Egypt Antiquities Resources

Compiled by the wonderful Megaera Lorenz
Document is now available on Google Docs for editing or editions.  Check there for the most up to date resources.

Egypt Crisis: Resources by Category

1. FACEBOOK

I have not figured out a good way to link directly to Facebook groups (as opposed to pages), so I’ll just list the names of groups here. They are easy to find with the search function.

Sarah Parcak has created the Facebook group "Restore + Save the Egyptian Museum!" as a place to gather information, keep track of new developments, and attempt to analyze the damage as it happens. This group has been extremely active, and is drawing media attention.

A similar group has been formed by Jaques Kinnaer called "Protect Egyptian Cultural Heritage."

The Facebook community Egyptologists for Egypt (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Egyptologists-for-Egypt-Supporting-the-peoples-demands/ ) is also a good source of news, particularly for keeping track of the status of various missions and individuals who are in the field now.

2. SITES TRACKING THE STATUS OF ANTIQUITIES

Egyptological Looting Database(http://egyptopaedia.com/2011/): A place for users to submit new information about looting as it comes in.

ARCE (http://arce.org): ARCE is posting updates on the situation in Egypt, and is also collecting contact information for Egyptologists currently in Egypt. Director Gerry Scott is coordinating efforts to help Egyptologists in Egypt leave the country if necessary.

Egyptian Crisis News (http://aiamilitarypanel.org/news/egyptian-crisis-news-and-discussion/): A compilation of information about the danger to Egypt's antiquities.

Egyptologists' Electronic Forum (http://www.egyptologyforum.org/): There is a very active ongoing thread with information about the situation in Egypt ("Unrest in Egypt").

Map of antiquities thefts (http://ancientegyptonline.org/egyptnews/p/mapofantiquitiestheft)

Zahi Hawass' blog (http://www.drhawass.com/blog/state-egyptian-antiquities-today-update): Statements from Zahi Hawass, now Minister of Antiquities.

Egyptology News (http://egyptology.blogspot.com/)

3. ORGANIZATIONS AND POLITICAL ENTITIES CONCERNED WITH CULTURAL HERITAGE

I'm quoting a document posted by Jaques Kinnaer on the Facebook group “Protect Egyptian Cultural Heritage”:

The following is (to become) a list of official government instances around the world that can be made aware of the threat to Egypt's Cultural Heritage. You can use it to see if it already contains URLs, e-mail address and/or addresses of your Ministry of Foreign Affairs/Science/Tourism or any other official instance that may be able to help in one way or another.

This document can be edited by any member of the group, so if you notice that the information for your country is missing or incomplete, please add it to the document.

The contact information is (to be) grouped by country, and if possible, try to keep them in alphabetical order. I will go through the list regularly to sort it, if necessary, but if the information is entered in structured and sorted way, that will be less work for all of us :-)

Thanks :-)

Jacques.

***

Belgium

Ministry of Foreign Affairs (webform): 

• in Dutch: http://diplomatie.belgium.be/nl/Contact/
• in French: http://diplomatie.belgium.be/fr/Contact/

Egyptian Embassy in Brussels:

• address: Uruguaylaan 19,  1000 Brussel
• phones: +0032 02 6635800  ; +0032 02 6635820  ; +0032 02 6755888  ; 
• e-mail: egyptembassy@embassyofegypt.be
• e-mail: eg.sec.be@hotmail.com
• website: http://www.embassyofegypt.be/
• website: http://www.egyptembassy.org/ 

European Union

• Commission of Culture e-mail: eac-culture@ec.europa.eu
• External relations web-form: http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/feedback/question2.htm

UK

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

• Email: enquiries@culture.gov.uk
• Web form: http://www.culture.gov.uk/contact_us/default.aspx
• Website: http://www.culture.gov.uk/
• Address: 2-4 Cockspur Street, London, SW1Y 5DH, UK

UNESCO

• address: 7, place de Fontenoy 75352 Paris 07 SP France
• address: 1, rue Miollis 75732 Paris Cedex 15 France
• webiste: www.unesco.org
• web-form: http://www.unesco-ci.org/knowledgebase/contact.php

Egyptian Cultural Heritage Legislation (http://www.cprinst.org/cultural-heritage-legislation-in-egypt): Information from the Cultural Policy Research Institute.

SAFE (Saving Antiquities for Everyone): main site (http://www.savingantiquities.org/) and blog (http://safecorner.savingantiquities.org/)

Blue Shield statement on Egypt from the IFLA (http://www.ifla.org/en/news/blue-shield-statement-on-egypt)

4. INFORMATION ON BYPASSING COMMUNICATION BLACKOUTS

The communications blackout seems to be ending for now, with internet service being restored in Egypt as of today. However, in case the situation changes again, here are several sites with information on how to communicate to and from Egypt via internet or phone.

Telecom Instructions (http://wl-tsunami.posterous.com/egypt-telecomix-instructions-for-net-connecti): Instructions and a list of telecom services offering free long-distance dial-up service for people in Egypt.

Google/Twitter's Speak 2Tweet service (http://twitter.com/speak2tweet): People in Egypt can call +16504194196 or +390662207294 or +97316199855 to leave or listen to voice messages.

Alive in Egypt (http://egypt.alive.in/): Transcriptions and translations of Speak2Tweet posts.

5. GENERAL NEWS AND INFORMATION

Al Jazeera English (http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/): Live stream of the latest developments in Egypt.

BBC Live Feed (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12307698)

CNN coverage (http://topics.cnn.com/topics/egypt)