Prehistoric fishing tackle found in Egypt
CAIRO (AFP) — An Egyptian archaeological team has found prehistoric fishing gear, sewing equipment and jewellery all made from animal bones, as well as pottery and coins, near an oasis south of Cairo, officials said on Tuesday.
Culture Minister Faruk Hosni said in a statement: "An Egyptian archaeological mission working near El-Karn island on Lake Qarun in Fayoum has found a large amount of fishing tackle, sewing equipment and jewellery made from animal bone dating back to prehistoric time."
"The mission also found caves used by prehistoric man," he said.
"The most important item is an awl made of animal bone and granite, which shows that prehistoric man devised many ways to sew leather," Khaled Saad, who headed the mission, was quoted as saying.
The team also found ancient pottery, coins, whale vertebrae and fossils of seals, sawfish as well as crocodile and turtle parts, Saad said.
Medical equipment and weapons made of animal bone were also unearthed, he said.
The site was used by many civilisations, antiquities chief Zahi Hawass was quoted as saying in the statement.
"During excavation, the mission found antiquities from the Pharaonic, Greek, Roman and Islamic periods," Hawass said.
The team also found a rare block which dates back to 3150 BC depicting the mythical leader known as the Scorpion King, as well as colourful mosaic plates with engravings of the Fatimid caliph Al-Zafir.
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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.