside the country throughout history, due to the magnitude of the cachet, and the archaeological treasures it contained, this story was published in the newspaper "Al-Ahram" in 1881AD, as it was one of the most important people involved in it in addition to Abd al-Rasoul's brothers, states consul and ambassadors, stressing that among the mummies that were smuggled, the mummy of Ramses II had succeeded in 2003 in the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities in its return to Egypt. In 1891 AD, Ahmed Abd al-Rasoul discovered the third cachet, where he was an exciting character who lived for 100 years, and was filmed in the Mummy movie by Shadi Abdel Salam, where he was able to find the coffins of the priests of Amun.

Cooperation with China

I met Professor Moustafa Al-Anany, the Egyptian minister of antiques, at the Egyptian embassy in Beijing last month. In a short interview about the discoveries which Egypt has achieved recently, the minister told me that it's the first time in the history of Egypt, about 40 Egyptian and foreign archaeological missions are working in various archaeological sites in different governorates of the country.

Egyptian archeologists decided to find out ancient Egyptian history with full force in the new season of excavations, which began weeks ago and will continue until the middle of 2020, he maintained.

Minister Al-Anany pointed out that with the launch of the winter excavation season this year in Luxor, the city of Thebes, which was the capital of the Pharaonic civilization, a total of 13 archaeological missions including three Egyptian, four American, and five Spanish started their work to find out the Pharaonic history of the ancient necropolis in the western part of Luxor.

Of them, the most prominent is the "Egyptian Archaeological Mission" headed by the well-known Egyptologist professor Zahi Hawas, the former Minister of Antiquities, who works in the western valley region known as the "Valley of the Apes", and in the Valley of the Kings, which includes dozens of tombs of the kings of ancient Egypt.

Another Egyptian mission headed by Moustafa Wazirey, Secretary-General of Antiquities Ministry, is working in Zaraa Abu Naja. His mission is also working in Al-Asasif region. And the Spanish archaeological mission is working in the Temple of King Thutmose III, and the American mission in the tomb of Prince "Amun Mays" and the cemetery number 63 in the Valley of the Kings.

The Asasyif Cemetery is known to have tombs from the dynasties (18-25-26), which cover the period of approximately from 525 to 1550 BC. Dozens of tombs belong to senior statesmen were found in this region throughout the ages.

Minister Al-Anany told me that he discussed with the Chinese officials ways to enhance bilateral archaeological cooperation, given that Egypt and China are the oldest human civilizations. The minister stressed the importance of enhancing ways of cooperation in the field of archaeological work, excavations, research projects, and museum affairs. Egypt is keen to benefit from China's pioneering experience in the sector of museum and archeological protection, he noted.

The minister said that with regard to relations with China, there are cooperation agreements between the two countries in the field of museums and antiquities, and that he recently discussed the issue of how China can host a temporary exhibition of antiquities with the director of the Museum of China and the Chinese ambassador to Cairo. The Egyptian minister assured that his ministry will provide all the necessary facilities to strengthen the bilateral relations. He pointed out that a memorandum of understanding was recently signed between the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities and the Institute of Archeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in the field of archaeological work, in addition to a number of joint cooperation agreements in the field of museums and antiquities and their protection, the most important of which is the work to establish a Chinese Institute of Archeology in Egypt.

Minister Al-Anany emphasized the need for the capacity building and cadres working in the sector and pushing cultural, educational and archaeological activities in order to raise awareness protect and preserve cultural heritage. The first Sino-Egypt cooperation was held during the discovery of the Monto Temple area in Karnak of Luxor in November 2018. There is another request from Peking University to work in an archaeological site near Alexandria Governorate.

The Egyptian minster stressed that his country is looking forward to receiving more Chinese tourists, especially after the recent archaeological discoveries and the opening of many palaces, museums and archaeological areas after their restoration. He further mentioned that the recent discoveries are opened to visitors and creating a tourist boom in Egypt.
The Minister also referred to the project of restoring the Baron Empain Palace in Heliopolis district in Cairo. This project is expected to be opened soon. It will narrates the history of the Heliopolis neighborhood and Heliopolis, in addition to the ongoing work to develop the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, and the work of construction Grand Egyptian Museum, scheduled to open in the last quarter of 2020.

编辑 | 张  梅

翻译 | 王晓波

设计 | 高  蕊