Back Monday, May 11, 2009
Culture Minister: 132 archaeological sites in Egypt not excavated
Culture Minister Farouk Hosni said that the researches conducted via satellites have confirmed the existence of 132 archaeological sites in Egypt that witnessed no excavations until now.
Farouk Hosni said Egypt's shows full cooperation with the research teams to explore the archaeological sites, and has recently issued a number of laws seeking to stop the illegal digging in areas likely to contain the buried monuments. He is pointing out that project of monuments photography via satellite is being implemented in collaboration with the National Authority for Remote Sensing, Space Sciences and Mubarak City for Scientific Research for the aerial photography and ground laser.
Meanwhile, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) Zahi Hawas pointed out that satellites took photos for many archeological sites including Habu city.
Zahi Hawass, Egypt's pre-eminent archaeologist, and Secretary General of the  The Supreme Council of Antiquities, has announced that a rare statue constructed of white marble whose features resemble Alexander the Great has been discovered in Egypt. Hawass also stated that there are satellite photographs identifying many archeological sites which may also reveal buried monuments.

Alexander the Great 
Calliope Papacosta was leading the Greek archaeological excavation in Alexandria when the white marble statue was found.

"A ribbon around the head of the statue proves that it belongs to an important person for such ribbon was used only be''sic'' rulers," said Hawass, "The 80 cm long, 23 cm wide statue has been discovered eight meters deep under the earth surface." 
Salt Man Head in the Iran Bastan Museum
Farouk Hosni, Egypt’s Culture Minister, is supporting archaeological dig sites and has set into place laws restricting illegal digging in confirmed archaeological sites which may contain historical monuments.  The monument photography project, National Authority for Remote Sensing, Space Sciences (NARRS) and Mubarak City for Scientific Research (MuCSAT) combined Satellites technology, aerial photography and ground laser to locate 132 sites which have not yet been excavated.  

One of these sites is north of Lake Qarun in the Faiyum area, and another at Habu city.  Archaeologists are presently being sent out by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism to areas before construction and building excavations to preserve invaluable archaeological treasures. At the Faiyum site near Cairo artifacts dating to diverse time periods have been found amongst these, an awl for stitching leather, fishing tackle, weapons, jewellery, pottery, coins, sawfish, whale fossils, and a 3150 BC block portraying one of the two leaders named King Scorpion.

Meanwhile, in other archaeological news, Iran's three salt mummies found in the Chehrabad Salt Mine in 1993 will be moved to a technologically advanced vacuum chamber display case in Zanjan for better preservation.  These mummies or ''Salt Men'' have been dated as being from the Parthian 237 BCE - 224 CE and Sassanid era, 224 - 651 CE.